Why Israel Closes Down

A

My column in this week’s print edition of the Journal is one of the most depressing I’ve ever written: “Israel is spiraling and there’s no pilot. Or maybe our problem is too many pilots are pulling us in different directions. Or maybe it’s Israelis — the passengers — who make it impossible for the pilot to take back control.”

We are spiraling because of the coronavirus. More accurately, because of our government’s inability to deal with the coronavirus and almost anything other than its own political survival.

B

On the morning of Sept. 24 —  after two days of back and forth — the cabinet decided to close Israel, again. It had no choice. The pandemic is out of control.  So, no work, no school, no entertainment. A lockdown. But to the government all of this is just a side show. The real debate the ministers wasted their time having was over synagogues and demonstrations.

C

For some reason, these issues became entangled like two quantum fields. You can’t deal with one without also dealing with the other. You can’t restrict one without also restricting the other. If synagogue-goers plan on risking themselves and their families, so will we the protesters argue. If protesters plan on risking themselves and their families – so will we, synagogue-goers), argue.

I wrote about this puzzling phenomenon a few weeks ago regarding protests and Breslov Chasidim traveling to Uman, Ukraine. But the story is the same story: “How can a rational person prioritize a non-consequential protest over maintaining the public’s health? How can a sane person not understand that going to Uman is not as important as saving lives? Unless you see the protests or visiting Uman as ultimate commandments that trump most other practices, you can’t. This is inflexible orthodoxy. And the result is an angry discourse between two viewpoints that can never meet on common ground.”

D

A portion of the Israeli public makes stupid decisions. Charedis defy a synagogue rule; protesters congregate in large numbers; Arabs have large weddings. And yet, the majority of the public is concerned, and desperate. The only thing it can do is lose faith in its leadership. This chart shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval rating since the start of the crisis. Support among his most loyal followers — religious Israelis — is also in sharp decline (the numbers are from the latest Israel Democracy Institute survey):

E

It is disturbing that the government wants to ban or restrict protests. It is even more disturbing when parts of the government (namely, Likud ministers) have become obsessed with restricting protests. When Israelis see demonstrations everywhere, they do not take the restrictions seriously. In recent weeks, people would go to the beach holding signs protesting Netanyahu, claiming it to be a protest. Store owners would open with posters on their doors decrying the government, also claiming their business as a legal demonstration. Ultimately it came to this: either you close down everything, or you close down nothing.

F

Had synagogue-goers been wiser and more dignified, they would have said, “Let the protesters do as they please. We will close the synagogues because we know that’s the right thing to do.” There are many synagogue-goers and many rabbis and leaders who have said as much. There are also mayors who have said, “We are not waiting for the government. In our city, synagogues will be closed for Yom Kippur.” But the government closed the synagogues, except on Yom Kippur. It paved the way for a mass infection on the holiest of days.

G

There is a word in Hebrew that is mainly reserved for the events of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The word is “mechdal” and it translates to neglect, or oversight, but has a much more negative connotation. It is more like criminal oversight. In 1973, when the Israeli government failed to grasp the enormity of Egypt’s military threat, and the soldiers on the border were caught unprepared, Israelis called it “mechdal.”

What we see today is a “mechdal,” possibly worse than the Yom Kippur War — not because the price will be higher — hopefully, we can still avoid a high death tool. And yet, the performance of our leaders is worse. Today’s government neglect is one of cynicism or carelessness. Our leaders engage in falsehoods. They run away from their responsibilities. They look for scapegoats rather than deal with the crisis.

Shortly after the 1973 war, Israel held an election and the same coalition of parties was reelected (with a different prime minister). But three years later, Likud had a great victory in 1977, and the ultimate expiration of Labor’s long-term rule was a belated consequence of the “mechdal.”

In 2020, as Israelis look at their government, they must know that it’s time.