A weekly comment on whats going on
We are looking in from the outside this week, as we are enjoying the Alps with its tranquil views where, the problems of both the Middle East and Ukraine seem a world away.
The news of course filters through and it makes you wonder how a country like Israel that fought so hard for its birth, and paid a terrible price in blood could now be facing so much internal strife.
A nation that gave the world so much: in mathematics, science, technology,medicine and defence finds itself unable to navigate its own internal affairs and has fallen into an unprecedented crisis.
Bibi was a talented and determined politician who led the country well for many years but now he is the one who is bringing this impending disaster onto the whole country, with his relentless bid to stay in power, regardless of the cost and despite the vile options that he must take to form a government.
Supporters of the governments reforms quote the British judiciary system with its two chambers, in which the Lords are selected by the outgoing leader and sit together with the hereditary Lords. This in itself is not particularly democratic, but due to the numbers, the House of Lords does have a reasonable cross section.
What the supporters of the reforms in Israel neglect to mention is that the proposals would take away the right of the Supreme Court to throw out new laws that go against basic laws and the basic rights. The House of Lords in the UK is not a servant of the House of Commons and they may direct legislation back to the government if it is not in line with current legislation and breaches human rights.
Already in Israel, we have seen the Chief of Police sacked by Ben Gvir, for apparently not being harsh enough on the protesters. The fact that tens of thousands can protest peacefully without looting and rioting is something that Israel should be proud of, not something that the Chief of Police should be sacked for allowing.
Whether or not one agrees with the protests is not the question, but that people have the right and that the security forces behave in such a way that people are not injured or killed.
The enemies of Israel are smelling the division and discontent and are now bold enough to send Hamas operatives into Tel Aviv to open fire on innocent civilians in the main Dizengoff area, injuring 3 people, one who is critical.
These incidences are much more likely while the security services are having their attention diverted to the protestors and the whole situation is doing so much harm.
The President is appealing to the government and the protesters to re-think their positions. There are some changes that are needed to the Judiciary to bring Israel into line with other major democracies, but they must done slowly with dialogue, not like this and not in a way that awards government absolute power. We all know the dangers of absolute power.
No one knows the true extent of Iran’s race to nuclear capability, but we do know their intentions, so it is imperative that Israel pulls itself together and finds a new way forward before our external enemies catch us with our “pants down”. It is likely Russia who is being supplied arms by Iran are promising nuclear knowhow in exchange.
The newly hashed out Saudi /Iran deal is dangerous for Israel as we need Saudi on side and this will probably halt Bibi’s plan to normalise ties with Saudi. Instead of trying to pass unpopular, non democratic judicial reforms , the government would better serve Israel by concentrating on the regional threat from Iran that may just grow with Beijing,Russia and Saudi in the mix ! Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called it “a fatal blow in building a regional coalition against Iran”.
Israel lost one of its greatest exports this week with the passing of Chaim Topol. He was world renowned for his life long role as Tevye the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof. While his acting career was his most famous, he was also a philanthropist : the founder of Variety Israel for children with special needs and he was chairman of the board of Jordan River Village, which ran a year round camp for Jewish and Arab children with life threatening illnesses. He was a great ambassador for Israel and we all feel sad about his passing.
Despite all the problems in Israel and a slight fall in the shekel Israel’s credit rating remains excellent at A+. We just need everyone to calm down, for the government to enter into negotiations and dialogue over the proposed reforms, to focus on the real threats to Israel and for Bibi to urgently rein in those ministers whose mouths are damaging the support Israel has from outside.
Shabbat Shalom