Too many meetings Israel today

The right wing of the government conveyed a message of discomfort in the face of the meeting between Abu Mazen and Bnei Gantz in the private home of the defense minister in Rosh HaAyin.

Ministers in New Hope said they were unaware of its existence, and right-wingers preferred to dwarf its importance.

Their conduct is understandable.

For them, they have not yet given a divorce to the right.

This will be done if and when a dramatic political event is on the agenda, not just another meeting with a senior official in Ramallah or the demolition of buildings in Samaria.

When security and political collaborations are formed beneath the surface to prepare the ground for the post-rotation period, a new and right-wing hope is preferred to make full use of the "denial space" that allows ministers, even sometimes prime ministers, to forget collective responsibility and impose responsibility on another minister. Ganz, in this case.

Government officials who have been following Gantz's conduct for some time argue that it is very worthwhile to look at his moves, which he believes are very calculated and whose purpose is to position him as a key player in the political and political arena.

According to them, while elements of government feel bound by agendas and ideology, right to left and left to left, and conduct a perpetual tug of war between them - Ganz worked to locate the seams where he could walk unhindered, and advance his policies without establishing one side or the other.

When he signs the establishment of Eviatar, the left wing attacks but does not break the vessels.

The same is true when he met with Abu Mazen.

The right is tweeting against him but no one is thinking of retiring or demanding that he stop.

A source in the political system said this week that the shellfish has no backbone, but it can walk on a sharp knife without being scratched.

Others wondered if Ganz was building himself up for the day before the rotation.

Perhaps, as he was before his appointment as deputy chief of staff, and then before his appointment as chief of staff, he will find himself, again, in the right place and at the right time, and appointed to the coveted position.

But what may be true of the right within the government is no longer relevant to the right outside it.

If there were thoughts in the opposition that Gantz could be used to overthrow the government by a majority of 61 and appoint him to the post until the election - then the meetings with Abu Mazen, especially this week, took the matter off the chapter, probably definitively.

On the part of Ganz, the option was not on the table, but as of this week, the fantasies on the right also seemed, at least as of today, that in politics every ideology is subject to change.

Currently, no one from religious Zionism, Shas and the Likud majority, imagines that the appointment of the man who invited Abu Mazen to his home as prime minister will take part in the camp.

Because it is difficult to separate the fact that he is not only the leader of the opposing side, but also a person who actively supports terrorism against Jews.

The security cooperation, which the IDF allegedly enjoys, serves him first and foremost, but he is a person who, no matter how much pressure is exerted on him - by Israel, the United States and other countries - will continue in his life's work to provide salaries and scholarships to murderers of Jews and their families.

Hamas, jihad and Fatah can encourage attacks against Israel on an ideological, religious, national level. But Abu Mazen gives potential killers the economic backing. They, or in the event of his death, their families. Contact with the man in disgust, certainly not to have a sig and a conversation with him about transfers of funds to the authority headed by him, let alone to bring him into the house inside.

Still looking for an achievement

Much of the speeches of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu this week in the Knesset dealt with the formation of the current government.

It seems that to this day, six months after its inception, the main debate between opponents of the government and its supporters remains around the same incident that took place in the Knesset six months ago - culminating in Bennett moving to the center of the cabinet table, pushing Netanyahu to the opposition's benches.

When opponents of the government find, beyond the lack of legitimacy they have towards it, also failures in its function in the months since it was sworn in - it makes sense and is normal.

However, when the prime minister and his ministers find themselves clinging to their decision to set up the faltering government venture, and find it difficult to find real achievements that they have promoted since then - this is already a much more problematic situation.

This is what Bennett said in interviews he gave this week to the various radio stations.

For him, still, the success of the government is mainly its very establishment.

We prevented fifth, sixth and seventh elections, he said, and passed a budget that allowed the economy to start moving and moving the economy.

The same message was repeated at the press conference he delivered ahead of the arrival of the Omicron wave, as was the case in the Knesset in the 40 signatures speech he had to attend.

The government has indeed been formed and the budget has indeed passed, but the road from here to declaring it an "achievement" is still a long one.

In many parameters, the economic situation of the residents of Israel only deteriorated compared to the previous government.

Which reinforces, again, the immortal question: Where is the money?

An opaque wall and a heart of stone

Social Security released its annual poverty report this week. According to the report, government intervention and support, given during 2020 due to the corona, halted the rise in poverty rates. Unemployment benefits given to employees in the IDF and other reliefs were the most influential factors in curbing poverty and contributed to a reduction in its rate by about three percent

. .

However, this trend was halted during 2021. The new state budget passed by the government does not include grants, aid, outlaws or shoes. layout in other industries are hurt - but she refuses to do so. and given the case, asked the simple question, who needs this budget? what is the greatest achievement transmittal, if away on business just keeps getting worse?

the government explain that as long as there is no declaration of a closure, no Need to compensate. "The state is responsible for compensating businesses that are harmed due to government decisions. If there is no decision to close a particular industry - there is no need to compensate it. There is a decision on tourism and aviation - so only they will be compensated, "explained a senior government minister.

A rather unfortunate explanation. Bennett goes out of his way to create panic from the impending wave of morbidity, and when obeyed, restricting gatherings and reducing events, no one thinks of compensating just because they have not passed an explicit law? And let there be no doubt, apart from the tourism and aviation industry many industries have been hit, even though there is no closure.

The events industry, for example. In the last two weeks there have been thousands of cancellations of joys and parties. Not because it is forbidden, but because people are afraid of the corona and voluntarily decide to limit, reduce and if possible also cancel.

The owners of the halls are badly injured during these weeks. Both club owners and entertainment shows, as well as the catering industry following the same cancellations. The compensation of the previous government still raised their heads a little above the water and allowed most of them to survive. But the current government hurdle many will no longer be able to overcome. And there is no one to talk to and no one to turn to. In front of them is an opaque wall and a heart of stone. In the media, who used to shout, silence is silent. After all, this could harm the government and undermine its stability.

The ignorance of the heart and the inaction of the government in the economic field are beginning to feel good.

The cost of living is climbing.

Osem, the food giant, is raising its prices by 3 to 7 percent.

The fuel has already gone up.

Housing prices, of course, go up against promises and plans, and if that's not enough - soon the new one-time taxation and drinking plan will come into effect and make a name for itself in what is left of citizens' wallets.

Kahana // Photo: Reuven Castro,

Conversion is not just paper

The State of Israel can remove the chief rabbi from office, as Yisrael Beiteinu threatened to do this week, following Rabbi Lau's announcement that he will not sign conversions that will take place as part of the new reform - if approved.

But the state can not change reality.

It can recognize Gentiles as Jews, but it will not be able to force the Jewish world to recognize them.

Already today, several unrecognized conversion plants are operating in Israel and in the world, not all of them reformist or conservative, and if the reform is approved, the State of Israel will become another such body.

The story of the converts began in general out of national and not religious-Jewish consideration.

A handful of rabbis, from the ultra-liberal breed of religious Zionism, estimated that between 400,000 and 500,000 Gentiles, Russian immigrants, who had received a blue ID card due to the Law of Return, many would want to convert if they were given the process. Great assimilation that may develop over the years.

The fact that about 100,000 married couples have married in Israel so far has only strengthened their perception that a dramatic act must be taken in order to reduce the scope of the phenomenon.

This is how the "Proper Conversion" project was established.

But in order to succeed in the task, those rabbis - whose number does not reach a quorum - bent not only the rule that Judaism does not entice anyone to join its ranks, but accepts only those who are really interested in it - something that could still be restrained and accepted by other religious Zionist rabbis. In introducing national considerations into the halakhic considerations.

While the halachah demands the acceptance of the yoke of the kingdom of heaven by the convert and a commitment to keep the mitzvos, the same group decided that in the cliff of times it is enough for the converts to commit to keeping a limited tradition and number of mitzvos for their conversion to be recognized.

But this, whether one likes it or not, is against the law, and these conversions will not be recognizable - even if the state grants everyone who has passed those three certificates, and adds a bold line under the word "Jew" with seven exclamation marks after it.

Minister Matan Kahana's announcement this week that he is currently freezing the conversion reform due to opposition within the coalition, is mainly intended to anesthetize the opponents and the rabbinical establishment.

The opposition within the coalition, of Nir Orbach and probably also of Ra'am, is to the law of MK Yulia Malinowski of Yisrael Beiteinu - a law that was originally intended to serve as a "goat" and allow MKs like Orbach and others to boast of torpedoing him and promoting the law of Kahana.

In terms of the book there may be a difference between the laws, but not in terms of Judaism.

The right hopes that more rabbis from religious Zionism can be recruited through the same boasting of eradicating Milinowski's law.

Not sure they will succeed.

The rabbis who support and promote the outline today are considered marginalized in the rabbinical world, and it seems that the more central rabbis, even those considered mitigating and liberal, will not be in a hurry to join them. 

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