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Charles M. Abelsohn – Letter from Israel – The Women of Israel

Hi again from Israel,

“They” comprise about 50% of Israel`s population. “They” have contributed significantly to Israel`s growth and success. “They” feature prominently in all walks of life in Israel. The “they” are, of course, the Women of Israel. It is time that their contribution is highlighted. In this letter, we will read about their successes and prowess in many different fields in yesterday`s and today`s Israel. Many we will name, some for obvious reasons, cannot be named.

Perhaps more than any other race, religion and nationality, women have been an integral part of Jewish history. Quick reminder: in a sense Jewish history commences with the four matriarchs, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel (reminder: there were only three patriarchs!). Despite Pharoah`s orders to kill male Jewish babies, Jewish women continued to give birth, Moses was delivered by the two midwives, Puah and Shiphrah, Moses`s mother Jochevet, hid Moses and his sister Miriam watched and “discussed” Moses`s needs with no less than Pharoah`s daughter! The story of Moses is the almost unbelievable story of several incredible and brave women. Deborah was the fourth judge of Israel; Esther bravely confronted the king`s favourite, Haman, in ancient Persia and saved the Jewish nation.

In modern times, Sarah Aaronsohn was a member of Nili, a ring of Jewish spies working for the British in Turkish Palestine during World War I, and a sister of the notable agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn. She is often referred to as the “heroine of Nili”.

Hannah Szenes was a poet and Special Operations Executive paratrooper. She was one of 37 Jewish parachutists of Mandate Palestine parachuted by the British Army into Yugoslavia during the Second World War to assist in the rescue of Hungarian Jews about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz. Hannah Senesh was captured and killed by the Nazis in 1944, aged 23.

Women at the helm of Israel’s judicial system. Let`s start off by jumping from Deborah, the fourth judge of Israel, to three modern judges of Israel. Of the last four Chief Justice`s of Israel, no less than three have been women. The current Chief Justice, referred to as President of the Supreme Court, is Judge Esther Hayut, the daughter of Romanian Holocaust survivors. She was born in a transit camp near Herzliya. The family was destitute, but she quickly became an outstanding school pupil and a hard-working law student, having selected law over a career as a musician. Judge Hayut joined the Israel Defense Forces and served in one of its most visible and audible outfits, the Central Command Band. She was appointed a judge at a relatively young age.

Miriam Naor was born in Jerusalem. She was a judge of the Supreme Court between 2003 and 2017 and Chief Justice between 2015 and 2017. Naor graduated from the Hebrew University’s law school in 1971 and clerked for Supreme Court justice (later Chief Justice) Moshe Landau.  Naor spent 38 years on the bench, 17 of them on the Supreme Court. Her final act was ratifying the verdict allowing Tel Aviv supermarkets and recreation centers to remain open on Shabbat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorit Beinisch was the 9th president of the Supreme Court of Israel. She served in this position from 2006 until 2012. She was the first woman to serve as president of the Israeli Supreme Court. Beinisch served as the State Attorney of Israel from 1989 to 1995, the first woman in Israel to hold this position.

Governor  of  the  Bank  of  Israel.  Karnit  Flug is  a  Polish-born  Israeli economist. She held the position of governor of the Central Bank of Israel between November 2013 and November 2018. She was the first female governor of the Bank of Israel.

Women at the helm of Israel’s financial institutions. From the Governor of the Bank of Israel to three bank CEOs, women dominate the top echelons of Israel’s financial system.

People familiar with Israel’s banks and financial institutions can only look on in wonder at the number of women at the top in this country. The previous Governor of the Bank of Israel was Dr. Karnit Flug, the Deputy Governor is Dr. Nadine Baudot-Trajtenberg and the Supervisor of Banks is Dr. Hedva Ber.

 

And that’s just the start. Dr. Ber’s recent decision to accept to separate banks and credit card companies and the ensuing clash between the banking system and the regulatory authorities was something of an all-female affair.

 

Israel`s big five banks. Three of the CEOs of Israel’s big five banks are women: Rakefet Russak-Aminoach at Bank Leumi, Lilach Asher-Topilsky at Israel Discount Bank and Smadar Barber-Tsadik at First International Bank. Furthermore, the controlling shareholder of a fourth bank Bank Hapoalim – is Shari Arison. Many of the top government regulatory positions are also in the hands of women including Accountant-General Michal Abadi-Boiangiu, Israel Antitrust Authority Head Michal Halperin and Supervisor of the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Dorit Salinger.

 

It is not as if this is anything close to the norm elsewhere in the world. Save for the previous US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and IMF head Christine Lagarde, very few executives at the top of global financial institutions are women. At a recent international banking conference in Singapore, for example, only two of the 60 CEOs present were women one from India and Bank Leumi’s Russak-Aminoach.

 

Nobel Prize. Ada E. Yonath is an Israeli crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of the ribosome. She is the current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 2009, she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz for her studies on the structure and function of the ribosome, becoming the first Israeli woman to win the Nobel Prize out of ten Israeli Nobel laureates, the first woman from the Middle East to win a Nobel prize in the sciences, and the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

The IDF. It is impossible to write about women in Israel without writing about women in the IDF (Israel Defence Force).

During the winter of 1948, women joined the combat soldiers of the Palmach (Israel`s attacking force), who traveled from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with their weapons concealed in their clothes. The Palmach arm (thirty percent of which were females) trained nine female platoon commanders, and other female squad commanders.

 

Female Pilots. In 1949, the Israeli army became the first in the world to introduce mandatory military service for both men and women, and in 1951, Yael Rom became the first graduate of the prestigious pilot’s course. But a short while  later,  women were  barred from  combat positions and  from becoming pilots.

In 1993, South African immigrant Alice Miller successfully sued the military for the right to join the pilot training course. While she was declared medically unfit for a role as pilot, her actions shattered the IAF’s glass ceiling for women, opening the course to female trainees.

Five years later, Sheri Rahat graduated from the pilot’s course and became a navigator on an F-16 fighter jet. In 2000, Lt. Roni Zuckerman, the granddaughter of two leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, became the first woman to graduate as a combat fighter pilot.

Recently two women were appointed to senior positions, including the first woman to command an aviation squadron.

 

Since the landmark High Court ruling in the 1990s that forced the IDF to accept women into the pilots course, 48 female cadets have successfully completed the course and received their wings

The IAF data also shows that over the past four years, the number of women applicants to the pilots course has risen by 60%, as has the number of women applicants who are invited to the precourse screening week.

Israel’s 13 first female tank operators pose for a photograph at the Armored Corps’ monument in Latrun, outside Jerusalem. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israeli army’s first female combat tank operators completed their training recently, earning medals marking them as such, as part of a pilot program to assess fuller gender integration in the Armored Corps.

IDF’s first female tank commanders. Following a successful pilot of all- women tank crews, four women, one of whom is an oleh (immigrant) from England, made history when they were appointed commanders of IDF tank units. The four were chosen, from the original 15 women tank trainees, to enroll in the Caracal Battalion’s grueling tank commander program.

 

Breaking record, 1,000 women join IDF combat units this summer

Military figures on unprecedented female enlistment to field units came a day after the air force announced the appointment of the first woman commander of a flight squadron. Some 1,000 women were inducted into the Israel Defense Forces to serve in combat units this summer, the most to do so in the country’s history. This new record comes as the military is having female soldiers take on more and more combat roles.

This was 150 more female recruits than in 2017, the army said. The number of new recruits was also nearly double the total number of female combat soldiers who served in the IDF in 2012 — 547.

Soldiers from the mixed-gender Lions of the Jordan Valley Battalion take part in an exercise in the Tzeelim army base on February 5, 2018. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)

Female officer takes command of IDF Artillery Corps’ drone unit

Lt. Col. Reut Retig Weiss has been appointed the first woman to become battalion commander of the IDF’s Artillery Corp’s drone unit and the second Israeli woman ever to be appointed commander of a combat unit. “Almost seven years ago I was present at the founding ceremony for the unit and never in my wildest dreams did I think that one day I would command it. It’s an extraordinary privilege and a tremendous mission,” said Retig Weiss, who had previously served as a deputy battalion commander in the Artillery Corps. The unit, which was established in 2010, is considered one of the artillery corps’ most prestigious special units.

First female military judge in the world. Hava Inbar, a lawyer, was appointed the judge of the military court in Haifa in September 1969, thus becoming the first female military judge in the world. “I do not know if I want to be a military judge my whole life,” she said in an interview, “but I am glad that I was appointed; it proves that the IDF leaves almost all doors open for its female soldiers.”

4th woman appointed to serve on IDF General Staff

The army recently appointed Brig. Gen. Ariella Lazrovitch as the military’s chief financial adviser, making her the first woman to hold that position and one    of    four    women    to    serve    on    the    IDF    General    Staff. At the ceremony, Lazrovitch received her official promotion to brigadier general from her former rank of colonel. She is the fifth woman currently serving in the IDF to hold that rank, alongside brigadier generals Meirav Kirschner, Ariella Ben-Avraham, Michal Teshuva and Sharon Nir. Lazrovitch’s full title is financial adviser to the chief of staff and head of the Defense Ministry’s Budgets Department. Amongst her duties, the adviser also works with the United States on issues pertaining to Israel’s aid package and joint defense projects. This promotion makes Lazrovitch the fourth woman to serve on the IDF General Staff.

Israel`s First Olympic Medal. Israel won its first Olympic medal in its tenth Olympic appearance, in 1992, in Judo when Yael Arad won a silver medal. “I didn’t expect this kind of madness,” said Olympic athlete Yarden Gerbi as she returned to Israel, after having won the bronze medal in judo at the Rio 2016

Summer Games. Gerbi and fellow judoka Ori Sasson – who also won bronze in the Games – were met by a crowd of 1,000 cheering fans at Ben Gurion International Airport.

Israel wins the Eurovision

Twenty years after its last win, Israel brought home the trophy – and the competition – at the 2018 Eurovision in Lisbon. Netta Barzilai’s hit song “Toy” became a smash hit in Israel and conquered the hearts of Europeans as well. And come May 2019, the contest will hit the shores of Tel Aviv for an unforgettable week of music.

The      Social      Revolution      of      Arab      Women      in      Israel The status of Arab women in Israel is improving significantly. Hadas Fuchs, a researcher at the Taub Institute, published a study in 2018 on the integration of Arab women in the labor market in Israel. The most striking detail of her research relates to a revolution in the education of Arab women: 15% of students in higher education in Israel are Arab women, even though the proportion of Arab women among the general population is only 10%. In fact, the number of female Arab students in higher education has doubled since the beginning of 2000. As a result, women in Arab society are much more educated than men. Female students at Arab high schools comprise 52% of students studying computer programming and sciences, 55% in electronics, 59% in mathematics, and 70% in chemistry. The employment rate of Arab women jumped from 35% to 40% in the past year alone.

Israeli-Arab captain of women’s basketball team. Shahd Abboud, who plays for the Hapoel Petah Tikvah women’s basketball team in Israel, opened the 2018/19 season as their new captain, making history as the first female Arab captain of a professional Israeli basketball team in the top league.

First Arab woman appointed Dean at Hebrew University.

Prof. Mona Khoury-Kassabri has been appointed dean of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s School of Social Work. Prof. Mona Khoury-Kassabri is the first Arab woman to be appointed dean at the Hebrew University, and may well be the only Arab woman to serve as dean at any university in Israel.

A Christian Arab, Khoury-Kassabri has made history in more ways than one. Not only is she the first female Arab dean at the university, but she was born to illiterate parents and raised in one of the poorest crime and drug-infested neighborhoods in Haifa. Not every youngster there was a juvenile delinquent, and she wasn’t, either. More than that, she was born with ambition, a factor that took her beyond high school to an academic education and career, which together with other Arab women who have succeeded in academia, albeit not quite to the same extent, makes her a role model for other young Arab women who are striving to realize their potential and are aiming for new horizons.

Bedouin woman joins Israeli police rescue unit.

Rana Jaboua, a resident of the Bedouin Negev village of al-Fara’a has become the first female Bedouin in Israel to join the Israel Police Rescue team, Jaboua is part of a unit that helps hikers in the Judean Desert if they become lost or injured.

 

 

 

 

Israeli            Bedouin            Policewoman            Blazing            Trail Recently, Israel dedicated new police stations in the Arab villages of Jisr az- Zarqa and Kafr Kanna. Four days later, a short video on Facebook showed Sabrin Saadi, a young and also the first policewoman from the Bedouin village of Basmat Tabun, making her way to the Kafr Kanna station in her uniform wearing a hijab, walking past a group of Arab demonstrators. Saadi’s father, Ali Saadi, said, “We are part of this society, so we should serve it. The people attacking her are a gang of wild kids with nothing better to do with their lives. They should go find themselves and think about what, if anything, they have actually done on behalf of their community.”

 

The first Arab national service volunteer at the President’s Residence. Hanan Dabbah 19, resident of Deir al-Asad—an Arab town in the Galilee is the first female Muslim Arab in Israel to volunteer for National Service; she is the first Arab to serve in the President’s Residence; “I opened the door myself. I want more people to take that step. I want them to understand that those who give—shall receive. The state is the home of all its citizens, and as a citizen of the State of Israel I have to contribute in order to obtain all my rights,” Dabbah explained. ‘It was important for my parents that we see the positive sides of Israeli society.’ Dabbah left home and moved to Jerusalem, where she shares an apartment with other National Service volunteers. She is the only Arab woman in the house. The girls have created a pleasant and respectful home. On Fridays I bring the Quran to the apartment because it is a sacred day for Muslims, and the girls accept that. We keep Shabbat together. During Ramadan, I break the fast with them,” she elaborated. “I want to promote the representation of women in Arab local government. It’s important for me to raise awareness and level of education among women. There are many Arabs who marry straight after high school. If that’s their decision then okay, but mostly it isn’t. I want women to have a voice” Dabbah concluded.

Hanan Dabbah and President Rivlin

The first female Muslim Israeli diplomat.  Muslim women in Israel are doctors, pharmacists, entrepreneurs, bus drivers, judges, IDF soldiers, etc. Now Israel gets its first Muslim, female diplomat, when Rasha Atamny from Baqa al-Gharbiya becomes first secretary at the Israeli embassy in Ankara, Turkey.

The first female Muslim Israeli diplomat.  Muslim women in Israel are doctors, pharmacists, entrepreneurs, bus drivers, judges, IDF soldiers, etc. Now Israel gets its first Muslim, female diplomat, when Rasha Atamny from Baqa al-Gharbiya becomes first secretary at the Israeli embassy in Ankara, Turkey.

Ethiopian Jew is new Israel UN rep.  Ethiopian immigrant Danielle Daseta, will represent Israel at the United Nations for environmental, developmental and economic issues. Daseta made Aliyah in 1984 during Operation Moses. She has a BA in governance and diplomacy and attended the “Israel@heart” leadership program. As part of her new position, Daseta will be promoting Israeli innovation and collaborations with other members of the international organization.

Rona Ramon, the widow of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, died recently at the age of 54, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Ramon, a practitioner of holistic medicine, has been a public figure since her husband became Israel’s first person in space, when he blasted off aboard the Columbia in 2003, and then perished when the shuttle broke up upon reentry, weeks later.

As the country’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon — who earlier had been an IDF pilot and participated in the 1981 bombing of Iraq’s nuclear facility — was a national hero, and Israelis closely followed his accomplishments. Ramon’s image while floating in space, a big smile on his face, was shown repeatedly on TV broadcasts.

Rona Ramon largely stayed out of the public eye for years following her husband’s death, trying to make sense of her loss. But on September 13, 2009, she was forced back into the spotlight by the death of the couple’s oldest son.

 

Space shuttle Columbia STS-107 crew members from left to right, front row, commander Rick Husband, mission specialist Kalpana Chawla, pilot William McCool, back row, mission specialist David Brown, mission specialist Laurel Clark, payload commander Michael Anderson and payload specialist Ilan Ramon of Israel. Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas on Feb. 1, 2003

Asaf Ramon, right, with then-president Shimon Peres upon his graduation at Hatzerim air force base in June 2009, several months before he was killed (Dudu Greenspan/Flash90)

Capt. Asaf Ramon, who was 21, was killed when his F-16 warplane crashed during a routine training flight. Inspired by his father, he had excelled in his training and was awarded his pilot’s wings by then-president Shimon Peres. Asaf had expressed hope that he, too, would one day become an astronaut.

The pair of tragedies inspired Rona Ramon to earn a masters degree in holistic health from Lesley University in Massachusetts. She established the Ramon Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes personal and social excellence through space, flight, science, and technology. She also gave speeches across Israel and offered grief counseling to others.

In 2016, Ramon was chosen to light one of the torches at the annual state ceremony marking Israel’s 68th Independence Day. She is survived by three children, Tal, Yiftah and Noa.

The Ramon Foundation said in a statement that “Rona never ceased in her efforts to positively affect Israeli society and to leave a mark upon those around her. She was an inspiring woman, who left us knowing that her legacy and the legacy of her son and husband will live on in the widespread educational work of which she was a part,”.

Golda Meir (1898-1978) Let`s conclude this overview of Women in Israel by revisiting Israel`s Foreign Affairs Ministry`s biography of perhaps Israel`s most famous woman and only the third female prime minister internationally.  Foreign Minister of Israel 1956-1966  Prime Minister of Israel 1969-1974

Golda Meir – labor Zionist leader, diplomat and Israel’s fourth Prime Minister – was born Golda Mabovitch in Kiev (Ukraine) in 1898. When she was eight years old, her family immigrated to the United States. Raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she joined a Zionist youth movement, married Morris Myerson, and,   in   1921,   immigrated   to   Palestine,   joining   Kibbutz   Merhavia.

In 1924 the Meyersons moved to Jerusalem, and Golda began a series of positions as an official of the Histadrut – General Federation of Labor, and soon became a member of its “inner circle.”

When, in 1946, most of the Jewish community’s senior leaders were interned by the British authorities, Golda Meir replaced Moshe Sharett as acting head of the political department of the Jewish Agency until the establishment of the state in 1948. From then on, she played a part both in internal labor Zionist politics and in diplomatic efforts – including her ultimately unsuccessful secret meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah on the eve of the Arab invasion of Israel in 1948, in an attempt to reach agreement and avoid war.

In June 1948 Golda Meir was appointed Israel’s first ambassador to the Soviet Union, a position she filled for less than a year. She was elected as a Member of Knesset in the 1949 elections, and served as Minister of Labor and National Insurance from 1949 to 1956 – years of social unrest and a high rate of unemployment, caused by mass immigration. She enacted enlightened social welfare policies, provided subsidized housing for immigrants and orchestrated their integration into the workforce.

During the following decade (1956-66), Golda Meir served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. She initiated Israel’s policy of cooperation with the newly independent nations of Africa, introducing a cooperation program based on Israel’s development experience, Mashav, which continues to this day. At the same time, she endeavored to cement relations with the United States and established extensive bilateral ties with Latin American countries. Between 1966 and 1968 she served as Secretary-General first of Mapai and then of the newly formed “Alignment” (made up of three Labor factions).

Upon the death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in 1969, Golda Meir – the “consensus candidate” – was chosen to succeed him. In the October 1969 elections, she led her party to victory.

As Prime Minister, Golda Meir concentrated much of her energies on the diplomatic front – artfully mixing personal diplomacy with skillful use of the mass media. Armed with an iron will, a warm personality and grandmotherly image, simple but highly-effective rhetoric and a “shopping list,” as well as chairing important meetings in that well-known culinary establishment otherwise known as “Golda`s Kitchen,” Golda Meir successfully solicited financial and military aid in unprecedented measure.

Golda Meir showed strong leadership during the surprise attack of the Yom Kippur War, securing an American airlift of arms while standing firm on the terms of disengagement-of-forces negotiations and rapid return of POWs. Although the Agranat Commission of Inquiry had exonerated her from direct responsibility for Israel’s unpreparedness for the war, and she had led her party to victory in the December 1973 elections, Golda Meir bowed to what she felt was the “will of the people” and resigned in mid-1974. She withdrew from public life and began to write her memoirs. She was present in the Knesset to greet Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on his historic visit to Jerusalem in November 1977.

Golda Meir died in December 1978, at the age of 80.

Golda Meir was famous for her quotes. Here are three quotes which are probably known to all of us.

“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us”.

“Don’t be so humble – you are not that great.”

“Whether women are better than men I cannot say … but I can say they are certainly no worse.”

The Last Word. I cannot improve on the following assessment of Israeli women`s  contribution over  the  decades, written  by  one  of  the  women mentioned in this Letter:

“We, as a country, have been fortunate to bear witness to a string of powerful women who influenced this nascent society in its early days. Here, women were encouraged to become political leaders, farmers, founders of Kibbutzim and rural and urban communities, cultural and literary luminaries, and managers within the budding national economy in its infancy. Even before we celebrated our 30th Independence Day, we came under the rule of a female prime minister, Golda Meir, who was a powerful and influential leader. Our history includes fearless fighters, legal professionals, world-class groundbreaking scientists, and shapers of the Israeli economic landscape.

While some societies are still weighed down with the baggage of conservatism and outdated traditions, Israeli culture encourages women to shake off old notions of passivity and obedience and to engage as equals with men academically, professionally and in the military. Women are encouraged to strive for excellence in these endeavors, not because they’re endowed with special powers — but because they possess the strength and skills to succeed. Israeli culture encourages women to shake off old notions of passivity and obedience and, perhaps more than any other country, to engage as equals with men academically, professionally, and in the military.”

To again quote Golda Meir: “We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon — no alternative. The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight.”.

May I suggest that, starting from Sarah, the wife of Abraham and travelling over four thousand years to modern Israel, this Letter from Israel has proven that Israel has a second powerful secret weapon: The Women of Israel.