Artist and educator Barbara Heller needed theme music for her upcoming podcast, which provides a space for people to tell stories of forgiveness, healing and growth. She sat down to compose the piece and it turned into a full-length song titled “See One Beautiful Soul.” She asked some of her friends to learn the lyrics and take selfies while singing it. The song premiered on YouTube this week, and the result is guaranteed to make you smile.
Four men shouted a series of anti-Semitic invectives at a rabbi in Munich as he was walking on July 9, law enforcement officers said.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the four men followed Rabbi Shmuel Aharon Brodman as he got off the tram; the Post wrote that the men uttered “derogatory verbal statements about the state of Israel” toward Brodman, per the police report.
The suspects are believed to be Arab men between the ages of 20 and 30, Munich police said in a statement.
Ludwig Spaenle, the Bavarian Commissioner of Combating Anti-Semitism, chastised the passersby who did nothing to help the rabbi.
“We cannot allow people of Jewish faith to be victims of assault and insults,” Spaenle said. “An attack on Jews is always an attack on … society.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center similarly tweeted, “Silence of bystanders will only further embolden Jew-hatred from multiple sectors in #Germany.”
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) July 13, 2020
According to a May report from the German Interior Ministry, there was a 13% increase in anti-Semitic crimes in Germany from 2018 to 2019; the report states that right-wing extremists were responsible for 93% of Germany’s anti-Semitic crimes in 2019.
Brooklyn Beckham, the eldest son of soccer star David Beckham and Spice Girl-turned-designer Victoria Beckham, is engaged to Jewish American actress and model Nicola Peltz.
Beckham, 21, announced the engagement in an Instagram post on July 11. “Two weeks ago, I asked my soulmate to marry me and she said yes xx I am the luckiest man in the world. I promise to be the best husband and the best daddy one day ❤️ I love you baby xx.” Peltz responded with her own post, writing, “You’ve made me the luckiest girl in the world. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life by your side. your love is the most precious gift. I love you so so much baby.”
Peltz, 25, is best known for her roles in “Bates Motel,” “The Last Airbender” and “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” opposite Mark Wahlberg. She won the Rising Star award at CinemaCon in 2014. She is the daughter of former model Claudia Heffner and billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz, CEO and managing partner of Trian Fund Management. Raised with seven siblings in Westchester, N.Y., Peltz grew up in her father’s Jewish faith. She and her actor brother Will have matching tattoos reading “Family First” in Hebrew, as she revealed in an Instagram photo in 2016.
The groom-to-be’s mother gave the engagement her enthusiastic approval. “The MOST exciting news!!” she posted. “We could not be happier that @brooklynbeckham and @nicolaannepeltz are getting married! Wishing you so much love and a lifetime of happiness 🙏🏻We all love you both so much.”
Jason Alexander, known for his roles on Broadway, film and as George Costanza in “Seinfeld” will emcee Israel Cancer Research Fund’s (ICRF) Ribbons of Hope Virtual Gala on Aug. 5.
Joining Alexander will be broadcasting legend Tom Brokaw, Nobel Laureate Professor Aaron Ciechanover, actor comedian Eugene Levy and Tony-award-winning songwriter Benj Pasek, among others. The star-studded evening will help support ICRF’s mission to fund the best and brightest cancer researchers in Israel.
“They say laughter is the best medicine. But you know who says that? Comedians,”Alexander said in a statement to the Journal. “The best medicine is actually the product of brilliant cancer researchers working diligently and tirelessly in labs in Israel and across the world.That’s why I am so honored to contribute in some small way to this important cause.”
The evening will combine comedy and song, as well as special presentations by cancer survivors and Israeli cancer scientists. ICRF-funded scientist Professor Aaron Ciechanover, will also speak. Ciechanover, Drs. Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, received the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry in recognition of their groundbreaking research on the Ubiquitin System, the body’s method of removing damaged proteins.
The Israel Cancer Research Fund is the largest charitable organization outside Israel devoted to supporting cancer research in Israel.
During the 50-minute celebration, viewers will be able to make online donations and place bids on an online auction, which will open on the gala site the week of July 27.
“We hope to inspire hope for cancer patients and their families worldwide and, for the benefit of all humankind, generate critical dollars in support of Israel’s brilliant cancer research,” ICRF President Rob Densen said.
ICRF National Executive Director Dr. Mark Israel, said that while the ICRF is currently working on more than 70 different cancer research projects, they can’t ignore the coronavirus pandemic that continues to “loom large in all our lives.
“It threatens not just our collective sense of well-being but, going forward, ICRF’s ability to fund world-class, life-saving cancer research,” Israel said. “We will beat back the scourge that is COVID-19. In the meantime, we cannot allow it — for our sake, our children’s sake, and our grandchildren’s sake — to steal the future of Israeli cancer research.”
The Gala is on Aug. 5 at 5 p.m. PT. To register, visit the website.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back at home after being discharged from the hospital on July 15.
Ginsburg is “home and doing well,” Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in a statement. The 87-year-old justice was rushed to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore July 14 and treated for a “potential infection,” the statement said.
CBS News reported that Ginsburg was experiencing a fever and chills and was evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington on July 13. She then underwent a procedure at Johns Hopkins to clean out a bile duct stent placed in August.
This is not the first time Ginsburg, who has battled cancer four times, has fought illnesses during the coronavirus pandemic. In May CNN reported she was hospitalized and treated for acute cholecystitis, described as a “benign gallbladder condition.”
(JTA) — A Jewish day camp in suburban Dallas has closed after at least two campers and two counselors tested positive for COVID-19.
The closing of Gan Israel of Plano, Texas, on Tuesday night serves as a cautionary tale as schools look to reopen this fall. The camp, which according to its website serves kids ages two to incoming seventh graders, is run by Chabad, the Hasidic outreach movement.
Gan Israel closed for the summer after receiving the positive test results and has no plans to reopen, the camp confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The camp joins a growing number of summer camps that have closed after campers or staffers tested positive for COVID-19 and its experience demonstrates the delicacy of reopening child care facilities just six weeks before the beginning of the school year. The camp abided by state regulations and put cautionary measures in place.
The camp opened for a four-week session on June 29. But it could not escape Texas’ current spike in COVID-19, which has seen close to 10,000 new cases a day for much of the past week.
“Some people might say, ‘Well, there’s a pandemic, so how can you even think about opening camp, period?’” said Hannah Lebovits, who sent her two children, ages 3 and 6, to the camp. “Everything they did was legal in opening their camp. Nothing was questionable.”
A camper showed symptoms of the coronavirus on the Thursday following the July 4 weekend, and the number of cases grew from there. On Monday, the camp notified parents that that camper’s counselor and another counselor had also tested positive. On Tuesday, when the camp learned that a second camper in a younger age group had tested positive, it closed camp entirely.
The camp did not test all campers for COVID-19, but it took the kids’ temperatures every morning and monitored them for symptoms. It also required counselors to wear masks and asked older children to as well. Campers were met by counselors at the drop-off point each day and parents and other visitors were not let in the building.
But the camp said on its website that social distancing is not developmentally appropriate for children, and therefore “we expect that your child will be at a distance of less than six feet of another child, neither of whom will be in a mask, at many times this summer.”
Like all day camps, the camp had no control over how families conducted themselves outside of camp hours.
“This is such a huge concern with child care,” Lebovits said. “It’s exactly that thing, where you’re scared that these other people are going about their lives and the kids are going about their lives and you’re hoping that everybody’s making good decisions, but who knows?”
Now, Lebovits is worried about what the school year is going to look like, and is concerned about her kids being without social contact, potentially for months more. Her family just moved to the area so she could begin a new job, and she isn’t sure how she and her husband will be able to work and get to know their new community if their kids need to remain at home indefinitely.
“It’s really scary and it’s really frustrating,” she said.
“Schools are going to be exactly like that too,” she said. “And so, thinking about opening in a month and a half, when literally [the camp] couldn’t be open for two weeks … We don’t really know what could happen.”
(JTA) — The oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe was vandalized.
At least 50 gravestones in the medieval Jewish cemetery in the German city of Worms were smeared with a greenish paint, the city said in a statement.
The incident took place on Thursday. The cemetery was ordered closed for a week.
There are about 2,500 gravesites in the cemetery, which is called Heiliger Sand, or Holy Sands, some dating back to the mid-11th century. Among the vandalized gravesites was the tomb of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, known as the Maharam, a prominent rabbi who died in 1293.
The city website said that it did not believe the vandalism was motivated by anti-Semitism or politics.
Meanwhile, experts reportedly are working to figure out how to clean and restore the gravestones.
“We do not yet know what material the paint is made of and how we can remove the smears without damaging the valuable tombstones,” Mayor Hans-Joachim Kosubek said in the statement “According to initial findings, the main gravestones in the medieval part of the cemetery are affected, the rocks of which are particularly sensitive due to their age.”
The statement also called the incident a “slap in the face” to the city.
The cemetery played a central role in a bid for the cities of Worms, Speyer and Mainz to be placed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. The city noted that the cemetery attracts thousands of Jewish visitors each year.
MONTREAL (JTA) — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has opened an investigation into a fringe right-wing politician who called for the removal of Jews from Canada.
In a flyer and a video posted on Facebook on Saturday, Travis Patron, the leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party, describes Jews as “swindlers,” “snakes,” “inside manipulators,” and a “parasitic tribe.”
“If they had their way, our entire way of life would be eradicated,” Patron says in the video. “They don’t like us. In fact, they despise us because of what we are and the spirit we represent. They cannot coexist with it. And what we need to do, perhaps more than anything, is remove these people once and for all from our country.”
In a news release Monday, the Toronto-based Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies said that a police investigation into the video was launched last summer after the video was first shared online.
Shimon Koffler Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada, said Patron might not only be breaking Canada’s hate laws, but inciting actual violence against Jews.
“It is absolutely outrageous that such vile hatred would take up any space in the public square,” Fogel said. “Such dangerous and dehumanizing language has all too often led to violence.”
In the last Canadian federal elections in 2019, Patron’s party, founded three years ago, garnered just 284 votes.
The video and flyer, both titled “Beware The Parasitic Tribe,” says Jews “infiltrate the media, they hijack the central bank, and they infect the body politic like a parasite.”
Fogel said CIJA is contacting other social network platforms because, in its view, Patron’s posts are a “clear violation” of community guidelines.
Education sits at the center of our culture wars, and young minority students are the biggest casualties. Eventual economic success is a function of not falling too far behind, even during elementary school years.
The Brookings Institution argues that children who finish high school, get a full-time job, and wait until age 21 to get married and have babies have high likelihoods of achieving the American dream as independent citizens in a competitive global economy.
However, poorer families cannot afford to move to neighborhoods with higher-performing charter schools. Children must attend government-run schools with consistently disparate educational outcomes, compared with students from more affluent families.
For decades, the school-choice and competition community has supported the desires of inner-city, poor and often minority parents to access charter schools.
Charter schools are public schools operated by independent organizations, usually nonprofits. They are free from many of the rules that constrain district-operated schools. In exchange for increased autonomy, they normally are held accountable for their performance by their authorizers, who close or replace staff if they fail to educate children.
Parents understand well that independent charter school students often far outperform public school students in math and English proficiency exams, as reported by Forbes, among other sources.
In one recent year, while 47% percent of public school students passed state reading tests and 43% passed math tests, at Success schools, corresponding percentages were 91% and 98%.
Another study looked at the performance of approximately 23,000 students across 100 schools in New York City, and found that 10% of public school students performed math at grade level, while 68% of charter schools students did.
Government schools are funded at high levels yet don’t have to attract their student clientele through quality and service.
Even though government schools receive most of the state and local school funding, student performance in charter schools is better when comparing students not only in the same neighborhoods, but even in the same school building.
However, as distinguished Black scholar Thomas Sowell explains in his new book, “Charter Schools and Their Enemies,” the national educational establishment and public employee teachers unions, along with the legislators whose political campaigns they fund, remain focused on defeating the expansion of options for urban families.
If freedom of choice remains an American value, one must question the harsh efforts to force charter schools to follow rules making it difficult to maintain their quality, or even to open at all.
In California, laws have been passed that prevent a school from suspending students for behavior or safety violations that in previous years resulted in expulsion.
School bureaucracies have pushed legislators to ban the funding and expansion of charter schools. Children are on wait lists and schoolrooms sit empty, yet opponents of charter schools fight to prevent parental choice.
Follow the money. In New York City, there are more than 200 half-empty schools, yet officials block their use as charter schools. Public schools receive some $20,000 per child — that’s $1 billion dollars for the 50,000 students on waiting lists who would immediately move to charter schools. Teachers unions want that billion dollars to remain available for government-paid salaries and benefits.
Opponents of charter schools also have supported rules that would disallow religious schools to participate. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Espinoza et al. v. Montana, ruled to allow tuition assistance for religious schools.
The reason public schools perform less well is obvious. Government schools are funded at high levels yet don’t have to attract their student clientele through quality and service. Compulsory school attendance guarantees the flow of students to public schools. And bad teachers often are very hard to fire.
Yet the Los Angeles Teachers Union recently publicized a document arguing that schools in the large school district can’t reopen during the COVID-19 crisis without certain policy provisions in place, ranging from mandatory face masks to a “moratorium” on charter schools and the defunding of police.
This is shameful bullying to ban competition that would allow parents to choose safer, better schools. Our nation’s children deserve a future of choice, not iron-fisted monopoly government control.
Larry Greenfield is a Fellow of The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship & Political Philosophy.
On the night of July 11 and again on July 13, after many months of a weird, melancholic quiet, central Tel Aviv was loud again. Hundreds, then thousands, made their way to Rabin Square. Most of them were wearing masks, but the rules of social distancing quickly evaporated. Young and old risked their health, possibly even their lives, as they gathered to protest against an Israeli government that — they believe, and I agree — has lost touch.
The police let them gather and protest — and let them break the rules. When a few became violent and smashed windows of banks, there were clashes and arrests. The next morning, the police moved to other places, to clash with Charedis and Arabs in Jerusalem, whose neighborhoods were placed under quarantine. Stones were thrown, tear gas deployed. On the radio, ultra-Orthodox politicians, members of the coalition, complained that the police use different gloves for different populations. Police are soft with trendy Tel Avivians and harsh with minority Jerusalemites. Members of the opposition complained the opposite is true: The police are trying to restrict moves of resistance and tame public anger. They had proof. On the morning of July 13, protesters near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem were dispersed, some by force.
The crowd at Rabin Square was angry. Arabs and Charedis were angry. Black-Shirt protesters against Netanyahu are always angry. Anger is one thing you can find in Israel in abundance these days. Anger in all groups. Anger whose main target is Israel’s government.
This is a majority government that enjoys the support of more than 70 members of Knesset; a unity government born after more than a year of labor; an emergency government formed to address a crisis. It is a government that has all the means to succeed — and still is failing miserably. When it comes to controlling the virus and handling the economic crisis, it let Israel descend into something resembling chaos.
Israel started dealing with the pandemic early and well; then it became cocky because of the favorable statistics, and became frustrated because of the heavy price paid; then it irresponsibly removed the restrictions on public gatherings; it was late to respond to the first signs of a second coming of the virus; it now is trying to regain its footing amid a crisis much worse than the first.
One in five Israelis is out of work and our leaders toy with the option of another election.
The third week of May was probably the inception of this reversal of fortune. It was a week in which bad luck met sloppiness of mind. Bad-luck exhibit No. 1 was the weather. Temperatures in Israel often get high in the transition period between winter and summer. This year, they were especially high. Bad-luck exhibit No. 2 was that same week, schools were slated to reopen after the long first round of virus hiatus. Students were expected to wear masks at all times but with temperatures rising above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, this was an impractical order. So the order to wear masks was canceled. Newly installed Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein decided to give students a pass for a few days. Schools immediately became a main driver of COVID-19 mass infection.
Thousands of Israelis protest against the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis on July 11 in Tel Avivl. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images
This probably is one of the worst years of Edelstein’s illustrious political career. Six months ago, he was the Speaker of the Knesset, respected by friend and foe for his mild manner and moderate approach. He was considered a likely candidate to become Israel’s next president, or maybe even a compromise Likud candidate for prime minister. Then he got entangled in the never-ending maneuvers to save Netanyahu’s seat as the prime minister. Bullied by a court order, he quit his post as Speaker. This made him persona non grata to the leaders of Blue and White, who banned him from returning to his seat. So he was appointed health minister, a job other politicians wanted much more than he did and seemed much better suited for.
Now, he’s stuck. The bearer of bad news, Edelstein must take responsibility for a crisis that got out of hand and — as a side show — explain why his wife had a birthday party for dozens of guests the same night he announced new restrictions on public gatherings. The information about the party turned into a social media circus, with memes, satire, outrage and everything in between hurled at the minister.
The story of Edelstein is the sad story of the newly formed government. Just a few months ago, a narrow, transitional government that couldn’t win three rounds of elections functioned with precision under the direction of a highly engaged prime minister. Then the unity government was formed, and instead of one prime minister in charge, we have two who refuse, or are unable, to take charge. The coronavirus-era government is a slow, clumsy, inflated, ruptured government. Precious energy was wasted on creating the complex mechanism that governs its actions. Precious resources were wasted on unnecessary offices and ministries. Precious time still is wasted on turf wars and political maneuvering. The parties keep fighting over things great and small as if they all must prepare for a fourth round of elections.
Last week, they fought tooth and nail over whether to form a committee to investigate the conflict of interest of Supreme Court justices. After seven decades in which this was a non-issue, someone decided this was an urgent mission. The decision was made to embrace Likud; sure enough, it fell into the trap.
Does anyone care about the conflict of interest of Supreme Court justices? With 20% unemployment and a virus that’s spreading like wildfire, the public expects the government to focus on what is important. Alas, what is important for the politicians, who live in their bubbles — a “Seinfeldian” version of a show about nothing — is hardly what’s important for us.
No government can survive a crisis such as this and keep everybody happy. No government can find a quick fix to a virus without a cure, or to rising unemployment because of closures and quarantines. No government can convincethe public that they must keep the rules and follow orders. So, the problem with Israel’s government isn’t that it failed to do any of those — or that it made many mistakes along the way. In a time of uncertainty, when decisions are made on the fly, all governments are bound to make mistakes.
The coronavirus-era government is a slow, clumsy, inflated, ruptured government …. It is a government of whiners and spoiled brats.
The main problem with Israel’s government is that it doesn’t set examples. It doesn’t inspire the public, gaining its trust and leading it through hardships. It has no fireside-chat ability to console and inject confidence. It has no Churchillian fighting mentality. It is a government of whiners and spoiled brats. The prime minister tells everyone to spend their Passover seder alone, then has his son as a guest at his table. The minister of health — the one preceding Edelstein — tells everyone not to join crowds, then gets sick after disobeying his own rules to attend synagogue. The result is a complete lack of trust. Everyone suspects everyone. Everyone complains about everyone else.
Getty Images
One day a police officer handed a ticket to a crying 13-year-old Charedi girl who dared walk around without a mask — imagine the outrage — and at week later the police let 10,000 protesters spend two hours together, no tickets. No one is ready to accept that one or the other was a mistake, or to accept there is no hidden motivation behind police decisions.
If swimming pools are closed and ritual baths are opened, the secular conclude Charedis manipulated the system. If ritual baths are closed but the Tel Aviv beach is crowded, Charedis conclude the secular get a pass they would never get. The list goes on. On July 11, a Knesset committee headed by a member of Likud defied the prime minister and allowed gyms and swimming pools to open. The head of the coalition then wanted to depose the rebellious members of Knesset. But he quickly realized that he didn’t have a majority for such a move. A verse from the book of Judges comes to mind: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did as he pleased.”
Why gyms and pools? Why synagogues and not schools? Why schools and not wedding halls? Why mosques and not rock concerts? Why restaurants but not bars?
It is as if the government must keep everything closed — or keep everything open — or keep a detailed catalog of a particular and convincing reason for each and every item on its list of open or closed institutions. Of course, this is something the government cannot do, because some of the decisions are a compromise born of political or financial pressures — such as a Charedi politician blocking the closing of synagogues; such as a businessman warning that if things don’t go his way, the factory will boot thousands of workers. Or a decision might seem irrational because it is, well, irrational. They are the kinds of mistakes people make when they spend nights and days making hundreds of decisions under pressure and are subjected to the outbursts of a chaotic political system.
In every crisis, heroes are born and villains identified. Think Dr. Anthony Fauci. Just a few months ago, few Americans knew who he was. Today, he is a household name. A hero to many, especially the very cautious. Think Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona. He surely is the hero of Americans who believe in the religion of individualism. In Arizona, each person must decide for himself or herself whether to go to a church or a rodeo. This makes Ducey a villain in the eyes of those who believe in government action to safeguard the public’s health.
In Israel, everybody recognizes professor Sigal Sadetsky, the head of health services at the Health Ministry. Well, the former head. Sadetsky recently resigned, dissatisfied with how the crisis was being handled. Everybody recognizes Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, nicknamed “Barsi,” the first non-doctor to head the Health Ministry. Well — the former head. Barsi also resigned. These two were the heroes of Israel’s first round of dealing with the coronavirus. They were dominant; they had the ear of the prime minister; they became household names. Then, suddenly, their stars dimmed. Their influence diminished. Their dire warnings seemed outdated. Israel was ready to move on and downgrade its heroes to villains. And it did.
Surely, they had their faults. Barsi was too grim, Sadetsky too controlling. Every crisis has its share of infighting between institutional warlords. In a war, it is a general vying for combat and glory. In a plague, it is doctors and economists vying to sell their view of what is more important: health or finances.
The July 11 demonstrations in Tel Aviv were about the latter. Israelis — many without work, many in debt, many seeing their small businesses drown — broke the rules that guard their health to send a message about their finances. One of them was a senior doctor who tweeted to protesters that they ought to leave their phones at home in order to dodge tracking by the government and risk quarantine. A senior health official was telling people how to get infected and infect others without getting caught. The post by this doctor prompted a harsh response from the minister of health. A proper response. But the response to the response — all over social media — was also harsh: A minister who parties when Israelis suffer is not in a position to tell other Israelis what to do.
This is a blame game with no end in sight. The public is right: The government must set an example. The government is right: A public that doesn’t follow the rules will make it more difficult to overcome the crisis.
What Israelis seem to worry about more than anything else is their financial situation. No, they are not yet hungry or homeless — but they can feel the earth moving beneath them. They see how short the journey from middle class to poverty and despair can be.
But it is not the public that prevents a unity government of 70-something members from passing a new budget; it is the politicians. And budgets are important because what Israelis seem to worry about more than anything else is their financial situation. Those most worried are the owners of small businesses. One has a falafel booth, another an independent bookstore or a club. Even more troubled are those who work as freelancers in industries that came to a halt, such as the guitar player who has no shows to play at; the waiter, whose restaurant is closed; the dressmaker for a theater that no longer puts on plays. Many of these people have little to depend on. Their stories are told by the media. Their grim faces touch the heart. No, they are not yet hungry or homeless — but they can feel the earth moving beneath them. They see how short the journey from middle class to poverty and despair can be.
Volunteers at Leket Israel, the National Food Bank (Photo from Facebook)
There is no doubt they need help. But how much and for how long? The government started by giving them small change for a few months. It recently realized more money and more time is needed. So now, it is ready to give assistance for at least a year, until next summer. Finance Ministry officials worry that too much help will serve as incentive for people not to go back to work. Social activists argue these officials were never unemployed, and their stinginess adds injury to the insult of being unemployed.
Of course, what the government wants to give could never meet the expectations of these Israelis. Currently, Israel’s social workers are on strike. Their salaries are low and the workload overwhelming, and getting heavier with every passing month of plague and financial struggle. Can they get raises? What the government intends to do in the coming weeks is cut the salaries of all state workers. When the private sector is hurting, state workers must shoulder some of the burden of necessary cuts to subsidize the assistance to unemployed Israelis and falling businesses. Thus, the prospect of a social worker’s salary raise seems impractical, and the strike continues with no end in sight.
Every crisis has its share of infighting between institutional warlords. In a war, it is a general vying for combat and glory. In a plague, it is doctors and economists vying to sell their view of what is more important: health or finances.
With this strike — as with all other aspects of financial fixes — the issue of trust resurfaces. When the government says, “This is what we can afford,” the needy citizens respond with, “Close some unnecessary ministries, stop wasting money on political pet projects, and then, we might believe that this is really the best you can do for us.” This is where the limit to what a country can do to mitigate a crisis meets the limit of the patience of citizens who think their government is engaged in corruption while they hurt.
To formulate a methodological, orderly response to the financial crisis, a country must have a budget. Israel did not pass a budget for the past two years because of constant electioneering. And now, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz insist the best economic course forward is to pass a short-term budget for the rest of 2020, then prepare another one for 2021. The coalition agreement determines that the government will pass a two-year budget at once, and the leader of Blue and White, Benny Gantz, insists on it. Netanyahu says Gantz is playing politics. It makes no economic sense to pass a budget for a year and a half under such uncertain circumstances. Gantz says Netanyahu is playing politics. He wants to prepare a way out for himself from the unity deal by initiating a crisis over next year’s budget.
The probable assumption should be that both of them are right. Netanyahu has the better economic argument; Gantz has the better political argument. In the first half of this week, both seemed insistent and warned that it’s their way or the highway to a fourth election. Imagine that. One in five Israelis are out of work and our leaders toy with the option of another election. On July 12, the Charedi parties joined Gantz and demanded a two-year budget. But it was not at all clear if this is because they want to prevent another election; because they think a two-year budget is the right move; or because this is their way of putting pressure on the prime minister to ease some of the restrictions that target Charedi communities, in which the rate of infections is particularly high.
Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images
Yes, Charedi politicians also are back to their habit of politicizing every crisis to their benefit. They began the first round of the pandemic as out-of-touch leaders. They thought the warnings were exaggerated, disrespected government orders, and dragged their community down the path of mass infection. At some point, they realized they were wrong, and the Charedi community became the most obedient community in the country. But then, the country was reopening, and Charedi speakers reignited their automatic complaining about discriminating decisions. You’re familiar with the concept: Why concerts and not synagogues? Why restaurants and not yeshivas? Why Tel Aviv and not Bnei Brak?
Do they have a point? They do. The same point other Israelis have when schools were closed down and Charedi yeshivas kept spreading the virus. When everybody is suspicious; when no one is willing to accept error; when everything is politicized as a tool for or against the government; when the leaders have no shame, the result is disobedience, disbelief, disrespect and disharmony.
Most of all, set an example, suspend trickery, instill confidence. Make us believe, make us follow the rules, make us as poised and resilient as we can all be.
The result, on top of COVID-19, is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune-2020. For that disease as well, a vaccine has yet to be found.
To me, this looks like a simple, straightforward mission for a government, for a country as spirited as Israel.
Contain the plague by limiting the exposure of Israelis to the virus.
Assist those in need to the extent a country can do such a thing without risking its economic future.
Do not waste energy on things other than the crisis, and if you do (because of the belief that a crisis creates opportunities for necessary changes), make sure these are truly essential diversions.
But most of all, set an example, suspend trickery, instill confidence. Make us believe, make us follow the rules, make us as poised and resilient as we can all be.
