Vision and Goals

General

The purpose of this document is to define the vision of The Movement, its goals, the principal means for carrying them out, and to highlight the key targets for 2015. The Movement’s goals and the specific means for achieving them will be detailed in each individual department’s work plan. However, the principal targets and means are presented below.

The Movement’s Vision

The vision of The Movement is to lead and promote a political culture in Israel that is based on the values of democracy, the rule of law, proper administration, and quality government.

The Movement’s Goals – General

Fighting against corruption, unethical behavior, abuse of power, conduct that is illegal or without authority, and improper administration by governing authorities — whenever such offenses are committed by public servants, those acting with the backing of the law, and those disbursing public funds. Our aims are to prevent, correct, and warn against such behavior.
Ending the detrimental ties between private wealth and government that harm democracy, the economy, and society, and provide fertile ground for corruption.
Protecting public assets (public funds, public land, natural resources, etc.) and public interests.
Encouraging normative and proper government administration—establishing and improving behavioral norms among elected officials and civil servants.
Implementing democratic norms and values, the rule of law, and proper public administration among government authorities, public bodies, and the public in general.
Increasing transparency and promoting free public access to information, knowledge, and awareness.
Strengthening civil society as a basis for advancing the quality of government by increasing transparency and awareness—factors which promote public discourse and active citizenship, and deter civil disobedience.
Promoting of and educating towards democracy, humanism, tolerance, public dialogue, and avoidance of verbal and physical violence among different social classes and political persuasions.
Supporting public and judicial battles against injustice on a civil, financial, health, or other level in which government authorities, agencies, or corporations, or other public bodies are responsible or are involved.
Protecting law enforcement agencies and the judiciary—especially the Supreme Court—in their struggle for proper administration and ethical behavior.
Boosting regulatory processes and agencies: encouraging and improving methods of decision-making and opposing short-term and inappropriate influences and considerations.
Strengthening and instituting both internal and external means of supervision by local authorities via the Ministry of The Interior.
Bolstering the power of the State Controller and the lookouts in the various government authorities: Strengthening regulatory processes and the follow-up on the promised correction of deficiencies in government agencies and the carrying out of the recommendations of critical reports.
Encouraging the exposure of corruption and protecting whistle-blowers.

Means For Achieving The Movement’s Goals

Strengthening the Movement: Adjusting the activities of the Movement to current challenges and bolstering the position of the Movement as a central and significant force in civil affairs.
On the Legal Front: Legal battles, including petitions to the Supreme Court as well as to lower courts; appeals to the Attorney General, to the State Comptroller, to the Police Ombudsman, and to any other official authorized by law—in order to achieve the Movement’s goals.
On the Civil Front: Public information campaigns, protests, promotion of public discourse—via social media (among various means).
On the Media Front: Harnessing the different communications media to our battles and to revealing information and exposing corruption; carrying out public information campaigns via the print and electronic media.
On the Legislative Front: Supporting the advancement of laws which establish norms; initiating proposals for laws that further the Movement’s goals; monitoring the progress in the passage of relevant laws in the Knesset.
On the Research Front: Collection of information, investigation, research, analysis; development of findings and conclusions; formulation of our official views and position papers; initiating our own conferences and participation in others’; cooperative projects with academic bodies and research institutes.
On the Educational Front: Educational activities in court clinics, among the general public, in schools, and in other State and public educational institutions.

Key Goals for 2015 and the Means of Accomplishing Them

After 25 years of activity, the Movement is recognized as a significant and prominent organization in Israeli society. In the course of this year we will act to maintain and even increase our current membership while broadening our public information campaign as follows:

Marketing and Public Relations: Making the activities of the Movement more visible to the general public.
Increasing the membership to 20,000 dues-paying members.
Increasing the number of Likes on Facebook to 140,000. We will promote public campaigns via social media, which in recent years has become a central strategic tool for the Movement.
Increasing our presence in the media: Raising the number of articles about us by 25%.
Strengthening the Movement’s new website and building a website in English.
Increasing our co-operation with other non-government organizations.
Broadening our public information campaign by approaching new audiences, forming student groups, and holding conferences and study days in different regions.
Setting up and maintaining an organizational archive by—among other means—creating a data-base.

Preventing improper influences on the distribution of public assets and concern for maintaining said assets by setting up clear criteria. This will be done with full transparency and under supervision and democratic control including:

Initiating class-action suits; derivative suits, and actions that will promote significant citizen participation.
Battling against faulty disbursement of government budgets and monitoring of their actual disbursement.
Struggling to ensure the rights of the public to the country’s natural gas deposits, especially in view of the flawed private-ownership license-arrangements which have created a monopoly.
Battling against the manufacturers who have created a failed, non-competitive market leading to a high cost of living.
Establishing a mechanism for public regulation of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael) whereby use of the organization’s billions of shekels is directed by the public for societal benefit. The affairs of the organization must be conducted with full transparency, with mandatory publication of full audits, and with exposure to the review of the State Comptroller.
Obligating the Tax Authority to levy and collect income taxes from the wealthy, from public officials, and from underworld figures—who have been investigated or indicted for suspected bribery and/or breach of trust. Likewise, in the case of individuals in possession of large amounts of money inconsistent with their salaries as public officials. In addition, the Tax Authority must be required to examine thoroughly the financial affairs of rabbis with cult-like followings and of various other religious organizations in order to prevent money-laundering.
Battling against faulty government regulation, especially in the case of The Israel Lands Administration and The Housing and Construction Ministry, both of which are causing the high cost of housing.

Strengthening the status of The Knesset vs. The Government: Bolstering democracy and the control over the executive branch of government.
Strengthening the role of local council members: Bolstering democracy and the control over the conduct of local authorities.
Battling to neutralize the impact of lobbyists and influence-peddlers upon government actions: To ensure that government decisions are based on legitimate considerations.
Establishing norms for cooling-off periods following government service and struggling against the practice of regulators leaving government service and taking jobs with the very companies they previously were in charge of regulating.
Initiating exposure of information: In order to increase transparency and as a tool for correcting flaws.
Preventing improper government tenders for hiring workers and for obtaining services.
Guaranteeing honest elections: Raising awareness of the importance of electing ethical and worthy candidates; preventing election fraud; and battling against corruption during election periods.