Tsvi Bisk – Israel: Reflections of a Dejected Optimist
On the one hand, I haven’t been as proud of the Israeli people as I have in the last several months. The massive, immediate recognition of what is at stake, and the resoluteness in refusing to concede to it amongst people from all walks of life and political identities (including growing numbers of Likukniks and modern religious) is thrilling. On the other hand, I get more dejected every day because many people still don’t understand what really is happening. Even an eminent legal mind like Allen Dershowitz has stated the so-called reform would make Israel exactly like America. Shocked, I reread the Bill to see if it indeed proposed a two-house legislature (with staggered voting dates), a federal multi-state structure, a regional voting system, a written constitution, the banishment of the religious court’s systems, and complete separation of religion and state (it did not). So, I have no idea what Mr. Dershowitz was referencing other than his undying apologetics for Bibi (in addition to others of his ilk).
The fact is that if an equivalent constitutionalist transformation were to be proposed in the United States it would require two-thirds of both houses and three-fourths of the states. What Netanyahu is attempting would be equivalent to the United States totally amending the Constitution by a simple majority vote of 51 Senators with 51 Senators subsequently able to override Supreme Court decisions they did not like. This would be after taking complete control of the judicial nominations committee, thus guaranteeing that the justices themselves were toadying sycophants. This is not a judicial reform; it is a regime change.
There are over 100 laws waiting in the wings for this regime change; laws which would turn Israel into a Middle East version of Orbán’s Hungary, Erdogan’s Turkey, or even eventually Putin’s Russia, i.e., no independent State Institutions acting as gatekeepers. Recent attempts to put unqualified (but loyal to Bibi) political hacks in charge of the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Library were put on hold because the present Supreme Court would have nixed them. Bibi’s dream Supreme Court would accede to such machinations, enabling him to manipulate statistics and control the national memory (à la the former Soviet Union). In a previous government, he succeeded in appointing a spineless eunuch as State Comptroller whose chief qualification (for Bibi) was that he believed that the Comptroller’s office should not investigate corruption, but only perform accounting services. Upon his appointment, the eunuch promptly instructed his staff not to cooperate with the police in investigating corruption.
Bibi and his minions deny that the “reform” is a copy of the anti-Democratic steps recently taken in Hungary and Poland. But both his provocateur son Yair Netanyahu and prominent rightwing intellectual Prof. Gadi Taub visited Hungary recently and praised Orbán’s judicial reforms. Orbán returned the favor and complimented Bibi on Israel’s “reform’ initiative. Likewise, a Polish official recently acknowledged that Bibi’s representatives consulted with them on how to implement the reform and control subsequent protests. Castrating the courts has been the first step in every dictatorial or authoritarian takeover in the last 100 years.
It is true that the Israeli supreme court has greater power than almost any other in the Democratic world. But this is a constitutionalist, limitations-of-power, NECESSITY given the uniqueness of Israel’s political system. Israel doesn’t have a written constitution or unwritten constitutionalist habits rooted in 1000 years of ongoing constitutionalist progress as does Great Britain. It has only one house and is a unitary state, with no alternative regional or federal centers of power upon which to build a political career. It has a proportional electoral system based on lists controlled by the central committees or leaders of the various parties. In other words, the political power of members of the Knesset does not derive from a regional constituency of citizen voters, giving them a degree of independence; it is completely dependent on pleasing the political establishment of one’s party. If the leader of the party has a strong domineering personality, candidates are completely dependent upon the interests and moods of that leader. Consequently, Israel’s legislative branch is fiction; it is an integral part of the ruling coalition and thus to the executive. Israel, in reality, has only two branches of government – the judicial and the executive/legislative (the ruling coalition). It has the most expansive judiciary in the democratic world because it has the strongest executive in the democratic world. It gives the broadest definition of standing in the world because individual citizens as well as local municipalities have nowhere else to turn when seeking justice.
When ultra-Orthodox Sephardi/Mizrahi girls were denied acceptance into Ashkenazi-controlled schools because of their ethnicity their parents did not turn to local representatives for relief (they didn’t have any), they did not approach the coalition (composed of and fearing the reaction of the Haredi parties), they didn’t even turn to Shas (the political party of ultra-Orthodox Mizrahim), but rather to the Supreme Court (which ruled in their favor). When Development Towns in the periphery (around 80% Mizrahim) feel they have been dealt with unjustly by governmental budget considerations they turn to the Supreme Court. Interestingly the planned hunger strike by small-town mayors opposed to the reform that was to have taken place before Bibi put it on hold was composed mostly of Likud mayors – not leftist “anarchists”. Local municipalities in Israel have very little autonomy in serving their citizens; the powers and prerogatives of mayors and city managers are nowhere near corresponding to their responsibilities – almost everything they do requires the approval of the Ministry of the Interior and the Finance Ministry. Their only recourse for justice is the Supreme Court.
As a result, Israel’s Supreme Court deals with 10,000 cases a year as opposed to the 70 cases a year by the United States Supreme Court. Israel’s courts are de facto the ultimate gatekeepers for the rights of Israel’s residents. The Court repeatedly requests the Knesset to legislate laws that cover a variety of issues and when they are met with indifference are forced to make decisions not based on clearly defined objective law but rather on more fuzzy and subjective concepts such as reasonableness and proportionality. If you want to reform the court system, dear Likud MKs, first reform yourselves and begin to do your jobs – i.e., generate legislation to meet the needs and challenges of a constantly changing dynamic society.
Israel’s political sociology almost guarantees the survival of the un-fittest. Independent thinking, competence, and strongly held principles are not political assets. Being a fawning sycophant or vulgar demagogue is the way to eventually become a cabinet member. Menachem Begin’s son, Dr. Benny Begin, along with dozens of other former leaders of the Likud became so disgusted with the venality and mendacity of the current Likud that they left the party founded by Menachem Begin.
We now have a Finance Minister (Smotrich) who proudly declares “I am a racist and a homophobe” (and calls for entire towns to be destroyed – our own Fuentes); a Minister of Police (Ben Gvir) who is a convicted terrorist and professional thug (our own Proud Boy); a potential minister of large budget portfolios (Aryeh Deri) who is a convicted serial financial criminal (our own Boss Tweed); a useless State Comptroller; a Justice Minister who openly meets with and cultivates the support of one of Israel’s largest crime families (who are also powerful members of Likud’s central committee), and a criminal defendant (under three indictment) as Prime Minister. Bibi also appointed the racist theocrat Avi Maoz head of “cultural enrichment” in the school system. Maoz’s main claim to fame is leading gangs of thugs to beat up Arab workers (our own KKK Grand Wizard). Since so many mayors (including Likukniks) declared they would not work with him he was forced to resign. The rest of the members of this government compete daily as to what levels of vulgarity and demagoguery they can reach. None of them have any real concern for the welfare of the Nation. The central issue is how to please the boss and keep him out of jail.
The present government ran and was elected on a platform of lowering the cost of living, lowering the crime rate, and securing the country. But in the four months, they have been in power, both the cost of living and crime has exploded, and the security situation is worse than it has been in several years. Yet consider some of the very first initiatives taken by this government:
- The Knesset’s Finance Committee voted to allocate $22,000 per year to cover clothing and travel costs for Sara Netanyahu when she accompanies the PM abroad. Remember the PM’s wife has no official status in Israel. Sarah Netanyahu is not the First Lady, even though she acts like one. There is absolutely no reason for her to accompany the PM on every trip. The spouses of previous PMs rarely traveled on official business. The Committee also approved the doubling of the staff for the Prime Minister’s official residence, as well as staffing and “operational” expenses for their two private residences. This will cost the state an additional several hundred thousand dollars a year. The family also asked the state to cover the costs of hosting, for an as-yet-unknown amount. These decisions are designed explicitly to satisfy the showy whims of Mrs. Netanyahu and justify her past behavior.
In 2018 Sara Netanyahu was charged with misusing public funds at the couple’s official and private residences. According to the indictment, she fraudulently obtained from the state more than $100,000 for hundreds of meals supplied by restaurants, bypassing regulations that prohibit the practice if a cook is employed by the State at the PM’s home. This embezzlement was uncovered by the State Comptroller at the time and was the chief reason why Bibi subsequently wanted to appoint the present eunuch. Sara Netanyahu avoided jail with a plea deal requiring her to return only $15,000, pay a penalty of $3,500, and do 500 hours of community service (which has never been documented). The Netanyahu family’s hatred towards the courts derives in part from this experience. The finance committee’s recommendation would make her previous criminal behavior post facto legal. I anticipate she will sue to have her penalties revoked and the monies returned. None of this includes her miscellaneous expenses when on trips with her husband. For example, one year she submitted 6 million shekels of receipts for laundry. It seems the lady likes the way 5- and 6-star hotels do their laundry and dry cleaning, so on every trip, she takes duffel bags full of dirty laundry with them. It has even been reported that when they are guests of the President at the Blair House, she also brings along her dirty laundry.
- The “Gifts Law”, which really should be named “The Grift Law”, is a way for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to raise funds to pay for his legal costs in his corruption trial after a court ordered him to return a $270,000 gift that his late cousin and benefactor, Nathan Milikowsky, gave him to pay for legal fees. His hatred towards the courts derives in part from this experience. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara assailed the proposal, that it “has the potential to open a real door to governmental corruption.” her office further cautioned that the bill is “harmful” and “contrary to the purpose of the [existing public servant gifts] law.”
- The third coalition initiative connected to the welfare of one person (and nothing to do with the welfare of the nation) is the so-called Aryeh Deri law, paving the way for the twice-convicted financial criminal to become a Minister once again. In addition to his January 2022 conviction for tax fraud, Deri was sentenced to three years in 1999 for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust related to his conduct while a minister. Based on this glorious public record the High Court of Justice ruled that Netanyahu’s decision to appoint a convicted financial criminal as a minister in charge of the large Health Ministry and Interior Ministry budgets was “unreasonable in the extreme.” A central part of Bibi’s so-called judicial reform is to eliminate ‘reasonableness’ as a factor in judicial decisions.
These are the kind of things this government has been investing its energies in, not one thing so far for the benefit of the nation – not security, not crime, not the cost of living. Even more extreme have been laws considered but put on hold due to fear the present Supreme Court would nix them.
- Two MK members of Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party (Strock and Rothman) would like to make it legal for doctors and nurses not to treat Gays or Arabs, or restaurants and hotels to serve them if it offends religious sensibilities. The entire medical community rose in opposition to this disgusting racist proposal and the government quickly backed down (as bullies are wont to do when confronted with resistance from decent people). But the suggested “reform” would make this a distinct future possibility.
- The ultra-Orthodox proposed a law that would give financial benefits to Yeshiva student draft dodgers equivalent to those of combat soldiers. This absolutely shameless proposal was met with universal outrage and the brazen Haredim retreated with their tails between their legs. But the suggested “reform” would make this a distinct future possibility.
- Not satisfied with proposing one shameless law the Haredim tried to table a law requiring all government offices and companies to make 30% of their new hires, including senior positions, Haredi, even though they are 18% of the population. Consider the absurdity of this just on its face. People who have never studied math, science, or computers, will get engineering and management jobs in the Defense Industries. People who have never studied English, history or civics will get jobs in the Foreign, Justice, and Education Ministries. The real reason they want government jobs is that they know they would in effect be no—show jobs as a condition for supporting the coalition – kind of like a Mafia protection racket but on a larger scale.
- They also want to expand the powers and prerogatives of the Rabbinical Courts, all but making them equivalent to the State courts in their ability to compel citizens whether religious or not.
Bibi’s judicial “reform” would enable all these laws to go into effect along with dozens of other equally disgusting laws. All this in addition to the coup d’état now underway seems to have awakened elements of mainstream Diaspora Jewry from its self-induced apolitical coma. But this is exactly what gets me really dejected. I refer to the cognitive dissonances of non-Orthodox, primarily American Jews. How is it they profess so much verbal support for Democratic forces in Israel yet continue to provide so much substantive support for the forces of darkness in Israel and are passively indifferent to these same forces in the United States. Reform Jews that contribute to Orthodox Yeshivas teaching the Holocaust was God’s punishment for the Reform Movement, calling for the extermination of Amalek (Palestinians), supporting legislation to make women ride in the back of the bus, and openly striving to make Israel a theocratic state. Culturally liberal Diaspora Jews who choose to ignore the child abuse of Ultra-Orthodox education in the United States and England: purposely depriving children of the very basics (math, science, computers, English, history, civics) to become independent citizens of a modern democracy, guaranteeing they will be forever dependent on an obscurantist ignorant Rabbinate (ignoring Gamliel’s and Rambam’s instruction to “love work and hate the Rabbinate”).
Both Israel and New York State are currently being sued for not performing their statutory obligations by graduates of these “institutions” who have left these communities, are trying to enter the modern world, and have discovered they don’t have the minimum tools to live in modern civilization. In an article in the New York Times, one is quoted as saying “I never even heard the word molecule until I was 21”. An expose in the London Times revealed that graduates from Hasidic Yeshivas in England cannot write an English sentence or know the words for colors (because that is women’s work). Isn’t it embarrassing that the Jewish community itself is not doing its own housecleaning and only learning about these abuses from outside sources? There is a movement now to put the government of Afghanistan on trial for “crimes against humanity” regarding its anti-educational policy towards women. If so, why isn’t Yeshiva education considered a “crime against humanity”? And I haven’t even touched on the well-documented cases of physical child abuse, pedophilia (as common as in the Catholic Church), suborning of witnesses, money laundering, etc., in the Yeshivas. All were swept under the rug by the authorities for fear of being called antisemites.
The declarations of support from the non-Orthodox Jewish world to those Israelis resisting the coup have been heartwarming. The thing is, we don’t need declarations, we need action that weakens the allies of these anti-democratic forces. This requires American Jewry to put an end to its ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ infatuation with the ultra-Orthodox and understood that their promotion of ignorance of secular knowledge as a ‘Jewish value’, is not only unprecedented in Jewish history, it is the backbone of the anti-democratic forces in Israel. The great Ashkenazi Rabbi, the Vilna Gaon, once declared that one measure of ignorance of secular knowledge is equivalent to one hundred measures of ignorance of the Torah. He practiced what he preached; he was a noted mathematics scholar and translator. Several centuries previous, Maimonides (Moses Ben Maimon), considered by many to be the greatest Jew of the Diaspora (“not since Moses has there been one like Moses”), posited that every generation must reinterpret the Torah in light of advances in general knowledge; that the Halacha (the Jewish way of life) must adapt itself to the advances of secular knowledge rather than reject secular knowledge because it contradicts Halacha.
When you have over a million voting Israeli “citizens” who never heard the word molecule or know the words for colors how do you expect them to know what democracy is. When you have hundreds of thousands of such ignoramuses in the United States and elsewhere, whose poor behavior as citizens and neighbors disgraces the Jewish people at large and who actively support the Israeli ultra-Orthodox, substantive action is required.
First, Reform and Conservative Jews please stop contributing to Orthodox Yeshivas. They are not teaching Jewish values, and they are your biggest enemies in Israel. I cannot describe how annoying it is to hear complaints about Israel’s religious discrimination from the very Reform Jews who contribute to Orthodox institutions. One Israeli-based Reform rabbi reckons that Reform Jews contribute twice as much to Orthodox institutions in Israel than to Reform institutions. Eliminating these contributions would greatly lessen the power to commit anti-democratic mischief.
Second, actively pressure New York, Israel, and England to enforce their own educational laws regarding Orthodox Yeshivas and declare ultra-Orthodox education a form of child abuse. The New York Times and London Times have recently printed exposés revealing the ignorance of children produced by these systems. In London, they cannot write an English sentence and the boys do not know the names of colors because that is women’s work. New York state and city are being sued by graduates of these systems who have become non-observant for what amounts to criminal negligence. By not properly supervising these schools they have turned their graduates into welfare cases since they don’t have the basic skill to get jobs. It would have been much more honorable if the Jewish community had done this housecleaning itself. The World Court is now investigating Afghanistan’s policy of not educating its women to determine if it is committing a crime against humanity. Could not the same claim be made against these Orthodox Yeshivas – or at least child abuse? Furthermore, recurring scandals about physical child abuse, pedophilia and suborning of witnesses have not been properly investigated because the authorities are afraid of being called anti-Semitic. The same is true about the persistent reports of money laundering. The housecleaning of this disgrace must come from us Jews. We must publicly give the police, FBI, and IRS the sanction to actively investigate the reports of child abuse and money laundering in the Yeshivas without fear of being called antisemites. The ADL must stop defending these communities when they are being attacked for being lousy neighbors and citizens and branding the critics as anti-Semites. As an Israeli, I can attest to the fact that large numbers of these communities are, indeed, lousy neighbors and citizens, and when a Gentile gives voice to the exact same thing doesn’t run him into an antisemite.
Third, pressure the IRS to revoke tax-exempt status to racist anti-democratic institutions in Israel and dry up their contributions. For example, Rabbi Giora Redler of the B’nei David IDF officer training Preparatory Yeshiva in the occupied territories teaches future officers that “The logic of the Germans was right. Hitler said a calamitous race for mankind must be eliminated. Hitler was definitely right. His ideology was correct … except he was on the wrong side.” Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel, of the same IDF Preparatory Yeshiva, teaches: “Yes, we’re racists. We believe in racism … There are differences among races. There are nations around us with genetic defects. The Arabs want to be under occupation because they have a genetic defect.” B’nei David, by way of the ‘One Israel Fund’, is an approved tax-exempt IRS and New York State charity. Organized American Jewry must petition the IRS and New York State to revoke their tax-exempt status, as well as the status of many other Yeshivas that teach anti-democratic and racist views in Israel and the United States. If you want to strengthen the democratic forces in Israel, then one way is to weaken all the anti-democratic forces in the Jewish world.
Fourth, create and finance an underground railway for Haredim that wish to escape a way of life that has made them de facto slaves, because they are trapped in such a prison of ignorance that they cannot support themselves in the outside world. The Haredi parties veto substantive government funds to retrain these people as a way of ensuring the “slaves” won’t escape. Those that have already left (percentage-wise greater than those who have joined) are for the most part left to their own devices with minimal assistance from an organization called Hillel. An even greater number would like to leave but cannot because they are enslaved by the ignorance imposed on them.
And last but not least DEMAND that the Israeli government recognizes the Reform and Conservative communities as separate religious denominations equal in status and budgetary considerations to the multitude of Orthodox variations. Israel recognizes ten distinct Christian denominations and several distinct Muslim ones – including the Ahmadis who are banned by law in every Arab country and horribly persecuted in Pakistan (the only Ahmadi mosque in the entire Middle East is in Haifa). The only religion the Jewish State discriminates against is the Jewish religion in its various iterations. Israel is de facto the most antisemitic country in the Democratic world. The time has come for the various non-orthodox denominations to stop begging Israel to recognize them and begin to DEMAND their unalienable rights, making their continued political and financial support contingent on their receiving the same rights they enjoy in every Gentile Democratic country in the world.
What has been happening in Israel is not simply a political dispute; it is a civilizational struggle about the very character of world Jewry in the 21st century. It is time liberal Diaspora Jewry recognized this fact, liberated themselves from the deception of unity (neither practiced nor preached by the Orthodox), and joined Liberal Israel in the struggle. The very simple question is: are we to be an “Am Olam” (a world people) – a ‘light unto the nations’, with our face to an all-human future or a tribal backwater, a pustule on the face of humanity?
Tsvi Bisk’s most recent book is The Suicide of the Jews
