Tisha B’Av.

I have often wondered if all the calamities that plagued the Jewish people were bound to have occurred on or around Tisha B'Av.

Perhaps our sages of old and contemporary observers simply placed them in a convenient timeslot.

Let’s start with the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem. Fast forward to the First Crusade in 1096, the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290, from France in 1306 and from Spain in 1492.

I’ve probably omitted mentioning other tragic events that occurred on Tisha B’Av.

Scanning up to the twentieth century contemporary observers consider that many of the horrific crimes perpetrated during the Holocaust occurred on or around Tisha B'Av.

I wonder if the people who persecuted the Jewish people at various times purposely chose to do so on that specific date.

On the eve of Tisha B’Av this year there is an unmistakable  sense of impending doom.

I’m an incorrigible optimist and despite the ever-increasing number of voluntary combat and security forces reservists refusing to turn up for duty, I believe they will serve in the hour of need.

Only this week I read about an interview with an IDF combat pilot conducted by the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau chief. 

“As a proud Israeli, his protest also comes with an important caveat. 

"If push comes to shove and the country is really threatened, we will all show up and there will be no argument whatsoever," he says, adding that all his friends in the reserves feel the same way.

"And the moment we are safe again, we will keep quarrelling and fighting for what we believe is our democracy."

At this juncture let’s switch to Netanyahu’s realpolitik.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a tendency to ‘bend the truth,’ especially when he addresses the nation on prime-time TV. He lied about his state of health and coerced his doctors to deceive the public too.

A former Israeli ambassador to the United States said “Bibi can lie to Israelis repeatedly, but to the US he can only lie once.” He is still waiting for an invitation from President Biden to visit Washington.

Yesterday I ate lunch with friends in the kibbutz dining room. One of them had just returned from the march to Jerusalem. She wasn’t with the marchers on the gruelling 70km trek from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Instead, she joined them for the last lap of the march to the Knesset. Her comments echoed similar remarks made by various TV anchors accompanying the marchers. Throughout the march the organisation was outstanding. Food, water, first-aid, etc., were always available. There were also instances of spontaneous volunteering. People coming to the roadside with food and water.  Judging by their dress-code some of them were obviously from the other side of the ‘divide.’

On the road to Jerusalem, marchers protesting the judicial overhaul.

Another pause for a comment aptly described as “from the sublime to the ridiculous.’ 

Minister of Transport Miri Regev speaking at a demonstration held in Tel Aviv on Sunday supporting the continuation of the judicial reform legislation, said: "I know the attempts of the elite to sabotage any attempt at reform and diversification." Regev added: "Let's tell the truth, they are concerned with maintaining their centres of power, their elite, and we are concerned with creating diversity, representation and justice." Regev said that she has a problem with refusals and bullying, and called for pilots to be arrested: "Whoever refuses an order – belongs in prison."

Margin note:  Miri Regev no longer refers to the opposition parties as ‘leftists’, she has upgraded them to the status of ‘elitists.’

 After that mouthful I’m adding something totally different and hasten to add that I have ‘cherry picked’ it for the sake of relevance.

“And Israel Has Succumbed”

Posted by Tariq Al-Homayed Saudi journalist and writer, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat 

Margin note: Although published under the name of a private company, Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), the paper was founded with the approval of the Saudi royal family and government ministers, and is noted for its support of the Saudi government. The newspaper is owned by Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family.

“Israel has long been described as the ’democratic’ state of our region, and this is why it is the United States' and the West’s trusted ally. However, amid the ongoing battle over judicial reform led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite mass opposition, its image is changing.

Today, we can say Israel has succumbed to the rules of the game in the region, becoming a quintessential Middle Eastern state. A third of its electorate votes for religious parties that support a messianic ideology, and its prime minister is leading the push to curb the judiciary’s authority and autonomy.

Netanyahu’s Israel is increasingly playing the rules of the region, where power corrupts, and corruption is venerated under the veneer of state legitimacy.

By “the region,” I am referring to the countries that have undermined their stability under the pretext that they were working to wipe Israel off the map.

And so, the Israeli political crisis indicates that fundamentalist ideology and narrow political interests have led Israel to play by the rules of the game in the region.  

All this will engender two significant outcomes. First, it has created real divisions that mirror those across Israel’s borders from all sides. While the degree of division varies in different countries, this region has become a region of deep schisms.

Second, Netanyahu’s attempt to constrain the authority of the judiciary in a state that doesn’t have a written constitution is a powerful blow to Israel’s status as a ‘democracy,’

The most significant development is that the ‘Israeli democracy’ card cannot be played in a region that doesn’t respect democracy.

To sum up, Israel has succumbed to the modus operandi of the region, where democracy is distorted, and the fundamentalist card is played to make political gains.”

 A Reuters report posted from Dubai yesterday, stated that the crisis sweeping Israel has become a rallying point for its enemies across the Middle East.

They have convened top-level meetings to discuss the upheaval and how they might capitalise on it, sources familiar with the discussions claim.

Foes including Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah have been crowing at the sight of Israel fractured by the crisis ignited by government moves to overhaul the judiciary, especially threats by reservists to stop showing up for military service.

Away from the propaganda being broadcast by groups eager to see Israel's demise, these factions have also been devoting special attention to the crisis at closed-door meetings, perceiving this as a potential turning point for Israel.

The subject was discussed at a three-hour meeting last week involving a senior commander from Iran's Quds Force, the arm of its Revolutionary Guards that funnels military support to Tehran's allies, two Iranian security officials and officials from Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, an Iranian diplomat said.

An unnamed source said that Hezbollah officials have discussed the crisis in detail and after concluding that it had already weakened Israel, they agreed they should refrain from any "direct interference", believing this could give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the opportunity to blame foreign adversaries.

Nevertheless, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on Monday, said Israel was on a "path of collapse and fragmentation".

Iranian Foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani referred to Netanyahu's recently fitted pacemaker when tweeting about the crisis, saying "The heart of the Zionist regime is in deeper crisis than the crisis in the heart of its prime minister".

Sources close to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad say the two groups are monitoring closely the protests in Israel, enjoying the images, and hoping the tensions worsen.

But they are also wary of the risk of Netanyahu seeking to divert attention from the domestic crisis through conflict against Israel's enemies that could unite its people.

 

Have a good weekend,

 

Beni,                     27^th of July, 2023.