The Walls of Jerusalem (Photo: Herzog Academic College)
Say, how do you celebrate Jerusalem Day? Not celebrating? Why, actually? Don't connect to Jerusalem? Why, actually? You're Zionists, right? (Apologies to my Arab readers, this is an internal matter right now, thank you.) You know that one of Jerusalem's names is Zion, right? Have you asked yourself why the heads of Zionism, who were almost all completely secular, gave this name to our national revival movement? Why was it named after the city on the mountain?
If you are my age or older, you remember the tears that choked our throats at the sound of that shofar blowing and "the Temple Mount is in our hands." You will never forget Motta Gur's "Ride, Ben-Tzur, Ride" to his half-tracker driver, Moshe Ben-Tzur, breaking into the Lions' Gate. Like it or not, your soul is seared into that picture of the three paratroopers at the Western Wall. In general, what built the aura of the paratroopers, which endures to this day, is that break-in to the Temple Mount. For years you couldn't stop humming "Jerusalem of Gold" and you couldn't hold back the tears at hearing this song. And also the "Over the Top of Mount Scopus". And a few dozen more Jerusalem songs that were etched into all of us in the national genetics that are still shared by most of us.
Even if you are younger, you have no substitute for Jerusalem, and you know that for over 2,000 years all Jews, even those who do not, have prayed there. Our people looked up to this city and their souls from everywhere on the planet, and beyond. Ilan Ramon took with him an eighth-shekel coin from the Great Revolt that took place in Jerusalem. Is there anyone here who doesn't know how to complete the sentence "If I forget you, Jerusalem"? Even if he didn't bother getting married. And don't take "forget my right" seriously. This is also true of leftists.
Jerusalem is the ultimate synonym for all of us, wherever we go, be, believe, think and aspire. Even those who think that expanding its municipal area to monstrous proportions were a mistake, like me, see Jerusalem as the cradle of their birth. This is the city, this is the place, and this is the idea (as Yair Lapid put it) that symbolizes Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel and the people of Israel. So yes, some of us, like me, think that the Shuafat refugee camp and Kafr 'Aqab should not really be included in the capital of Israel, and some of us think that paying allowances and granting partial citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Arabs who reject Zion does not help Zionism but harms it, but it has nothing to do with Jerusalem. It's already politics. Jerusalem belongs to all of us, above all of us, always has been and always will be.
More in Walla!
- Will he run for mayor of Haifa? Ayman Odeh resigns from the Knesset
- Rothman: "Without reforming the judicial system, the coalition will not be able to exist"
- Water burekas, quiche and pie of course: five worthwhile and delicious shopping recommendations for Shavuot
Jerusalem belongs to all of us, above all of us. (Photo: Reuven Castro)
So how did we allow the sleepwalking fringes of religious Zionism to take over this national asset as well? It's worth a commission of inquiry, but it's a fact. In the eyes of a significant part of the huge liberal-democratic camp and the rabbi who loves this place with love of soul, Jerusalem Day is synonymous with national-messianic extremism, ultra-Orthodox flag dancing, the celebration of the ascent to the Temple Mount of warmongering MKs and security warnings. Two years ago, for the first time in history, rockets were fired at Israel's capital following a flag parade that did not march on Jerusalem Day. For many years, shrieks have been surrounding this day from all sides, terrorist threats, unprecedented deployments by the security forces, and especially trouble. We withdrew our hand from Jerusalem Day. We gave up this day without a fight, which is a shame.
Maybe because we got used to it. Our camp, patriotic, Zionist, democratic, liberal Israelis (you can also be religious and liberal, by the way), producers and servants, is used to giving up. Over the years, we've given up almost everything, provided they let us go. Don't confuse our brains too much. Most of the concessions were made in favor of the Orthodox establishment. We let them take over Judaism, faith, the Western Wall, conversion, marriage, divorce, life and death. Every time we told ourselves it wasn't worth the fight. That it's not worth the ripping off. That's how it is with our ultra-Orthodox brothers, we have to give up to them. What began with David Ben-Gurion's approval of several hundred Torah scholars has become a huge industry even more prosperous than our high-tech. We gave up.
Now it turns out that we have given up on the second sector, that of religious Zionism. That's how we are, and masts are the sons of Vetherans. We gave them Jerusalem Day on a silver platter, literally. Do you want to dance and stick a finger in the Arabs' eye? Dodge. Just leave us alone. We will drink our macchiato in Tel Aviv and wish everyone good luck.
So that's it, this paragraph isn't really accurate. And we must not let it happen. It's inaccurate, because most of the participants in the flag parade or dance don't come there to stick a finger in the Arabs' eye. This custom began in 1968, after the liberation of Jerusalem, at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva. The students, together with their leader Rabbi Kook, would march from the yeshiva on Jaffa Street to the Western Wall in the middle of the night, after the end of the holiday rally in the Yeshiva Hall. Over the years, it intensified, grew, became a real jarmonia and began to drag unnecessary adsorption and extreme wild crops.
Yes, there are quite a few expressions of hatred in this incident. From our side. The Internet is full of videos of "Mohammed is dead" and "massacre al-Arab," played loudly by a (not large) portion of the marchers, in alleys crowded with Arab populations. They spoil the vast majority who come to celebrate, without defiance. But that's their business. Why shouldn't we celebrate this holiday separately, in a different way, and prove that there is another way? Isn't it time to reconquer Jerusalem?
I believe it is possible, for a simple reason: in recent months something has happened here. We have rediscovered ourselves. We went back with all our might to some things that were obvious, but were removed from us. We returned to the Declaration of Independence. We carry it on the top of our joy. And we returned to the flag. Yes, our flag. The blue and white. For decades, it too was expropriated from us. It was taken over from all sides. Political campaign announcements, nationalist propagandists of all sorts, all waved the flag tiredly, and our grip on it loosened.
The protest against the regime coup is our flagship revolution. We hoisted it again, and with tremendous force. It's heartwarming and proves it was a little early to eulogize us. It was a little early to say goodbye to the original Zionism, which took the Jews out of the ghettos of Eastern Europe, taught them to fight, taught them to conquer the wilderness and work, sent them to dry up swamps in the land of Canaan and establish a state out of nothing, out of the ashes. We are here, us and that flag, and that anthem, and that scroll, to stay. It's time for us to stop giving up what belongs to us too.
Our flagship revolution. Demonstrations against the legal revolution (Photo: Reuven Castro)
I called Yossi Langotsky yesterday. A retired colonel, one of the founders of the Special Operations Directorate, a renowned geologist, winner of numerous Israel Defense Awards but for our purposes, one of the liberators of Jerusalem. During the Six-Day War, Langotsky was the commander of the Jerusalem Brigade's reconnaissance unit and led it in the capture of the Armon Hanatziv compound, the "sausage" and "bell" outposts. For his performance in battle he was awarded the Medal of Exemplary. Langotsky recently published, together with Nehemiah Zarhovitz, a book called "The Battle Routes of the Six-Day War in Jerusalem." I asked him how he celebrated Jerusalem Day. As usual, answer truthfully. He's no longer celebrating. Anyone who knows Langotsky, who turns 90 next year, knows he hasn't gotten tired. He loves to party.
"But the country has changed," he told me, "Jerusalem has changed, everything has changed. The ceremonies on Ammunition Hill became political. Believe me, the fighters don't go there anymore. The fighters come to the private monuments of their units, on the hill and elsewhere, a few hours before and commemorate their fallen comrades. For latex they don't go. It has become a vulgar event, exploited entirely for refreshments and nonsense. We have no interest in him anymore."
I heard a similar opinion yesterday from other veteran fighters who took part in the campaign for Jerusalem. I imagine there are also fighters who think differently. In the end, Langotsky himself has been researching the six-day campaign for Jerusalem in recent years and has built a three-dimensional model on Ammunition Hill that includes an audiovisual vision of the campaign. He also lectures extensively on the subject all over the country. He didn't give up on Jerusalem, he didn't give up Ammunition Hill, he just withdrew his hand from Jerusalem Day.
So it needs to be fixed. Jerusalem was occupied by the IDF in 1967. The prime minister was a grayish, pale and uncharismatic Jew named Levi Eshkol. Today he would not even pass primaries in the Labor Party. The defense minister was Moshe Dayan, who later abandoned his political camp, moved to the other side and helped Menachem Begin sign a historic peace with Egypt and return Sinai to the last grain. The chief of staff was one, Yitzhak Rabin. Unfortunately for him, nearly three decades later he became a traitor and was murdered by a Jewish assassin (for humorless readers: satire). The paratroopers brigade commander was Motta Gur. Other names who signed off on that victory are Haim Bar-Lev, Ezer Weizman, Uzi Narkiss, Yeshayahu Gavish, as well as thousands of other fierce fighters from all walks of life.
Menachem Begin did not stay on the sidelines. He joined the government on the eve of the war, when the entire nation of Israel was tremblingly waiting for us to be thrown into the sea, and was appointed minister without portfolio. What would Begin say if he saw today what happened to Jerusalem Day? What happened to the Likud? What might happen to the judicial and governmental systems and to Israeli statehood? Let everyone think about it for themselves. One thing is certain: Smotrich and Ben-Gvir were not there. They have emerged now and are taking over both reality and history. We must not give up on them. Not about reality and not about history.
It's a shame that the protest leaders didn't go for a huge celebration for Jerusalem Day. Maybe even instead of the parade to Bnei Brak. Yesterday, such an event was organized, a quiet march in honor of Jerusalem Day to the president's residence. Respect. It needs to be increased. It should be a central and formative event, every year, on Jerusalem Day. If the way Jerusalem Day is celebrated today is not to our liking, let's find another, more appropriate way. A Zionist, patriotic, creative way that does not include extremism, defiance, messianism or an attempt to light up the entire arena. We've done more complicated things than that. Next year on Jerusalem Day.
Eyes on the ball
The protest against the regime coup saved Israel, at least for now. Its leaders are no less heroic than the paratroopers at the Western Wall, the pilots in the Syrian and Iraqi reactors, Kahalani on Yom Kippur and all the rest. Together with them, the masses who demonstrated their love for this place and their commitment to its values and image. Anyone who went down to Kaplan, or went up to the Goma junction, or jumped into the streets or demonstrated in Netanya or sacrificed his life in Or Akiva or went up to the amazing and regular demonstration in front of the president's residence in Jerusalem, and in at least 150 other places, knows that such a phenomenon did not exist here. If we ignore for a moment Moti Ashkenazi, who began the process that brought down Golda Meir's government (after it won the elections and won 51 Knesset seats!), this is also the most successful civil protest in Israel's history. And the most beautiful.
The question is what to do now. My heroic friends (really) in the various protest groups will forgive me, but I am not part of the savage attack on Gantz and Lapid's people at the president's residence. Nor about the president himself. Nor am I sure that the ultra-Orthodox should have been marked as one of the targets of the protest. You must not take your eyes off the ball. No, the ball is not the coalition funds, not the looting, not the nationalism and not the desire of some of us to replace the ultra-nationalist, ultra-Orthodox, messianic and disastrous government that was established here. An opposition should always strive to overthrow the government. Opposition operates in the political field. The protest against the regime coup was not political. Nor is it an opposition. It is a coalition. It is the silent majority of Israelis. Let's not get confused.
Not intimidated by the president's negotiations (Photo: official website, President's House)
The protest has become what it has become thanks to the fact that around its goal there is a relatively broad consensus shared by constituencies that do not belong to center-left voters. Hundreds of thousands, representing millions, left everything and took to the streets (the night of Gallant's dismissal was no less than one of the most historic nights in our history) to prevent Israel from becoming a dictatorship. This desire to prevent damage to democracy is also shared by right-wingers, religious lite, hardcore religious (I know many of them), those who wear knitted skullcaps, even settlers. As soon as we begin to disperse, the protest will also disperse. If it disperses, the other side will smell it within seconds and dissolve democracy. We will lose momentum, critical mass, and we will lose. We don't have the privilege to lose. By the way, this is our advantage.
The rules are simple: the wider the span of goals, the smaller the scope itself.
And I'm not alarmed by the negotiations at the President's House. Vice versa. From a long acquaintance with Netanyahu, the chances of him declaring the death of the regime coup are zero. The chances of him texting it, as only he knows, are very high. Revolutions of this kind do not die with loud fanfare, but die an ugly dying with a whining voice. So we need to help this event dissolve, not push it. Want to talk? Let them talk. Want to legislate? Let them legislate. We'll see them. Netanyahu knows that the High Court of Justice will strike down the legislation if it is implemented, and we, en masse, will defend the High Court. Therefore, we need to stay focused with our eyes on the ball, remain vigilant and continue the struggle wisely
Frosh's money
Let's talk about the ultra-Orthodox, because this is a great example. I'm not sure this week's Bnei Brak parade was a good idea. On the other hand, it wasn't a disaster either. But anyone who thinks that in this way we will recruit new publics to the struggle is mistaken. Anyone who thinks that in this way we will help masses of ultra-Orthodox Jews who know the situation and are afraid to come out of the closet and demand that their leaders change the situation are mistaken.
It's not that the ultra-Orthodox haven't earned their criticism. Their answer is the usual one: outcries of outrage and allegations of racism and anti-Semitism. Well, anyone who accuses those who make claims against the ultra-Orthodox of racism or anti-Semitism is ignorant, an idiot, evil, or all at the same time (this is probably the third option). Racism is a position according to which there is a close connection between origin and certain character traits, or sometimes also mental skills, etc., so that the individual is not judged primarily on his personal uniqueness but on his belonging to a group.
No, gentlemen, no one thinks that the ultra-Orthodox have certain character traits because they are Jews. By the way, we too are Jews, no less good. What is more, we have complaints about the phenomenon shared by the ultra-Orthodox, which is now taking place before our eyes. A phenomenon in which the unproductive and non-serving half of Israeli society rises up on the other half and shamelessly covers it. Both riding the dairy cow and slaughtering it. They both sit on the donkey and kick it. So the donkey had had enough.
Let's go back to the Cabinet meeting this week. Minister Meir Frosh said the following amazing sentence to the Prime Minister: "Prime Minister, you promised me NIS 250 million. It's my money. No official will tell me what to do with him." The only sentence that could be more astonishing than what Frosh said was Finance Minister Smotrich's reply: "Because this is coalition money, there are limitations on it. There are veto players here because the legal reform has not been passed."
This exchange (published on Channel 12) is the whole story, in a nutshell. Smotrich affirms in his voice that the gatekeepers are the only ones who are still somehow able to protect the insane looting campaign that has been taking place before our eyes in recent weeks. If the coup had passed, Bibi could have distributed all the money in the world to all the finches in the galaxy, and that would indeed be "my money." The problem is that it's our money. And for now, at least, the fortress has not yet fallen.
Bibi would distribute the money to all the "finches" in the galaxy. Meir Frosh (Photo: Reuven Castro)
This week we also enjoyed being angry at Goldknopf and his friends, who demanded another NIS 600 million after the massive looting (NIS 13.5 billion for all sectors, not just the ultra-Orthodox) ended. They want it retroactively. Our anger is justified, of course, but Goldknopf is not to blame this time. Not a thief rat, a thief. Whoever is to blame is, hold on tight, Netanyahu. Of all the sins this man commits for his mission as a public figure, the story with Belz's outline before the elections is the most horrifying.
Reminder: During the previous government, the Haredim were offered a fair and reasonable deal: increasing allowances to institutions that do not teach core education in exchange for introducing a real, supervised core into Haredi education. Belz Hasidism the Great agreed. The Rebbe of Belz enthusiastically supported the idea. Belz was to be followed by other Rebbe and Hasidic groups. It was a historic breakthrough. Ask Prof. Dan Ben-David. Along the way, read his research and scientific data on the disaster that awaits us if it doesn't happen.
But then came Netanyahu. He understood that the plan could divide the ultra-Orthodox into two parties. One of them is capable, alas, of not passing elections. So he summoned the Baalazim and everyone else and told them to abandon the plan. If he forms a government, they will get all the money retroactively, without a core. I don't have enough words to describe the magnitude of the damage, the disaster, the crime against the economy, the economy, the chance to ever integrate the ultra-Orthodox into the Israeli prosperity and save our common future. Netanyahu did it without blinking. He knows better than any of us what it means. After all, he was the one who talked about the culture of allowances, he was the one who cut, he was the one who talked about "the fat and the thin." He acted against his values. He acted for his own needs. And now the ultra-Orthodox are demanding to pay the check. Guilty, whoever wrote it to them.
If I were the leader of the protest, I would try to find ways to the hearts of the ultra-Orthodox with good, not bad. There is no need to declare a siege or a "day of rage." A large part of the ultra-Orthodox know that the protest is just. Many of them are trapped in their situation, in a dead-end trap. No, that doesn't mean they want to leave religion. That's not the point. A man of his faith will live. But they know that the current arrangement will not be able to last much longer. They also strive to acquire a general education and support themselves with dignity. Anyone familiar with the enormous demand among the ultra-Orthodox for English lessons, and the tremendous thirst for state-ultra-Orthodox institutions with a full heart, knows the situation. The community leaders and politicians do not allow them. They're just locked up. Tragedy.
I would take Michael Eisenberg's amazing tweet, post it on leaflets, flyers, pashquils, synagogue leaflets and other ultra-Orthodox media, and distribute this tweet to every Haredi everywhere. Eisenberg is a high-tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, one of the most successful. He is also ultra-Orthodox himself. He employs ultra-Orthodox. He even gives Talmud lessons here and there. He addressed the ultra-Orthodox in their language, because it is his language. He is their brother.
Here are some excerpts from his tweet: "The coalition agreements mean that the ultra-Orthodox public will receive money at the moment, but it will be a cry for them for generations. The current benefits will cost the State of Israel dearly and the ultra-Orthodox public as well... Any expenditure that does not build a growth infrastructure but consumption causes inflation. This was the case when money was distributed during the coronavirus, the same will happen with the billion shekels of food stamps, and the same will happen with the addition of the knees. Money for current consumption that does not create future growth is inflationary... The market is not blind. When the government spends more money than it creates growth or brings in from tax collection, the market automatically responds with price increases of products, which is inflation, which is the erosion of the value of money. Those who suffer the most from inflation are those who receive transfer payments. Since the transfer payments make up a significant portion of the Haredi household's livelihood, you will be the one who will be hit hardest by the current move. In particular, the ability of Haredi households to improve their incomes is currently low.
"The little ultra-Orthodox citizen became a slave to political activists," Michael Eisenberg (Photo: Omri Sagan)
"The situation is that, as a rule, the ultra-Orthodox population has fewer earning channels, and the more technology and the economy advances, the more you are left behind. Without an effort, even Goldknopf and Gafni's assistant won't help. What else? Haredi politicians understand what I wrote (I hope...). What interests them is not the little man, but the dependence of that one on his political patron. I know it's not easy to read, but this is the reality that the court rulers of Rav Gershon and the Rebbe also know. The Torah says, 'My servants are,' and the famous sermon interpreted: 'My servants are they, not slaves to slaves.' So here's some news: The little ultra-Orthodox citizen has become a slave to political activists who "take care" of his livelihood. If it were 'only' worrisome on the economic level, it would be very worrying on the spiritual level as well."
In my misdeeds, I am in contact with many ultra-Orthodox. They write to me from the comfort of their hearts, after swearing me not to turn them in. One of them sent me a photocopy of a page of Talmud from Tractate Kiddushin this week, marking in red the words of Rashi and others condemning idleness, in favor of work and Torah. "I'm a yeshiva guy," he wrote, "I feel the need for them to know this, fight for it, don't give up, I'm 20 years old, secretly breaking my teeth to learn English and math at the eighth grade level, knowing that if I get caught I'll fly out permanently from the yeshiva."
I get many such messages. Sometimes, they turn to me on the street. "Keep going, keep going," they implore, "we can't help ourselves, help us." So I continue. What a shame that a few years ago the High Court of Justice rejected a petition by immigrants on the question, who demanded that the state compensate them for not requiring their educational institutions to prepare them for the modern world. This week I also donated to Hillel, for exactly that reason. Not to get people out of the question. To help those who no one else helps.
Smotrich multiplies
A few final words about Bezalel Smotrich. A talented, articulate, hardworking and dangerous man. This week he was interviewed by us on FM103 radio. From the very first sentence, he said something puzzling: "The ultra-Orthodox make up 20% of Israel's population." Smotrich is finance minister. This statistic should be in his mouth even in the middle of the night. Even in English. No, they are not 20%. They will be 20%, at the moment they are around 12%. That's a huge difference.
Later, when asked about increasing allowances, etc., he answered this sentence: "Yes, there is also an increase in the budget for yeshivas. Maybe that's less financially correct, so what? A country doesn't just do what's good for the economy. When you require factories to install filters to protect the environment, that's also not economically correct, but the state has other values that are important for it to promote.
Well, that's not true either. But really not true. There are few investments more worthwhile than investments in air filters. They prevent severe illness, which is much more expensive to treat than installing the filters. Every novice economist knows this. Investing in transportation infrastructure is also a worthwhile investment in this context: it saves valuable time and fatalities and injuries in road accidents. In short, Smotrich is not connected. He is quite detached. This week, he celebrated the shocking numbers of our economy as if he had just returned from the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Yesterday, it became clear that he plans to double, no less, the number of settlers and upgrade the settlements' infrastructure by many billions. Could it be that the state budget was inspired by "If in my constitution you go"? You never know. One thing is clear: Either Smotrich is onto something that none of the senior economists in Israel and around the world understands, or very soon he will run aground and together with him we will all go up there.
- news
- Opinions and interpretations
Tags
- Jerusalem
- Bezalel Smotrich
- Flag Parade
- Jerusalem Day
- The Legal Revolution
