At the end of the Second Lebanon War, I received a call from the Infantry Brigade:
"I'm taking my guys out for a little rest. They've lost friends. Maybe come perform?"
Of course I agreed.
On the way to the north I wasn't sure how suitable my repertoire was for the whole audience.
Soldiers are a tough crowd.
When I arrived at the place I was greeted by Vlada - a huge Russian guy who was sent to help me carry my equipment.
"What do you like to hear?"
I asked him on the way.
"Everything," answered Vlada, who carried my electric piano upstairs as lightly as if he were carrying a baby, "but mostly Brahms."
I figured I'd be fine.
Upstairs I met the tired and determined backbone of Israeli society: former Commonwealth of Nations, members of the Mizrahi ethnic group, Ethiopians, kibbutzniks and settlers.
In this human composition lies the key for those who want to get out of the crisis we are in with some kind of benefit for all of us: on the one hand - for the left there is an opening to understanding the world view of ministers like Yariv Levin, Shlomo Karai and Miki Zohar.
A left-wing person who honestly asks himself if the human mix that he meets at the front can also be found in the same dosage in the Supreme Court, in the Israel Film Fund committee, in the faculty of the faculties of humanities and law, or in any important forum that determines where the Israeli law, media and culture are headed - will have to admit no
The damage from this distortion is enormous: even without entering into the debate whether Deri's disqualification from the kosher priesthood was appropriate or not - its visibility is terrible:
A forum of judges, which looked a lot like a class meeting of my school in Ramat Aviv, carved the fate of an authentic leader of many members of the Mizrahi community.
On the other hand, right-wing people, and in particular those from the Mizrahi sect, do not have to channel their justified anger at their continued exclusion to the rule of throwing the baby out with the bathwater: they do not have to trample the High Court to the ground with a ruling on the increase of 61 MKs.
There is no need for the Minister of Culture to personally check the level of Zionism of every script that is submitted to the Film Fund, and there is certainly no need to close down the broadcasting corporation, and leave half of the people with the feeling that the end of democracy has come and without a little "this is it" to comfort him.
The right-wing government should simply make sure that the composition of the leading committees and forums in all these bodies is more or less loyal (there are, of course, also ultra-Orthodox and Arabs who need adequate representation) - to the human mix of those who are sent to the front, and the rest will happen by itself:
If, for example, the guys I met at the outpost were sitting on the film fund committee, they would probably willingly finance the critical "Waltz with Bashir", because they know the truth in it intimately.
The false "foxtrot", on the other hand, does not seem to be.
In the same way, the Supreme Court, and especially all of us, will only benefit from this just and democratic diversity.
No need to "close" or "run over" anything.
We need to find a way to represent in the legal, media and cultural institutions first of all the guys from the outpost, then we can all see together "this is it" and drink a glass of water.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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