Yoaz Hendel: Better telecoms, 5G, will soon become a reality in Israel
Minister Yoaz Hendel says Internet infrastructure more important than ever in age of coronavirus.
By LAHAV HARKOVYOAZ HENDEL: Anything that doesn’t involve people’s livelihoods is less important now. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
‘Coronavirus first, then everything else” has become the motto of the Blue and White side of the unity government, as the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has reached unprecedented heights this week and millions of citizens remain unemployed.The Communications Ministry may not be the first place one thinks of in that context, but its new minister, Yoaz Hendel, argued that his role is one of the most important ones in the coronavirus era.And while his portfolio isn’t generally seen as one with a strong diplomatic element, Hendel is deeply involved in some of the most pivotal issues in Israel’s international affairs.“Anything that doesn’t involve people’s livelihoods is less important now,” Hendel said. “My concern is that our communications infrastructure doesn’t collapse. People have to be able to work from a distance… With distance learning, teachers have to be able to convey the lessons.”In the first wave of the novel coronavirus, Hendel recounted, Israel nearly reached full capacity on its landlines and cellphone communications networks.If there is another full lockdown, the minister sees it as his primary objective to make sure the infrastructure doesn’t collapse from too much demand.Hendel lamented that “Israel is a decade and a half behind” in its infrastructure, and with an aim “to bring Israel into a new phase,” he put the installation of fiber optic cables around the country into the Economic Arrangements Bill, which is passed in tandem with the budget, set to be submitted to the Knesset on Sunday.The communications minister also sees the growing number of people working from home as an opportunity to strengthen the periphery, and he plans to make sure fiber optic cables are installed in the periphery and not only in the center of the country where companies are more likely to profit from them.“The fiber optic line is the border,” Hendel said. “We are investing in the borders of Israel, not only the center, where its more worthwhile economically.”The minister hopes to “create economic engines for growth through communications infrastructure.”
IN MOBILE communications, Hendel plans to usher Israel into the age of 5G, the next generation of cellular networks, which promises to be much faster. Israel is ranked very low in speed of mobile Internet, the minister explained.Hendel is acutely aware of the concerns and conspiracy theories spread about 5G networks, and said many people even complain to him about problems caused by the network – even though it doesn’t exist in the country yet.“This shows that I have to give serious explanations to the public. I can’t disrespect the way people feel; I have to address it. We need full transparency in the process and to respond to the public,” he said.At the same time, Hendel emphasized that these complaints are based on feelings and not on scientific research, and said “we can’t be left behind. We need to progress.”Then there are the very real concerns of the US about Chinese companies involved in building 5G networks and using them for espionage or possibly sabotaging communications infrastructure.Asked about the American warnings, Hendel responded: “We see eye to eye with the Americans on our shared values and interests. We are in direct discussions with representatives of the American government about all of our shared interests, including communications infrastructure.“We will do what is good for Israel, and it is good for Israel to be in full cooperation with our greatest ally in the world, the United States,” Hendel added.In early June, a government tender committee began reviewing bids to build Israel’s 5G networks. Domestic mobile operators were able to compete for the tender in joint proposals with foreign companies. The winning operators would receive grants of up to NIS 200 million ($56m.) for constructing at least 250 5G broadcasting antennae.Shortly before the deadline to submit bids for the tender, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman chose Hendel as the first minister with whom he held a meeting in the new government. The unusual choice of a non-senior minister from the Derech Eretz faction, which only has two seats, shows how much of an emphasis the US has put on discouraging allies from using Chinese companies to build 5G networks.HENDEL AND FRIEDMAN also discussed the possibility that Israel will apply its laws to parts of the West Bank, and the communications minister is one of the few ministers that is kept somewhat up to date on this matter, on which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been keeping his cards very close to his chest.Much like how Hendel’s and his fellow Derech Eretz MK Zvi Hauser’s refusal to be in a coalition that relied on votes from the Joint List pushed Blue and White leader Benny Gantz into a unity government with Netanyahu and Likud, Hendel is now the cabinet vote that tips the scale in favor of sovereignty moves.Speaking in his new office in the Knesset, still sparsely decorated, but with portraits of the father of modern Zionism Theodor Herzl and Revisionist Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the forebear of right-wing Israeli political thought, hanging on the wall, Hendel explained that he has an “ideological stance” in favor of extending sovereignty to parts of the West Bank.However, he would not commit to his position in the cabinet, since it remains unclear what would be brought to a vote.“I’ll be happy if we apply our laws to parts of Judea and Samaria, especially the parts that are in consensus, like the Jordan Valley and settlement blocs,” Hendel said. “We need maximum territory and minimum Palestinians, and the Jordan Valley is a classic example of that. Few Palestinians live there and it is of strategic importance to make it Israel’s border. We can reach a broad agreement on that.”Still, Hendel emphasized that “what is most important now is the major economic crisis and stopping the chain of coronavirus contagion and preventing an election and continuing this unity government.”Asked if he would vote against sovereignty if the vote happens while Israel is still in an economic and health crisis, Hendel said no, but his focus remains on ensuring communications infrastructure doesn’t collapse.“I think it’s chutzpah that people dare to focus on other things or even think about having an election when so many people lost their livelihoods,” he said. “It’s unreasonable and even not Zionist. I expect the opposition to understand that too. We are at war.”HENDEL AND HAUSER are counted as part of the Blue and White bloc in the coalition, but their views straddle the line between their side and the Likud’s bloc.“I don’t hide my positions,” Hendel said. “I’m right wing. When it comes to applying law in Judea and Samaria, I’m 100% with Netanyahu. But on other things, I’m 100% Blue and White. I can’t accept a position that does not respect the institutions of the state.”Hendel, a former spokesman for Netanyahu, came out against the prime minister’s rhetoric.“It’s not us vs them. It’s all us, including the courts… The courts are not against us; they’re ours. If we don’t support the courts, there will be anarchy. If we don’t back the police, there won’t be law and order. If we don’t support the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency], because they interrogate Jews, too, we won’t have security,” he said. “That importance doesn’t mean we can’t criticize them.”As communications minister and a former journalist, Hendel pointed to Netanyahu’s rhetoric about the fourth estate of democracy.“I don’t like what the prime minister says about the media, even though I know how much he is attacked,” he said. “Every time something happens, whether there are threats to [Channel 12 commentator] Amnon Abramovich or [Channel 11 host] Kalman Liebskind is fired, I make sure to say that I think journalism is an integral part of democracy and we need a free, balanced and varied media that can criticize me – even if it’s unpleasant for me.”As for calls to fire or even imprison journalists, Hendel said, “that does not fit people who believe in a free marketplace of ideas – meaning the Right. And the supposed defenders of freedom of expression on the Left who call for firings are going against their own views.”Though he’d prefer not to have a political semi-crisis every few days, Hendel said he sees a unity government as an important value, not just something for the current situation. He expressed hope that Gantz will become prime minister next year, in accordance with the coalition’s rotation agreement, and said the Blue and White leader is “worthy and took a brave step in joining a unity government.”Hendel said his party will run in the next election, though not necessarily on its own.“It’s fine that people on the Left attack us and don’t like that we’re in the coalition with Bibi or that people on the Right don’t understand why we’re not with him on everything,” he said.The minister calls the sum total of Derech Eretz’s positions “right wing that respects the institutions of the state,” or a party of “national and liberal ideas, a moderate, sane and serious voice of patriotic love for Israel and its institutions.”“I think there’s a place in the Center-Right that is not Bibi, and we are here to stay,” he said. “I really believe this voice needs to be heard… We have a stance that used to be integral to Likud and the National Religious Party, and we need to raise this flag as much as possible.”“It’s important for the State of Israel,” Hendel said.
