A FLYBY AND A FALLING OUT

 

By now I’m sure you are familiar with “Eli’s Lookout.” The same observation point at the top of the hill above the kibbutz, I have mentioned in the past.

When I wrote about it in 2009, I said,” You won't find "Eli's Lookout" on any ordinance map. Just the same, if you are looking for a vantage point with a wonderful view of our part of the Jezreel Valley, often referred to as the Harod Valley, you can do no better than “Eli's Lookout.”

By sheer dint of dogged determination and do-it-yourself aptitude, Eli turned a rocky outcrop into a garden escape ideally suited for a family breakfast, a picnic, for celebrating a birthday party and of course, as an observation point.

The lookout consists of pergolas with picnic tables, benches, and cooking utensils, conveniently connected to gas and electricity. The whole observation point is set among lawns and flower beds.

By the way, Eli is alive, well and enjoying his own memorial.

Hoping to get a good view of Israel's traditional Independence Day air parade I walked up the hill with my daughter Daphna and her husband Mark.

Visibility was good, so while we were waiting for the planes, I pointed out the many local landmarks and others further afield. Not knowing exactly when the flyby would come our way, we headed for home at a leisurely pace.  We were halfway down the hill when the first planes flew by. Nearly 100 planes took part in Israel's 75th anniversary flyby. The squadron-like formation was made up of jet fighters, attack helicopters, UAVs, air-refuelling tankers and cargo planes. British, Italian, American and German planes also joined the celebrations this year.

Apparently, at some stage in the flyby the large formation divided and veered off in different directions. We were able to watch only part of the impressive show.

Incidentally, Eli is a prophet of impending doom regarding the future of this country. He’s not really despondent, just a cheerful pessimist. Eli’s argument is that in the past, Jewish autonomous entities were always short-lived. Surrounded by powerful enemies Israel and Judah were conquered and their people were exiled. Admittedly, modern Israel is a power to be reckoned with, but in times of crisis Eli utters his gloomy forecast, usually at breakfast in the kibbutz dining room. Most of the people at the table have heard it all before, so they don’t bother to comment. However, once I said that historical predictions hold good for their times, not for ours.  

Our TV prime-time panels invariably include a gloom-monger or two counterbalanced by an equally verbal optimist. Of late, some foreign news outlets have commented on Israel’s predicament.

Here’s an excerpt from a piece in The Economist - “As Israel marks its 75th anniversary, take a moment to admire how it has triumphed against the odds. Before it declared independence in 1948 its own generals warned that it had only a fifty-fifty chance of survival. Today Israel is hugely rich, safer than it has been for most of its history, and democratic—if, that is, you are prepared to exclude the territories it occupies. It has overcome wars, droughts and poverty with few natural endowments other than human grit. It is an outlier in the Middle East, a hub of innovation and a winner from globalisation.

Yet, as we explain, Israel faces a different set of opportunities and threats in the coming decades. You can get a taste of this from the turmoil of recent weeks: a constitutional crisis over judicial independence triggered by the right-wing government of Binyamin Netanyahu; an eerie power vacuum in the stagnant West Bank; and the rules of the old American-led order being shredded as Saudi Arabia, Iran and China cut new deals. In the 20th century the risk of invasion threatened Israel’s survival. In the 21st the danger is that internal splits sap it of the strength and agility it needs to thrive.”

Until recently very large anti judicial overhaul protests filled our city squares, sometimes blocking main highways. Government supporters mainly employed spoiling tactics. However, this week there was a change. Times of Israel political correspondent Carrie Keller-Lynn reported- “Thursday night’s 200,000-person show of force in support of the government’s plan to substantively weaken judicial checks on political power underscored the fraying of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest relationship within his Likud party — the one with his justice minister and longtime confidant, Yariv Levin.

The once-tight confidants have drifted apart on the issue of how and to what extent to pursue the judicial shakeup. The hardline rally was pushed by the justice minister as a message to the prime minister.

In December, Netanyahu agreed to unfetter Levin’s two-decade-long crusade to radically constrain Israel’s top court and the country’s judiciary, giving him the justice portfolio with an agreement to let him blitz through sweeping, structural changes to the justice system.

By March — three months into a major nationwide protest movement, economic uncertainty and open pressure from Israel’s closest ally, the US, to roll back Levin’s plan — Netanyahu had declared that he was entering the arena and taking matters into his own hands.

He echoed this argument to the High Court of Justice, saying he needed to directly deal with the shakeup — despite this potentially putting him in a conflict of interest in light of his ongoing corruption trial — because the issue had reached the level of a ‘national crisis.’

Within the senior ranks of Likud, according to party sources, this was taken as a sign that Levin’s blitzkrieg approach had failed.

Thursday night’s demonstration — bolstered by organised shuttles for religious Zionist and settler supporters of the judicial overhaul — was a support call organised by certain sectors of the government as a message to their own coalition colleagues to continue the legislative push. In other words, it was a very public demand by Levin and his allies to continue along their desired path.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu — who in late March decided to pause the reform legislation until the next Knesset session to allow time for dialogue with the opposition, announcing the suspension hours before the coalition could have enacted the dramatic law cementing its control over key judicial appointments — is seemingly trying a different tack.

The generally tight-lipped Levin released a rare, personal video message on his social media accounts on Wednesday, making a direct plea for supporters to attend Thursday’s rally.

“I need you,” he said. “We need everyone to come to Jerusalem so a clear voice in favour of the reform will be heard.”

Netanyahu, by contrast, was relatively quiet. While he did not dissuade attendance, the premier — who frequently releases video messages on social media — didn’t promote it, and only released a lukewarm thank you tweet to participants as the event was getting underway.”

Ahead of the pro-judicial overhaul rally, participants were filmed walking on a massive banner with the faces of Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, former chief justice Aharon Barak, former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit and former state attorney Shai Nitzan, alongside slogans vilifying them.

Protesters opposed to the government’s judicial overhaul were set to hold demonstrations around the country on Saturday night for the 17th consecutive week.

Anti-government protest organisers said they planned to come out in force in response to the rally by proponents of the legislation, and ahead of the Knesset reconvening next week.

While many political commentators emphasised the ‘falling out’ aspect of the Netanyahu-Levin partnership, at least one observer wondered whether Thursday’s rally was a one-time effort aimed at getting the Judicial Reform back on track, or the first of a series of demonstrations supporting the government.

 

Take care.

 

Beni,                            29^th of April, 2023.