Israel

Europe Takes Strong Action Against Iran, Syria: the Bloodshed Continues

Yesterday the European Union passed the strongest sanction in its history. Those sanctions were aimed at stopping the Iranain nuclear program. While until now it was easy to say that the world was not taking the Iranian actions seriously enough, that would be hard to say today. The actions of the Union to stop importing oil from Iran (no new oil contracts will be signed and all current contracts must end by June) is very real and risky. It both carries the very real risk that the Iranians will do something that is not very logical, (for example, close the Straits of Hormuz.) In addition, Europe will have to replace the oil it currently receives from Iran.

Why have the Europeans been leading the charge when it comes to Iran? Most observers have stated it is because Europe is physically closer to Iran and deeply fears Iranian missiles. Another view is that the rise of Islam is a very real fear on the streets of Europe, and remains a much more academic concern in the US. While both of these facts are true, I think there is another fact at work as well. In reading some of the American discussions on whether to accept the fact there will be an Iranian bomb, I have noticed an almost passive acceptance of the risk to Israel. Many have basically said that while the risk is real that Iran will attack Israel with nuclear weapons and bring about a second holocaust, that is a small and acceptable risk. I am not enthusiastic about an Israeli attack on Iran. I am certainly happy that I do not have to make this sort of decision. However, sitting in downtown Tel Aviv writing this piece, it is impossible for me to accept the type of reasoning that accepts the fact an Iranian bomb might be used is "an acceptable risk." I am glad that the Europeans agree. It is true that America has been a greater supporter of Israel over the years. Yet I believe, despite that fact, the Europeans take the possibility of a second holocaust more seriously than the Americans do.

Yesterday the Arabs League's observers of Syria gave their report. The report was an interesting farce. The chief observer being a Sudanese General who is wanted in the Hague for war crimes. He claimed that since the arrival of the observers violence is way down. This is a down right lie. In fact, violence keeps rising. Yesterday the Foreign Minister of Qatar called for Assad to step down. What may ultimately bring the end of Assad's regime is the fact that more and more of his army are defecting every day.

Another worthwhile link from Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic How Nuclear War Would Start in the Middle East

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soldiers Can't Travel on Trains on Sunday Morning, Muslin Clerics Call for the Death of Jews

The news in Israel today was dominated by a strange decision of the government to no longer allow soldiers to ride the railroads on Sunday mornings for free. The reason for the change was that the trains had become severely overcrowded on Sunday mornings. Instead, alternative buses were added as a substitute mode of free transportation for soldiers. To say this decision was not met with understanding is an understatement. As a parent of a soldier who is directly affected, I understand the anger. The odd thing, again, is the total tone deafness of the government towards popular sentiments regarding their actions. In the wake of the summer's protest, the government does not understand what will happen. I will pay for my daughter to take the train. Thankfully, I can afford to pay. However, once again, the children of those who can not afford to pay will have to get up even earlier and travel longer to get to their army bases on time.

The other major news story is that of a sermon by the current Mufti of Jerusalem. The Mufti gave a speech at a Fatah rally quoting one of the Hadith of Mohammad on why its good to kill Jews. The speech, parts of which were posted online, has caused quite a stir. Mufti Muammad Hussein claims he was quoted out of context, you can decide.

This comes on top of a speech by a leading Egyptian Salafist, Hazem Shuman, who called for the extermination of the Jews. (See Egyptian Cleric Calls For the Extermination of the Jews). There are days when it's hard for me to try to understand what reality I live in. On one hand, on a day-to-day basis, I worry about the first story, living on a block where there are coffee houses that are packed until the wee hours of the night right around the corner. On the other hand, less than 50 miles from where I live, there is a cleric whose statements about Jews can give Hitler a run for his money. In addition, in Egypt, a few hundred miles away, Islamists have now won control over 70% of the parliament. I am not sure I can fully come to grips with these very contradictory elements of life. I guess the very fact that I have a daughter serving in the army, who is, for the moment at least, carrying around an M-16, reminds me that however wonderful Tel Aviv may be, this is not Miami Beach after all.

 

Cyber Attack on Israeli Sites, More Strife With Ultra Orthodox, Local Government Strike

The Israeli news was dominated today by stories of a online computer attack organized by a Saudi hacker on Israeli institutions. Today the hacker and his accomplices managed to shut down both the El Al web site and the website of the Israeli stock exchange for a short period. Today’s attack was a simple "denial of service" attack. This sort of attack is accomplished by overloading the server with thousands of "hits". The servers themselves were not breeched. However, it was embarrassing that Israel, with some of the leading security companies in the world, seems so vulnerable. Today Israeli banks announced that for the moment they were limiting online banking access to customers trying to connect from within Israel.
A strange strike started today in Israel. The local governments (not their employees) called a strike today. Why? The local governments called a strike because the central government is cutting back support to the cities and forcing them to spend money on additional mandates. The Netanyahu government found a way to raise money to pay for its agenda, without raising taxes or cutting back on defense... They chose to just take the money from the city governments and force them to raise taxes. As a result, today there was no garbage pickup in the cities, no school buses (however, schools were generally open, though not for special ed. students). On the plus side, there were no parking tickets given out today. It’s not clear how long the strike will last.
The rifts between the Charedi world and the rest of the Jewish Israelis continued to boil over the course of the last few days. Yesterday a group of Charedi leaders, well respected in the Charedi community, were arrested and accused of allegedly stealing money that was donated to charitable causes and spending it themselves. Parts of the Charedi community were incensed that the police would dare arrest anyone from their community. A group of Charedim held small riots, both in Jerusalem and in Bet She mesh, demanding the firing of the Jerusalem police chief. The problem has extended beyond these arrests, with continued incidents in Bet Shemesh-- punctuated by Charedi kids literally attacking (throwing stones at) modern orthodox kids (9 year olds). It’s really hard to believe.
Tensions continue to mount between the United States and Iran. Iran continues to warn that it will block the Straits of Hormuz, if the Europeans go ahead with their oil sanctions. The United States is taking the Iranian threat to close the straits very seriously. President Obama sent a warning letter to the leader of the Iran, in four different ways. In the letter it is believed Obama warned the Iranians that an attempt to close the Straits of Hormuz would be considered an act of war.  It’s not clear that the Iranians are being deterred.

Another Iranian Scientist Killed- Ethiopian Jews in Israel

Another Iranian scientist was killed this week. This time, the Iranians admitted the assassination occurred and blamed Israel for the attack. It's clear that someone is systematically killing Iranians scientists. Fourth Iranian scientists have already been killed. Will the elimination of these scientists, coupled with the other underground actions stop the Iranian nuclear program? Probably not. However, the program's progress has certainly been slowed. Iran expected to be much further with its nuclear program. This is what all the earlier analysis predicted. Now, it appears the sustained efforts have suddenly, and finally born some fruit.  In the past week attention has been directed towards discrimination directed against the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel. First, let's be frank. Discrimination against Ethiopians clearly exists in Israel. In addition, it is not clear if the situation of the Ethiopians is getting any better. The plight of the Ethiopians has probably not been helped by the addition of all the illegal migrants from Africa. These african migrants have overwhelmed places like South Tel Aviv in the past two years. However, today in the Knesset , the Minister of Absorption, (a member of Lieberman's "Israel Beyteinu" party) took the discourse to a new low. (Well I am not sure this represents a new low, since the day before yesterday another member of Lieberman's party threw a cup of water at an Arab member of the Knesset). The minister stood up in the Knesset and told the Ethiopians they should simply stop complaining. Furthermore, the minister added that she had been an immigrants, and immigrant should be thankful to Israel for taking them in.

I must say that the Absorption Ministry, under the supervision of Sofa Landver seems to reflects her views. In the past three months, our family has had to deal with a large cross section of the Israeli bureaucracy. Although there have been some challenges, we found that in almost every case people were sympathetic. The various ministry employees tried to be helpful. They did their best to solve each problem. The place we have repeatedly found the most difficulty, and the least helpful has been the Ministry of Absorption. (Though, so far our problems have been dealt with). The ministry seems to have picked up the attitude of its Minister: Immigrants should be thankful we let them in to Israel. 
 A friend posted a link to this interview with the noted Israeli historian, Yehuda Bauer, by, of all places, Aljazeera: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2012/01/20121774656322518.html
 I must say, I have read many of his books over the years. However, I had never heard him speak in person until two weeks ago (when he spoke at the commermoration for "Moreshet", a Journal of Holocaust studies.)  It was one of the most brilliant lectures I remember hearing. In it, Bauer covered two very important topics: "Why did World War II happen?" He maintains WWII happened because Hitler wanted to destroy the Jews; and "Could America really do anything to stop the Holocaust?" Bauer believes that answer is "No".

Yair Lapid To Enter Politics- Free Education for 3-4 Year Olds

The Israeli political system received a shock today, when something expected happened... but just not at the expected time. Channel 2’s well known anchor, Yair Lapid, announced he was resigning from the TV station to become involved in politics. Lapid’s hand was forced by the plan to pass a law to bar journalists from entering politics for one year from the time they leave journalism. This law, which has yet to pass, is known unofficially as "The Yair Lapid Law", since it was aimed specifically at him. The "Lapid law" is similar to the law passed two years ago aimed at Gabi Ashkenazi which required top military officials to refrain from entering politics for four years from the end of their military service.

Yair Lapid has out maneuvered his opponents by resigning now. Since the law has not passed yet, it will not apply to Lapid retroactively (at least not in any act that will stand up to court approval).
Why should anyone care? The main reason to care comes to light in a poll taken last week. The recent poll shows Lapid’s new party getting 15–20 seats in the next election. Such success would potentially make the new party the second largest party after Likud. More interesting, those same polls show that with Lapid’s party in the race, the parties of the left and center have a large enough majority to block a Likud government.
Yair Lapid, is the the son of Tommy Lapid, (founder of the Shinui party, whose platform was fiercely secular and anti-Charedi), has many of the same beliefs as his father. However, Yair is considered much more nuanced in his views. Clearly he is on the left center of the political spectrum. An interesting exercise if Kadima, Labor, and Lapid's new party ran together would they get more or less votes?
The government just passed a law providing funding for a law passed long ago to provide free education for all children between ages 3 and 4 years of age. The money is going to come from across the board budget cuts, except from the ministries controlled by Shas. Apparently their ministries will not be cut. This sounds like progress, but does anyone want to guess who make up the majority of 3-4 year olds in Israel?

Actions Taking Against Iran, Charedim vs Israeli Society

It looks like the United States and the EU are actually taking the maximum action possible to pressure Iran into stopping its nuclear program. The EU has decided to ban the purchase of Iranian oil, while President Obama has signed a bill that will force almost every company in the world to choose whether they want to do business with Iran or the United States. These are finally sanctions that may be strong enough to change the Iranian's minds. Of course, it is not clear that the Iranians are capable of acting rationally. Yesterday’s threat by the Iranian Chief of Staff warning the US not to send an aircraft carrier back through the Straits of Hormuz, was one of the most irrational statements I have heard in a long time. There are only two options: one, he is bluffing. However, this is a bluff that the US Navy will call in short order. Alternatively, he really plans to attack a US Carrier Task Force. Let's assume the worst case scenario: Iran could succeed in the attack and actually sink a US warship in international territory. That would be a very clear act of war against the US; an act that could only be responded to by all out war. Do the Iranians really want that? Is it possible they do not understand Americans enough to understand the consequences? It is possible they do not understand, since the US did not attack in 1979 when the hostages were taken. The questions that surround relations between the Charedi world and the rest of Israeli society continued today. It was announced last night that the Chief Rabbi of the Air Force, who was in charge of the special project to integrate a small number of Charedim into the IDF, was resigning. The Chief Rabbi claimed he was forced to resign as a result of the fact that promises were not being kept relating to keeping the Charedi soldiers away for all contact with woman. It is my sense the conflict may have finally reached a point that will not fade away quickly. The secular society has finally woken up to the fact that time is running out. I was speaking to a cab driver the other day and he asked me: Do you realize that Charedim pay nothing for education for nursery school? and that they do not pay Arnona (property tax), since they do not work? They do not pay anything for medical insurance, or most things that the average Israeli pays. The cab driver, a native born Israeli, in his 50’s, seemed genuinely shocked at these facts he had discovered over the previous weeks. Now as soon as Israeli society realizes the connection between what they were protesting over the summer and the resources that the Charedi world consumes we might really see a national revolt on the subject. The government coalition, which for a while, seemed like such a well oiled machine, has shown more and more signs of discord in the past few weeks. The latest sign of dissonance cropped up over an attempt to pass a law that would invalidate the selection of the judicial appointment committee by the bar association. The ultimate attempt is to make sure Likud supporters are the majority on the committee (that committee is about to select new Supreme Court Judges) and not supporters of the current, more liberal Supreme Court Chief Justice, Dorit Beinisch. The general goal of maintaining conservative control of the Supreme Court is supported by most of the coalition (and certainly by most of the Likud members). The initial plan had been to pass a law regulating how the Bar Association voted... before it voted. However, the government could not get that vote passed in time. The Bar Association voted two new representatives to the committee, both of whom are considered supporters of the current Supreme Court Chief Justice. Now, after the bar association has already voted an attempt was made to pass a law to invalidate that vote. The deputy legal advisor to the government came out in the Knesset against this tactic, saying it violates the norms of democracy to invalidate a vote retroactively. Despite the deputy legal advisor's plea, the Knesset was going to go ahead anyway, until there was a near revolt among the major Likud Ministers: Dan Meridor, Gideon Saar, and Limor Livnat (all of whom are lawyers). While these ministers may or may not support the goal of stacking the court with judges who better reflect the Likud's views, they could stomach such a violation of due process. As a result, the law has been tabled for a least a week.

Charedim Demonstrate Killing Continues in Syria

While much of the world was celebrating the New Year last night, in Israel Charedim demonstrated against what they claimed was a campaign to exclude and persecute them. They even went as far as to dress up their kids as holocaust victims with yellow stars. It's not clear to me how much Israelis are disgusted or just trying to understand what planet these people are from? Some of the Charedi demonstrations were in support of the Charedi man arrested for demanding that a young woman soldier in Jerusalem move to the back of the bus.
Israel and the Palestinian authority will be engaging in some limited negotiations this coming week. Do not expect them to amount to much. Meanwhile, the killing continues in Syria. I do not believe many Israeli observers believe that Assad will be able to continue holding on to power.
Israel lost one of its original cultural icons today Yaffa Yarkoni. Yarkoni was 86. Her most famous songs go back to Israel's War of Independence.
Finally, if you are flying on El Al Airlines, beware. Two months ago El Al started limiting baggage on the NY-Tel Aviv route to one bag. Now they are giving incentives to ground clerks who can bring in the most revenue by catching overweight bags.

Religious Extremism in Israel: Where is the Line?

The fault lines between the Charedi World and the rest of Israel continue to dominate Israeli news and, to a lesser extent, Israeli consciousness. Last night a rally was held in Bet Shemesh in support of the daughter of the non-Charedi religious couple whose daughter has become the center point of the controversy. The couple's young daughter was featured in the video that posted a few days ago. The initial bus incident that first brought the issue of women and Charedim to the forefront of the public consciousness 10 days ago was partially repeated in Jerusalem. Earlier today a Charedi man asked a women soldier to move to the back of the bus. When she refused, he started calling her names including "Shiksa". The bus driver called the police and the man was arrested at the next stop.

 

Meanwhile, Prime Minsiter Netanyahu has suggested a solution for the town to Bet Shemesh: Divide the town into two-- a Charedi town and a non-Charedi town. This sounds like a "great solution" to our religious problems. Of course, it is like all of what our politicians have been taking about - short sighted and self-defeating. A very simple statistic tells the whole story. In 1980 Charedi and modern-Orthodox accounted for 20% of the elementary school students. This year the Charedi and modern-Orthodox account for 48% of the elementary school student body nationwide. Tonight on TV a leading Israeli economist talked about one of the mystery's in Israel's economy: Why is it that until 40 years ago the Israeli economy was growing rapidly and looked like it could overtake the economies of the rich world? Since then, despite the very successful high tech sector, and a balance of trade surplus, the country's per capita income has not continued to close the gap with those of the other OECD countries. The economist said the answer was simple. The answer lies with "the elephant in the room", the fact that no one is willing to talk about. The large size of Charedi families who add nothing to the economy make it impossible for the per capita income in Israel to grow.

 

All of these recent events have brought up an interesting debate in the country relating to the Charedi community. It started with the question of woman in the public arena. Do we have to be worried about the Charedi actions towards women only when it effects the non- Charedi world, or is there something inherently wrong with the Charedi lifestyle and attitudes to women that should not be tolerated? Politicians are clearly divided, with few willing to take on what is clearly the position any western liberal society should uphold- zero tolerance for disc
rimination against woman, especially when it is with tacit consent.

 

As one modern Orthodox commentator stated: "If you take that position where does it stop, at not giving woman Aliyot?" A secular commentator retorted: "Yes if I have to finance it." A few weeks ago I heard, what I thought was, a very insightful analysis in a discussion of the continued failure of the Charedi community to teach any secular studies (math science etc.) in their state funded schools. One academician called it "child abuse". They are bringing up their kids in such a way that they will have no access to the work place, to normal jobs or anything else. The commentator called these actions child abuse. Its certainly state suicide when the country is funding it.

 

Here is a another story that relates to religious extremism, but of a different type. It was discovered yesterday that the religious youngsters who attacked an army base two weeks ago, were not a group kids from one of the settlements, but rather students from Yeshivat Mercaz Harav. Mercaz Harav Is the Yeshiva that was founded by Rabbi Kook. This yeshiva has always been at the center of the religious Zionist movement. Mercaz Harav has been central to the religious view of the centrality of the state and its institutions. The revelations that its students were the ones behind the attack on an Israeli army base has completely rocked the religious Zionist world.

 

An interesting article in the Daily Beast on US-Israel talks on red lines in the Iranian nuclear program is worth reading.

 

Hamas Changes Tune, Apple in Israel, Daughter in Army

Today was one of those landmark moments in life. My middle child, second daughter, Tali began her service in the IDF. Twelve years ago my oldest daughter began her service, now it's Tali's turn. I am full of pride in my daughter who could easily have avoided service in the army, but decided to fulfill her obligation as someone who was born in Israel.
That pride, of course, is tempered by the nervousness every parent has when his or her child enters the army. That concern is further amplified by concerns about the direction that the country is going in so many ways.  My daughter’s draft reminds me of one of my most important conversation in the army. It was my encounter with another soldier, whose father had fought in 1948. At that moment, I came to my own political view that has remained unchanged for 35 years. I was worried then, in the mid 1970’s, that my children would one day have to serve in IDF and possibly fight in a war.  I hoped there would be no need for them to serve and certainly no more wars. I did not then, nor do I now, look at the world through rose glasses. Sadly, I believe it's likely our neighbors do not wish us well, or even really want peace. Then, as know, I just wanted to know that whatever government we have was doing all they could to pursue a peaceful tomorrow, so if war ever came and my children might be called to fight, I would know that at least we had done all that we could.
When I went into the army, Yitzchak Rabin was Prime Minister.  When my oldest daughter enlisted Ehud Barak was Prime Minister. In both cases, I was sure that if there were a small chance for peace the government would find the way to bring it about.  Unfortunately, as my daughter Tali begins her service I have no such confidence.
Talking about a chance for peace, Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas has been making some interesting noises in the last few days, as Hamas and Fatah finalize their merger talks. Meshal has said that it's time, at least for the moment, “to give up the armed struggle, and instead to turn to large-scale non-violent protest”; following the lead of the "Arab spring". This will without doubt put Israel in a difficult political position, but it marks a major change for Hamas
The issue of religious extremism continues to bubble up here, with Bet Shemesh being a place of major confrontations. Today, a Channel 2 News crew was attacked there.  See the following video from an earlier broadcast. The politicians have all decided to speak out on the subject. PM Netanyahu said today that discrimination against women would not be tolerated.
I forgot last week to write on something that was big news (at least for my family as Apple developers for the last 30 years). Last week Apple decided to make an Israeli company its largest ever acquisition. However, more important, Apple has chosen to open its first development center located outside of Cupertino, CA in Israel. 

December 22, 2011- Hamas PLO, EU vs Foreign Ministry, Extremism and Apathy and African Refugees

According to a number of sources, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have reached an agreement to end the differences between them. To the surprise of many, the agreement calls for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to become part of the Palestianian Liberation Organization. It seems to Hamas it is important to be part of what is called “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. ” How this will work is still not clear. Probably the most important question is, if Hamas becomes part of the PLO; the same PLO which signed various agreements with Israel; does that mean Hamas will recognize and accept those agreements.

The other news of the day was made, ridiculously, by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The Foreign Ministry reacted to the near automatic condemnation by EU states to the announcement that Israel was approving additional building in the West Bank, by issuing a statement that France, England and Germany were making themselves irrelevant. Once again, you can question the EU statement. However, Israel's Foreign Ministry, is the ministry whose responsibility it is to explain the government's policies and improve Israel's standing in the world. When the Foreign Ministry turns around and publicly attacks some of our few friends in the world, using undiplomatic language, it sounds like the plans of a foreign minister trying to get votes and with no regard for Israel’s diplomatic standing.

Two related domestic issues: First, the reverbations from last week's attack on the army by the settlers. Second, the refusal of a woman to move to the back of a bus, traveling on a religious route. The two events seem to have resonated together and broken through the wall of apathy toward extremism that exists in Israeli society. It is not clear where this new revelation is going, since the level of apathy in Israeli society remains very high. Though it is clear both very dangerous actions require a focused and concerted response. There are two articles worth reading on the subject: the first, by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, and the second by a new friend of mine, Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin .

Finally, to the wisdom of cab drivers. While I try to travel wherever I can by bicycle, yesterday on the way to the Tel Aviv DMV by cab we passed through the area in South Tel Aviv where most of the African migrants congregate. I had not thought much about them recently, until an African young man was in the hospital bed next to my father for the last week of my dad's life. The young African was receiving excellent care. His prognosis for the case of AIDs from which he was suffering was excellent. However, meeting him made me focus just a bit on the problem.

Then, recently the news was full of plans to close the border and build a large temporary camp for the migrants. Of course, the political talk was all about whether or not they are refugees? What is our responsibility as Jews to the less forturnate people? Can we or can we not turn refugees away? The taxi driver had a little different take on the matter. As we drove through an area whose building were familiar to me, but whose residents made it seem we had been transported 1,500 miles South to Central Africa. He posed two major questions. First, what did the government expect was going to happen when they brought busloads of those caught crossing the border and just dumped them into Tel aviv, without housing, or a means to earn a living? How were they going to eat? The best intentioned person will steal when s/he is hungry. But a more profound comment that I thought he made was questioning what we are doing finding work for the Africans? It'ss the Palestinians that are our next door neighbors. Whatever your political beliefs we ulmitately have to live with them and making sure they are better off is in our long term interests. Before we should be worrying and taking responsibility for all the people of Africa, he went on, we should be worrying about the Palestinians. Food for thought..

Finally, two photos that catch the spirit of Tel Aviv on this Chanukah evening. The first, from the famous coffee shop "Rolandin", who has converted their out door seating area into a factory and sales area for Sufganiut (available fresh from 7:30am til 10:30pm daily) and the second photo is from Azrielli Mall showing the lines of customers waiting to get into the newly opened Forever 21.