Israel will have its first entrepreneur prime minister, and a strong-willed finance minister who has been accused of corruption, if Yair Lapid’s coalition forms the country’s next government.
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, who is expected to serve as prime minister for the first two years in a rotation with Lapid, will be the Start-Up Nation’s first leader to come from the tech sector. He founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software company, in 1999, and sold it for $145 million in 2005. Bennett also served as CEO of IT firm Soluto, which was sold in 2013 for more than $100 million.
Economists are bullish on how that experience will influence his economic policies.
“It gives him a close understanding of the tech world, which is very important for Israel’s economy,” said Daphna Aviram-Nitzan, director of the Center for Governance and the Economy at the Israel Democracy Institute. “That means he understands the nation’s economic issues from first-hand experience, and that he has a deep understanding of the world of scientists and engineers. That will give him greater strength to push forward on Israel’s economic development.”
Economists are also optimistic about Avigdor Liberman as potential finance minister. The Yisrael Beytenu leader has previously served as defense minister and foreign minister, among other positions. Although he was accused and ultimately acquitted of corruption charges in 2013, he seems to have shed that part of his image in his fiery campaigns against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite his lack of experience in economic positions, he brings different skills to the post, observers note.
“Liberman is a strong-willed political leader who has no problems playing the role of the bad guy,” said Alex Zabezhinsky, Chief Economist at the Meitav Dash investment house. “That will be an advantage in implementing many of the difficult but necessary changes needed in the economy.”
Liberman plans to invest heavily in infrastructure projects, decrease bureaucracy and regulation, and reach a long-term arrangement to rein in the power of the Histadrut labor union. Central to his beliefs is a desire to increase economic equality for different sectors of society. Liberman is known for his antagonistic views toward parts of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community for their refusal to participate in the workforce, the army, and mainstream education.
“Liberman will look to reduce subsidies to the haredim, after they increased under Netanyahu,” said Jonathan Katz, chief economist at Leader Capital Markets. “He will also move to implement a mandatory core curriculum in all state-funded schools, including in haredi schools that currently don’t teach it. That education is necessary to help move more people from that sector into the workforce. The yeshivot will be wary of the changes in the beginning, but I think eventually they will adopt it.”
Katz and Aviram-Nitzan noted that Liberman is seen as someone who is willing to study a field deeply, listen to professionals and adopt their recommendations, which isn’t always the case with political figures. “At this point in time, we will need responsible leadership to help Israel get out of the economic crisis,” Aviram-Nitzan said.