Israel Civic Action Forum

Steering Committee

Rabbi Michael Melchior, cofounder.

Ron Werber, cofounder. 

In alphabetical order: Nimrod Bouchman, Meir Bukai, Chen Gavia, Boaz Gur, Jackie Goren, Rabbi Idit Lev, Yoav Levi,  Lionel Mitelpunkt, Ilana Mushkin, Yishai Sekely, Tamar Sheori, Sam Shube. 

Our Vision

Our vision is to create social solidarity in Israel by integrating the concepts of a free enterprise economy with those of a broad welfare state.

Social solidarity that embraces true economic competition on an even playing field – free of cartels, monopolies and destructive economic centralization – while guaranteeing the equitable distribution of national resources, protecting equal opportunity and offering quality of life to all of Israel's citizens.

Social solidarity that emerges from a government that invests its energy and resources in the education and well being of its children and youth, and guarantees all its senior citizens a life of dignity, comfort and financial security, a life without deprivation.

This socially integrated society embraces its wealthy citizens but even more so its poor, and is committed to creating equal opportunity in every walk of life and to the total eradication of poverty.

Only in this way can a broad and secure middle class be restored and take its place once again as the sturdy backbone of Israeli society, a society whose social cohesion is now fraying.

These basic universal values are all the more profound for the State of Israel, which maintains an unfaltering commitment to the welfare of all its citizens, to full equality for its Arab citizens and to the successful absorption of its immigrants, while remaining a source of inspiration and a drawing point for Jewish communities the world over.

Our Path

The struggle for Israel's future and for determining the path it should pursue is not only the concern of political parties and card-holding party members. It is first and foremost the concern of the public at large: regular citizens, individuals and groups, organizations and communities.

The chance to create significant change in Israeli society depends on the ability to mobilize and organize the broadest public for civic action, over the long term and not merely on Election Day. This kind of action must focus on raising public awareness and stimulating community support, and on lobbying policy and decision makers in parliament and in national and local governments.

Principles of Action

Israel Civic Action Forum is founded on the following principles:

• Generating open public discussion about Israeli society's path forward – a discussion that must include regular citizens, in order to learn, teach and share ideas, as well as formulate positions.

• Civic action in which regular citizens become involved in forging direct ties with their surrounding communities – each according to his or her own ability, talents and social networks – through the Internet, social and family gatherings, in schools and on university and college campuses, in the workplace and places of leisure. This kind of unmediated connection helps raise awareness, promotes identification and mobilizes public support, and helps motivate more citizens to take action to influence decision makers and policy makers in local and national governments.

• Formulation of clear and focused goals, matched by a detailed plan of targets to be achieved, and the organizational capacity to motivate citizens to action.

 Phase 1: 2010-2011

"Attempts at social reform have failed so far, not because of a lack of good ideas and well-designed work plans, but mostly because of a lack of stable funding sources over time. Without identifying sustainable funding sources for broad social reform, it is doubtful whether the dissolution of Israeli society can be stopped."

Goal

Guaranteeing sustainable sources of funding for a long overdue social reform, which will dramatically upgrade the quality and accessibility of the education, health and welfare systems for all age groups, generate adequate affordable housing solutions, revitalize higher education, guarantee environmental protection, and create modern, convenient and safe public transit infrastructures.

Objectives

-- Equitable distribution of the profits from all natural resources in Israel – so that the majority of the profits reach the Israeli public. This principle will apply also to the production and extraction of minerals and metals, spring water and other natural resources around the country, as well as the deposits of natural gas discovered recently off Israel's shores, and the future discoveries of oil.

-- Establishment of a National Investment Fund anchored in Knesset Laws, to which all state profits from Israel's natural resources will be channeled, without exception. This fund will exclusively invest its financial resources – in addition to the allocations from regular state budgets (and not instead of them!!!) – in the implementation of sweeping social reform in the spheres of education, health and social welfare, quality of life for all senior citizens, affordable housing, environmental protection and public transit infrastructures.

What we are fighting for now

Since the state's establishment, every Israeli government has found excuses for the dearth of proper investment in education, health, welfare and public infrastructures. The public became accustomed to hearing how Israel's overwhelming security needs took precedence, and how the country was poor in natural resources, lacking the rich oil and gas deposits of the Gulf states or the North Sea countries.

But over the past few months, a completely new reality has emerged. Vast reservoirs of natural gas, valued – conservatively – at $300 billion, have been found off Israel's shores. The discovery of natural assets of this scale is the historic opportunity Israel has been waiting for these past 62 years. Wise management of such massive monetary resources will allow Israel to generate dramatic social and economic reforms that provide all Israelis with a high quality of life. This will happen only if we can guarantee that the majority of the profits from the reservoirs of natural gas enter the public coffersand are invested exclusively in wide-ranging social reforms.

A call to the Knesset and government

On July 1, 2010 Israel Civic Action Forum published its call to the Knesset and the government:

“Israel Civic Action Forum calls on the government of Israel and the Knesset to affirm that the majority of the profits from Israel's natural gas and oil reservoirs – up to 80% – will be paid to the citizens of Israel, while the oil and gas companies will receive close to 20%, as fair and fitting compensation for their investment. This is a just and equitable distribution of profits derived from our country’s natural resources and is based on the government decision of 2002 – which was thwarted in the Knesset by the aggressive lobbying of the oil and gas companies.

We call on the government and Knesset to:
 

1. Impose a special progressive tax on the producers of oil and natural gas, in addition to the existing taxation.
    
2. Cancel the special tax breaks and relief on dues given to the oil and gas companies to offset risks that are no longer relevant and impose regular corporate taxes – similar to those imposed on any other industrial corporation.
    
3. Grant licenses for new searches only through legal tender, and not as free giveaways, as has been the practice until now.
    
4. In addition, we demand that the government and Knesset create a National Investment Fund to which all of the state's revenues from production of natural gas and oil will be funneled. This fund will be established and protected by law, and will be used exclusively to finance compelling and comprehensive social reforms in the fields of education, health, welfare, employment, housing, environment and public infrastructures in Israel.
    

This is a first and vital step on the road to creating profound and essential change in Israeli society.”

The oil and gas companies are sabotaging the reform

The oil and gas companies, which discovered the natural gas deposits, are demanding the majority of the profits – a demand that stands in direct opposition to standard practice the world over. Past experience has taught us that these companies can successfully twist the arms of government and parliament whenever anyone attempts to institute a fairer distribution of profits for the benefit of the public. This time too, the aggressive campaign they are planning to mount on the government and the Knesset constitutes a serious threat to the great opportunity Israel has been handed.

This time, we will not let them succeed. Israel Civic Action Forum has declared an uncompromising public campaign to fight for the public's ownership rights over Israel's natural resources, and over the profits from these natural assets. In addition, the Forum will fight to establish mechanisms to guarantee that Israel directs all these profits toward authentic and wide-ranging social reforms.

phase 2: 2011-2012

"After securing sustainable source of financing, the moment will come to fight for the promotion and adoption of the social reforms themselves. Only the combination of stable and long-term financial sources with detailed plans for well-formulated social reform, will guarantee implementation and foster a true turning point for Israeli society.”

Goal

Promoting social reform that significantlyupgrades the quality and accessibility of the education, health and welfare systems for all age groups, generate adequate affordable housing solutions, revitalize higher education, guarantee environmental protection, and create modern, convenient and safe public transit infrastructures.

Objectives

• Generating public discussion about the nature of the social reform. Formulating detailed positions regarding a broad range of issues and presenting them to the public.
• Instituting a range of community action and media events to raise awareness and mobilize broad public support.
• Establishing wide-ranging action among policy and decision makers in government and the Knesset.

Milestones for action in 2012

Given the successful completion of phase 1 (as described above):

March-April 2011: Culmination of a significant legislative success in the Knesset.

September-December: Preparations of position papers on social reforms and work plan for 2012.   

January-May 2012: Presentation of position papers drafts as the basis for public debates. Public Discussions and community mobilization.

September 2012: Launch of public campaign advocating the program of social reforms.