By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — This is an early and partial (i.e. neither complete nor impartial) attempt to comment on the second election in Israel this year, due next September. The immediate inspiration comes from a cartoon in Ha’aretz that shows the quartet that leads the main opposition Blue and White Party. Three of the four, all former chiefs of staff, are lazing about while the fourth, Yair Lapid – the leader of Yesh Atid that is the backbone of Blue and White – stands before them urging firm action. The leader of the party, Benny Gantz, is murmuring something to the effect, “Not today.”
The inaction of Blue and White, the hope of many of those who oppose the current Netanyahu regime, has been striking. If its leaders aren’t incompetent, which some are beginning to suspect, they may be prudent strategists who believe that the prime minister and his party will self-destruct because of the law suits that await him. They must know that if he wins the election again, he’ll introduce legislation that will give him and at least two leaders of ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition (Deri and Litzman) immunity from prosecution. But perhaps the generals, schooled in tactical warfare, know that Netanyahu cannot win and that the best policy is to see him defeated without their help.
Perhaps also the prime minister’s appointment of one of his human poodles, Amir Ohana MK, as the minister of justice, will misfire. It’s intended to help Netanyahu in his endeavour to escape the law by promoting the immunity legislation while, at the same time, giving the Supreme Court (the bastion of democracy and sanity) a very hard time. The appointment prompted an observer to compare it to Caligula’s appointment of his horse to the Senate in ancient Rome.
Netanyahu is currently doing his utmost to win at the ballot box before battling the courts. Styling himself more than ever as Israel’s Mr. Security, he’s punishing the Gazans for the firebombs they hurl across the fence by once again not allowing them to fish in the Mediterranean. And the IDF keeps attacking Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria and Lebanon in the hope of preventing much enemy action in Israel’s North.
The inaction of the generals may also be based on the assumption that Sarah Netanyahu will, by her conduct, help finish her husband’s career. A column, also in Ha’aretz, paraphrases the famous dictum by Louis XIV by describing Israel as The State That Is She. She has just agreed to pay a hefty fine for wanton overspending in the prime minister’s residence and there may be more law suits to come. Yet another major domo in the prime minister’s residence has resigned, as have several of his predecessors in rapid succession, hinting at or stating explicitly the lady’s behavior as the cause.
It’s, therefore, not surprising that because of all that’s going on around the prime minister and his wife we don’t hear much about policy. But that may also be, first, because there is not much difference between the two major blocs and, second, because the potential challenge from the Left has been neutralized by the near-demise of the Labor Party and the inherent weakness of its allies.
And, of course, talk of peace with the Palestinians has been hijacked by Trump’s probably non-existent “deal of the century” matched by the irrational behavior of the Palestinian leadership, seemingly bent on self-destruction.
It’s going to be a very hot summer in Israel this year – and not only because of the weather.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple. Now residing in Israel, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com