Israel will be celebrating its 75th birthday in less than 60 days.
Seventy-five years.
Given all the challenges the country has faced over those years – the wars, the ingathering of the very diverse exiles, the terrorism – reaching that milestone is nothing short of a miracle. The run-up to that day, let alone that day itself, should be a joyous event.
The jubilee celebration 25 years ago was preceded by much discussion – and much disagreement – about how best to mark the occasion. The Batsheva Dance Company backed out of the main “Jubilee Bells” variety show over an argument about creative expression and whether the female dancers should wear long johns to accommodate the modesty requirements of the ultra-Orthodox. But even with all that argumentation – and it was intense – there was a certain buzz about the day’s approach.
This year, for the 75th, there is nothing.
Nobody is talking about its significance, celebratory books are not lining shelves in bookstores, and so far the only real news regarding the event has been the claim made by singer Hanan Yovel that he would not take part in a night of song in the Knesset on Remembrance Day, the day before Independence Day, because he no longer feels this is his Knesset. It turns out, however, that according to the event organizer, Yovel declined the invitation to perform back in December, even before the new government was sworn in.
Why is there no pre-75-year-anniversary buzz? Because the country is definitely not in a celebratory mood. If anything, it feels as if it is losing its moorings.
Israel, sadly, is no stranger to terrorism; it has been afflicted with unspeakable terror from well before its inception. The point-blank murder by a Palestinian terrorist of two brothers in Huwara on Monday makes the blood boil. The realization that this was the second time this month that terrorists have killed two brothers – and two others – makes the blood boil even more.
Despite the best efforts of the IDF and the security services, which night after night carry out raids deep in the Palestinian territories to arrest terrorists and terror suspects – including in Nablus’s casbah and the Jenin refugee camp – there is still a palpable sense of fear. One feels it when driving on Road 60 in Judea and Samaria and when walking the streets of Jerusalem.
That, too, is unfortunately not a unique or rare feeling in this country. However, the reaction of Jews who rioted in Huwara on Monday, setting cars and stores and homes alight in a deplorable frenzy of revenge was – if not unique – rare in its intensity and for the length of time it went on.
Issues are compounded by the sense that no one is in charge
And that bespeaks a sense of chaos, even of anarchy; a sense that no one is in control.
People take the law into their own hands when they feel that those who should be enforcing the law and protecting them are not doing a good job. They also take the law into their own hands when they feel they can get away with it, a phenomenon that also speaks of chaos, even anarchy.
One of the things that should be celebrated in another 60 days is 75 years of Jewish sovereignty. Jews are not that used to sovereignty; it has been a long time since we had it last. What it means to be sovereign is that there is a government, courts, an army, a hierarchy of command, law and order, and clear rules to be followed.
The sense of that hierarchy – that there are people and institutions fully in charge – is breaking down, creating a sense that things here are slipping out of control.
It’s the constant terror; it’s the revenge attacks; it’s an MK saying he wants to see a Palestinian city “closed and burned”; it’s an MK jumping on a table in a Knesset committee; its naked efforts to bring the courts to heel; it’s another MK broadcasting live insults of his colleagues from the plenum; its the attorney-general considering whether she can disqualify the prime minister; it’s one ex-prime minister calling for civil disobedience; it’s another ex-prime minister calling for hand-to-hand war; it’s reservists threatening not to show up for reserve duty; it’s Israeli companies demonstratively moving their money abroad knowing that this will hurt the economy.
It’s a dark and gloomy feeling, a feeling that things are falling apart.
This feeling, by the way, is not unprecedented here. There was a similar feeling of deep gloom throughout the country following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and during the early brutal days of the Second Intifada from 2000-2002. Back then, things looked dark and depressing, as if there was no way out.
Compounding the situation today is a feeling that no one is in charge. A divided nation lifts its eyes for leadership but is finding little. President Isaac Herzog is trying but needs more charisma and gravitas to fill the role. Winston Churchill he is turning out not to be, and his appeals for compromise have fallen on deaf ears.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose lofty position gives him the tools to tamp down the internal divisions – by, for instance, demanding that his coalition pause judicial reform legislation to enable dialogue and a search for middle ground – is prevented by the attorney-general from getting involved. But he is tainted, viewed by so many as an illegitimate prime minister.
And opposition leader Yair Lapid is milking the chaos and deep divisions for political purposes for all they are worth.
“The government has lost control – of Arab terrorism, of Jewish terrorism, of the cabinet, of the Knesset, of the settlers,” he tweeted on Monday. “Complete anarchy and chaos.”
That “complete anarchy and chaos” serves Lapid’s political interests, drives his numbers up in the polls, and – his detractors would argue – is something he has also helped foster.
But, as we witness day by day, this “anarchy and chaos” is also deadly and dangerous.
Israelis have been known to unite and find common ground and common purpose in times of crisis and tragedy. This is one of those times, and if we do not find that common ground quickly, this crisis might spiral out of control and the tragedy might only worsen.
As Esti Yaniv said before she buried two of her sons on Monday: “We are brothers. The Eternal People are not afraid of a long journey. Unity is needed.”
While true unity may be an aspirational yet unattainable goal, finding a middle ground to prevent a sense of chaos and anarchy is definitely within grasp. What has been elusive so far is the will to attain it and the leadership to lead the way. If only the events of the last few days could help this country get there.