Of the many subjects covered by the Israeli media, no one has yet prepared a short list of state and government entities untainted by corruption. The way things are going, it would be a very short list because breaking rules is apparently an Israeli characteristic. Police are currently investigating how it is that prominent members of Likud as well as Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s older son, were issued with diplomatic passports to which they were not legally entitled. According to reports, the passports were allegedly issued on the instructions of former foreign minister Eli Cohen. If this proves to be true, will Cohen, who is currently serving as energy minister, be able to continue in his role? Most likely, the answer is yes, as other accused ministers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are permitted to carry on until the conclusion of their respective trials and the court’s ruling.
According to a report in Yediot Aharonot, confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office, Yair Netanyahu was on the PM’s plane when his father traveled to Washington last month. Yair secretly returned to Israel from Miami, where he currently lives, and boarded Wing of Zion with the journalists who were part of the PM’s entourage. The PM’s office told Yediot reporter Itamar Eichner that Yair had paid for his fare.
■ BACK IN 2008, Dr. Michal Segal, who was then the chairperson of the Blue and White Task Force, which promoted Made in Israel products in all categories of manufacture, raised a hue and cry over the fact that instead of aiding Israel’s struggling textile industry, the IDF was purchasing shirts that were made in China. She argued that the production of the shirts in Israel could provide a full year’s employment for 120 textile workers. She eventually won her battle. But today’s battle for Made in Israel uniforms is with the police force, whose entire attire is made in China.
At the recent Negev conference, MK Michael Biton, who chairs the Knesset Committee for Strengthening the Negev and the Galilee and is the deputy chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, raised the issue, as reported by Nurit Zomer, an investigative economics journalist for Yediot Aharonot.
The story was headlined, “If the IDF buys uniforms in Israel, the Police can also do so.”
When Zomer, pointing out that 200 Druze seamstresses who are currently unemployed could easily produce the uniforms, asked the police why this was not done, the reply she received was that police uniforms have very complex features that require certain expertise in manufacturing and that such expertise is not available in Israel.
Given the number of high-quality fashion schools in Israel plus the number of Druze and Arab women who continue to produce intricately sewn and embroidered ethnic dresses and robes, the response to such an excuse is, frankly, hogwash.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is so patriotic on other issues – sometimes to the extent of endangering the government – would do well to display the same degree of patriotism towards Israel’s economy and supply work for Druze and other citizens.
■ ON THE subject of the Druze community, a special tribute was held for them this week in appreciation of their loyalty and their contribution to national security, politics, diplomacy, and more, as well as in sympathy for the tragedy they suffered with the death of 12 children in Majdal Shams caused by a Hezbollah rocket plus the number of fallen heroes who paid the supreme sacrifice in defense of Israel. The tribute did not ignore the Druze campaign to amend the Nation State Law, which, in its present format, gives them the feeling of being excluded.
Among those who attended the event at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv were President Isaac Herzog, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, ZAKA CEO Zvi Hassid, bereaved families and residents of Majdal Shams, mothers and widows of fallen soldiers, and various dignitaries.
The occasion was also used to pay tribute to ZAKA in recognition of the courage and dedication of its members, who often risk their own lives to collect the remains of victims of war, terrorism, and traffic accidents. Thus, they ensure proper identification and assemble as much of their remains as possible for burial.
ZAKA, with more than 3,000 volunteers, is living proof that there are ultra-Orthodox Jews who engage in community service. Moreover, they do so all year round and make no distinction between religious and secular Jews or between Jews and non Jews.
In his opening remarks, Herzog sought to allay the fears, tension, and anxiety caused by the Iranian threat and noted that Israel has the military capacity, including a first-class Air Force, to thwart any attempt to destroy the country. Israel also has emergency services on standby, and the Home Front Command remains alert. In addition, Israel has security agreements with several countries, which have formed an alliance that has pledged to come to Israel’s defense in the event of an attack by Iran.
Herzog urged everyone to remain calm and not to be embarrassed to ask for help if unable to cope.Later in the week, Herzog sent a message to Diaspora communities in which he made several similar points and referred to the resilience of the Israeli people.
■ THE DRUZE community is also of interest to Jews abroad, particularly in light of the tragic loss of 12 of its children, who carried with them all the dreams and ambitions their parents held for them.
Dr. Rado Mansour, a Druze poet, academic, diplomat, and soldier who teaches Middle East Studies at Reichman University, will be in Australia next week, where he is scheduled to address a large Melbourne audience under the auspices of the Zionist Federation of Australia.
In addition to presenting an insider’s view and update on the current situation, he will speak about major investments that American Jews made in Israel’s Druze community. This is a subject not generally known in the Jewish world.
Aside from its interest in the Druze community, Australian Jewry, like other Jewish communities around the world, has been subjected to a violent uptick of antisemitism. Next week, on Thursday, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry will host a mass meeting on the Fight against Antisemitism.
■ DURING THE COVID-19 pandemic, it was commonplace for religious services to be held outdoors. People in neighboring apartment blocks stood on their balconies; some gathered along the street, and others went to public parks and gardens.
In Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur, the municipality made public space available throughout the city, but at Dizengoff Circle, the largely secular population objected strongly to the Orthodox running of the service, which called for segregated seating. The resulting arguments and chaos prompted the municipality to deny all requests for outdoor services this coming Yom Kippur. Tel Aviv would have done well to emulate Jerusalem’s Chabad of Talbiya, which ran an Orthodox service inside a tent at Sokolov Park but did not impose any restrictions on men and women who chose to sit together outside the tent while still hearing the prayers.
When Chabad of Talbiya directors Rabbi Eli and Chani Canterman organized the service, they expected that only their regular congregants and perhaps a few people living in the immediate vicinity would attend. However, there were more than a few people who wanted to hear the service in the park, including some ultra-Orthodox young men who were not Chabadniks and did not enter the tent but stood behind it in the area designated for male congregants. There were no arguments or heated discussions; rather, there was a cordial atmosphere. Everyone realized that, notwithstanding which stream of Judaism they identified with, they were all threads in the same fabric. While all the squabbling in Tel Aviv had left an ugly stain on the Yom Kippur atmosphere, in Jerusalem, which is unfortunately known for the battles between the ultra-Orthodox and secular sectors, Yom Kippur, at least in Sokolov Park, was a day of prayer and harmony. There is no reason why a similar pattern could not be followed in Tel Aviv. Unity is not necessarily uniformity.
We may all have the same goal but take different paths to reach it.
■ TISHA B’AV, which commemorates the destruction of both the first and second Temples, will be marked next week. The destruction is frequently attributed to the animosity many Jews have toward each other. This may be the reason that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, conscious of the rifts in Israeli society, has chosen to wage psychological warfare against Israel at this time, instilling fear and panic while his proxies send rockets into the country. But psychological warfare is a two-way street. As things stand, Khameinei is far from popular with a large segment of the Iranian population and, in all probability, is a target for assassination. He should remember Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman, and her kinsman, Mordechai, who was her guardian. Who knows how many Mordechais and Esthers might be positioned in Iran to emulate events that occurred so many centuries ago and changed the course of history? This is something Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah should also be aware of.greerfc@gmail.com