President's View

Update from Israel

During my regular trips to Israel as Ameinu’s president I have developed a habit of collecting front pages of newspapers in case I need to refer to them in writing reports such as these.  I came back from Israel ten days ago and in reviewing my notes and newspapers I found myself asking “is it possible that this was an average news week in Israel?” Is it any wonder that Israelis are alternately exhausted and disgusted by the “events of the day?”

With that introduction, here is a snapshot of selected news items from a random week in Israel.

The government almost collapsed and was saved only after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to set a September date for his party’s leadership primary election. Who made the demand? No, not those Kadima colleagues who want his job. It was Ehud Barak, the Labor Party Defense Minister, who agreed at the last minute to essentially cancel the vote to disperse the Knesset after Olmert set the primary date.  In this “only in Israel” category, you had one party insisting that another party schedule its internal primary as a condition for not causing new elections. Why this odd dance? It is actually quite simple: Labor doesn’t want to appear to be propping up a corrupt Olmert, but on the other hand wants to keep the government intact since all polls suggest that Likud leader Binyamin“Bibi” Netanyahu will be the next Prime Minister if elections are held soon. Perhaps Labor Party Minister Itzhak “Bougie” Herzog had it right when he was asked in a radio interview the next day if he was happy about the deal between Olmert and Barak. He replied that “in connection with political situations such as these, we don’t use the word ‘happy’.” He added that “considering we are functioning in a ‘nut house’, this was a good solution.”

While this political game of chicken was going on, French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a high profile state visit to Israel, which included an address to the Knesset. The morning anchors, the Israeli equivalent of the Today Show hosts, alternated commenting on Sarkozy’s warm words for the Jewish state, his challenge to Israel to share Jerusalem with the Palestinians and his wife Carla Bruni’s wardrobe.

On literally the same days that the above events were taking place, Israel witnessed an unusual and frankly discomforting sight. As the government considered a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, Regev and Goldwasser family members roamed the Knesset, lobbying ministers to support the deal and bring their abducted sons Eldad and Ehud back from Lebanon. The inclusion of Samir Kuntar had elevated the emotion around the proposed exchange, as he was imprisoned for the murder of four people in a 1979 terrorist act in Nehariya. A variety of public figures and newspaper columnists came out against the deal, forcing the families to lobby and garner public support around the generally accepted concept that Israel will always do its utmost to return captured soldiers home. The government ultimately voted to go forward with the deal, even after Olmert publicly stated that Israel sadly assumes that both soldiers are dead.

The impetus for my trip was to attend the Jewish Agency Board of the Governors’ meeting and a Zionist Executive meeting. (When I tell people that I just got back from Israel, I am always asked “did you have a good time?” to which I am forced to respond, well, I was in meetings most of the time…yes, it sounds lame.) Believe it or not, the meetings also earned front-page headlines. In the midst of everything that I have already mentioned in this column, the Prime Minister opened the Board of Governors’ meeting with a speech calling for a “new paradigm” in Israel-Diaspora relations, stating that the status of the “Diaspora as the benefactor and Israel as the beneficiary will no longer continue.” He added, “For the past 60 years Israel was the project of the Jewish people, for the next 60 years the Jewish people will need to be the joint project of Israel and the Jewish people.” He spoke at length about the challenges facing Diaspora Jewry and called for additional Israeli governmental investment in Jewish education and Israel  youth and student programs, among other areas. While both Diaspora representatives and Israeli politicians publicly and privately questioned whether this initiative would last past Olmert’s reign as prime minister, a joint government-Jewish Agency steering committee is being established to implement the Prime Minister’s proposals.

Although I didn’t read about this in the Israeli  press, on the topic of Israel-Diaspora relations, I want to let you know about a new movie on this very subject entitled “Eyes Wide Open” which is being shown at film festivals and other venues this summer throughout the United States. The film, directed by Paula Weiman-Kelman, follows American Jews as they visit and interact with Israel. You can get details and see a trailer at www.eyeswideopenisrael.org.

Can I possibly summarize a trip to Israel without comment on the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians? In a country notorious for leaks of all sorts, the parties have generally managed to keep these ongoing talks out of the headlines. I had the opportunity to speak with what I would call “reliable sources” on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides who still believe that there is a good chance that Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will announce a “shelf agreement” before the end of 2008. Although the Palestinians dislike this expression used by the Israeli press, both sides understand that the situation on the ground does not allow for the immediate implementation of an agreement. They hope that reaching such an agreement will in fact provide the momentum to tip the Palestinian power balance towards the moderate leadership. What that means for Hamas and Gaza is a subject for another column (or three).

I have left the best for last. While I was in Israel, a newspaper headline appeared that Israelis have long waited for. 43 years after the Israeli government cancelled a Beatles performance over fears that the music would corrupt Israeli youth, Paul McCartney will perform to Israel, most likely this September. Justice at last!

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