During the war, the government established the Nagel Commission to examine the needs of the IDF and provide it with the resources and authority needed to fulfill its missions. This was an important recognition that victory requires not only courage but also systemic preparation and proper budgeting. But where is the Nagel Commission for the civil service?
The simple truth is that winning a war requires more than just a strong military – it also requires a strong home front, and that begins with effective civilian systems. When rockets fall on Tel Aviv and Haifa, when residents of the North and South are evacuated from their homes, and when the economy must absorb hundreds of billions of shekels in war costs – it is the civil service that stands on the front line of the civilian struggle.
A blurring of the lines
The past couple of years have shown that the boundary between the front and the rear has blurred. The evacuation of 150,000 residents from the North and South is a complex logistical operation requiring coordination among dozens of authorities and organizations.
Setting up radars and shelters, operating alert systems, ensuring continuity of electricity and water supplies, maintaining roads under fire, and providing educational solutions for children – all these are tasks performed by the public service under extreme pressure. Yet, while we honor the bravery of soldiers, we often underestimate the work of those who keep society functioning as a whole.
Israel’s public service suffers from productivity levels approximately 18% below the average. The OECD has recorded a 40% drop in demand for integration into the public service over the past five years, even as thousands of positions remain unfilled. When war broke out, the very systems we had neglected were suddenly required to operate at peak capacity.
This story repeats itself across the country: local authorities forced to operate with reduced manpower, government ministries required to develop innovative solutions with outdated mechanisms, and public servants bearing double and triple workloads. The system has withstood some of its tests but at a heavy organizational and personal cost. Can we rely on it in the next emergency?
Modern wars are decided not only on the battlefield. Victory depends on a society’s ability to maintain resilience, stable economic functioning, and quality services that make citizens want to stay and fight. In the North and South, the challenge is not just to bring residents back, but to return them to thriving communities with excellent educational systems, accessible healthcare, and a high quality of life.
Making public service a priority
The civil service is the engine that drives the economy, which in turn funds the military. Fast and efficient licensing processes, advanced transportation and communications infrastructure; these are our economic tools of war.
When licensing a new business takes six months instead of two weeks, it undermines our economic capacity to sustain an advanced military. Studies show that in prolonged wars, the society that prevails is the one that manages to maintain the proper functioning of its civilian institutions. Britain in 1940 was not saved solely by the Royal Air Force but also by a public system that managed to maintain morale and keep society functioning under German bombardment.
It is time to make the public service a priority. Just as the Nagel Commission examined how to strengthen the IDF, we need a strategic initiative to strengthen civilian systems. Just as there is a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and security, there should also be one on the public service.
The challenge is that strengthening the civil service neither generates dramatic headlines nor brings votes in elections – it is a long-term process, full of small details and lacking in heroic imagery. In short, it is precisely the kind of issue that elected officials tend to avoid.
Civil service wins wars
Reforms in the public service have already been formulated; some have been tried, some have changed, but for the most part, they are of little interest to decision-makers. The public service receives attention only when it fails, and is ignored when it succeeds. It is time to change this perception.
We need to start talking about department heads in government offices the way we talk about brigade commanders, and about emergency dispatchers the way we talk about fighter pilots. This is not just a matter of justice – it is a matter of national security.
A society that does not respect the systems that sustain it will fail to attract the best people to those systems. A society without quality public systems will not be able to withstand a prolonged war. Victory in the next war will be determined not only in the skies over Iran but also in government offices, in local authorities, and wherever the civil service shoulders the burden of the nation.
The writer is the executive director of Tashtit, an organization that works to promote a professional and effective public service, and a member of the leadership team at Eco Gov, a multi-sectoral group of organizations working to strengthen the public service in Israel.