Netanyahu's sixth government apparently has a special talent for embroiling itself in unnecessary scandals. The newest of these is the initiative to remove from office the Chairman of Yad Vashem's Directorate, former Consul Danny Dayan.
Dayan, by all accounts, is a talented and honest man. He brought great respect to the State of Israel during the years he represented it in New York, despite the ideological chasm between him as a right-winger and the Jewish leadership there, which leans towards the progressive left.
In fact, Dayan drags behind him a list of successes in every position he has held (except politics, but that probably says more about it than about him). He became rich in the private sector, rehabilitated the Yesha Council after the disengagement and now confidently leads one of Israel's most sacred institutions – Yad Vashem.
Israel's Consul General in New York, Danny Dayan
And now, Education Minister Yoav Kish, or perhaps Prime Minister Netanyahu, decided to burn Dayan on the altar of vindictive politics. What is his great sin? Apparently his alliance with Gideon Sa'ar, who is hated by Netanyahu and his gang, on the eve of the "fourth elections" in the winter of 2021. Another version claims that the appearance of a singer who supported the protest at the Yad Vashem event is the reason to get him out of the way. In other words, in Israel in 2023, under Likud rule, we have returned to a situation where if you do not have the right party register, you are doomed.
Whatever the reason for the harassment, Dayan's interception could be another glorious boomerang that would open the gates of hell on the government. Because anyone who thinks that moving him out of the way will pass as if nothing, does not understand where he lives.
If Dayan is ousted, it is quite clear that there will be a revolt by Israeli Holocaust scholars against the government. They will argue that "Israel's far-right government is polluting historical research in politics" is exactly the stain that "the most extreme government ever" is missing.
Danny Dayan and Yoav Kish, Cinematography: Oren Ben Hakon and Mark Israel Salem
The same scholars will raise a mass outcry and once again compare Netanyahu's Israel to Morawiecki's Poland. Only this time it will be really in their claim. For one of the first actions that plunged today's Poland into political distress was the replacement of the leadership of the Institute of National Remembrance – Poland's Yad Vashem – with its superiors. These superiors may or may not be professional enough – there is intense controversy over this in Poland. What is indisputable is the heavy price.
And that is what will happen to Israel, only with much greater force, if the government touches Dayan. Because Yad Vashem is a local and international brand. The IDF, the judiciary, academia, the top echelons of the economy, and of course the political opposition will not stand idly by. So are institutions commemorating the Holocaust and genocides all over the world. From the Holocaust Museum in Washington to the Valley of Remembrance in Rwanda, there will be protest against the damage to an institution of unparalleled international prestige.
The appearance of a singer who supported the protest at the Yad Vashem event is the reason. Keren Peles, Photo: Coco
For the leadership of the American Jewish community, which is currently maintaining a tense silence with the government, this would be a red line. For them, there is no more sacred and unifying value than the memory of the Holocaust. Netanyahu and Kish must take into account that if Dayan is ousted, even the most official Jewish organizations will come down from the fence and stand on their hind legs. Also public. They will demand that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a second-generation Holocaust survivor, stop the madness. They will recruit members of Congress and government officials, accuse Netanyahu of desecrating the memory of the Holocaust, and do everything so that he does not come to Washington.
Of course, here in Israel too, the matter will not go quietly, including on the right. Dayan is a man of the Land of Israel who lives to this day on the right side of the Green Line. He enjoys great appreciation in the settlements in Judea and Samaria in particular, and in the Israeli public in general. Even those who support the government, this frog will not be able to swallow.
Hall of Names at Yad Vashem, Photo: AP
If all these are not enough, it is very likely that Holocaust survivors, their sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will take to the streets. Are we missing pictures of people in striped uniforms, standing at the entrance to Yad Vashem, saying, 'For political reasons, a fascist Jewish government is desecrating the sanctity of the memory of the greatest crime in the history of mankind'?!
It takes a particularly high degree of blindness to fall into this pit.
It takes an even greater amount of stupidity to refuel the protest that has lost momentum. So although we have already seen everything, nevertheless, anyone with eyes in his head will not touch Danny Dayan.
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