Regaining and retaining power at all cost – the sad saga of PM Benjamin Netanyahu

By Stephen Schulman

A short while ago, I finished reading TRUTH TO POWER Three Years Inside Eskom by Andre De Ruyter in which he describes his three years as CEO of South Africa’s national power utility: a giant corporation with 40,000 employees. The book does not make for pleasant reading, for in it De Ruyter details his unsuccessful attempts – that almost cost him his life by poisoning – to overcome the tidal wave of chronic corruption, plundering, criminality, cronyism, nepotism, indifference and incompetency that turned the once national pride into an almost non functioning entity saddled with a colossal debt.

The plight of Eskom is a mirror image of South Africa today: a country that is unable to provide basic services and security for its citizens. It is a failed state with a horrific crime rate, ruled by a party riddled with corruption that sees itself indivisible from the country and is prepared to pay any price whatsoever to stay in power. Reading the book is a sobering experience for its lessons are twofold: learning about the causes that made a country turn into a failed state and raising your awareness of those same factors that might be affecting your own.

Israel, my home for more than half a century, is a far cry (thank goodness!) from present South Africa, but I could not help reflecting on the current state of affairs and discerning certain alarming parallels. The ANC (African National Congress), the backbone of the anti-Apartheid struggle has been in power since Apartheid’s demise in 1994 and its leaders have come to regard political power as their patrimony.

 Unfortunately for our country and its citizens, Benjamin Netanyahu heading the Likud party sees himself in the same light. Before returning to power in 2022, furious at being consigned to the wilderness of the opposition, he and his political allies of other opposition parties adopted a policy of willful obstruction to destabilize the government, vilifying the prime minister, harassing and intimidating its members. Throwing all restraint to the winds in their eagerness to bring its downfall, they demonstrated their utter contempt for the welfare of the citizens. It did not matter that they voted against and torpedoed bills that were beneficial for the country: openly declared, what was important for them was to regain their rightful seats at all costs and by any means, no matter what.

Netanyahu returned to power after the November 2022 elections by forming a coalition with United Torah Judaism and Shas: the two ultra-religious parties and Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit, and Noam: extreme right wing, nationalistic and messianic. All of the coalition partners had one thing in common: a lack of interest in the general good, the furthering of their own narrow interests and squeezing as much as possible from the public purse no matter if it caused a budget deficit. To stay in power, Netanyahu acceded to all their demands.

The resulting feeding frenzy and his desire to satiate them all including his own party functionaries – whose main qualification appears to be a talent for sycophancy and toadying – noisily clamouring for a seat on the gravy train, has resulted in a triumph of accommodation, creativity and ingenuity: a clumsy, bloated cabinet of 31 ministers and deputy ministers, so that each full meeting resembles a typically overcrowded classroom. Israel now has ministers with ministries that it never knew it needed! Most of them are superfluous and their portfolio holders are ill suited for their – or any post – and often with authority that overlaps with other ministries.

Just to name a few: The country is saddled with a Minister of Public Diplomacy (whatever that is!), a woman notorious for her foul mouth and blind devotion to the prime minister and his wife. The National Security Minister with past convictions of public disorder, incitement of racism and support for a terrorist organization now oversees the security of the citizens. The arrogant Minister of Finance has no fiscal background and is more concerned with his own sectarian interests, neglecting the burning issue of inflation while the Minister of Housing – a member of the ultra religious- coalition has a dubious background of honesty and transparency.

Netanyahu returned to power under a dark cloud of his ongoing trial with indictments for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. When a predecessor was indicted for bribery and breach of trust, Netanyahu condemned, called for his immediate resignation and backed the integrity of the court. However, in his own case, in a display of brazen hypocrisy and pure spin he sang an entirely different tune: loudly proclaiming that he was as pure as the driven snow and the victim of a sinister leftist conspiracy not just to unseat him, he, the anointed Benjamin, but the whole right wing government from power. He launched an unrestrained assault on the police, judiciary and state attorney, besmirching, vilifying and accusing them of lack of integrity. Now in power, he has come back with a vengeance to destroy the organs of government and democracy and nullify his trial.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu of destroying the soul of my country.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu that in your self seeking haste to avoid facing trial, you have abandoned all scruples and are dragging the State of Israel into the abyss of dictatorship,

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu of shredding the social fabric and destroying the cohesiveness of our society. You have fomented hatred between the different communities by labeling and stigmatizing those that are not for you as “Ashkenazi leftists” who are against the country and have encouraged intolerance, division and violence. In deliberately setting brother against brother, undoing the social ties that bind our country, you have created deep rifts between all. You have sinned unpardonably.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu of poisoning the social discourse and lowering it to a nadir. You have encouraged and cultivated a culture of rudeness, intolerance, disrespect, insult and verbal violence where common courtesy has long been extinct. You have long surrounded yourself with followers whose foul mouths, threatening behaviour and grossness is simply breathtaking. The latest example of one of your sycophantic ministers threatening, insulting and mocking the attorney general is a disgrace. It is the behaviour of a backward juvenile delinquent and yet this is the same man entrusted with a key position in the cabinet! Furthermore, you have used your son as a proxy to libel, denigrate, slander, spread poison and harm not only those who speak against you but their families as well. Your silence is clearly one of assent.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu of creating a culture of extravagance, profligacy, greed, avarice and rapaciousness that has become the norm. You and your family cultivate multi-millionaires and demand and accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from them. To hide the shameful action from the eyes of the public, you then resort to code words for the gifts of cigars and champaign and have them clandestinely delivered in inconspicuous packaging to your back door. Is this the behaviour of a prime minister who should serve as an example to his citizens? Should not the prime minister as a public servant, serve as a role model of moral integrity and high ethical standards by refusing to accept gifts? Tragically, you fail to see your behaviour in such light. You have even attempted to pass a law (for the present shelved) that would permit office holders and public servants to accept gifts in money and kind. Is this not corruption?

 Benjamin Netanyahu, you and your spouse have long viewed the public purse as your own to carry out extensive renovations at your homes and have demanded and got extravagant perks for yourselves. I cannot forget the words of your wife Sara who when some years back was criticized for ordering extravagantly expensive catering (at the taxpayers’ expense) for the bar mitzvah of your son. She was quoted as replying:

“If the nation wants Bibi, let the nation pay.”

The country for the first time in many years is experiencing inflation but one of the first items of priority the finance committee placed on the agenda after you were elected was to devote a long session to increasing both you and your wife’s many existing benefits.

Benjamin Netanyahu, you now receive (at this date and not adjusted for inflation!) an updated official clothing allowance of NIS 80,000 per annum: a sum that many wage earners do not even bring home or receive as pensions. I sincerely hope that this will enable you to purchase a few shirts to replace those with frayed collars so your bosom buddy billionaire Melchin won’t have to fill the need or your Sara have to schlep the empty bottles to the local supermarket to collect the deposit to supplement your income as she once did to collect NIS 4,000 shekels on the 13,333 bottles (paid for by the state) that stood outside your kitchen door.

Benjamin Netanyahu, in your desire to emulate the billionaires with whom you hobnob, you happily let the finance committee agree to the purchase of a jet liner then refurbished to your taste and with a present cost and upkeep of approximately NIS 1000,000,000 (one billion shekels). The country’s hospital infrastructure has been so neglected to the extent that it has far trailed the population growth. Consequently, we have the most crowded hospitals in the OECD with an annual death rate of 3,000 to 6,000 patients due to superfluous infections contracted during hospitalization. Does this waste of money that could have been used in hospital construction and the unnecessary deaths of your citizens not unsettle you or does drinking pink champaign blur your vision and smoke from your Havanas obscure reality?

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu of plundering the public purse by creating a huge unnecessarily bloated cabinet of 31 ministers and deputy ministers each with their large staffs, rank with nepotism and cronyism, filled with party hacks and obsequious camp followers that cost the country i.e. us the taxpaying citizens many hundreds of millions of shekels each year.

 I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu, in your self interest, of pandering to your coalition partners and of bearing the responsibility for looting the state treasury by acceding to their demands and allocating them outrageous sums of money thus plunging the economy into a deficit and raising inflation.  You have given the ultra religious sector hugely disproportionate sums to subsidize and incentivize the number of unproductive and unemployable individuals dependent on the largesse of their elected representatives. In so doing, you have simply widened and perpetuated the vicious circle of poverty and done a gross disservice to our country.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu, of not being satisfied with your shoveling of public money to the ultra orthodox sector but also of agreeing to exempt them from military service. In so doing you are creating a country of those serving and being served, in so doing, discriminating against the majority and further deepening the social divide by creating hatred and resentment.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu, of trampling democracy underfoot in our country by neutering the judiciary for your own ends. In the absence of a constitution, the courts have stood as the guardians of basic rights. You and your band of cohorts have now passed a law that prevents them from reviewing the reasonableness of government and ministerial decisions. This retrograde step now allows complete politicization of the public service by obviating the need for accountability and transparency and giving the government carte blanche to appoint public servants whose sole qualification is not their professional competency but their obsequiousness and kowtowing to the powers that be.

With the law in force, the floodgates have already opened with your obeisant lackey the minister of transport appointing a party hack as her bureau head – somebody that the Supreme Court had previously disqualified due to his complete lack of suitability. You, Benjamin Netanyahu, now unshackled will undoubtedly reappoint your long time crony Aryeh Deri – a serial offender and ex-convict thrice convicted of bribery, corruption, moral turpitude and tax evasion – as a key cabinet minister. This is a stain on and shames our country reducing it to the status of a banana republic. To add insult to injury, you have promised him an additional budget of one billion shekels to distribute as food stamps to those he decides are indigent and needy. It is clear as daylight that under him he will create another bloated administrative apparatus tainted with nepotism, cronyism and corruption that will determine the criteria to fund his supporters. Yet another source of taxpayers’ money that discourages the ultra orthodox sectors from working and perpetuates their poverty. 

You, Benjamin Netanyahu have already attempted to politicize the public service by trying to place your appointees, both ill qualified, as governor of the Bank of Israel and head of the Bureau of Statistics: both moves that would undermine their independence, disinterestedness and verity but would serve your interests and thus destroy the faith and trust of the general public in these vital institutions.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu, of further undermining the judiciary by working to change the composition of the selection committee for Supreme Court judges to give the ruling coalition the majority membership thereby determining that your puppets be in place to execute your will – and we all know to what end.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu, of formulating legislation to muzzle the media, smother all criticism and stifle free expression by establishing state censorship – a move unprecedented in the history of the state.

We, the citizens, Benjamin Netanyahu, with our growing concern, live in increasing insecurity as you, cynically, have appointed a blustering ineffectual individual with past convictions of belonging to a terrorist organization and of public disturbance as our Minister of Public Security. The police force is understaffed and thanks to him, demoralized and beset with resignations. Murder in the Arab sector has skyrocketed. There are organized gangs in the Galilee and down south that include extortion and agricultural theft as only two of their nefarious activities. The epidemic of car theft has reached such unprecedented proportions that it has affected our cost of living as the insurance companies have raised their premiums by 50%.

I accuse you, Benjamin Netanyahu, of hubris, by purposely not heeding the counsel of jurists, economists, diplomats, hi-tech leaders and many other prominent citizens from all sectors who advised taking the path of moderation and consensus and the danger of your taking unilateral action with its repercussions. In your arrogance, willful deafness and blindness, you have turned your back on the huge body of responsible citizens (paying taxes and serving in the reserves) protesting throughout the length and breadth of Israel against your rash decisions and so typically and mendaciously blame them for the present situation.

 You, Benjamin Netanyahu, singlehandedly bear the responsibility for bringing the country to the brink of a civil war, having created an atmosphere of insecurity, mistrust, fury, frustration and despair for the future. The enemies on our borders are licking their lips and rubbing their hands in glee.

You, Benjamin Netanyahu, have destroyed in a few months what took generations to build. You carry the responsibility on your shoulders. I urge you to stop, reflect and place the future of our beloved country before your own. Consider carefully and decide wisely for, if not, history will judge you harshly.

About the writer:

Stephen Schulman is a graduate of the South African Jewish socialist youth movement Habonim, who immigrated to Israel in 1969 and retired in 2012 after over 40 years of English teaching. He was for many years a senior examiner for the English matriculation and co-authored two English textbooks for the upper grades in high school. Now happily retired, he spends his time between his family, his hobbies and reading to try to catch up on his ignorance.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Israel cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s comment about “the salad bar” is an echo of “let them eat cake”.

By Rolene Marks

Mention the name Itamar Ben-Gvir and you are almost guaranteed some kind of reaction from Israelis. Some will react with a curse, maybe a rude hand gesture, definitely an eye-roll and a very strong opinion. Few Israeli public figures have ever been as provocative as Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir nor as divisive. Nevertheless, he does have his supporters, albeit in the more far-right camp.

Israel has had right wing governments in the past, but the concern today is not so much that it is right-wing, as it is tilted to the far right, replete with ministers like Ben-Gvir, his Otzma Yehudit co-chairman, Betzalel Smotrich and others. Their views are extreme and they are regarded by Israelis to be racist, homophobic and dangerously provocative.

Comments made by party members have been alarming in the last 8 months, including Otzma Yehudit, Member of Knesset, Zvika Fogel who said in an interview on Radio Galei Tzahal following a fatal terror attack several months ago, “Yesterday a terrorist came from Huwara – Huwara is closed and burnt. That is what I want to see. Only thus can we obtain deterrence.”

“The act that the residents of Judea and Samaria carried out yesterday is the strongest deterrent that the State of Israel has had since Operation Defensive Shield. After a murder like yesterday, villages should burn when the IDF does not act,” Fogel added. Israel’s Attorney-General and police opened an investigation for incitement in response.

The incident went from worse, to well, worse.

Liking a tweet from Samaria Regional Council deputy mayor Davidi Ben Zion that called “to wipe out the village of Huwara today”, Otzma Yehudit co-leader, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Minister of Finance, who was taking part in a financial conference hosted by The Marker business daily, was asked why he had “liked” a tweet.

“Because I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the State of Israel should do it,” Smotrich replied. He added that “God forbid,” the job should not be done by private citizens, condemning the rampage and saying, “we shouldn’t be dragged into anarchy in which civilians take the law into their own hands.”

This man has a major shared portfolio in the Defense Ministry concerning administration of the West Bank.  Our soldiers who follow an impeccable code of ethics could be in a position where they would have to take orders that support his ideological beliefs should certain judicial reforms, like the override clause, be passed.

While Ben-Gvir appealed for citizens not to take the law into their own hands, he also referred to Jewish extremists who carried out a subsequent attack where they burnt Palestinian property as “sweet boys”.

This is the man who once had a portrait of Dr. Baruch Goldstein prominently displayed in his living room and has faced charges of hate speech against Arabs. Israeli-American terrorist Baruch Goldstein massacred in 1994, 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers and wounded 125 others in Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs. Ben-Gvir removed the portrait after he entered politics.

For years, Ben-Gvir was a self-described disciple of the late racist Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose extreme platform called for expelling Arabs and criminalizing sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews. More recently, he has tried to distance himself from some of his spiritual mentor’s views but Israelis remain uneasy with the firebrand who brandishes his weapon of choice – threats to topple the government – if he does not get his way.

He even created controversy decades ago when he clashed with legendary Irish singer, Sinead O’Connor, who passed away last week. In 1997, O’Conner was scheduled to perform in Jerusalem in a concert called “Sharing Jerusalem: Two Capitals for Two States.” The event was set to take place just a few years after the signing of the Oslo Accords. British and Irish embassies in Tel Aviv reported receiving death threats against O’Connor and her family and she subsequently cancelled. After her cancellation, fans and fellow peace activists expressed anger, surprise and dismay — some sealing their lips with black tape and protesting in the streets against Ben-Gvir and his allies.

Incensed after hearing Ben-Gvir, who was then 21, boast in a radio interview that he had succeeded in scaring her away from Jerusalem, O’Connor sent a letter to the Associated Press and other news organizations saying, “God does not reward those who bring terror to children of the world…..So you have succeeded in nothing but your soul’s failure.”

Many Israelis fear that far-right Knesset members have emboldened the extremists with their rhetoric. Six former police chiefs and over three dozen deputy police commissioners recently called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir as national security minister, warning that he poses “a tangible and immediate danger to the security of the State of Israel.” The police commissioner of Tel Aviv Ya’akov (Kobi) Shabtai recently quit, pre-empting being fired for not using enough force against protesters and said he would not seek to extend his term when it ends in January.

“On a personal note, during my term as commissioner, for the past two-and-a-half years, I’d served under three cabinets and three ministers,” Shabtai said. “I have used the tools at my disposal to the best of my ability to preserve professional standards in accordance with protocol. It is no secret that I do not intend to serve a fourth year under these conditions.”

Protesters recently chanted, “Ben-Gvir is a terrorist” when the National Security Minister showed up at a protest in Tel Aviv.

Last week it was, the eye-roll and fury was felt across the country. Following the selfie-taking by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and several others after the highly contentious “Reasonableness Law” was passed in the Knesset, prompting widespread protests and international concerns, Ben-Gvir tweeted that this was the “salad course that builds up an appetite for the rest of the meal”.

Such hubris. Such a vainglorious comment, utterly devoid of any acknowledgement of the real fear and concern 62% of Israelis (according to multiple polls) feel. I could not have been the only person who referenced the French Revolution era comment “let them eat cake” while feelings of anger fomented.

The presence of the far right in Israel’s government has not only been a factor in galvanizing the massive anti-reforms protest movement who are aware of the consequences for Israeli’s economy, security and society but it is worrying diaspora communities and harming the country’s  international standing. Many are asking questions such as how will this affect Saudi normalization plans. This past weekend, the NY Times reports the Saudis require concessions to the Palestinians in order to normalize relations with the Jewish state – concessions hardline right wing extremists would never agree. Defense Minister Gallant, at great potential risk to his position, has called for a national unity government with opposition leaders Gantz and Lapid but excluding Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.

On Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning for Jews, Ben-Gvir ascended the Temple Mount and called for unity.  “On this day, in this place, it is always important to remember – we are all brothers,” the minister said. “Right, left, religious, secular – we are all the same people. And when a terrorist looks [at us], he does not differentiate between us. Unity is important, love of Israel is important. This place – this is the most important place for the people of Israel – where we have to return to show our governance.”

If only his actions matched his words.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Netanyahu’s Israel is becoming unrecognisable with each passing day

By David E. Kaplan

It was light relief; a fleeting moment of illumination before darkness.

A “heartwarming” video clip went viral. It captures a brief respite amidst the tumult and turmoil in Israel, as protesters who are against the judicial overhaul head down the long escalator and meet momentarily pro-judicial overhaul supporters heading up the adjacent escalator at Jerusalem’s Yitzhak Navon underground train station. The caption to the clip describes the moment as “heartwarming” as animated protestors holding diametrically opposed positions on the government’s judicial overhaul, reach out physically to touch hands as the escalators move on – one up and one down – a moving metaphor of a literally touching encounter but going off in different directions. They were returning to their homes in a country that was beginning to feel less like home.

My son Gary, who lives in Tel Aviv, experienced it. He was in the long endless throng of protestors against the judicial overhaul heading down the escalator to the platform that would return them back to Tel Aviv after a day of protesting outside the Supreme Court. “Surreal” is the way he described it.

Separated by less than a metre, “Here we were, opponents, singing different songs, wearing T-shirts with contrary messages, as were our placards, and suddenly, a surprise reaching out – not political, purely emotional!” A spontaneous outreach – albeit fleeting.

Still, it was nowhere close then what their politicians could even achieve!

How could it be achieved when the Prime Minister did not even allow it to be achieved and would later blame the opposition. Before the crucial vote – all captured on film – Netanyahu sat like an impartial referee in the Knesset, as his Defense Minister on his right, Yoav Gallant pleaded for a delay to the vote on the ‘Reasonable Bill” that was tearing the country apart, while on his left, the arch proponent of the bill, Justice Minister Yariv Levin bellowed the opposite.

“Give me something to work with,” pleaded an anxious Gallant trying desperately to stem the erosion of the military by protesting reservist refuseniks,  but it fell on deaf ears. The Nero in Netanyahu let Israel burn as the vote went through 64-0 with a walkout before the vote of every member of the Knesset bar the frenzied coalition of Bibi Netanyahu.

The score, 64-0, bellowed to the world, Bibi won, Israel lost.

The reactions local and global were swift.

Until recently, Bibi was championed as Mr. Economics, “the man who understood money.” That’s history, gone with the destruction of the Second Temple, which is precisely where he is leading the country today. Within hours of the passing of the first bill of the judicial overhaul, Israel’s financial markets tumbled with the shekel hitting a two-week low versus the dollar. Does the prime minister or his cohorts even care when Citibank and Morgan Stanley warn of “major risk to Israeli economy” with Morgan Stanley lowering its credit rating?

They are not showing it!  Is as if we are living in a Stepford Wives scenario that the minds of our leaders  have been taken over and programmed to lead us to self-destruct, while their supporters are delirious with delusion into believing this somehow its “G-d’s plan”.

“The last few months have literally broken the spirit of a lot of people who now don’t believe their future is in Israel,” said Eynat Guez, co-founder of an international payroll company called Papaya Global. “The government is sending a clear message: You’re not welcome here. We don’t care about your future.”

That was exactly the feeling of those who were descending down the escalator and if there was a fleeting moment of light below ground, above ground a day later it was all dark as the front pages of many of the newspapers carried sponsered BLACK front pages.

Where was this leading? Again, we did not have long to wait. “This is only the beginning, there are many more overhaul laws to pass,” voiced danger-man National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to reporters. And in response to the Biden administration’s displeasure at Israel’s assault on shared democratic values, Ben Gvir responded on Army Radio that his Israel – most certainly not mine –  “will only take the good things from the U.S., like arming civilians and using the death penalty against ‘terrorists’.”

Is this Israel even recognizable? Is it any wonder a cartoonist has Herzl vomiting from his Basel balcony.

QUO VADIS?

In response to the message from the coalition Knesset vote, first at the starting block to further lead Israel to ruination was the ultra-orthodox United Torah Judaism party (UTJ). Expeditiously exploiting the cancellation of the “Reasonable Bill”, UTJ proposes a bill that would legislate that studying Torah be viewed “as service to Israel and the Jewish people” with the sole aim  to prevent a future Supreme Court ruling to strike down a new Haredi conscription bill on constitutional grounds. In other words, to avoid joining in with the lesser mortals – the people of Israeli – in defending the country. The UTJ bill would enshrine in law a blanket exemption from military service to students in yeshivot (orthodox leaning institutions) and prevent the Supreme Court – because no longer a reasonable bill protection – from striking it down on the basis of inequality.

The haredi parties had initially demanded an ‘override clause’  in order to ensure that it will be able to override a similar Supreme Court ruling in the future. That now is unnecessary as the Supreme Court would no longer have the constitutional right to strike down such a future law. The spectacle in the Knesset on Monday has brought the country to this iniquitous state of affairs.

With the direction of Netanyahu’s Israel today clear to all, it is only a question of time as this predatory government moves on the West Bank to further annex, speed up housing construction, legitamise illegal outposts and harass the lives of the Palestinian population.  Any possibility of peace will further recede and there will be no Supreme Court to question the “unreasonableness” of this government’s misguided conduct.

If THIS government survives and continues on THIS “March of Folly”, then Israel will not live up to the prophesy of the late Israeli diplomat and esteemed foreign minister Abba Eban, when he wrote:

“Israel’s future will be longer than its past”.

What is more, It won’t be at the hands of the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah  or any of the usual suspects but by our own hand.

I thought it was an injunction of Judaism not to commit suicide!

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

It is not too late Mr. Prime Minister, to avert a catastrophe

By David E. Kaplan

“At long last…” began The Jerusalem Post’s editorial on Joe Biden’s long-awaited invitation to Israeli PM Netanyahu. A somewhat discoloured welcoming hardly redcarpet and no mention of White House, and listening on i24NEWS at the time when the news broke, the invitation sounded awkward – unclear on when and vague on venue. It was kind of like “when you are next in town, lets catch up.”  There was not even a hint of “swinging over” to the White House.

Clearly to avoid embarrassment on a number of levels, the feeling-somewhat-marginalized Israeli prime minister wanted ‘some’ invitation out there before Israeli president, Isaac Herzog touched down in the States for his meeting with Biden at the White House to be followed with an address to both Houses of Congress.

The optics was clear – it was not Israel being snubbed; on the contrary – it was  being joyously welcomed on the occasion of its 75^th anniversary – it was its president, Isaac Herzog. And for good reason thought much of the people of Israel who would prefer their PM instead of visiting the White House in Washington, to rather retire to his own house in Caesarea.

There is disbelief that this once immensely respected prime minister, this surmounter of challenges, would transform into an instrument causing such national disunity and dissent. The day following the “invitation”  was the ‘National Day of Resistance’ as mass anti-judicial reform protests convened at railway platforms, highways and intersections – metaphors for a country ‘on track’ and going places.

Joining the multitude of voices warning of the country now going in a wrong direction is someone top-of-his-game in ‘Smart mobility’, Israeli computer scientist and businessman Prof. Amnon Shashua. The company he cofounded and which he remains CEO, Mobileye was acquired in 2017 by Intel for $15 billion and hailed then as the largest acquisition of Israeli technology in the country’s history. Netanyahu, who had a hand in creating hi-tech’s miraculous milieu back then, now has a hand in unraveling all those achievements  with forecasts of a recession due to reactions both local and global to his government’s planned judicial overhaul.

If in 2017 Netanyahu could say to Shashua the day after the monumental deal that “This is a day of rejoicing for the economy of Israel,” not today!

Titling his article in the online news platform Ynet “Netanyahu, stop the judicial overhaul – It is not too late”, Shashua writes that  although the prime minister received a mandate from the majority of Israelis, that mandate did not include “to alter the face of the nation.”

The Mobileye CEO prefaces his position with:

“I am not a political person. Since the government declared its intention to promote judicial reform, I believed with all my heart that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom I deeply respect, would ultimately do the right thing. This belief was also based on meetings and lengthy discussions with various relevant parties. However, unfortunately, I am no longer convinced of that.”

What Shashua is convinced of is that:

“In order to make significant changes in the fundamental principles of our legal system, we must act with a broad consensus that does not differentiate between right-wing and left-wing stances. Such essential changes, like interfering with the independence of the judiciary and its involvement in governmental decisions, concern all of us, regardless of our political positions. We should not approach such legislation with a one-sided and biased approach.”

Warning it is essential to remember “that today the public officials in power represent the right bloc; tomorrow, they may be representatives of the left,” hence “We must seek consensus. If reaching an agreement is not possible, the process should be stopped. It must be stopped.”

Reminding that in the business entrepreneurship world “a CEO of a company that destroys its values is held responsible, regardless of who or what caused the destruction of value,” Shashua sadly laments that  this clearly is not the case in Israeli politics.  Despite the immense damage to Israel’s “security, economy, foreign relations and social cohesion,” the Netanyahu coalition is not deterred displaying recklessness at the erosion of cherished values.

Shashua concludes “all that remains between us and this dangerous change with unclear implications is the citizens of Israel themselves.”

Hence the protests and why they will continue and intensify.

A kindred spirit is Tel Aviv-Yafo mayor Ron Huldai who renamed on Monday 17 July the city’s famed Kaplan intersection  – the epicentre of the anti-judicial overhaul protest movement  – “Democracy Square”.

“There are two reasons why we decided to rename this intersection ‘Democracy Square,” explains Huldai in a press release. “First, in the State of Israel’s 75th year, it has become abundantly clear that democracy is not to be taken for granted. We want to remind ourselves of that. Second, we want to acknowledge the tireless resolve of those who have gathered here for 28 consecutive weeks in the spirit of democracy. What is more beautiful than coming together in pursuit of common, unifying values? We hope that in the future, years after this threat to our democracy has dissipated, this will serve as a tangible reminder of a period in our nation’s history when thousands of people came together with determination and perseverance to fight for the values outlined in our Declaration of Independence — the values that comprise the foundation of the society we want to live in and want our children to thrive in.”

The resounding message to the prime minister and his coalition is:

STOP! Stop this frenzied assault on democracy before it is too late.

Will future generations lament this chapter in our history or rejoice like in the story of Purim of how we averted a catastrophe of our people. This choice is in your hands, Mr. Prime Minister.

It is time for you to resume running instead of ruining the country.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

As Bibi’s ‘’reasonable bill’ advances in Israeli Knesset, country retreats into the abyss

By David E. Kaplan

If the US is reassessing its relationship with Israel’s leadership, they are only following the example of the citizens of Israel.

When some 300 reservists in cyberwarfare units issued a letter on Tuesday saying they would not show up for volunteer reserve duty after the Knesset okayed the first reading of a bill to eliminate the High Court’s ability to rule on the “reasonableness” of government decisions, it exposed a gaping wound in Israeli society explaining the shocking but not surprising rebellion within the ranks. When defense minister Yoav Gallant ‘shot’ back at the protesting reservists saying they were “giving a prize to our enemies” he was missing the most important point:

 that a sizable resilient chunk of Israeli society now see the current government as the “ENEMY”.

The cyberwarfare reservists were following in the wake of the nearly 200 Israeli Air Force fighter pilots – some of whom “conducted covert Israeli operations” – who too are refusing to continue serving as reservists in protest against the government’s proposed judicial overhaul that they see as an assault on their country’s democracy. This new, never before phenomenon is literally chipping away at Israel’s armour –  because an angered people have been awakened and see what Gallant fails to see that this extreme right-wing government  is now the ‘Enemy of the People’.  If Bibi and his gang – albeit elected –  succeed in their pursuit, staying out of jail for the prime minister is the least of the people’s concern. What is existentially worrying is if this government succeeds in passing all their rotten bills it will be the end of the vision that most Israelis share of a liberal democratic Jewish state.  And THIS is what is worth fighting for. This is why the reservists are threatening not to serve and why the people en mass have enlisted to fight this government week after week now entering its 28^th week.

And the people protesting are in good company. Given that the government could pass key legislation aimed at radically overhauling the judiciary within days, former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit who had been appointed to this position by Netanyahu in 2016, warned as well this week – that the country stands on the “brink of dictatorship.”

Mandelblit, who was once a close confidant of Netanyahu and served as his cabinet secretary from 2013-2016 before being appointed attorney general, said on Channel 12 that the proposed legal overhaul was “not reform” but “a revolution, regime change. It’s a complete change of the DNA upon which we grew up, and the upshot is the elimination of the independence of the legal system from end to end.”

And like before the Rabin assassination, once again the warning signs are there.

“The bitter divide over the planned overhaul,” continued former attorney general Mandelblit, “will lead to violence…..and somebody or some people will pay the price in blood. That’s what will happen.”

This is the state of our State that Netanyahu has brought upon his people who he once so admirably served and now threats are there to serve him.

I cannot go anywhere today whether to my physiotherapist, hairdresser, a funeral or paying a condolence call without engaging in conversation about the “matzav” –  Hebrew for the situation. I believe it is the same for most people for what is more important today than our future tomorrow? 

And the message from the US could not be clearer. By inviting the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog to address next month the US Congress, while still not extending the customary invitation to Israel’s prime minister to visit the White House, is a reassurance  that the much talked about widening rift  between the US and  Israel is only between the US administration and the Netanyahu government – not the people of Israel. This will be visually affirmed to the entire world watching on TV when the members of both Houses of Congress, rise repeatedly on their feet to give rousing ovations to  President Herzog. The people of Israel will also be on their feet  as they again and again will take to the streets across the country to protest until this nightmare comes to an end.

Let’s end the nightmare of Netanyahu so we can return to the dream of Herzl.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

It’s getting suffocating, Israelis need to attack the country’s issues, not each other

By David E. Kaplan

Every Saturday night, while walking amongst hundreds of flag-bearing protestors towards Kfar Saba’s main square, we are met with the same solitary individual bellowing expletives from his first floor balcony.

His animated harangue – mostly incomprehensible – is interspersed with loud outbursts of devotion to “King Bibi”, a sentiment for the Israeli prime minister certainly not shared with the throng of protesters below.  

This ‘Balcony Scene’ plays out like a weekly ritual with little change – he shouts, a few protestors in the crowd shout back; mostly he is ignored, a lot laugh. Some invite him to jump!

Amusing and sad, this tragi-comic scene is a microcosm of the nature of the division and the discourse today in Israel, and that it crosses party lines is hardly an equality to be proud of.

During a shouting match in Knesset in January 2022, Yesh Atid’s Merav Ben-Ari called  Ofer Cassif of the  the Jewish-Arab Hadash party a “misogynistic racist and Israel hater,” to which he responded by calling his female counterpart a “hen”. Such parliamentary eloquence!

While protesters to the judicial overhaul have unjustly likened Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the prime minister has behaved little better, maliciously equating the legitimate protestors in support of Israeli democracy with the Jewish settlers who in a revenge attack, torched a number of Palestinian villages. Extremists destroyed homes and cars with one Palestinian 27-year-old man shot and killed.

And as for Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir who is gung ho to deal harshly (“zero tolerance”) with judicial overhaul protestors, and about whom former police chiefs warned poses “a tangible and immediate danger to the security of the State of Israel,” has called the settlers who rampaged and torched Palestinian villages:

 “sweet boys”

Each day the divisions widens and the discourse becomes more disquieting. From the politicians to the people, the nature of engagement is characterised by more screaming than talking and so avoiding getting down to exploring a national consensus on fundamental issues that could prove more protective in safeguarding this nation’s future than a squadron of new generation fighter planes. Yes, we need to always increase our arsenal as we are responsibly doing by ordering the latest 25 F-35s from the U.S. but at the same time we also need to responsibly create a sustainable society based on consensus polices that can provide security and prosperity.

BUILDING BLITZ

Top of the list dividing this nation is the “settlement enterprise” or alternatively the “Two-State Solution”, the latter which the Prime Minister Netanyahu endorsed in his 2009 Bar Ilan speech and which is now unravelling for being “unviable”.  Maybe so maybe not but it needs to be seriously part of the national conversation. Instead we see a Netanyahu frustrated at his judicial overhaul blocked by unrelenting protestors, paying off the extremist wing of his coalition with annexation coin. Hence the Israel cabinet approved a resolution to speed up the process of constructing buildings in Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank).

“For Israel to continue to thrive, it must continue to build,” says the mayor of Mitzpe Yericho, a religious West Bank settlement located 20 km east of Jerusalem. While the mayor’s sentiment most likely is not shared by a majority of Israelis, like the bulldozers that one day will prepare the ground, this coalition will bulldoze its policy of frenzied construction, regardless of the consequences.

Where is the national conversation that this is what we should be doing?

FOR GOD’S SAKE!

Then there is the issue of the Haredim, who some argue are a bigger threat to Israel than Palestinians or Iran. The rapidly expanding Haredi state-within-a-state’s current dynamic cannot continue on its current trajectory without eroding Israel’s brittle tenure as a Western-style democracy as well as sustain its impressive per capita income rivaling top European economies. How and when will this be resolved?

All these issues demand to be nationally addressed in the present and not like the proverbial can kicked down the road, again and again, by successive leaderships.

Its frequently said about the Palestinians that “there is no partner” or “there is no one to talk to”. Over the last disastrous six months of this government tempestuous tenure, this could apply to us Israelis:

 “there are no partners” and “no one to talk to”.

As I write,  Israel’s opposition were up in arms  of the vote that took place in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee led by MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) approving the controversial “reasonableness standard bill”. Calling it a “one-sided and oppressive move that harms the citizens of Israel and tears apart the people,” opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid and National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz said in a joint statement that the bill was intended not to defend citizens but to defend politicians.

There were protests preceding this vote and there will be a lot more following it.

In going forward, we should remember the line, whose source is uncertain but whose message is clear:

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”

Future generations are depending on us – we have a responsibility to behave responsibly.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Can one open the page of an Israeli newspaper paper without wanting to instantly close it?

By David E. Kaplan

Now into the 24^th week, “Why are you still protesting?” is the question increasingly asked. Over and above the persistence of the Netanyahu government’s injudicious judicial overhaul, you only have to open the papers nearly every day to either sigh or grunt – with embarrassment.

Top Jewish Canadian philanthropist, Charles Bronfman the co-founder and major sponsor of the Taglit-Birthright programme, had it right when he recently said regarding the Netanyahu coalition:

“…There are some guys in there that shouldn’t be in any government anywhere…”

And yet there they are, making outrageous and dangerous statements that are published locally and then republished abroad.

Take the following as reported on 21 June in The Jerusalem Post. Once again Tally Gotliv makes news – bad and embarrassing news, which she seems to be perfecting. Fresh out of her role in the recent Judicial Selection Committee vote fiasco, she tweeted following the horrendous Palestinian terrorist attack leaving four innocent civilian Israelis dead. Exploiting this tragedy for her extreme right-wing agenda, she writes:

“I am uncompromisingly right-wing. Wherever a terrorist comes from, the whole place needs to pay. Collective punishment.” 

“Whole place?

She explains:

 “Killing terrorists isn’t enough. It’s heroic and brave, no question, but it’s not enough.” 

No, not enough for Gotliv;  what needs to be done for this member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party is that not only the terrorist’s home should be destroyed but his or her hometown should suffer collective punishment. That should send shivers down any Jewish spine. It reveals – irrespective of one’s politics – why the country is so divided? This expression of Gotliv’s thinking is not an aberration – it’s her mindset! And it’s a mindset shared by others in the Netanyahu coalition.

Earlier in the year, she blamed the High Court’s chief justice Esther Hayut for a terror attack in which three Israelis were killed. On a tirade tweet she wrote on February 12, 2023 :

 “I blame the High Court Chief Justice for the terror attack. I blame her for the feeling of chaos amongst the people of Israel, I blame her for the destruction and severe damage to democracy and the rule of law.”

Is it any wonder Gotliv wants to undermine the High Court when she has so little respect for it that she can outrageously blame its Chief Justice for the murder of Israelis?  Is it further any wonder that Gotliv put her name forward as a candidate to serve on the Judicial Selection Committee only so she could destroy it from within?

Is she not precisely a character who Bronfman was referring to when he said:

 “shouldn’t be in any government anywhere…”?

This is precisely why Israel needs not a restricted – as preferred and proposed by Netanyahu’s coalition –  but a robust Supreme Court. If for no other reason, the country needs it no safeguard minority rights that are being increasingly threatened.  On the same day as Gotliv’s outrageous statement, Haredi MK Yitzhak Pindrus said that if it were up to him, he would cancel not just the pride marches in the country, but also get rid of the whole LGBTQ movement.

According to this United Torah Judaism MK, the LGBTQ community is the most dangerous risk to the State of Israel.

In an interview with Channel12, he said:

“The most dangerous thing for the State of Israel, more than ISIS and Hezbollah is the LGBTQ+ community,” and that “If it were up to me, I would prevent not just the pride march but also the whole movement.”

In other words  you have a member in the coalition believing and publicly expressing that homosexuality is a threat to Israel’s national security! It is more dangerous than Hezbollah that seeks Israel’s destruction and in concert with Iran, is a constant threat on Israel’s northern border? One would be inclined to dismiss this as ‘crazy talk’ and ignore but this man enjoys a crucial vote  in the Knesset and is exercising it to literally ‘take down’ the Supreme Court.  Reflect on what he said on Israel’s 2023 Independence Day in May at the Nehora high-school yeshiva in the Mevo Horon settlement north of Jerusalem. Participating in a panel debate with Religious Zionist Party MK Simcha Rothman, who together with Justice Minister Yariv Levin are spearheading the devious judicial overhaul:

“You know what my dream is? To bring a D9 [bulldozer] and blow up the building.”

Not content for his coalition colleagues to find more subtle ways to destroy Israeli democracy through the “judicial overhaul”, Pindrus wants to literally demolish the building that is the physical embodiment of that democracy!

When confronted afterwards by reporters, Pindrus said he had no regrets about what he said but that he spoke “in humour” and that his critics overreacted.

Really? That the character of Israel’s future is a laughing matter?

Is it any wonder that Bronfman said:

 “…There are some guys,” in Netanyahu’s government “that shouldn’t be in any government anywhere…”.

To the question “Why are you still protesting?”, nearly every day brings news of the need to continue protesting and with more vigour.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Life in Israel is complicated, its politics even more so

By David E. Kaplan

The Thomas Edison quote “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,” could have applied to Israeli politics unfolding in the Knesset on Wednesday the 14th. There was little to inspire coming from the governing – somewhat of a misnomer –  coalition’s shenanigans, but it did have much of the country perspiring in anticipation.

It was a day  to be attired in togs and towels rather than suits as people  from the prime minister down literally looked like they were sweating.

In the early morning’s buildup,everyone knew something big was happening  – possibly about to explode – but people were sketchy on the specifics. The next day articles appeared in papers under such headings as the following which appeared in The Jerusalem Post:

 THE JUDICIAL SELECTION SAGA EXPLAINED

While it was unfolding in real time, those less au fait with the complex procedural details asked others, who were frequently met with:

“It’s complicated ……”

What was a vote for two positions on a committee had Israelis across the country glued to the news; calling or texting each other for updates or explanations and with half of them ready with their unfurled flags at their front doors ready to take to the streets in protest. Let it be said that the vote was for no ordinary committee but for the all-important Judicial Selection Committee which stood at the core of the protests over the governments assault on democracy with its judicial ‘reform’ – another misnomer – hence the more favoured usage of ‘overhaul’. And with threats coming from all directions if their expectations based on understandings or promises made with the Prime Minister were not met, the stage was set for another societal implosion. That left the PM to skillfully engage in his Machiavellian maneuverings and as the morning passed into afternoon with no announcement of results of the voting, the tension mounted. Maybe the PM was this time losing his touch; less “skillful”.

At midday we heard ‘Road 2’ was blocked, only to learn that it was not to do with protestors but a “suspicious object”.

What was transpiring in  the Knesset was far more ‘suspicious’!

If the hallways of the Knesset are characterized by twist and turns, so to were the twists and turns of the drama playing out within this parliamentary labyrinth. It could be described in one word – intrigue!

The Great Bard had it right with “All the world is a stage” –  as people have roles to play in life just as actors do in the theatre – and there were quite some talked about – others best forgotten -performances. In the starring role was the inimitable prime minister who was juggling egos and agendas of the likes of Levin, Rothman, Ben Gvir and in her first major starring role, Likud MK Tally Gotliv, which turned out disastrous for her and hopefully her future in politics. There were a host of others in cameo roles but that was a side show.

Adding to the plot – which became quite comedic as even newsreaders were speculating after 3 hours of vote counting  “How long does it take to count 120 votes?”  In fact not even 120, as a few MKS were traveling abroad! Clearly, folk were speculating that they were delaying revealing the results for fear of an unpredictable fallout.

In the nail-biting finale, the result was unexpected. It did not go according to Bibi’s design of a no vote for both candidates – Tally  Gotliv and the opposition Yesh Atid candidate, Karine Elharrar  which would have resulted automatically with a fresh vote in 30 days allowing Bibi his most precious commodity – time. Time allows him to contort and contrive, but it was not to be because although Gotliv received a paltry 15 votes and was predictably out, the huge surprise was that Elharrar received a whopping 58 votes that meant that 4 members of the Prime Ministers Likud Party deserted and voted for the opposition candidate. There would still be another vote in 30 days but the opposition had won the day and awaiting Israeli flags remained unfurled at front doors – there were to be no protests on the 14th.  

The Likudniks who broke rank was the most talked-about twist and turn sending a strong message to Netanyahu. This follows the earlier major expression of defiance within the coalition of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant‘s public criticism in March, when he warned that the judicial overhaul legislation posed a “clear and present danger” to Israel’s national security. That message now resonated in the inner sanctum of the Likud on Wednesday 14.

Speaking at a conference at Reichman University in Herzliya, Yesh Atid party chief, Yair Lapid said:

“What we saw yesterday in the Knesset vote was the beginning of a new Israeli alliance. From the chaos and mayhem and lies, an alliance has been created that no longer deals with right, left and center — but rather with an attempt to safeguard the State of Israel.”

Those coalition MKs who went behind the screen and voted in favour of MK Karine Elharrar “did not switch parties nor receive any promise,” said Lapid. “They did it because they are decent people and are no longer willing to be part of the mechanism destroying Israeli society. I am full of respect for this.”

He added further that:

 “We will keep working with them to ensure the well-being of Israeli democracy. Some of them are telling us: ‘Even in an open vote, we won’t cooperate with anything that damages the State of Israel. We weren’t elected to the Knesset to serve the extremists’.”

Is this a portend for the future. Is Bibi’s support within the Likud for the controversial judicial overhaul severely eroded?

This would appear to be Lipid’s thinking when he added:

“This alliance is the future of the country. A patriotic, liberal, decent, incorrupt majority that acts to boost security, to lower the cost of living, to create a constitution, and most of all — that is determined to ensure that this nation won’t be torn apart.”

Can not argue with these aspirations.

Should this take root, Israelis in their thousands across the country could start making alternate plans for their Saturday nights!

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).