TV

What do you say, it turns out that precisely here Miri Regev and Zahava Galon agree on everything

"The Elected", the docu-series that tells the story of the women in Israeli politics, does what is expected of public television: it enriches, provokes thought and open discussion and does all this elegantly.

And those who look for a balance between right and left will actually discover a surprising unity

Ben Biron Brauda

07/09/2022

Wednesday, 07 September 2022, 08:25 Updated: 08:45

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Limor Livnat, the national teams (Photo: Courtesy of Kaan 11)

In an amazing moment, one of many that was pulled from the archives of Israeli television and appeared in the premiere episode of the documentary series "The Chosen Ones" (here 11), a reporter covering the primaries in the Likud movement stops his report to tell the viewers that before Limor Livnat is interviewed she "requires a light touch of makeup."

Livnat seems embarrassed that the cameras are actually lingering on fixing her makeup and not on her impressive achievement that will eventually lead her to the Knesset.

"The Chosen Ones" created by Efrat Shalom Danon, Esnat Trabalsi and Lior Elefant (all of the prominent role holders in the series are women) is not based on archival materials alone, but uses them wisely and at strategic points to emphasize the long way that women have made and are making in Israeli politics.

The first episode aired yesterday takes the viewers back, years before the establishment of the state, when it presents the objections that existed at the beginning of the Yishuv to women being able to be elected to the Knesset and even vote.

There were those who thought at the time that the role of the Hebrew woman was first of all to be a mother and take care of the children.

If we wear rose-colored glasses, it is easy for us to show off that Golda Meir was prime minister in our country already in the late sixties, but the reality is much less glamorous.

The creators of the series built a wide and impressive mosaic of politicians from all ends of the spectrum, present and past, who were interviewed for the series and shared their experience, alongside journalists and academic women who presented another angle on the female struggle for equal representation in the House of Representatives.

On the one hand, there are Miri Regev, Ayelet Shaked, Limor Levant, Naomi Blumenthal and Shuli Moalem, and on the other side of the map are Merav Michaeli, Zehava Galon, Shelly Yachimovich, Stav Shapir, Naomi Hazan, Aida Toma Suleiman and much more.

Miri Regev, the national teams (Photo: Courtesy of Kaan 11)

The female struggle for equality is long and complex all over the world.

In fact, just recently we saw how even in Finland, a country where we can only dream of equal rights and which is led by Sanna Marin (36 years old) there were misogynistic criticisms that she was photographed dancing and having fun.

In Israel the situation is much worse.

As one of the statistics in the series shows, we are in the 61st and very disrespectful place in the representation of women in parliament.

At the same time, there is no doubt that the situation now is excellent compared to what was here in the first congresses.

For decades there were only a few women in each Knesset, while even in the current Knesset, the most equal to date, there is still a significant and disproportionate gap in favor of the male sex.

If you ask Tzipi Livni, the woman who came closest to the position of Prime Minister since Golda, the significant place of the army in our lives has a significant part in the reason that there is no gender equality in the Israeli Knesset.

The fact that we are a nation that always looks up to the generals leaves those in the army still inferior to the men behind.

not just for my son,

Although it is loaded with interviews and information, "The Selections" does an excellent job of presenting a variety of opinions and personal stories.

Whether it is the wonderful story of Limor Livnat who describes how she had to change her tone of voice and make it into a masculine tone so that the members of the Likud center would listen to her or whether it is the story of the minister of immigration and absorption, Panina Tamno Sheta, about her personal journey as an Ethiopian woman in the Israeli Knesset.

The journalist and activist, Karen Neubach, very wisely explains that "few people can represent those who do not know how to tell their story" and when more and more archival materials are revealed to viewers, it is hard not to agree with her.

In a segment that can't be defined in a word other than shocking, you can see the former president of the country Ezer Weizman (then another member of the government) hugging Knesset member Geula Cohen in front of the cameras and then almost pushing her onto the screen.

Everything is done with a smile (on his part) but when he moves forward and the camera lingers for a moment on Cohen, who was many things but not a weak woman,

You can see how hurt and humiliated she remains.

It's moments like these that make you think that maybe we've really progressed in the last few decades.

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In collaboration with Rami Levy

Ayelet Shaked, the national teams (Photo: Courtesy of Kaan 11)

By its very nature, "The Chosen Ones" is a political text and it has no intention of apologizing for that, but those who are looking here for a distinction between right and left (and vice versa) will actually find a surprising unity here.

Whether it's Rehavam Zeevi (Gandhi) or Ezer Weizman, chauvinism was present in all of them so that Ora Namir's journey was no more pleasant than that of Miriam Taesa Glazer.

The place of the feminists was not forgotten either, with the absence of Shulamit Aloni, who herself is responsible for many legislations in the field of equality in Israel, particularly noticeable.

However, she appears in the series in many archive clips.

Continuing her path, Yael Dayan is also not interviewed but appears in many archive clips and is already seen as someone who was ahead of her time by many decades.

"The Chosen" looks back and goes through the archives so that we can move towards true equality which should be important to all of us.

Every episode she reveals gaps that exist in our society and talks about them so that we can learn from them and maybe change.

In the first episode, it does not end optimistically when the ultra-Orthodox political activist, Hila Hasan Lefkovich, describes the humiliating attitude of the ultra-orthodox parties towards the representation of women.

Haredi women are a significant percentage of Israel's population and the fact that they are still not represented at all passes us by in silence.

In conclusion, "The Selections" does what is expected of public television: it enriches, provokes thought and open discussion and does all this elegantly.

And no, not really because elegance is a "feminine" quality, but simply because it is well made.

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