Yesterday, I listened to a feature on the Israeli news, pointing out how social legislation has no place in the current Parliamentary timetable in Israel’s Kenesset, due to the hard rush to push ahead with changes in the judiciary.

Another item that just is not on the current agenda is the budget. In fact the only budget that has been passed in last five years in Israel was that of the previous government. That is the same government led by Naphtali Bennet and Yair Lapid, who have blasted as incompetent by the only other Prime Minister in the rest of this same period, Binyamin Netanayhu.

For all the uproar of the legislation to reform or wreck (depending on your viewpoint) the powers of the judiciary in Israel, the economy has appeared to remain robust so far. Unemployment has remained low. Inflation has far less than in other leading OECD countries. For all the controversy in America, Israeli banks are highly profitable.

Netanyahu likes to present himself as a capable leader, supported by a capable team.

Yes, his Minister of Foreign Affairs did imply that the Bank of Israel should yield some of its independence. The mini-run on the shekel was halted when Netanyahu effectively censured his guy.

And Bezalel Smotrich, the Minister of Finance, has invested several days this week in America. His initial comments on raising a Palestinian village (which he has since partially or maybe fully retracted) ensured that any possible meetings with American Treasury officials were cancelled. And his meeting with influencers in the banking community have evidently been of a muted quality.

What the verbal spin of Smotrich and Netanyahu cannot hide is that there are heavy clouds forming. New home sales are down sharply, as is mortgage taking. Leading institutions are lining up to issue warnings of higher financials risks due to the changes in the financial system. And shopping malls are reporting a sharp downturn in sales on Saturday nights – a usually popular time in the winter months – as hundreds of thousands take to the streets in protests!

Some financial legislation is going through. There is to be a new law to allow senior politicians, such as Netanyahu, to receive money from people of influence. Another law will enable Arie Deri, twice convicted of financial offences, to become a minister in the government. (He has been slated to take over the finance position in a rotation agreement with Smotrich.) And of course, the budget – whenever it is passed – will secure vast extra sums for ultraorthodox communities to study all day but not work.

No help for the middle classes. No help for the self-employed sector. No known plans to investment in industries.

Yesterday, 14th March, many of the big shakers and movers of the Israeli economy met with the President Herzog. The core message: Halt this progress to hell.

Netanyahu is rightly credited with setting up many of the conditions that enabled the Israeli economy to blossom in the first two decades of the 21st century. In his own desire to stay out of the courts of justice, Netanyahu could also receive the credit for destroying that previous achievement in a two year decline.

Beware the Ides of March.