Why National Leaders Can Go Against Expert Advice - by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen

...while experts can warn about the risks entailed by anticipated friction, it is the prerogative, indeed the duty, of the national leadership to decide how to confront that friction and make the most of its strategic potential. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” David sang in Psalm 23. This is the test of leaders, who make a conscious choice to enter the valley of the shadow of death even when their advisers warn against it. Of course, because it is they who bear the ultimate responsibility, their people and history will judge them by the outcomes of their actions.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen..
BESA Center Perspectives No. 568..
24 August '17..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/leadership-advice/..

The decision by PM Netanyahu and the Israeli cabinet to adopt the police recommendation for the installation of metal detectors at the gates to the Temple Mount following the murder of two police officers at the holy site sparked a wave of media criticism, which gained rapid momentum as the Palestinians responded to the decision with violent protests. The question heard more and more was how the prime minister could have ignored the warnings of the Shabak (Israel Security Agency) and the IDF against the detectors’ placement. It was as if a contractor had ignored an engineer’s recommendation for the quantity of iron that was needed for the casting of a roof.

It is of course quite natural for concerned citizens to demand to know how government decisions are made. This is a basic issue in managing state affairs, as is the tension between the political echelon – which has the legal authority to make decisions – and the professional echelon. The fundamental question is to what extent national leaders are obligated to follow the recommendations of their professional advisers.

Member of Knesset Tzipi Livni likened the government’s ignoring of the Shabak’s recommendation to ignoring a physician’s advice. But what does one do when one has to decide between opposing medical opinions? Even in relatively simple medical situations, like, for example, a slipped disc, a patient can be torn between one doctor who recommends an operation and another who warns against one.

Sometimes, though, the vacillation has to do with a range of considerations far beyond the clear-cut domain of medical science. One quickly discovers that, while there are indeed technical questions that are entirely within the authority of experts, when formulating a decision and managing risks, not everything falls under the experts’ aegis.

When it comes to managing policy in conflict situations, leaders have a unique role in that they bear the burden of responsibility. If they did not have to make decisions that go beyond what their professional advisers recommend, they would be reduced to little more than their experts’ puppets. Israeli history is fraught with tests of leadership, and in many cases, decisions were made that flew in the face of expert opinion.

It was David Ben-Gurion who time and again stressed that experts were only experts about what had already happened, not about what was going to happen. As early as April 1948, a few weeks before the state of Israel was proclaimed, Ben-Gurion briefed his political colleagues on tensions with the military leadership concerning the battle for Jerusalem:

If you ignore it, it won’t go away.

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
19 August '10

For years many Jews in Israel’s North and South considered the “problem with Arabs” to be isolated to Judea and Samaria. Terrorism, theft, rape happened “over there”, not in “my neighborhood”.

Separating themselves from the heartland of Israel, many of those living “inside the line” thought that themselves different. The “Green line” became more than an ink mark on a map, it became a cause, a wall, a place not to go, not really the state.

Boy, did that back fire!

Those who harbor an elevated intellect and intelligence realize that there is no difference between the Jewish people who live on either side of the line, that all are part of Jewish history and heritage and Israel today. Mind you the same goes for the Arab residents, except for the part of Jewish History and heritage (then again, their views regarding the erasing of our presence and history here are pretty much the same).

Over the past two and a half years I have been working with various security and emergency projects in the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley as Director of Security Projects for One Israel Fund. I am proud to say that there has been much progress. Terrorists and thieves have been caught trying to infiltrate communities, standards in Emergency and Medical response rose to new and admirable heights, lives have been saved, Jews have been protected, Thank Gd, and we have been making progress and will continue to work hard to achieve even more.

Recently I have been turned to from communities from the Galil, from the Negev, the Dead Sea region, all looking for the same type of assistance and guidance we have been providing to Judea and Samaria. They all came to me with the same horrendous stories, theft of land, livestock, produce and more, farmers being beaten, infrastructure being destroyed… all while “Israel” sleeps.

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