Howard Epstein – THE DYSTOPIAN FUTURE THAT COULD BE ISRAEL’S
For the twentieth week in succession, Motzei Shabbat has seen hundreds of thousands protesting in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and some 150 other locations the length and breadth of the country. They are voting with their feet, voices and placards (one proclaimed, “Netanyahu- Crime Minister”) against the judicial reforms that some call a political coup by the Israeli government, and they show that many Israelis will not take it lying down. There have been other protests too.
What, you may have asked yourself recently, were Israeli women doing on the streets attired in red cloaks and white hats? Those familiar with the book and TV drama, The Handmaid’s Tale, know the answer. They are familiar with the horror story of young women being dragooned into a life exclusively of child-bearing. There were no human or civil rights to be invoked. Indeed there were no courts or judicial processes available to them and no judges sympathetically disposed, them whose attention could be drawn.
The utopia that Israel for so long promised to be is fast shrinking in our dreams, aspirations and hopes. Now, a dystopian future looms for at least half the Israeli population – the girls and the women – and for many in the other (male) half who care about them. Will the sexes be segregated on buses and in theatres? Will the religious courts (not, even now, entirely inclined to support women against their husbands) assume full control, such that religious laws will be applied to divorce and domestic violence?
The threat to Israelis on the distaff side comes from none other than the once revered Knesset. For 75 years it was the symbol of democracy, and the only one in the Middle East, whose necessary accoutrements included separation of powers, independence of the courts and a non-politicised system of judicial selection.
All that is now at risk, thanks to a relatively tiny group of Israeli law-makers who wish Israel to cease to be modern, thrusting and forward-looking, and take a massive bi-millennial step back to biblical times. Being Jewish will no longer be incidental to, or harmonious with, being an Israeli citizen: it will be a prerequisite, and at a level of observance presently chosen by some 13% of the population.
Let me be crystal clear. I am no more in favour of anti-charedi sentiment than I am of anti-Jewish racism. What I would criticise – and partly out of empathy for them, as will become clear – is the unsustainability of the laws now being passed, with more in preparation, by an extreme, right-wing group that has a willing hostage in prime minister Netanyahu and control, for the time being, of the parliamentary agenda.
It is all very well to hold the country at ransom today, with a budget allocation of US$14 billion for families whose breadwinner prefers to study than earn an honest crust; but they risk a sharp backlash against them, should they ever have to concede power. If the right have waited 25 years to stop the Supreme Court treating every day as Seder night – leaning to the left – the political left may not have so long to wait before setting about the dismantling of all that is now being constructed – or destroyed – by the extreme religious right.
The corrections could be massive for not all on the left act decorously either. Heaven forbid if Haaretz sympathies hold sway. In an article in Ynet News on 12 May, editor, Alon Goldstein, wrote, ‘The English website of Haaretz set new records of vileness Thursday when it published a jumble of words by a despicable individual named Yossi Klein, under the headline “Killing Children Brings Israelis Together.’” Goldstein complained that, “Klein refers to the assassination of senior Islamic Jihad commanders and claims that the death of Gazan children in Israeli strikes is not a tragic outcome of the circumstances but a deliberate act by the Israeli government, IDF, and the Israeli people … I am not certain why they do this. Is it due to an anti-Zionist, anti-Israel, or even antisemitic ideology?” He went on to ask why would Israel need enemies in the western world when it has Ha’artez.
With the risk of a left driven backlash in mind, the extreme religious right will not relinquish their new-found power easily, which bring us to really dystopian territory and several questions. How far are the extreme religious right prepared to go in damaging democracy in order to maintain their grip on power? Will they wish to control not only the Knesset and the courts but also the police. Would the army bend to their will? Is Israel susceptible to being turned into a police state? Should I be able to continue to write in this way and yet travel both to Israel and away from it?
The tragedy is that these questions even occur to me.
© Howard Epstein, May 2023 – www.howard-epstein.com
