Competition for the missed title. It is common to distinguish between a war of no choice and a war of choice, in which the decision to embark on ideological or political considerations, and not from the need to defend the citizens of the attacking state. Operation Home & Garden was necessary in the situation that was created, but from a broader perspective – it would have been unnecessary if, instead of trying to perpetuate the Interim Agreement, we had made an effort to dialogue and create a political horizon, the essence of which is the division of the land: two states for two peoples.
Yes, 28 Israelis have been murdered since the beginning of the year. Many were injured, and nine were injured in a vehicular attack in Tel Aviv against the background of the operation in Jenin. Yes, many of the Palestinians involved in the attacks left Jenin, which has become an independent stronghold of weapons and training when it does not obey the Palestinian Authority, and where Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad elements join forces to attack Israelis. Yes, Iran is involved, guiding and funding those who seek our lives. In the circumstances that were created, there was no other choice.
The young Palestinians from Jenin were born into the ongoing frustration that followed Rabin's assassination, after the failure of the political talks, during the second intifada, which erupted after Arik Sharon's provocative ascent (as leader of the opposition) to the Temple Mount with some 1,000 people. Some were born after the violent struggle between Hamas and Fatah and the rift that has not been healed between the two movements in the past 16 years. They were born without a political horizon, into a failed and corrupt Palestinian Authority, into an ongoing Israeli occupation that has returned to Palestinian cities, a lack of trust in their leadership, deep unemployment and the killing of Israelis out of hatred or out of greed.
Yes, they are murderers. They are terrorists. But they could grow up as other people under different circumstances. If their leaders and ours hadn't wasted 30 years competing for the most consistent missed opportunity title, there might be no need for multiple-choice operations that could lower the flames for a few months and inflame hatred for another generation. Perhaps instead of pruning the grass frequently, and knowing that the violence will continue one way or another and that we will soon return to the alleys, it would have been possible (and perhaps possible) to reach an agreed border between us and them before we become a minority in this country. Before the Zionist dream fades away.
No science. The Ministry of Science recently published a report on science education in elementary schools, revealing a frightening picture: The main point is that since science is part of the free budget available to the school principal, principals prefer to choose cheaper classes, and science studies have been abandoned. Even when they are taught, teachers prefer to read from books rather than conduct experiments in the laboratory, mainly because most of them do not know what to do there and have not been trained in this field. Even the teachers who have been trained in the subject do not receive proper updating.
Someone must be alarmed. Israel rightly prides itself on being a leader in research and science, the Nobel Prizes awarded to its citizens, the research and development budgets allocated by it, and the large number of start-up companies operating in it (at least until seven months ago). The situation in which state institutions with their own hands cut back on plantings must change, and immediately.
Back to the Middle Ages. Six (out of nine) justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are taking their country backwards. The decision to allow the abolition of affirmative action (for women, blacks, and others) is a severe blow to those who suffer from exclusion and disadvantage. The decision to cancel student debt forgiveness is a blow to young people from the lower deciles. The decision to allow non-provision of services on grounds of religion or opinion is an invitation to discrimination and harm to LGBT people.
This is the fruit of the shame of the Trump administration, which has done everything possible to ensure the right-wing and extreme conservatism of the justices. Whoever wants to copy the system with us will accept the Middle Ages.
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