'Nothing but the truth' is not a politician's motto, nor is the Talmudic premise that people don't lie about matters that will eventually come to light a principle of certain people in our times.
This is perhaps because the definition of 'people' has changed drastically in recent generations. The lack of shame is perhaps to blame. Even people who are aware that they are lying, as well as cognizant that they will be revealed to all as liars, does not prevent them from brazenly uttering falsehoods and deceptions, perhaps out of an involuntary reflex or the hope that perhaps, after all, the truth will not emerge.
After such an introduction, we shall relate to the subject which concerned the public this past week, namely the price rise of dairy products. The present Israeli government promised to fight against inflation of the cost of living, and yet, during its tenure, the basic price of dairy products has drastically skyrocketed. A true failure.
Head of the Opposition, Yair Lapid, declared in a public message: "The rise of milk prices is another fiasco of the government's fight against inflation. Where is the money?" His colleague in the previous government, MK Oded Forer from Yisrael Beitenu, who served then as Agricultural Minister, can point a finger that government actions have a direct dramatic effect on food prices, and that the government doesn't do a thing about it. He added that Betzalel Smotrich, Treasury Minister, knew already in January that milk prices were expected to rise but didn't do anything to prevent it.
Reporter Guy Zohar wondered about this and asked: "How was the Treasury Minister supposed to know about the expected rise of milk products?"
He provided an answer as well: Apparently, the government signed an agreement with farmers in the previous June (under the previous government), after which the prices rose then by 'only' 5%. The agreement signed then with the Milk Authority during the Lapid-Benet government was when Forer was the Agricultural Minister.
Instead of a gradual rise, the agreement was that "an update of prices under government supervision from May 23 will be automatic." Understood? The agreement signed by the Lapid-Benet government with the Milk Authority determined that the price would be updated automatically in May — namely in this present secular month, without the need of any intervention with the price rises. Thus, Smotrich already knew in January that the prices were about to escalate. However, there was nothing he could do to prevent it because the previous government had already signed an agreement precluding any intervention.
How much chutzpah is needed in order to blame the present government for an act that was purely to be blamed on the previous government? Only to rely on the short memory of the public and to fail to expect that an energetic reporter would expose this blatant lie.
