Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.

  -- Albert Einstein

A great example of Einstein's thought is in the news right now. Two separate news items that show good things being killed by bureaucracy.

It was recently announced that IKEA will be building a new branch near Eshtaol, just outside Bet Shemesh. Besides for the increased shopping opportunities, this will also provide many jobs for the people in the entire area.

Sure enough, this has hit a snag with Moshav Eshtaol locking up the progress with a lawsuit claiming the first rights to buy the land. You can get all the details of the real estate dispute in the Globes article on the topic.

It was also recently announced that the USA will be moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14 of this year, as part of the celebrations of Israel's 70th birthday. This is really symbolic as they will be converting the US Consulate in Jerusalem to the embassy while they begin planning construction of a new embassy building. The current embassy building in Tel Aviv will become a consulate.

Israel has been looking forward to such a gesture fr such a long time, and it is finally here, only to be held up and possibly delayed by red tape. As TOI reports

According to the report on the Hadashot TV news outlet, the Americans want to build a three-meter wall around the site and pave a new road from the site, among other changes. However, the site’s current zoning status does not allow for such changes.
Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem reportedly sent a letter to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, warning that if the construction work was not granted an immediate exemption and the red tape wasn’t cut, the planned embassy move on May 14 would be at risk.
“The process of requesting an amendment to the existing outline plan is expected to take a long time, and will not allow completion of the work on the date set for the embassy’s move,” wrote Rotem. “Without these works being completed, the compound will not meet the mandatory requirements of the State Department for the American Embassy.”
Approving the zoning changes requires a meeting of the National Council for Planning and Building. However, the proximity to the Passover festival, which begins on March 30, may make it difficult for the body to convene.