News coming out today from the Prime Minister’s Office could lead one to believe that the atmosphere inside the most important and sensitive office in the country is on the chaotic side of late.

Firstly, the sensational story about alleged harrassment by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau chief Nathan Eshel.

The alleged victim, R, who also works in the Prime Minister’s Office, complains to her colleagues in the PMO about Eshel, saying that he snooped on her emails and SMSs, that he took pictures of her feet below her dress and frequently acted toward her in an inappropriate manner, and that this behavior was borne of jealousy that she accompanied another official on a trip abroad. Her three colleagues, Military Secretary Yochanan Locker, Cabinet Secretary Zvika Hauser, and National Information Directorate Chief Yoaz Hendel, good, upstanding men all, took her complaint straight to the Attorney General [and not to Netanyahu], who decided that there was nothing there of a criminal nature. AG Weinstein ordered the Civil Service Commission to investigate the case, which called on R to come and testify. The alleged victim, however, refuses to testify or lodge an official complaint. The three senior PMO officials who took her ‘unofficial complaint’ to the Attorney General now find themselves in a rather uncomfortable position: they believed that had they acted correctly in reporting the woman’s ‘complaint’ of alleged harassment, but the woman on whose behalf they acted now refuses to back them up. Kind of like a damsel in distress calling for a knight on a white horse to come to her aid, and then jumping off the back of the horse while he’s not looking, taking his sword with her. Those in Eshel’s circle who believe that the three acted out political considerations in an attempt to besmirch the powerful bureau chief now have some ammunition for their claim. The three seemed to have jumped the gun and gotten themselves embroiled in a personal relationship between Eshel and R, a relationship whose real depth and complexity is yet to be ascertained. They have also made an enemy of Eshel, Netanyahu’s right-hand man and close confidant of the Prime Minister’s influential wife. In the meantime, Eshel has retained the services of one of the country’s most fearsome lawyers, and has taken a ten-day leave of absence. If and when he comes back to the ofice, it is highly unlikely that these five people can continue to work together in harmony. God knows for how long they haven’t been working harmoniously together. At the end of the day, this is what concerns me. Assuming R’s complaint is validated, Eshel will have to be removed. If she’s lying, she’ll have to be removed. If she’s lying, Hendel, Locker [whose brother Harel Locker is PMO Director General], and Hauser will look rather silly. Eshel will probably be vindictive. And in between all of them, Netanyahu, trying to run a country…

Secondly: Today’s Cabinet Communique from Sunday’s cabinet meeting carried this following statement:

“Today, we will begin a discussion of historic significance in the State of Israel, on the construction of a railway from Tel Aviv to Eilat and from Eilat to Ashdod. The former will be for passengers; the trip will take approximately two hours. It will, of course, link up with the periphery in a way that has not been done up until now. The latter route will be for shipping freight from Asia to Europe, which will create a very great interest on the part of Asia’s rising powers, China and India.”

Are you kidding me? The idea of a train linking Eilat to TLV has been discussed for years. It’s even been on the Interior Ministry’s National Planning Authority’s books for years. So why would the government say:

“Today we will begin discussion of historic significance for Israel, on the construction of a railway from TLV to Eilat and Eilat to Ashdod”?

Has it not been discussed before? Strange. There must be a deal in the works…

Apparently, the government has signed, or is about to sign, an agreement with China to build the line. If we actually allow the Chinese to build it, then it may actually happen. They know how to get things done. But I’m not so optimistic. Ten years ago a different cabinet under a different Prime Minister promised a train line between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem by 2009. Then 2011. Then 2016. Then 2021. And now the Transportation Ministry says work on it will start in 2017. Similarly, for years people have been talking about a rail line between Eilat and Ashdod, that would take cargo, dropped off at Eilat port, onto trains to Ashdod port and from there out to the world on ships. Egypt earns about $10 billion a year off taxes from the trade at the Suez Canal. Turkey, Cyrpus, and many other countries in our area are developing their ports so that they can get a bite out of the world shipping trade in goods. But our ports in Haifa and Ashdod are small, and at the mercy of strong unions. The idea to outfit Eilat port to receive a large volume of international shipping from the East has also not gotten off the ground. Let’s see how this develops. At least we’ve had our first ever cabinet discussion on the matter…

Thirdly:

Pursuant to Article 11 of the 1975 Government Companies Law, the Cabinet approved a plan to raise capital for the Israel Electric Corporation.

In other words, the price of electricity is going up again, this time by some 7%. Last summer’s socioeconomic protests targeted the market concentration and monopolies in Israel. The government even established a committee to tackle monopolies, but, for some reason, the Electric Corp has not been touched. Its employees earn the most out of anyone in the public sector, and there is no competing company delivering electricity to Israelis. So in effect, “raising capital” for the IEC just means raising the price of electricity again, while doing nothing to diversify the energy sector.

Fourth:

The Cabinet decided to increase the rate of participation in the labor force and the rate of employment in order to improve the growth potential of the economy and reduce the level of inequality and social gaps among the Arab, Druze and Circassian populations; to increase the employment rate of people with disabilities; to step up the enforcement of labor laws; and to encourage the employment of single parents.

This is all fine and great. But there’s a rather large elephant in this communique: increasing the rate of participation of the ultra-Orthodox sector in the workforce. When I see this line in a Cabinet Communique I’ll know that the government is taking the secular middle class seriously, and not just pandering to its religious coalition partners.