1
There is no need for the “fortification law”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already in Israel. He was actually imprisoned, even when he was sitting in the prime minister’s office. His government is led anyway by Yariv Levin, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, they are at the helms and he is having trouble being at the brakes.
He is fortified, because Levin and Simcha Rothman race and allow him to “eat” the fruit of the bouches that the process of turning Israel into a kind of dictatorship produces: in the economy, in security and in the streets. He was thwarted, being the first prime minister who, two months after taking office, was not invited to a meeting with the US president. He was thwarted, when the ruler of the United Arab Emirates canceled his first state visit to Abu Dhabi.
There is no need for the fortification law, because Benjamin Netanyahu is held captive by his “kidnappers”, whom he included in his government so that they would provide him with what he so desperately seeks: escape from the threat of judgment. And he himself had no choice, as every kidnapped person has, but to fall in love with his captors (“Stockholm Syndrome” they call it in psychology).
Levin, Smotrich and Ben Gvir are the showcase of this government, they are its presenters in Israel and the world, they are the calling card and they are the policy makers. It is not important if Netanyahu gave them the keys or if they stole them from him, it is important to know and understand that the keys to the state are in their hands.
The Hebrew language is rich enough to describe any situation clearly, and the period is not suitable for “politically correct” language. This is a malicious government. A bad, failed, conflicted, arrogant, power-drunk government. A government that knows no borders, whose achievements are non-existent and whose failures are glaring: in governance, in personal security, in the economy, in leading the people and in security.
The number of people murdered inside Israel has doubled in recent months. Crime in the Arab sector is also rising to such an extent that Minister Ben Gabir announced that he was taking the matter into his “hands”. The shekel is getting weaker and weaker, the economy is shaking – and the public mostly feels that the contract between the government and its citizens has been broken: pilots, intelligence officers, commanders from the 1958 generation to the present day, academics, economics, medicine and more.
Hundreds of thousands protest in the streets every week, many of them wearing caps, and the Prime Minister claims that these are the people who opposed taking the gas out of the ground and that he wanted to “slam them”. Good people, the best we have here.
The people who brought the country to where it has reached in almost every field, take their families and go out to protest with the Israeli flag. I know quite a few senior people in the civil service who are eaten from the inside because they are prevented from paying. They are afraid of what they will say to their children and grandchildren.
We live in a historical and critical period in the days of the third house. You don’t always know that you are in a historical-dramatic episode. We are in one of these, the most difficult we have had since we established a country. This week I woke up in the morning with black bile, surrounded by despair and worried to the point of horror.
All I had was to chat with an old friend, who told me: “We don’t have the luxury of giving up. We have children and grandchildren here. For a Jewish and democratic Israel, each of us will fight with all the tools we have,” and I replied, “Thank you, friend, I am.” And so it will be until a malicious government passes from the country and until the black clouds give way to the rays of light and the sun and hope.
And to be honest and fair with myself and with you, I will add that the Legal Adviser to the Government Gali Beharev Miara also shares in this obstinacy to a small extent, who in my opinion made a wrong decision, which does not allow the Prime Minister to bridge and compromise (or expose him as someone who is not interested in this) in the area of negotiations and agreements and prevented him from being “an adult in charge of”. It’s a mistake.
And Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman are also somewhat to blame, who ran a failed, divided and arrogant election campaign, and even after they lost they didn’t know how to recalculate a course, “cancel the boycott”, join Netanyahu (despite everything) and establish a more responsible and less crazy government.
In the rooms of the President’s House, people are eagerly looking for a solution to stop the madness, and one thing is already clear: Israel is very poor in leadership.
2
The terms “riots” or “pogrom” are not reserved for terrible acts committed by Arabs against Jews. These are universal words. This week illegal Jewish terrorists acted and committed a pogrom in the residents of Hawara, setting fire to houses and cars and rampaging through the village as landlords. They operated without any interference from the Israel Police and the IDF for a long time, here and there IDF soldiers rescued babies, women and adults from the burning houses.
This night of disturbances was a “spontaneous act of retaliation” for the heinous murder of the late Yaniv Hillel Weigel brothers. Spontaneous? This event took place on the eve of the day when it was agreed at a regional conference in Aqaba, Jordan, to freeze settlements for four months and a series of additional measures to “calm the atmosphere” in the region.
And while the head of the Shin Bet Ronan Bar and the head of the National Assembly Tzachi Hanegbi are summarizing what they have agreed on the opinion of the Prime Minister, Minister Smotrich hastened to declare that “what was agreed upon in Jordan, remains in Jordan” and that in general, he is responsible for the settlement and he continues as usual. Then, at night in Hawara, we saw the “run-in period” of the Ministry of Defense split between Yoav Galant and Smotrich, of the damage to the unity of command between the army, the police and the civil administration. And as they say – we just started.
The army and the police acted too little, too weakly and too late. They probably didn’t get a warning, they were probably confused, they probably didn’t understand who the “boss” was. The commander of the Central Command, General Yehuda Fox, appeared before the cameras this week and uttered the correct statements, the Chief of Staff promised a thorough and quick investigation.
It is not pleasant to be Chief of Staff and Commander of the Central Command today. The responsibility on the shoulders is enormous, the backup is not clear, the powers are not clear, and it is not known who the “boss” or “bosses” are. And we have not talked about the real threats anymore.
3
The statement by the Minister of Finance and the Minister in the Ministry of Defense, Bezalel Smotrich, that erasing the village of Havara from the face of the earth should be a mission of the state, resulted in the bursting of veins in the forehead of the shocked US State Department spokesman.
Defense Minister Lloyd Austin will land here this week for a meeting with Netanyahu and Gallant. They will call him “Iran” and hear him express significant reservations about the legal reform and the situation in the territories of Judea and Samaria.
The Americans do not understand where the political mutation that arose in Israel fell on them. When the White House and the State Department dared to criticize and express concern about the regime revolution currently underway in Israel last week, the ministers were quick to call on the US “not to interfere in Israel’s internal affairs”. The first was Diaspora Minister Amichai Shikli, followed by others, according to the message sheet that must have been distributed by the Minister of Information Galit Distel Atabrian, after finally getting a printer for her office.
“Don’t interfere in our affairs”, they said, but did not add that it is worth excluding some small and unimportant things such as security assistance of almost 4 billion dollars a year; hundreds of millions of additional dollars to finance the Arrow and Iron Dome project; International political backing and the exercise of the right of veto in the United Nations in favor of Israel; military exercises with the branches of the army in Israel; ensuring the qualitative advantage of the IDF through the supply of unique weapon systems and innovation; Placing warehouses with American military equipment in Israel, with keys from us; commitment to aerial train with weapons and armaments in war; research and development funds; Construction of bases and military facilities in Israel, and more.
“Don’t interfere in our internal affairs,” they shouted towards the White House. And Ambassador Tom Neides replied to Shiki this week, “Some senior official I don’t know called us not to interfere in Israel’s affairs. I think the citizens of Israel will not agree with him.” He is right.
4
Yesterday we were informed of the great achievement of the Histadrut with the Treasury to receive price increases and grants for employees. This is truly an important achievement that should not be underestimated. I wondered a few days ago on Twitter where the workers union was in these historic days.
Why doesn’t she raise her voice against the dangerous processes and against the crazy legislation? Why is she not part of the protest in one way or another? “Get up and shake off”, I wrote to them, “this is the last battle in a world war”, I exaggerated and quoted from “The International”.
Then a short discussion developed between me and Peter Lerner, director general of the International Relations Division of the Histadrut, who was my subordinate at the IDF spokesperson, about the role of the Histadrut.
While the chairman of the Histadrut Arnon Bar-David stated that he is shutting down the economy only for workers’ rights, I believe that the Histadrut has a much broader social role in the public sphere and in influencing our lifestyles and the nature of the regime that will be in the State of Israel.
Lerner and Bar-David believe that the Histadrut should work with the government on wage agreements and price increases and minimum wages. When the Minister of Education forbids students to go out to demonstrate, when the Minister of Transportation does not increase trains, and when the Minister of Finance asks for the assistance of business leaders and employers to support him in the fight he intends to wage against the Histadrut, this large and important social organization may lose its status, uniqueness and influence – and then it will be too late.
It is true that among the members of the Histadrut there are different and diverse opinions, but it is possible and necessary to find the common denominator and make an impact. But the Histadrut apparently chose to eat grapes and not fight with the guards, until they found out that these were unripe grapes or a fruit vineyard in Oshi.
5
At the beginning of June, my good friends will travel with their children to Portugal, to collect the passports that were prepared for them there. They, like tens of thousands of Israelis, exercised the right granted by the Portuguese government to Israelis from the Middle East.
In the advertisements of the many lawyers who handled the submission of the applications, I saw that my relative Aviv Gefen also prepared a Portuguese passport. I understood that the expatriates of Syria also have the right, but I decided not to share the right with my family, not to submit applications and pray that the operation ends. And it did end at the end of 2022 and I am without a Portuguese passport.
I did not apply, because I feel that I am a public figure and not just a private person; that my military service and senior rank oblige; that the fact that I have a weekly column in the newspaper, TV shows and tens of thousands of followers on Twitter – requires me to be a full Israeli patriot.
And by the way, my friends did take out a Portuguese passport, they are no less patriotic than I am, but they thought about Yom Segreir, about the hardships of the wandering Jewish people, about the surrounding dangers and about the children and grandchildren. I am proud that I do not have a Portuguese passport, I am proud that I and my children only have one passport, and I believe that in the end we will overcome everything and that Israel’s eternity will not lie.
6
A long weekend in magical Istanbul with my “central” daughter Tamar did not make the desperation any more comfortable. The head is constantly in Israel and the thought that Israel will turn into Turkey, was disturbing. The economy has made names here. The Turkish lira has depreciated, mosques are popping up like mushrooms after the rain, the number of veiled women is high in Istanbul as well, the number of policemen, soldiers and women in the streets is noticeable.
I haven’t visited here for years for obvious reasons, and the city is as magical and intriguing as ever. The tourists are coming, the food is excellent, and the business owners in the bazaar and Istiklal are polishing their Hebrew in preparation for the flood of Israelis, with the resumption of flights to Istanbul by the Israeli airlines. The Turks love us, greatly appreciate Israel and the aid we provided during the earthquake.
The ferry takes us to the Kadikoy district in the Asian part of the city. This is probably the paradise of the dogs and cats, and I have never seen such a sight before. Hundreds of fat and fat dogs and cats, cared for and cared for, do their own thing in the district. They enter the shops, sit on the stalls and in the shop windows, take chairs in the cafes and restaurants and indulge in the caressing rays of the sun. Here they are respected by kings from the residents, who envy them and their peace. I was jealous too.
7
Thank you and Shabbat Shalom to the creator and composer Hanan Yuval, who kept his backbone and said no to lies and hypocrisy.
Thank you and Shabbat Shalom to Kobi Peretz, who extended a loyal brotherly hand to Hanan Yuval.
Thank you and Shabbat Shalom to General (resp.) Hagai Topolansky, a commander and a professional and valuable person who had to resign after half a year from his position as CEO of the Airports Authority.
May peace come upon us.
Shabbat Shalom.