It was another bad week for Israel. Bad at home, and bad outside. The headlines moved frighteningly fast – from the peaks of murders in the Arab sector to fluctuations in the dollar, and from there to the embarrassing farce in the Knesset. There it became clear once again that Benjamin Netanyahu's word is not a word, that he is blackmailing and pressuring, and most disturbing of all – that he is not in control of the event.
This madness had many appendages. Each of them warrants a separate column, but it is worth devoting a few words to two of them, which encapsulate everything:
The first - the economy. The shekel has weakened considerably in recent months because of the rupture caused by the legal legislation. Its freeze, or what was perceived as a freeze due to the talks at the president's residence and a series of statements made by Netanyahu in English, strengthened him relatively speaking.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich chose to taunt Channel 12 News reporter Karen Marciano, who said that the dollar is weakening, not that the shekel is strengthening. In his tweets, he added a comment that Marciano was invited to write in Moroccan to garner likes and obscure her lack of understanding of economics.
It is debatable which of them understands economics more; The state of the economy, the warnings of all economists in Israel and around the world, and a series of data – the shrinkage of investments in high-tech from 7 billion in the first half of 2022 to 1.5 billion in the corresponding half of the year, for example – raise more than a suspicion that Smotrich is not particularly good in this area.
To the damage he is causing to the economy, the minister also adds ugly racism, which began with his attitude toward Arabs (for those who need a reminder: Google about his Arab wife and mother) and has now moved to his attitude toward Mizrahim. One can only imagine what would have happened on social media if similar things had been said to Miri Regev or Dudi Amsalem - but Marciano is a convenient target, the flesh of the beleaguered media.
Whoever promised to be everyone's finance minister proved once again the opposite. The fact that he chose to rant about using a foreign language is Priceless, after the Oxfordian English he heard at a Bundes event. Instead of being arrogant and racist, it would have been better if he found some "grandmazer" to teach him simple arithmetic: one plus one equals two, in other words, the shekel weakened because of the legal revolution, strengthened because of its containment, and weakened again this week when it seemed to be coming back.
Triple finger to the White House
The second incident involves sketches still coming from the United States, following the wholesale visit of government ministers last week.
Most of the criticism was directed at Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Shikli. The triple finger he made to anti-government demonstrators (yes, yes, he just smiled at them with his two middle fingers raised) was a continuation of a series of statements he made that upset Americans, especially American Jews. In their eyes, the person in charge of relations with them on behalf of the government became a persona non grata: they refused to meet with him. The damage is huge, and the bill is piling up. Once again, Henry Kissinger was right: Israel has no foreign policy, only a domestic policy.
Those who push to remove women from combat service will inevitably lead to damage to the economy or the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox, not to mention harm to equality and democracy – two principles that the government and its head have sworn to defend
Anyone who thinks that this event remains the province of the Jews here and there is mistaken. It has a direct impact on support for Israel and the administration's attitude toward Israel. Netanyahu continued to wait this week for an invitation, which did not arrive, to a meeting at the White House. Instead, he watched with eager eyes the invitation President Herzog received to come to Washington next month for a meeting plus a speech before both houses of parliament marking Israel's 75th anniversary.
Herzog did not originally intend to reach President Biden before Netanyahu. The sensitivities are clear to him, as is the American game within Israeli politics. But in recent weeks, he heard the concern expressed by defense establishment leaders and business leaders about the consequences of the dangerous rift between Jerusalem and Washington, and decided to put Israel before Netanyahu's honor.
One example of the significance of this disconnect is now taking place live in Oman, where the US is conducting "secret" negotiations with Iran on a return to the nuclear deal. Israel is not a party to the talks, and in the current state of affairs it cannot really influence them. This does not necessarily mean that the agreement signed will be bad. As always, there will be better and lesser sides to it. On the positive side, Iran will likely be required to hand over the enriched uranium it has accumulated and commit not to engage in enrichment as long as the agreement is in force (partially by the beginning of 2025, and fully by the beginning of 2030). On the negative side, it will receive money and assets frozen under the sanctions, and will not be required to extend or expand the agreement.
The implication, assuming that the agreement is signed, is that the immediate threat of an Iranian breakout towards the nuclear program through enrichment to 90 percent will be off the agenda for the next few years. This allows the Iranians to get richer, to organize, and to arrive stronger and better prepared for the next round, when the restrictions of the agreement are lifted. This is bad news for Israel, but it is also good: Time also allows Israel to prepare, whether for a future diplomatic campaign to extend the agreement or reinstate sanctions, or for an attack on Iran's nuclear sites.
It would have been better if all these were done in agreement, with Washington's support and backing. To do this, it is necessary to take legal legislation off the table. If political commentators are correct in claiming that the issue is dead, it is not clear why Netanyahu insists on not declaring it in Hebrew and closing the story. Instead, he and we continue to bleed at home and abroad, at great cost to security and the economy.
Populist misogyny
The army did well to quickly investigate and publish the conclusions of the incident on the Egyptian border in which three soldiers were killed, and the chief of staff did well to act aggressively: the message about a large backlog of mishaps could not have been other than harsh conclusions about commanders.
This incident has quite a few annexes related to operational matters, conduct in the sector that ranges from terrorism to criminality, and relations with Egypt. But there were also ugly insinuations about unprofessional and inappropriate conduct by the soldier in the position – claims that were categorically denied in the investigation. This, along with the claim that women cannot be combatants, and that if there were men there, the event would have ended differently.
It's total nonsense. In the micro, in the field conditions, the event would have ended the same way even if Rocky and Rambo had been on shift. In macro, women in combat roles are a resounding success. See air defense, border police, Home Front Command or border defense. The women there (usually more than 50 percent) perform well, often better than the men, freeing men up for more combat roles where women can't serve.
Whoever removes women from combat roles will be required to fill the ranks with thousands of fighters, and the IDF does not have them. The solution will be to extend service or expand recruitment. In other words, those who push to remove women from my battle will inevitably lead to either damage to the economy or the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox, not to mention harm to equality and democracy – two principles that the government and its head have sworn to defend.
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