Last week I was vaccinated against the corona, along with others over 60 in Jerusalem. The experience was remarkably normal. There were no queues, there was no pressure at all. Polite and efficient young people guided us through the process. There seemed to be more health workers than vaccinated.
My wife Sarah and I arrived early: as Sarah put it, this is Israel, things are flexible here. And they did. Our names were marked on the list, and within minutes we were done, even before the time allotted to us. We did not even have to pay any commission.
It was one of those Israeli moments of pride, of knowing that I did the right thing four decades ago when I entrusted my future and the future of my family to Israel. This was the Israel of Operation Entebbe and Operation Solomon, an Israel that surprised the world and most of all itself with its capacity for greatness.
It is a country that cares for its citizens in ways that are sometimes amazing. The assistance it provides to the elderly and people with physical disabilities is one of the best in the world. Our universities regularly appear on the lists of the best educational institutions in the world, and tuition is minimal.
It is a country that cares for its citizens in ways that are sometimes amazing. The assistance it provides to the elderly and disabled is one of the best in the world. Universities regularly appear on the lists of the best institutions in the world
One of the reasons why Israel receives such a high score in the UN “happiness index” is that Israelis know that they live in a country that not only demands of its citizens extraordinary sacrifice but also honestly earns this right.
And now Israel is on its way to becoming the first country fully vaccinated, the first to defeat the corona virus. If all goes well, we may be a strong society by Seder night. We have proved once again that when we focus on a task of national importance, nothing seems to be able to stop us.
But there is another Israel, an increasingly dysfunctional state, which has lost the most basic confidence in its leadership, whose democratic institutions are under attack, and now, in the midst of a plague and the worst economic crisis in decades, is strangely dragged into a fourth round in less than two years , Which evokes cynicism and despair, especially among the younger generation.
A country whose ruling party, the Likud – which was once a cornerstone of Israeli democracy, with talented politicians driven by a spirit of public service – is now ruled by demagogues and charlatans, Israel’s ugliest face.
The Likud – which was once a cornerstone of Israeli democracy, with talented politicians driven by a spirit of public service – is now ruled by demagogues and incompetent people, Israel’s ugliest face
Alternative Israel is among the few countries in the world that are on their way to a third closure, caused by a “unity government,” whose decisions are driven not by public considerations but by petty politics.
A government that responds to the ultra-Orthodox in its mass violation of health regulations, and imposes sweeping closures on society as a whole instead of focusing on the ultra-Orthodox localities where there has been the most severe outbreak – a policy that many Israelis pay for in their livelihoods.
An irresponsible government that boasts of its diplomatic achievements by allowing thousands of Israelis to fly to Dubai and bring back with them the next wave of Corona.
Israel’s two faces are embodied in Prime Minister Netanyahu.
He is the most talented leader and the most destructive politician, who has brought unprecedented normalization agreements with four Arab states and left scorched earth in the rule of law.
He is the most talented leader and the most destructive politician, who brought unprecedented normalization agreements with four Arab states and left scorched earth in the rule of law
His vigorous leadership brought about the corona vaccines; His corrupt politics brought us to the brink of corona destruction. He is the architect and metaphor of our best and worst impulses, of our determination and of our laxity.
In the past, when his behavior was just arrogant, with a vague scent of corruption, value seemed to be worth the price. But in recent years he has violated the most sacred norms, removing any moral restraint from Israeli politics.
When Meir Kahana first spoke in the Knesset in 1984, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir left the plenary hall in protest; Netanyahu offered Kahana’s ideological successors a place in the coalition.
Netanyahu seems to have lied to everyone about everything, so publicly and so shamelessly that his most sacred promises are perceived as a punch line of a joke.
It is no coincidence that the politicians who are trying to overthrow him are mostly from the right, including his closest allies. The educational damage that Netanyahu’s political cynicism causes to the new generation is immeasurably great.
It is no coincidence that the politicians who are trying to overthrow him are mostly from the right, including his closest allies. The educational damage that Netanyahu’s political cynicism causes to the new generation is immeasurably great
But perhaps Netanyahu’s greatest sin is breaking the fault lines that divide society and inciting a tribe against a tribe. Although he barely remained a leftist in Israel, he labeled his opponents as “leftists,” while encouraging those close to him, especially his son, to incite against the “traitors.”
He described the Arab citizens exercising their right to vote as a threat to the state (“Arabs are flocking to the polls”). He accused politicians from the center of plotting to ally with Arab politicians in a conspiracy with terrorists – then courted Ra’am, the Islamic Party.
Danger of self-destruction
On the one hand, Israel is a strong society, perhaps the most powerful in the West, with a patriotic and highly motivated Jewish public, strong family ties and friendships and a solid national ethos for which many risk their lives. And yet, we are also a fragile society, divided between many social and ideological cracks.
I immigrated to Israel in the summer of 1982, at the beginning of the First Lebanon War. It was the first and only war that not only did not unite us, but divided us. Israelis shouted at each other in the streets: Traitor! warmonger! Reservists would end the period of service and then join demonstrations in front of the Prime Minister’s House.
My Israeli trauma is that of a nation that could not unite even as its soldiers fought on the front lines. I have learned not to take our national cohesion for granted.
We are a society made up of immigrants who came from a hundred postcards, with a large number of conflicting ideas about the meaning of why we are here, as well as about how the challenges that threaten us should be managed. We are controlled by a coalition system, because it is the only possible hostel to all the ideas that differ from each other regarding the desired character of the state.
We are a society made up of immigrants who have come from hundreds of postcards, with numerous conflicting ideas about the meaning of why we are here, just like about how to manage the challenges that threaten us
Seven decades after its establishment, nothing is decided – from the borders of the state to its identity. Have we returned to normalize the Jewish destiny, to be with all the nations, as Zionism promised, or to realize the dream of a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation”? What are the boundaries between a “Jewish state” and a “democratic state”? How to absorb into the mainstream in Israel the two societies – the ultra-Orthodox and the Arab – that exist in its periphery?
The great fear we carry from ancient times is from the danger of self-destruction. We are a nation that has known sublime moments of solidarity and moments of depression of brotherly murder.
We stood together before Mount Sinai, in the words of Rashi, “as one man with one heart.” And as the Romans tightened their siege of Jerusalem, we burned each other’s barns and killed rival leaders. “And they shared the emotional path that led us from existential fear to relief from euphoria to fear, as we stood with the paratroopers at the Western Wall.
And on November 4, 1995, a religious Jew assassinated the Chief of Staff of the Six Day War.
The government in Israel needs a person who knows how to manage the difficult disputes between us wisely, heals and does not incite. Netanyahu has become a threat to our ability to be a united nation in its diversity.
The government in Israel needs a person who knows how to manage the difficult disputes between us wisely, heals and does not incite. Netanyahu has become a threat to our ability to be a united nation in its diversity
It is tempting to make comparisons between Netanyahu and Donald Trump. Both have trampled on sacred norms, widened the fault lines in the societies they head, incited group against group, questioned the legitimacy of entire categories of citizens.
And yet, at its best, Netanyahu was an authentic representative of the Israeli ethos: a bereaved brother of a national hero, an eloquent defender of Israel in the international arena, the first leader to warn against a nuclear Iran, while boldly challenging the international community. An educated, thinking, even brilliant man – in some ways Trump’s antithesis.
Netanyahu’s deterioration is an Israeli tragedy. In the trial that awaits him on corruption charges, I sincerely hope he proves his innocence, for his sake but also for ours. We have already sent one prime minister to prison, and the disgrace of sending another one is unbearable.
So Mr. Prime Minister: Thank you for the corona vaccines and the other impressive achievements that have earned you our gratitude. Now, in the name of all that is holy to this people: go.