The crisis in Israel has shocked and rocked the entire Jewish world. Almost everybody reading this piece will be well aware of what the fight is about and what the issues are.
In case there is someone out there who has been on a manned mission to Mars and missed the demonstrations (or riots depending on your particular standpoint) I will give you the briefest of outlines. I have though, to begin with a disclaimer.
I often say something in one of my shiurim that provokes confusion in my listeners. Here it is, “I can present evidence to open minds. I can’t present evidence to open minds.”
What I am trying to say, of course, relates to the use of the word “open.” In the first instance I am using it as an adjective. If a person has an open mind, there is a purpose and benefit in supplying them with the relevant facts about any matter under discussion. In the second part of the sentence, I am using the word as a verb. I cannot present evidence to open someone’s mind. If someone’s mind is closed, they are very unlikely to open it.
Another important point I make in the same shiur is that most people have a point! Their case and perspective may not be well argued or thought through, but usually there is some element of truth in it. If you are interested in opening their mind to whatever it is you have to say, recognizing that fact and respecting it, is to my mind a crucial requirement.
So, with those two statements made, I think it is safe to proceed into the landmine of the recent “almost-civil war” in the state of Israel.
The new Israeli government won its surprisingly large majority (for an Israeli coalition government that is) and put into motion legislation that would reform Israel’s Supreme Court and limit its heritage of Left-wing political bias and rulings. Cue crisis, demonstrations, strikes, rebellion in the Army and Air Force, etc., etc.
It was quite clear that from the start, Prime Minister Netanyahu sensed the scale of the trouble and tried to proceed with caution. Elements in his coalition who were much more passionate about pressing ahead, blocked any slowing of the process with threats of resignation and coalition collapse.
Most people have a point.
The fact that the powers that the Supreme Court had captured for itself lay way beyond the boundaries of impartiality, were beyond dispute. That is clearly demonstrable by a comparison to any comparable court in any comparable western country. That it is self-appointing and self-regulating again makes it an outlier among the broad family of judicial systems to which it belongs. Legal experts generally agreed that Israel’s Supreme Court was an “activist” court which used arbitrary and self-serving logic to impose its views and routinely strangle government legislation.
Which is all well and good, but you can only present evidence to open minds. That is especially true when the point that is being debated is not the actual one your interlocutor is focused on in any case.
The Left’s real concern was and is, that their agenda and their vision for the Jewish state is slipping away. The Supreme Court, which guarantees and perpetuates that vision had and has to be protected at all costs.
That vision was all too obviously displayed in the flags that were carried by many of the demonstrators. The blue and white colors of the sea of Israeli flags were noticeably diluted by Rainbow flags, and Pink and Light Blue flags. There were even a shocking number of Black, White and Green of Palestinian flags and Red flags of assorted ultra Left groups.
Among the ultra Left in the Tel Aviv, road blockers and bring down the government-niks, are Israelis who simply want to deconstruct and demolish the entire Zionist state. They envisage a one-state solution, where Jews and Arabs will somehow coexist in peace, harmony and love.
This minority, though, presented a gift and an own-goal to pro-government Israelis. They were able to argue that the demonstrators were waving the flag of the mortal enemy of their state, while the terrorists to whom flag belongs, were busy killing Israeli children.
The organizers and financiers of the demonstrations (at home and abroad), realized they were jeopardizing their cause among the majority of Israelis opposed to the government. The Palestinian flags largely disappeared.
What the majority opposed to the government ultimately fear, is their country morphing into something they do not recognize and are not a part of. Instead of the morals and ethics of the America’s Democratic or Canada’s Liberal Party, they fear the traditional values of Orthodoxy. For many, more than the existential threat they fear from Iran and the Mullahs, they see an equal or greater one from the Chareidim and the Rabbis.
They have a point.
I do not think we religious Jews have done enough to share our values with the Tel Aviv street. I don’t think we have tried nearly enough to present our case and alleviate the fears of secular Israelis with open minds.
There was a second big mistake the extremist elements, keen to tear down the Netanyahu government made. They decided to take their fight to the streets of Bnei Brak. This decision split their movement. Many refused to single out one community within the country for attack. Perhaps the idea of angry marchers invading a Jewish neighborhood evoked too many horrible historical parallels for them.
Others though, saw this as just the escalation they needed to take their fight to the next level.
The Rabbis of Bnei Brak suspected that what the demonstrators really wanted was photographs and video footage of Chareidim attacking people carrying Israeli flags in the streets. Instead, they were met by Bnei Brak-niks who greeted them with smiles and welcome and offered them drinks and bowls of cholent.
So maybe that’s the best approach to sewing the torn state of Israel back together again… Make Cholent, Not War.
