Schlaglicht Number 10/23, Latest News from the Israeli Press, May 16-31, 2023

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Main topics covered in this Publication:

1. Protest Against the Budget Decision
2. Danger on Multiple Fronts
3. Flag March on Jerusalem Day
4. Selection of Articles

1. Protest Against the Budget Decision

It's lifestyle that pits Israelis against Haredim, not the budget

(…) The current protest against the budgets for ultra-Orthodox education is growing in a different climate than before. Thanks to judicial reform, the social issue in Israel is reopened, and so is the issue with ultra-Orthodox society. (…) It's not just about funds. (…) the struggle as such, (...) questions the legitimacy of ultra-Orthodox society and its way of life. The (…) protests against the ultra-Orthodox and the rise of hatred toward them even before the budget issue made headlines (...): Is the ultra-Orthodox way of life not legitimate in Israel in 2023? (…) Someone who is legitimate – we engage in dialogue with them; someone who is not legitimate - we protest against them. And against the ultra-Orthodox, we protest. (…) From our perspective, the commitment to the Torah, its study, and the observance it entails come as a package deal with its promises regarding the land. (…) We wouldn't want a country where everyone sees, thinks and lives the same way. Diverse opinions are what make the world more balanced. (…) One can perceive extreme ultra-Orthodox individuals as easy targets for hatred, but it is also possible to offer an alternative view: to see them as an important voice that opposes the erosion of values, rejects boundless permissiveness, and seeks to preserve Jewish identity out of unwavering faith that without a firm foundation, it is difficult to build the future. In the face of extreme Western ideologies that undermine the familiar order and create confusion, they provide a counterbalancing conservative force. (...)

Yakov Plevinsky, YED, 17.05.23

How Many Engineers Will Come Out of Israel's Yeshivas?

In 2022, 1,993 students graduated from the Israel Institute of Technology (the Technion). (…) All these graduates join the generations that preceded them – all products of Israel’s higher education system – constituting the spearhead that has until recently made Israel an economic superpower, among the world’s leaders in scientific and technological innovation. (…) What is the Technion’s annual budget? (…) Around 1.1 billion shekels ($300 million), allocated sparingly by the Planning and Budgeting Committee of Israel’s Council for Higher Education, currently headed by Education Minister Yoav Kisch. (…) And now we’ve been informed that the religious and ultra-Orthodox parties will be handed coalition-controlled funds amounting to 13.5 billion shekels, mostly for religious purposes. 13.5 billion shekels is an amount that can fund 13 research-oriented universities, with the market clamoring for thousands of engineers, scientists and doctors. The public currently waits many months in order to see a specialist. (…) much of this fantastic budget is wasted on the “education” and preparation of hundreds of thousands of children for life in the Middle Ages, for criminally inexcusable penury and ignorance. They will continue to rely on others who work for a living for all their needs, including housing, health and social needs. It’s doubtful that the knowledge pupils acquire in Haredi schools can be used for the development of new drugs, media satellites, cyber defense systems or an Iron Dome. (…) This is highway robbery (…) lethargic negotiations are underway in an attempt to find some compromise in the attempted judicial overhaul. This is a pointless waste of time. (…) even an agreement on the composition of a Judicial Appointments Committee for the Supreme Court will not save the country from the robbery and from the conversion of Israel into a Third World Country by the current government. (...) Our existence here is under threat, and anyone with eyes in their head, worried about not just their children’s fate, but their own fate, must demonstrate and protest using any available means against the fire deliberately ignited in this house.

Aaron Ciechanover, HAA, 22.05.23

Netanyahu’s Counter-Productive Decision

A day after former finance minister Avigdor Liberman warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would grant ultra-Orthodox parties in Israel grotesquely excessive subsidies in the interests of keeping his coalition intact, Netanyahu proved his point. (…) Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, (…) announced that such funds from the state budget would in fact be channelled to haredi yeshiva students and their families. That Netanyahu surrendered to this pressure (…) means that haredi school children will not be expected to take secular subjects, all of which would prepare them for the modern workforce. (…) Netanyahu was thinking of only himself rather than the intrinsic interests of the state (…) If the haredim cannot join the labor market, they will pay a heavy price. Their chances of earning a decent salary will all but vanish, consigning them to further economic impoverishment. (…) This kind of crass political selfishness goes hand in hand with myopic thinking. Israel surely deserves a prime minister who can see beyond his own nose.

Sheldon Kirshner, TOI, 23.05.23

Netanyahu's Government Is Creating a Parallel Israeli State

(…) in front of our eyes a (…) monstrous coup continues to develop. Its foundations rest on changing the face of Israeli society by constructing a new demography. Its poisonous roots lie in the budget that presents two disastrous goals, even more dangerous than the overthrowing of the legal system: doubling the number of settlers, and feeding the Haredi bulimia. Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich this month ordered government ministries to prepare to absorb another 500,000 settlers in the West Bank. (…) Given the billions of shekels the government is scattering, Smotrich’s commitment seems to have a solid basis. Funding for this exalted project will come from the pockets of those who create the revenue for this country – business owners, high-tech workers and salaried employees, and at the expense of the poor and underprivileged, the educational system, which already ranks at the bottom of Western achievement scores, and the collapsing health system. The result will be that the settlers will hold enormous and much more dangerous political power that they already do. (…) once their power has doubled they will determine the content for the educational system, dictate the national narrative, empty out towns unable to cope with their lack of funding when more worthwhile alternatives are offered instead on the hills of the West Bank, and turn Israel inside the Green Line into their printer of money. (…) This will be just one leg of the demographic coup; the other is already rooted deep in the Haredi educational institutions, where unrestrained parasites are developing, most of whom do not even recognize the State of Israel. (…) This is no longer just a battle over the character of the regime, it is a war of survival. If Smotrich’s plan is realized, about 25 percent of Israel will be Haredim and settlers – and not in 20 years, but in two to three.

Zvi Bar´el, HAA, 23.05.23

Can there be more than one Israel?

A new survey published in Israel reveals that about half of the Jewish public in Israel believes that splitting Israeli society into two autonomous states is possible. (…) the survey does show, (...) how divided and splintered Israeli society really is (...). As a practical idea, two autonomous Jewish states cannot happen because the division would be between secular and orthodox Jews. However, the orthodox Jews cannot sustain a state on their own without the help of the secular part of society, primarily in the economic aspect. At the same time, the secular part of society will not be able to maintain a separate state because its social cohesion relies on denunciation of the orthodox Jews. If it receives its own state, without orthodox Jews, the fragmented secular society that is currently united against the religious would have nothing to keep it together and would shatter into countless pieces. (…) our only hope of solving our problems is by embracing the differences between us and using them for the common good. (…) And the only way that we can ever deal with our mutual aversion is to accept the differences, embrace them, and then contribute each sector’s unique qualities for the success of Israeli society in its entirety. (…) Our entire history, we have been persecuted, expelled, and murdered almost to extinction. It is time to stop running from ourselves (…).

Michael Laitman, TOI, 24.05.23

Israel's Liberal Camp Will Pay for Its Hatred of the Haredim

(…) The Haredim and their leaders are partly, but not wholly, to blame for this. The fact that among the secular liberal public, there is hardly a shred of sympathy, understanding or compassion left for them, despite their terrible poverty, should seriously concern them. (…) This is ostensibly their greatest hour, a time of unlimited funding and legislation to their liking, a time when the government is dependent upon them for its survival. Their leaders are grabbing as much as they can get. Opportunities like this don’t come around every day. (…) Demography may be on their side, but that doesn’t mean they are invincible. Being a hated community, even if that community is a large one, is no simple thing. This hatred will blow up in their face one day, and they could pay a heavy price for it. (…) The main issue is their mass unwillingness to work. (...) This can no longer be excused or explained. (…) Already, one hears no compassion for their poverty, and any mention of it is considered heretical. (...) perhaps there are some among them who will also ask, as they should: Why are we so hated? What part have we played in causing this hatred? And is there any way to lessen it, even just a little?

Gideon Levy, HAA, 25.05.23

Netanyahu’s Cabinet Ministers in Race to See Who Is Most Fascist

The sixth Netanyahu government is beginning to look like a totalitarian caricature. (…) the government (…) has become the main stage of incitement in the spirit of the national inciter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Knesset plenum a hothouse for stupidity. The attempt to equate waving the Palestinian flag with supporting terrorism is in itself incitement. The Palestinian Authority is neither an enemy state nor a terrorist organization. (…) the flag has been flown in the Knesset and at every possible diplomatic platform. (...) The fight against the Palestinian flag is therefore aberrant, ungrateful and detached from Israeli and international reality. (…) Tel Aviv University, Prof. Ariel Porat, warned (...) that if the bill is passed, “actual McCarthyism will be created on campus: Students will follow one another to determine whether some word or another justifies suspension.” The mere act of debating this fascistic proposal is a stain on the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and on Israel. Its proper place is in the trash can, and the place of those who propose it is outside of the Knesset. Not a day goes by without this government reminding us why it is important to continue the protest with full vigor.

Editorial, HAA, 28.05.23

2. Danger on Multiple Fronts

Israel's Targeted Assassinations Are a Poor Substitute for a Strategy

(…) targeted assassinations (…) in the wake of the second intifada, when Avi Dichter was leading the Shin Bet (...) became very widely used. Hundreds of militants were assassinated by a variety of methods, and the latest technologies were incorporated in the effort – such as drones and, later, suicide drones. (…) But Israel has never determined whether targeted assassinations are an effective policy that serves a worthy purpose, or merely the result of a desire for vengeance. (…) The first and only attempt to seriously address this issue was by a subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee following the failed assassination attempt of Hamas official Khaled Meshal in Amman in 1997. (...) Much of its report (...) remains classified. The committee, as well as outside experts, appear to have basically agreed that assassinations, particularly outside of Israel, are only appropriate in exceptional circumstances. (…) From one operation to the next, as Israel’s frustration mounts, so does the blind faith and stagnant thinking that targeted assassinations will solve the problem. For some ministers and security chiefs, targeted assassination have become the ultimate method and a substitute for a real strategy.

Yossi Melman, HAA, 17.05.23

Hezbollah's show of strength: From provocations to potential war

Operation Shield and Arrow was a resounding success. The defense establishment and politicians got the credit they deserve, but we must keep things in proportion and remember that this was a confrontation against Palestinian Islamic Jihad, our most "convenient" enemy, without Hamas getting involved. The real concern is a war in Lebanon against Hezbollah. (…) we may want to think twice before belittling them. There has been a significant improvement in the capabilities of Hezbollah's ground units, especially the elite Radwan force, which now has operational experience in Syria. Apparently, under Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's guidance, these forces have now been deployed to the border with Israel. This is a very conspicuous offensive move, signaling that they are merely waiting for the order to infiltrate. (…) The prevailing assessment in the IDF is that although Hezbollah is more audacious and willing to take risks, it does not plan to engage in a full-scale war. The expectation is of "days of battle," but it is difficult to predict exactly what they will entail. (...)

Yossi Yehoshua, YED, 23.05.23

Israel Prepares For A Possible War on Several Fronts

In years past, Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, a powerful terrorist militia on Israel’s northern border, has been a deterring factor in Israel wanting to directly confront Iran. But, as Iran gets closer and closer to having enough enriched uranium to build several military grade nuclear weapons, Israel’s determination to stop Iran, at any cost, has increased. Iran’s mission remains to annihilate Israel, while obtaining regional hegemony. (…) Hezbollah’s arsenal of 70-100,000 missiles pointed at the Israeli home front, has caused Israel’s defense ministry to exercise restraint. The price of a confrontation with Hezbollah, is the likelihood of thousands of missiles bombarding Israeli cities, daily, in a prolonged war – causing citizens to spend much time in bomb shelters and sealed rooms. Despite the hesitation on both sides, Hezbollah, as well as Israel’s military brass, have recently been talking about pre-emptive strikes – Israel against Iran; Hezbollah against Israel. (…) Israel is preparing for a scenario that will be more complicated if the battle is expanded to several fronts. Halevi claims that Nasrallah still has in his mind to challenge Israel, militarily. At the conference, Halevi brought a veiled threat against Nasrallah, stating there will be surprises in due time. (…) Added to the Lebanon front is a potential conflict between Israel and Syria (including Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah, and other anti-Israel forces in that country). Syria’s recent favor in its reconciliation with other Arab nations; as well as increased inter-Arab and Islamic cooperation in the region; is seen as a positive development for Hezbollah in its efforts to develop closer alliances with Israel’s enemies. (...) This time of military preparation by Israel has, apparently, not thwarted Iran militarily or economically, despite Western sanctions and threats. It remains to be seen whether the military strength of Israel, along with its U.S. ally, will prove to be enough to constrain Iran. Or, will it take a multi-front war to deter the Islamic state from its determination to “go nuclear?”

Carrie Hart, TOI, 27.05.23

Israeli officials sound the alarm, but is war imminent?

(…) the head of Military Intelligence stated at a conference in Herzliya that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is close to making a mistake that could lead to war. (…) Such warnings have been issued before, particularly concerning the prolonged buildup of Hezbollah forces in the Northern Command ahead of the organization's retaliatory attack in the fall of 2021, codenamed "Light Out". Unlike during that time, there are currently no troop reinforcements in Galilee, no changes in the deployment of forces, no increase in Air Force readiness, and no restrictions on the movement of IDF soldiers along the border, as well as local farmers and hikers. (…) The IDF has been closely monitoring Hezbollah movements near the border in recent weeks and has gleaned many insights from the Megiddo attack. (…) As far as Israel knows, Iran has indeed reached record levels of uranium enrichment sufficient for producing a single bomb, but they have not yet made a major breakthrough in the crucial bottleneck of the project - obtaining a viable nuclear warhead, missile, and delivery system. (…) Nevertheless, these statements by senior defense officials have created the impression among the public that the likelihood of a wide-ranging military confrontation in the region is increasing.

Yoav Zitun, YED, 24.05.23

Is Israel doing enough to address threats on its northern frontier?

(…) Do the alarm noises heard from both sides of the Lebanese border (…) imply that an event planned by one of the sides is imminent? It seems not. However, it is clear that there is a sense among defense officials that we may soon encounter a clash in Lebanon, which could develop into a large-scale conflict. (…) The defense establishment is very proud of the achievements of its “war between wars” doctrine (…) against Hezbollah's military buildup and the entrenchment of Iranian proxies in Syria. However, just like on other fronts, while we are impressed with precision missile strikes, the enemy may draw entirely different conclusions. (…) In all recent conflicts, including the Second Lebanon War, we reached a process of reaction and counter-reaction (…), which deteriorated significantly without prior intention. And in this aspect, it does not seem that Israel has drawn worthy conclusions, defined goals for itself, and acted accordingly. (…) it does not seem that the necessary conclusions in the areas of policy, military buildup and preparation are being discussed at all. State budget discussions lacked any serious discussion about the implementation of the largest item on it, the defense budget. Significant changes are needed for the IDF to (…) adequately prepare for a multi-front conflict (…).

Ofer Shelah, YED, 24.05.23

If Iran attacks Israel, it will spark total war

(…) An all-out war between Iran and Israel, regardless of the circumstance leading up to it, would (…) see Israel’s goal as not only the defeat of the conventional forces arrayed against it, but the destruction of Iran’s nuclear weapons program first and foremost. (…) The Iranians have converted very large commercial ships into makeshift floating terror bases. These large vessels can carry various types of missiles and rockets along with unmanned aerial and perhaps sea vehicles, as well as act as mother ships for smaller craft carrying men and material. Iran could also theoretically deploy such commercial vessels without any outward modification or identification as military craft, and instead convert only their interiors into floating launch pads for missiles and rockets, including potentially heavy ballistic missiles. Such seaborne assets pre-positioned in the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean in particular, would serve to reinforce and expand the ring of fire Iran has been building around Israel; a geographic circle of steep trajectory ordinance (missiles, rockets) and other heavy firepower operated by Iranian proxies, allies and in some cases, Iranian forces themselves. Floating platforms for such systems in the Mediterranean would force Israel to deal with a western front that would threaten not only the Israeli home front but shipping lanes, natural gas rigs and even air traffic. (…) Given the scale and scope of Iran’s schemes, the war that would erupt between Iran and Israel would be one that would be fought on multiple fronts and on a grand scale. The world must be on notice. Israel will once again be fighting for its very survival (…). Israel would have no choice, given the threat to the home front and civilian population, but to plunge its sword deep into the belly of the beast and not remove it until that beast is felled. (…) Israel will do whatever is necessary whenever it is necessary to ensure its existence.

Ilan Pomeranc, JPO, 31.05.23

3. Flag March on Jerusalem Day

Jerusalem forever – inside and out

Fifty-six years ago (…) Israel reclaimed the Old City of Jerusalem after fierce fighting against the Jordanian army. (…) Why a victorious army would then willingly give the Temple Mount away to the Muslim Waqf is beyond me (…). Who can forget the emotional reaction of every Jew, religious or secular, to that stunning news? Battle-hardened, anti-religious kibbutzniks cried at the Kotel even if they didn't quite understand the significance of the Western Wall or even the Holy Temple itself. In their heart, in their "kishkes", they felt something historic had happened, something life-changing for our people. And they wept. (…) We can argue about everything. (…) Hopefully, we all agree that Jerusalem is not negotiable and an undivided Jerusalem will be Israel's capital forever. (…) We mention Jerusalem at every wedding and every funeral. It is embedded in us like no other place. (…) No enemy could drive God out of Jerusalem and no ignorance or indifference can break down our inner Jerusalem either. Just as Jerusalem is politically non-negotiable, there is a bottom line for every Jew beyond which he or she will not cross. (…) Despite our differences, we all believe in Jerusalem and the Jewish future. May we take that inner faith and build on it. May Jerusalem soon be rebuilt, inside and out.

Rabbi Yossy Goldman, IHY, 18.05.23

Fear and loathing at Damascus Gate

Jerusalem Day has probably given me the most disturbing glimpses into the dark realities of hatred and incitement in Israel. For the second year in the row, I’ve witnessed pockets of young religious Israeli boys and teens (...) in the march chanting “Death to Arabs,” “May your village burn,” “A Jew is a neshama and an Arab is a ben zonah” (i.e., a Jew is a soul and an Arab is a son of a b****), along with other hateful slogans, outside of Arab homes in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. (…) These boys and teens do not represent the Flag March as a whole, and the vast majority of participants in the Flag March every year are peaceful and blissfully unaware of the darker elements of it. And that is the problem. Good, decent people — especially rabbis and educators — are unaware, or choosing to remain silent. Significant segments of the religious world in Israel have been corrupted and perverted by racist, hateful, and mean-spirited sentiments that regularly go unchecked. It is not the majority, but it’s more than enough for people to be able to realize there is a problem. (...)

Benjamin Birely, TOI, 19.05.23

Make Jerusalem Day Great Again

The liberation of Jerusalem was a great national event. People say that when soldiers fighting in the Sinai heard the news that “the Temple Mount is in our hands,” they got down from their tanks and half-tracks and began dancing the hora. Jews from all over the world who had hidden their faith proudly reclaimed their identity, even taking back their original Jewish last names. A powerful national energy was released after generations of dormant longing. (…) The delirious atmosphere soon died away. The ideological and political currents that animated it ran out of steam. In the beginning, indeed, parades were held in Jerusalem featuring the fruits of Labor-affiliated settlements, but these too faded away. No official figure, whether municipal or national, took it upon themselves to create a state celebration for future generations about that historic day. (…) The Flag March has come to fill this vacuum. In the beginning it was a march by young people, including secular youths, and not at all a mass event; over time, it became one, with the great majority of the participants flaunting their religious Zionism. The religious community took pride in the energy of their young people (…), but ignored the fact that the high-profile display of their religiousness alienated others. (…) It’s not just a compromise on the judicial overhaul that must be discussed these days. On other controversies, such as how we mark our national holidays, we need to talk and learn to understand each other. (…)

Israel Harel, HAA, 23.05.23

4.  Selection of Articles
 

Israel’s Government Versus Ngos

Germany’s Back-Channel Anti-Israelism

(…) Thankfully, we’ve come a long way in the 80 years since the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. But concurrently with this public spectacle, Germany undermines the State of Israel through the back door of political foundations. (…) Matan Peleg’s A State for Sale: How Foreign Countries Interfere in Israeli Policy (…) is based on exhaustive financial analysis of the sources of funding of 70 Israeli NGOs and tracking of their activities. (…) Peleg explains how each of the six political parties in the German Bundestag has a political foundation that is directly funded by the German government. These funds are intended to be used at the discretion of the individual parties to further their missions and all six foundations have set up subsidiary offices in Israel. There they make grants to politically aligned, Israeli, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). A conservative estimate of the level of funding is $10,000,000 over the past decade. These selected NGOs proclaim human-rights or humanitarian missions. (…) These NGOs are active in other arenas, too. Some of them encourage terrorism by protecting terrorists and their families. (…) Such hypocritical action in the field belies Germany’s public stance of friendship and cooperation with the unique Jewish and democratic State of Israel. One can only conclude that anti-Jewish sentiment still runs deep in the German political establishment. (…)

Jerry Schwartz, TOI, 27.05.23

Back to Homesh

Unmasking Israel’s Deceptive Tactics Regarding Homesh

(…) It all began with an explicit commitment made by the right-wing government to retract the legal and international commitments Israel agreed to as part of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza. This government has vowed to renew Jewish settlements in areas that were evacuated in the disengagement. Homesh is the first of these. (…) The unauthorized outpost at Homesh is described by settlers and the government as a “yeshiva,” not a settlement. (…) an amendment to the disengagement law was joyously adopted, allowing people to reside in areas evacuated under that law. This move received a particularly delusional excuse, made for the benefit of the Americans, who started noticing the violation of the written commitment given to the Bush administration. Don’t worry, the government reassured Washington, we’re not about to legitimize the existing outpost. We’re only moving it to “state land” in the vicinity, and that’s what the residence permits are for. While Israel was placating the international community with this impudent argument (…), the excavator arrived, with the approval of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the other minister in his office, Bezalel Smotrich. Call it a “yeshiva” or call it “state land,” it’s all sophistry. The fact is that Israel has started to formally withdraw from the disengagement plan – all the rest is gaslighting. Now comes the great test for the international community, particularly for the United States. Will they buy this deception, or will they insist that Israel abide by its commitments? (…)

Noa Landau, HAA, 28.05.23

HAA = Haaretz

YED = Yedioth Ahronoth / Ynetnews

JPO = Jerusalem Post

IHY = Israel HaYom

TOI = Times of Israel

GLO = Globes

Published: June 2023.

Responsible:

Dr. Paul Pasch,

Head of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Israel

Editors:

Susanne Knaul

Judith Stelmach

Homepage: israel.fes.de

Email: fes(at)fes.org.il