Tel Aviv
23 December 2009
2010 is a good year to die. At least it is if you are subject to the US Internal Revenue Code and have a taxable estate. Why? In 2010, the estate tax and its evil spawn, the generation skipping tax, completely disappear for one year. (Trust me, if you don't have an estate worth more than $3.5 million and grandchildren to whom you want to give very large gifts you don't want me to explain the GST. If you do then you've already hired good tax counsel and don't need me to tell you about the GST but you are definitely picking up the check when we next have lunch.) In 2011, the estate tax and GST rise again, as from the dead, like a movie's bad guy who just won't die in the last reel. And, like the bad guy who comes back but short a limb, the two taxes come back with a much lower exempted amount. In sum, unless Congress changes the law, if you die and/or make gifts to grandchildren in 2009 you can exempt up to $3.5 million from the two taxes, in 2010 you get a free ride and in 2011 the exemption drops to a mere $1.5 million or so. As they say in the trade, this leaves us with numerous planning opportunities, especially if you can time someone's death.
And so, as I write this, good tax attorneys are faced with the somewhat ghoulish but necessary task of telling people who hold the health care proxy of a parent or grandparent on life support that, to best effect their loved one's wishes regarding the estate (which is lawyer talk for keeping the money out of the hands of the government), they might want to consider spending one last New Year's Eve with mom or grandpa, before pulling the plug. Absent a change in the law, which Congress keeps promising but failing to do, the conversation during the last week of 2010 will be even more ghoulish as pulling dad's or grandma's plug before the new year begins leaves more money for the grieving loved ones.
This sounds pretty cold but death is something that can't be avoided. The only questions are who and when and what are the consequences. Which brings us to Gilad Shalit.
The current debate raging in Israel makes the estate tax and GST conundrum look like fun and games. The Israelis are not talking about money, they're talking about lives. Their lives and the lives of their children. Lives already lost and those that may be lost in the future. As of this writing, the Israeli Prime Minister has allowed his negotiators to send, through a German mediator, Israel's response to what Hamas has described as its last demands (they may say "offer" but these are not people interested in bargaining or who really give a damn about human life). The media reports that Israel is ready to agree to release about 1000 Palestinian prisoners in return for the safe return of Shalit. This includes about 100 convicted murderers who have no regrets or remorse and are (if past experience holds true) very likely to just go back to terrorism once they are set free. Israel is asking that the worst of the worst be exiled, either to Gaza from the West Bank or out of the territories to other countries. Hamas has said it will take a few days to consider a reply. And so we wait.
The arguments for and against the deal are all correct. In arguing against this deal many have pointed out that freed terrorists go back to terrorism, and Jews die. Hamas is demanding freedom for men who are not just good soldiers but leaders of Hamas and similar groups. If denied the opportunity to go back to blowing people up in Israel or the West Bank, they'll blow people up wherever they can. While everyone fears for the safety of Gilad Shalit (what happens to him if no deal is made?) those opposed to a deal see it as merely substituting one victim for other victims.
Furthermore, every terrorist group will have further proof that Israel will pay a huge price for the return of an Israeli. What other conclusion could they draw if Bibi Netanyahu, a man who made a political career out of being tough on terrorism, gives in to Hamas' demands? Doing the Shalit deal will inspire further attempts at kidnapping Israeli soldiers and civilians and, sooner or later, one or more will succeed.
Finally, doing the deal will give Hamas a significant political victory. Palestinians will dance in the streets, cheering the group who drove Israel to its knees, honoring their returning heroes and calling for the next wave of "resistance." The deal will set in concrete Hamas' rule in Gaza and give them a good chance of taking over in the West Bank should Abu Mazen ever be so foolish as to allow free elections.
And on the other side of the debate, we have an entire country run by for and about Jews, who value human life above all. Jews who do not raise their children to be martyrs. A majority of the Israeli public seems willing to pay any price to bring Shalit home. For his Mother's sake. And because those being asked are Jewish parents who want to know that their children would also be ransomed if taken captive. The bottom line is that every life is precious and, even if the price is terrible and risks more deaths, that life has got to be saved. Israel does not leave soldiers behind on the field and should not do so now.
Those who want Shalit home by doing the deal will tell you that Hamas, Hezbullah and their ilk will try to kill or kidnap Jews, whether or not Gilad comes home. So we may as well bring Gilad home. The weight of the survival of Israel should not be put on his narrow shoulders.
As for Hamas' political victory from the deal, Israelis arguing for the deal will tell you that Hamas will have its moment in the sun but then, a few months from now, with no end of the Israeli blockade of Gaza in sight and no reconciliation with the PLO, it will be a matter of "what has Hamas done for us lately."
Israel does not handle this sort of crisis like other nations. (Of course, most other nations don't have their citizens routinely subject to acts of terrorism.) Before responding to Hamas, Bibi and his closest aides met with all the military, intelligence and political leaders you'd expect a Prime Minister to consult with. But they also met with Shalit's parents. (An easy meeting to arrange since the Shalits and their supporters have been camped out in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem for close to a year now.) They also met with the survivors of the victims of those who might now be freed and with the leaders of a group representing the parents, spouses and children of Israelis murdered by terrorists set free in earlier deals. The press reports that the Prime Minister spent most of the meetings just listening to the real people who will be affected in very real ways by whatever he decides to do.
Will the deal get done? No one knows for sure. Hamas is run by at least four different factions (the political and military wings in Gaza, the political wing in Damascus and the prisoners who are the very subject of the negotiations). One of the reasons that a deal has not yet been made is that every time the parties get close, one or more of the Hamas factions finds an excuse to back away. My own theory is that some of the Hamas leadership is reluctant to make the deal because giving up Shalit means giving up power. (Yeah, I know this sounds like the behavior of a 4 year old but remember, we are dealing here with politicians and religious zealots, so what's the difference?) Maybe they've figured out that any victory will be fleeting (see above). For it's part, the Israeli government is very badly divided on the deal and there's no guarantee that a "Yes but" reply from Hamas would generate a positive Israeli response.
Whatever happens, the "resistance" will continue. And, either angered by the lack of a deal or encouraged by the making of a deal, someone is going to go out and express his inner terrorist by killing a Jew. And then Bibi is going to have to deal with the consequences which will likely include explaining to the victim's Mother why he made the deal, or didn't make the deal, that led to the death of her child. Which is why I think Bibi will find a way to bring Gilad home. Given his low opinion of the Palestinian leadership, he's going to conclude (if he hasn't already) that no matter what he does a Jew will die, so he'll at least take the opportunity and save Gilad Shalit.
And so Bibi, like our tax attorney, is faced with the prospect of timing someone's death. The big difference is that the tax attorney knows who is going to die, knows that that death is unavoidable and has helped the soon-to-be-deceased plan for the consequences. Bibi gets to decide without knowing the ultimate outcome and has to deal with the consequences as they arise. Personally, I'd rather be the tax attorney.
Read more!
Showing posts with label Israel elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel elections. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Pilpul - You Can't Make This Up
Tel Aviv
This is a collection of anecdotes that don't fit in any other blog posts but nevertheless appeal to my warped sense of irony. These are from reasonably reliable sources like The NY Times and Haaretz with my own editorial twists. Clearly this stuff cannot be made up and no amount of distortion or mischaracterization can make them more ridiculous.
During Operation Cast Lead a group of Sunni Muslims was holding the requisite anti-Israel, anti-USA and pro-Hamas rally in Baghdad. A Shiite homicide bomber walked into the crowd and set off his bomb belt killing a number of Muslim demonstrators. OK, let's have a chorus of "Which Side Are You On."
On two separate days, Hamas stole, at gunpoint, thousands of blankets and tons of food from a UNWRA warehouse and ten UN-marked tractor-trailor trucks. UNWRA, an organization funded with your tax dollars to help raise the next generation of Palestinian guerrilla fighters, took extreme umbrage and cut off all humanitarian aid to Gaza. UNWRA demanded the immediate return of the stolen aid. A couple of days later, Hamas announced that they had made a mistake and returned the aid supplies. A mistake? And why is it OK for the UN to engage in group punishment for the sins of a particular group?
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Shas, appeared in Shas advertisements offering G-d's blessing to anyone who votes for Shas. The Israeli Election Commission decided that this went too far, even for a country operating without a First Amendment Separation Clause. So Shas pulled the ads. The next day, Rabbi Yosef announced that a vote for Lieberman would be giving strength to Satan. No one suggested that he retract or at least stop. So, let's see. Under Israeli election law, you can't buy votes with blessings from G-d but you can call your main rival the devil. Take notes, this will be on the final.
And, last but not least, there was the joint list run by the Green Leaf and Holocaust Parties. Before you start trying to figure out why environmentalists and Holocaust survivors would band together, please take note the the Green Leaf Party advocates the legalization of marijuana. I just don't know what to say. But for more on Green Leaf, see my blog from March, 2007
Read more!
This is a collection of anecdotes that don't fit in any other blog posts but nevertheless appeal to my warped sense of irony. These are from reasonably reliable sources like The NY Times and Haaretz with my own editorial twists. Clearly this stuff cannot be made up and no amount of distortion or mischaracterization can make them more ridiculous.
During Operation Cast Lead a group of Sunni Muslims was holding the requisite anti-Israel, anti-USA and pro-Hamas rally in Baghdad. A Shiite homicide bomber walked into the crowd and set off his bomb belt killing a number of Muslim demonstrators. OK, let's have a chorus of "Which Side Are You On."
On two separate days, Hamas stole, at gunpoint, thousands of blankets and tons of food from a UNWRA warehouse and ten UN-marked tractor-trailor trucks. UNWRA, an organization funded with your tax dollars to help raise the next generation of Palestinian guerrilla fighters, took extreme umbrage and cut off all humanitarian aid to Gaza. UNWRA demanded the immediate return of the stolen aid. A couple of days later, Hamas announced that they had made a mistake and returned the aid supplies. A mistake? And why is it OK for the UN to engage in group punishment for the sins of a particular group?
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Shas, appeared in Shas advertisements offering G-d's blessing to anyone who votes for Shas. The Israeli Election Commission decided that this went too far, even for a country operating without a First Amendment Separation Clause. So Shas pulled the ads. The next day, Rabbi Yosef announced that a vote for Lieberman would be giving strength to Satan. No one suggested that he retract or at least stop. So, let's see. Under Israeli election law, you can't buy votes with blessings from G-d but you can call your main rival the devil. Take notes, this will be on the final.
And, last but not least, there was the joint list run by the Green Leaf and Holocaust Parties. Before you start trying to figure out why environmentalists and Holocaust survivors would band together, please take note the the Green Leaf Party advocates the legalization of marijuana. I just don't know what to say. But for more on Green Leaf, see my blog from March, 2007
Read more!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
And Now The Fun Begins
Election day ended with a thunder storm of Biblical proportions dumping rain, snow and numerous lightening bolts upon the country. Much of the weather here is of Biblical proportions. Not so the politicians or the elections.
Tzipi Livni has spent the past couple of weeks trying to re-make herself into Hillary Clinton. This result is good news and bad news. The good news is that her appeal to women and undecided young secular leftists seems to have worked. Kadima, which was polling at around 23 mandates appears to have won 28. A very nice last minute push that guarantees that Kadima, unlike its predecessor centrist parties, will be around for at least one more general election with Livni as Chair. The bad news is that, like Hillary Clinton, Livni finds herself in the position of having received the most votes but, given the rules of the game, will not become the next Prime Minister. Hillary at least got to be Secretary of State. Livni is on her way out as Foreign Minister. Some victory.
The right wing parties as a group won about 65 mandates. All Netanyahu has to do is persuade Avigdor Lieberman that a right wing "nationalist" coalition is Lieberman's true home (and buy off the religious parties with money for child support and yeshivas) and he will have a clear majority coalition. Livni has only the slimmest of hopes of forming a government. Why? Her victory came largely at the expense of Labor and Meretz who wound up with 13 and 3 mandates, respectively, a total of 6 fewer than predicted by the polls. This morning, Ehud Barak's party leaders seem to have won the argument that Labor needs to rebuild from the opposition. So Labor is not, today, looking to go into a coalition with Livni or anyone else. IMHO this changes once someone offers Barak the Defense Ministry. But even with Labor, Livni can't form a government without Lieberman and Shas, neither of whom were inclined to join her government four months ago and have even less reason to do so now.
The only ways Livni gets to be Prime Minister are long shots. First, Netanyahu suddenly becomes a patriot and decides that some sort of unity government is needed to address Iran and the recession. Likud, Kadima, Yisrael Beteinu and Labor have 84 mandates among them and could form a right-center-left secular coalition. Under this scenario either Livni is sole Prime Minister or she and Bibi agree to rotate in the office. (Something Shamir and Peres did in the 1980s.) Why a unity government? Two words: recession and Iran. Fixing Israel's share of the world economic crisis will require making some nasty decisions. Better to do that in a way that forces your rivals to share the blame with you. Shamir and Peres did this with some success in the 1980s. Iran (and Syria) have to be dealt with and that means keeping the Obama Administration (the Turks and Egypt) happy or at least not angry. It would also mean that Lieberman gets some satisfying pay back against Shas' religious leader for calling him Satan.
The second scenario is even more sketchy. Livni can be Prime Minister if Avigdor Lieberman, who wants to be Prime Minister following the election in 2013, decides that he's better off running against her than Bibi. Next, Livni swallows her principles and pays Shas its pound of flesh to join her government. Dangle the Defense Ministry and some cushy, no show jobs under Barak's nose and Labor will find a way to join a coalition with Lieberman and Shas. Then she will control 69 mandates and get to be Prime Minister. Do not hold your breath or take her in the office pool.
As for the former peace process, under anyone but Livni that's going to be DOA. Even a Livni-led government isn't going to be able to make much progress but it will at least try to make its dealings with the Palestinians look good enough for the US will help out with Iran and Syria. A Bibi-led government will probably not even bother with the show. Electing a right wing, religious government is the Israeli equivalent of Palestinians electing Hamas. You may not like them but you know where they stand. The smoke and mirrors Bibi will try to sell to George Mitchell is that focusing on economic development in the West Bank (and even Gaza if Hamas accepts a long term truce) will cause the Palestinians to give up violence and compromise on their national ambitions. Gee, an Israeli politician who thinks people can be bought. What a novel concept. So the Palestinians will gladly tone the missile and bombings down while they accumulate wealth, Bibi-style. They will then use the money to finance the Third Intifada.
But the most talked-about potential coalition, other than a right-only group, would be a unity government of Likud, Kadima and Yisrael Beteinu with Bibi as Prime Minister. Kadima would get the Foreign and Defense Ministries, which would go to Livni and Shaul Mofaz. The silver lining in this particular cloud is the religious parties get shut out and Lieberman gets to push conversion reform and civil marriage (two things near and dear to his Russian emigre constituency). Such a government might also be able to go after a deal with Syria (which would make the US, Turkey and Egypt happy campers but that's for another blog).
Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, the Eyptians have been trying to get Hamas to sign off on a long term truce by arguing that if Hamas doesn't take a deal before the Israeli government changes, they're going to get much worse offers. Hamas, which suffers from its own 3 or 4 way internal split, keeps saying "no deal" and opening the next box. The next box will have Bibi and Lieberman in it instead of Livni and Barak. Way to go geniuses.
Read more!
Tzipi Livni has spent the past couple of weeks trying to re-make herself into Hillary Clinton. This result is good news and bad news. The good news is that her appeal to women and undecided young secular leftists seems to have worked. Kadima, which was polling at around 23 mandates appears to have won 28. A very nice last minute push that guarantees that Kadima, unlike its predecessor centrist parties, will be around for at least one more general election with Livni as Chair. The bad news is that, like Hillary Clinton, Livni finds herself in the position of having received the most votes but, given the rules of the game, will not become the next Prime Minister. Hillary at least got to be Secretary of State. Livni is on her way out as Foreign Minister. Some victory.
The right wing parties as a group won about 65 mandates. All Netanyahu has to do is persuade Avigdor Lieberman that a right wing "nationalist" coalition is Lieberman's true home (and buy off the religious parties with money for child support and yeshivas) and he will have a clear majority coalition. Livni has only the slimmest of hopes of forming a government. Why? Her victory came largely at the expense of Labor and Meretz who wound up with 13 and 3 mandates, respectively, a total of 6 fewer than predicted by the polls. This morning, Ehud Barak's party leaders seem to have won the argument that Labor needs to rebuild from the opposition. So Labor is not, today, looking to go into a coalition with Livni or anyone else. IMHO this changes once someone offers Barak the Defense Ministry. But even with Labor, Livni can't form a government without Lieberman and Shas, neither of whom were inclined to join her government four months ago and have even less reason to do so now.
The only ways Livni gets to be Prime Minister are long shots. First, Netanyahu suddenly becomes a patriot and decides that some sort of unity government is needed to address Iran and the recession. Likud, Kadima, Yisrael Beteinu and Labor have 84 mandates among them and could form a right-center-left secular coalition. Under this scenario either Livni is sole Prime Minister or she and Bibi agree to rotate in the office. (Something Shamir and Peres did in the 1980s.) Why a unity government? Two words: recession and Iran. Fixing Israel's share of the world economic crisis will require making some nasty decisions. Better to do that in a way that forces your rivals to share the blame with you. Shamir and Peres did this with some success in the 1980s. Iran (and Syria) have to be dealt with and that means keeping the Obama Administration (the Turks and Egypt) happy or at least not angry. It would also mean that Lieberman gets some satisfying pay back against Shas' religious leader for calling him Satan.
The second scenario is even more sketchy. Livni can be Prime Minister if Avigdor Lieberman, who wants to be Prime Minister following the election in 2013, decides that he's better off running against her than Bibi. Next, Livni swallows her principles and pays Shas its pound of flesh to join her government. Dangle the Defense Ministry and some cushy, no show jobs under Barak's nose and Labor will find a way to join a coalition with Lieberman and Shas. Then she will control 69 mandates and get to be Prime Minister. Do not hold your breath or take her in the office pool.
As for the former peace process, under anyone but Livni that's going to be DOA. Even a Livni-led government isn't going to be able to make much progress but it will at least try to make its dealings with the Palestinians look good enough for the US will help out with Iran and Syria. A Bibi-led government will probably not even bother with the show. Electing a right wing, religious government is the Israeli equivalent of Palestinians electing Hamas. You may not like them but you know where they stand. The smoke and mirrors Bibi will try to sell to George Mitchell is that focusing on economic development in the West Bank (and even Gaza if Hamas accepts a long term truce) will cause the Palestinians to give up violence and compromise on their national ambitions. Gee, an Israeli politician who thinks people can be bought. What a novel concept. So the Palestinians will gladly tone the missile and bombings down while they accumulate wealth, Bibi-style. They will then use the money to finance the Third Intifada.
But the most talked-about potential coalition, other than a right-only group, would be a unity government of Likud, Kadima and Yisrael Beteinu with Bibi as Prime Minister. Kadima would get the Foreign and Defense Ministries, which would go to Livni and Shaul Mofaz. The silver lining in this particular cloud is the religious parties get shut out and Lieberman gets to push conversion reform and civil marriage (two things near and dear to his Russian emigre constituency). Such a government might also be able to go after a deal with Syria (which would make the US, Turkey and Egypt happy campers but that's for another blog).
Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, the Eyptians have been trying to get Hamas to sign off on a long term truce by arguing that if Hamas doesn't take a deal before the Israeli government changes, they're going to get much worse offers. Hamas, which suffers from its own 3 or 4 way internal split, keeps saying "no deal" and opening the next box. The next box will have Bibi and Lieberman in it instead of Livni and Barak. Way to go geniuses.
Read more!
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Old Shell Game
I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath for me to write something about the Israeli elections. Stam. So, with four days to go, the final polls having been released showing enough undecided/none of the above voters to cause an upset and because I'd hate to disappoint my fans, both of you, here's what things look like.
Bibi Netanyahu is most likely the next Prime Minister. The only serious debate is whether he will reach out to Labor and, maybe, Kadima to form a center-right unity government or simply put together a right wing coalition with the likes of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and the religious parties. Lieberman's been gaining in all the polls at the expense of Bibi's Likud party. This has created an outside chance that Tzipi Livni will form the next government. You might recall that she failed to form a government last Fall (which is why Israel is having an election). For reasons I'll get to in a bit, she's even less likely to be able to form a government over the next couple of months. So, even if she wins, she loses and Bibi will get to be Prime Minister. However, if you like to root for upsets, then the sight of Livni in Tel Aviv clubs trying to convince voters (and herself) that she's changed (there's that word again) from a true daughter of the militant right to the Jewish Hillary Clinton, should keep you entertained. Hey, the Arizona Cardinals, a team that had no business being in the game at all, came within 36 seconds of winning the Super Bowl, so anything can happen.
The reason Bibi Netanyahu is most likely the next Prime Minister is because of the one sure thing that will happen next Tuesday. Israeli voters will continue to move to the right. The trend that began with the election of Ariel Sharon in 2001 will continue with a vengeance. The pollsters predict that the "right" will have anywhere from 64 to 68 mandates (a mandate being one of the 120 seats in the Knesset - don't ask) while the "left" will have the rest. But the election will not really be that close. First of all, the "left" gets 54 to 56 mandates only if you count Kadima as a left wing party and include the two Arab and one Arab-Jewish parties. Kadima, which consists mainly of people who followed Sharon out of Likud and a handful of conservative ex-Laborites, is only a left wing organization if you are Rush Limbaugh or a commentator on Fox News. The Arab parties have no chance of being asked to join a governing coalition. So, what remains of a left in Israel will actually have 20 to 25 mandates, depending again on whose poll you are reading. So Livni 's Kadima party may wind up with the most mandates but without right wing parties will not be able to form a coalition of 61 or more mandates. If the right wing parties refuse to join a Livni-led coalition, President Peres will have to ask Bibi to form a government. Even if Livni manages to form a government the coalition will have so many parties with such conflicting agendas that the conventional wisdom is that such a government will fall in less than a year. Which means I get to write to you about an election during nest year's trip to Israel. Are we having fun yet?
The lynch pin here is Lieberman. He's the guy running on the slogan "No citizenship without loyalty." Last week Liz and I went to an Election forum for Anglos. Danny Ayalon, a former ambassador to the US and now a candidate on the Yisrael Beteinu list, defended Lieberman's position saying it was not a racist attack on Arabs but merely an expression of the need for national unity. He points out that Lieberman is not proposing to expel Arabs or to put them in camps, a la the US imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WW II, only to somehow limit their citizenship rights, like being able to run for the Knesset. He said this with a straight face. Now I know what it must have been like to live in Europe during the rise of fascism or in the US under McCarthy. Even more depressing is the fact that Lieberman's is not the furthest right party with a chance to win mandates. What Ayalon didn't say is whether the same loyalty test would apply to Jewish MKs and Rabbis who urge soldiers to mutiny if ordered to remove settlers from the West Bank. Since Lieberman lives in a West Bank settlement I imagine that such activity is not going to be considered "disloyal." Lieberman's party is now generally expected to get close to if not more than 20 mandates, leaving Lieberman in a strong position to make or break the next coalition. Russians love Lieberman, himself a Russian emigre. Then again, Russians are also nostalgic for Stalin and the Czars.
So we enter the last few days of the campaign with Bibi making speeches about how a vote for Lieberman is really a vote for Livni but covers his right flank by declaiming that loyalty to the state is the responsibility of every citizen. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has challenged Lieberman's strong man status by reminding voters that Barak is the country's most decorated soldier and asking. "Who has Lieberman ever killed?" Livni, not one to miss a chance to pander, has also declared that every citizen should be required to serve in the military or perform national service (something that almost everyone has to do except the Arabs and the Haredim). But don't worry about our ultra-Orthodox brethren. Every election campaign includes a pledge from the center/left secular parties that this time they will repeal the Tal Law and make the Haredim do national service. Then they remember that they need Shas to form a coalition and that ends that. And, speaking of Shas, Lieberman is so scary that Ovadia Yosef, the party's spiritual leaders has been quoted as saying that no observant Jew can vote for Lieberman (while the Rabbi's daughter-in-law holds women-only election rallies where they chant "Yes We Can).
And, speaking of pandering, the real professional here may be Ehud Barak. Besides the entire Operation Cast Lead as the centerpiece of his election campaign, Barak reached out to settlers by making a deal to resolve the Migron case. Migron is a settlement of about 50 families that is built on what the Israel Supreme Court has ruled to be private Palestinian land. Barak, who, as Defense Minister, is in charge of civil administration in the occupied territories, promised, along with Prime Minister Olmert, to remove Migron and return the land to its rightful owners within eight months. That promise was made in January 2008. Migron is still there. Now it comes out that Barak and the settlers have agreed to the construction of a new neighborhood on the West Bank to which the Migron families will voluntarily move. The new neighborhood will be part of Adam, a settlement that already exists east of the separation fence. The new Adam neighborhood will have an initial tender to build 250 homes (plus schools, synagogues, commercial space, etc) as part of an overall plan to build about 1400 housing units. The first 50 homes, expected to be available in about three years, will go to residents of Migron. But, considering that Bibi and Lieberman will form the next government, if I lived in Migron the last thing I would be doing is packing my bags. The settlers were, of course, happy to agree to yet again expand the settlements. The entertaining but sad part of this tale will come when Bibi tries to convince George Mitchell that by not approving construction of the final 1000 housing units approved for Adam, Israel will have reduced its settlement activity. Oh well, at least Rahm Emanuel will some day be able to tell a funny story about how he got to teach President Obama how to say "bullshit" in Hebrew.
Read more!
Bibi Netanyahu is most likely the next Prime Minister. The only serious debate is whether he will reach out to Labor and, maybe, Kadima to form a center-right unity government or simply put together a right wing coalition with the likes of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and the religious parties. Lieberman's been gaining in all the polls at the expense of Bibi's Likud party. This has created an outside chance that Tzipi Livni will form the next government. You might recall that she failed to form a government last Fall (which is why Israel is having an election). For reasons I'll get to in a bit, she's even less likely to be able to form a government over the next couple of months. So, even if she wins, she loses and Bibi will get to be Prime Minister. However, if you like to root for upsets, then the sight of Livni in Tel Aviv clubs trying to convince voters (and herself) that she's changed (there's that word again) from a true daughter of the militant right to the Jewish Hillary Clinton, should keep you entertained. Hey, the Arizona Cardinals, a team that had no business being in the game at all, came within 36 seconds of winning the Super Bowl, so anything can happen.
The reason Bibi Netanyahu is most likely the next Prime Minister is because of the one sure thing that will happen next Tuesday. Israeli voters will continue to move to the right. The trend that began with the election of Ariel Sharon in 2001 will continue with a vengeance. The pollsters predict that the "right" will have anywhere from 64 to 68 mandates (a mandate being one of the 120 seats in the Knesset - don't ask) while the "left" will have the rest. But the election will not really be that close. First of all, the "left" gets 54 to 56 mandates only if you count Kadima as a left wing party and include the two Arab and one Arab-Jewish parties. Kadima, which consists mainly of people who followed Sharon out of Likud and a handful of conservative ex-Laborites, is only a left wing organization if you are Rush Limbaugh or a commentator on Fox News. The Arab parties have no chance of being asked to join a governing coalition. So, what remains of a left in Israel will actually have 20 to 25 mandates, depending again on whose poll you are reading. So Livni 's Kadima party may wind up with the most mandates but without right wing parties will not be able to form a coalition of 61 or more mandates. If the right wing parties refuse to join a Livni-led coalition, President Peres will have to ask Bibi to form a government. Even if Livni manages to form a government the coalition will have so many parties with such conflicting agendas that the conventional wisdom is that such a government will fall in less than a year. Which means I get to write to you about an election during nest year's trip to Israel. Are we having fun yet?
The lynch pin here is Lieberman. He's the guy running on the slogan "No citizenship without loyalty." Last week Liz and I went to an Election forum for Anglos. Danny Ayalon, a former ambassador to the US and now a candidate on the Yisrael Beteinu list, defended Lieberman's position saying it was not a racist attack on Arabs but merely an expression of the need for national unity. He points out that Lieberman is not proposing to expel Arabs or to put them in camps, a la the US imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WW II, only to somehow limit their citizenship rights, like being able to run for the Knesset. He said this with a straight face. Now I know what it must have been like to live in Europe during the rise of fascism or in the US under McCarthy. Even more depressing is the fact that Lieberman's is not the furthest right party with a chance to win mandates. What Ayalon didn't say is whether the same loyalty test would apply to Jewish MKs and Rabbis who urge soldiers to mutiny if ordered to remove settlers from the West Bank. Since Lieberman lives in a West Bank settlement I imagine that such activity is not going to be considered "disloyal." Lieberman's party is now generally expected to get close to if not more than 20 mandates, leaving Lieberman in a strong position to make or break the next coalition. Russians love Lieberman, himself a Russian emigre. Then again, Russians are also nostalgic for Stalin and the Czars.
So we enter the last few days of the campaign with Bibi making speeches about how a vote for Lieberman is really a vote for Livni but covers his right flank by declaiming that loyalty to the state is the responsibility of every citizen. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has challenged Lieberman's strong man status by reminding voters that Barak is the country's most decorated soldier and asking. "Who has Lieberman ever killed?" Livni, not one to miss a chance to pander, has also declared that every citizen should be required to serve in the military or perform national service (something that almost everyone has to do except the Arabs and the Haredim). But don't worry about our ultra-Orthodox brethren. Every election campaign includes a pledge from the center/left secular parties that this time they will repeal the Tal Law and make the Haredim do national service. Then they remember that they need Shas to form a coalition and that ends that. And, speaking of Shas, Lieberman is so scary that Ovadia Yosef, the party's spiritual leaders has been quoted as saying that no observant Jew can vote for Lieberman (while the Rabbi's daughter-in-law holds women-only election rallies where they chant "Yes We Can).
And, speaking of pandering, the real professional here may be Ehud Barak. Besides the entire Operation Cast Lead as the centerpiece of his election campaign, Barak reached out to settlers by making a deal to resolve the Migron case. Migron is a settlement of about 50 families that is built on what the Israel Supreme Court has ruled to be private Palestinian land. Barak, who, as Defense Minister, is in charge of civil administration in the occupied territories, promised, along with Prime Minister Olmert, to remove Migron and return the land to its rightful owners within eight months. That promise was made in January 2008. Migron is still there. Now it comes out that Barak and the settlers have agreed to the construction of a new neighborhood on the West Bank to which the Migron families will voluntarily move. The new neighborhood will be part of Adam, a settlement that already exists east of the separation fence. The new Adam neighborhood will have an initial tender to build 250 homes (plus schools, synagogues, commercial space, etc) as part of an overall plan to build about 1400 housing units. The first 50 homes, expected to be available in about three years, will go to residents of Migron. But, considering that Bibi and Lieberman will form the next government, if I lived in Migron the last thing I would be doing is packing my bags. The settlers were, of course, happy to agree to yet again expand the settlements. The entertaining but sad part of this tale will come when Bibi tries to convince George Mitchell that by not approving construction of the final 1000 housing units approved for Adam, Israel will have reduced its settlement activity. Oh well, at least Rahm Emanuel will some day be able to tell a funny story about how he got to teach President Obama how to say "bullshit" in Hebrew.
Read more!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Elections? What Elections?
Last autumn, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned, sort of. Olmert agreed to leave office as soon as a successor could take office. Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister who won the Kadima election for a new leader, tried and failed to form a new government. And so new elections were called and scheduled for February 9, 2009. The various parties have since held primaries (another American import which has all the cultural attraction of McDonald's) and started campaigning. The response of the public has been underwhelming. Other than a hard core of true believers, most people seem to be ignoring the elections. One Israeli friend intends to vote for Livni because he really doesn't like Bibi, won't consider Barack. Livni will get his vote because, as far as he knows, she hasn't yet stolen his money or lied to him. Others are leaning toward Meretz but don't seem to think that Meretz will wind up in the government. I think a big reason that there's no enthusiasm for any candidate or party is a general belief that new elections will not change anything. There's that word again, "change."
Israeli politicians have adopted the form of American politics without the substance. I know. Its hard to imagine American politics with less substance. What's a negative value for next-to-nothing? Without any indication that they would actually listen to adversaries, think about alternatives and try to craft creative ways to deal with major problems, a la Obama, Israeli politicians have simply been adopting Obama's style. The one exception is Ehud Barack who is trying to emulate the John McCain who used to go on The Daily Show and be funny.
Israel is getting away from emphasizing party ideology (and loyalty) to focusing on individual candidates. And yet the country still elects governments based on votes for party lists and not for individual representatives. As they say in the Talmud, you might think that an election here would be an opportunity for a serious debate on critical matters like education, the environment, economic recovery and, oh yes, how to deal with Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. But you would be wrong.
Bibi Netanyahu has a web sight that looks exactly like the Obama campaign site, right down to the requests for donors and volunteers (except its in Hebrew and uses a different slogan - "Together We Can Succeed"). Bibi, and the hard line rightists who make up a significant portion of the Likud list, are among the last people you would expect to get into the sort of dialogues with adversaries advocated by Obama. But hey, its an election, not a search for truth.
Meanwhile, Tzipi Livni is "ready for change." From what to what remains a mystery but if it comes, she's ready. The third major player, Ehud Barack, has been fighting an image problem. His stinks. Barack is tying to improve his image by using reverse psychology. The country is plastered with ads listing all his shortcomings but proclaiming that he's a Leader. He's not kind, sympathetic, funny, etc, he's a Leader. If you want a heartless automaton to be your Leader, he's your guy. To try to make himself appear more human, Barack went on Israel's leading comedy show (think of John McCain on Saturday Night Live). The next morning he started bombing the Gaza Strip back into the pre-Canaanite age.
But the prize for the most cynical ripoff of Obama's style without adopting any of the substance has to go to Shas. Shas is a right wing Haredi (ultraorthodox) party that cares nothing for anyone outside its narrow community. Shas cares about funding its own Yeshivas and increasing welfare payments to nonworking Haredi families having more children than they can possibly afford to support, period. A Shas government would have nothing to say to the general public (other than that any divorce or conversion done by a non-Shas Rabbi would be invalid). The rest of Israel can drift out to sea for all they care. So, of course, they're the ones shouting "Yes, We Can!"
As usual, the outcome of the elections will depend upon the security situation. If Livni and Barack produce something that looks like a "victory" in Operation Cast Lead, the center-right coalition might stay in power. Otherwise the perceived size of Israel's loss to Hamas will be directly proportional to the right wing majority that will take over the Knesset, making Bibi the next Prime Minister. Yes, Hamas is probably in a better position to pick the next Prime Minister than Joe Israeli Voter. So much for change. Read more!
Israeli politicians have adopted the form of American politics without the substance. I know. Its hard to imagine American politics with less substance. What's a negative value for next-to-nothing? Without any indication that they would actually listen to adversaries, think about alternatives and try to craft creative ways to deal with major problems, a la Obama, Israeli politicians have simply been adopting Obama's style. The one exception is Ehud Barack who is trying to emulate the John McCain who used to go on The Daily Show and be funny.
Israel is getting away from emphasizing party ideology (and loyalty) to focusing on individual candidates. And yet the country still elects governments based on votes for party lists and not for individual representatives. As they say in the Talmud, you might think that an election here would be an opportunity for a serious debate on critical matters like education, the environment, economic recovery and, oh yes, how to deal with Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. But you would be wrong.
Bibi Netanyahu has a web sight that looks exactly like the Obama campaign site, right down to the requests for donors and volunteers (except its in Hebrew and uses a different slogan - "Together We Can Succeed"). Bibi, and the hard line rightists who make up a significant portion of the Likud list, are among the last people you would expect to get into the sort of dialogues with adversaries advocated by Obama. But hey, its an election, not a search for truth.
Meanwhile, Tzipi Livni is "ready for change." From what to what remains a mystery but if it comes, she's ready. The third major player, Ehud Barack, has been fighting an image problem. His stinks. Barack is tying to improve his image by using reverse psychology. The country is plastered with ads listing all his shortcomings but proclaiming that he's a Leader. He's not kind, sympathetic, funny, etc, he's a Leader. If you want a heartless automaton to be your Leader, he's your guy. To try to make himself appear more human, Barack went on Israel's leading comedy show (think of John McCain on Saturday Night Live). The next morning he started bombing the Gaza Strip back into the pre-Canaanite age.
But the prize for the most cynical ripoff of Obama's style without adopting any of the substance has to go to Shas. Shas is a right wing Haredi (ultraorthodox) party that cares nothing for anyone outside its narrow community. Shas cares about funding its own Yeshivas and increasing welfare payments to nonworking Haredi families having more children than they can possibly afford to support, period. A Shas government would have nothing to say to the general public (other than that any divorce or conversion done by a non-Shas Rabbi would be invalid). The rest of Israel can drift out to sea for all they care. So, of course, they're the ones shouting "Yes, We Can!"
As usual, the outcome of the elections will depend upon the security situation. If Livni and Barack produce something that looks like a "victory" in Operation Cast Lead, the center-right coalition might stay in power. Otherwise the perceived size of Israel's loss to Hamas will be directly proportional to the right wing majority that will take over the Knesset, making Bibi the next Prime Minister. Yes, Hamas is probably in a better position to pick the next Prime Minister than Joe Israeli Voter. So much for change. Read more!
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Pilpul Part III
7 January 2006
Tel Aviv
Contemporary Art and Cholent
Shabbos in Tel Aviv is a combination of contemporary art (the Tel Aviv Museum is open and has a really good Menashe Kadishman exhibit – some of you have seen Kadishman at places like MOMA or Storm King Mountain) and cholent. Kadishman has a thing for goats’ heads but really stands out with his outdoor sculptures of things like negative trees, torn washing hanging from lines, the binding of Isaac and, at Storm King, a huge rectangle, standing on end in the middle of what would be a good-sized fairway if Storm King were a golf course. The rectangle is broken about a third of the way up and the broken piece dangles at an angle and a weight distribution that is simply impossible within Earth's gravity.
Cholent is what you eat when you want hot food on Shabbos but cannot start an oven or stove or cut new vegetables. Cholent (which varies in content depending upon where your great grandmother was born but consists largely of beans, potatoes, mystery meat and whatever else did not make it into the Friday night soup) stays on a stove or in an oven until Saturday afternoon when it has congealed into a uniform mass that instantly expands upon ingestion. There are those who think this stuff is delicious. Batya, a restaurant near our apartment, makes an excellent cholent served with a chunk of kishke. Kishke is lamb or cow intestine (depending on what you had around to kill before the weekend) stuffed with bread, grease and G-d only knows what else. Those of you from in between the coasts who have had a knish or a kosher hot dog and think you have had Jewish food have been spared the real stuff. And, by the way, if your great grandmother was not from central or Eastern Europe you don’t get off easy. There’s jachnun and shakshukah. Jachnun is solid starch and grease mitigated with a hard-boiled egg or two. Shakshukah is egg and cheese in a tomato sauce. Now that I think of it, cholent does sort of go with Kadishman.
You’re In The Army Now
Last night, Friday 6 January, we had Shabbos dinner with the DeCastros (Maurizio, Nurit and Keren, our Yemenite daughter, the officer). Also with us are Deborah and Marissa, two of Becky’s Hatikvah roommates who are taking a break from their current locations. This middle part of YC is, for Becky’s group, the Israel Experience. Deborah is working north of Acco at a shelter/school for troubled and abused teenagers. Marissa is working near Modiin at an environmental/organic farm that runs education programs for schools in the surrounding area. We are also joined by Michal Zur. So we are having a grand old time eating this incredible Yemenite vegetable and chicken soup, ktzitzot (a sort of chicken latke – don’t even try to pronounce this unless you speak Hebrew or you will hurt yourself) and plenty of wine to wash this down. The Kiddush is familiar though done in a Sephardic melody.
My highlight of the evening was the call from Becky. Becky just finished her first week of Marva, a sampling of Army training. She her day (which began at 4:15 and, at 10:30 was not over) has been spent on guard duty, on kitchen duty, cleaning herself, cleaning her weapon, getting into trouble with her commander, cleaning her living area, standing at attention with her weapon while being lectured at and, at 01:00, going back on guard duty. I will directly quote the only quotable portion of the phone call:
Becky: So they get me up at f-----g 4:f------g15 in the morning and we have to run for an hour before they let us eat food that really s---s big time and then we have to clean the f------g tents and the f-----g area around the tents and then, from 10 until 2 for four f-----g hours I have to wash f-----g dishes and then, finally, they let me take a shower but then I have to clean up the f-----g area and stand at f-----g attention with my rifle while they give me a f-----g lecture until they finally let me eat more food that isn’t worth eating and at f-----g 01:00 to 01:30 I have more f------g guard duty.
At this moment I really missed my Father who would have loved the rant and started telling some of his “fond” memories of army life. After I stopped laughing hysterically, I assured her that she will survive this and she should just suck it up and stick it out. She wasn’t asking to come home. She just wanted to complain, like a real soldier. She did ask how I could have let her volunteer for this. I reminded her that I don’t let her do anything.
Seven Jews Are Talking
On 25 and 26 January Liz and Becky and I toured the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The building alone is worth the trip. It is architecturally a masterpiece of symbolic and functional design. But the fun part, for us retired attorneys, is sitting in on a case.
The Israeli Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. It has a panel of 15 judges, all appointed by a panel of government ministers. They court usually sits in panels of three though the Chief Judge may appoint (on his own volition or on petition) a larger, odd-numbered panel. In Israel there are no juries. Judges determine the facts and apply the law. There is also no written Constitution, just a series of Basic Laws that get amended from time to time by the Knesset and get interpreted by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has two basic jurisdictions. One is that any case from a lower court can be appealed, creating a serious backlog. The other is direct jurisdiction over certain cases including Human Rights cases. A Human Rights case has a very broad definition here. Remember, there is no Article III and no Judiciary Act for Congress to fool with. The Supreme Court can pretty much take whatever cases it decides to take. For example, a case involving the provision of appropriate education to a learning disabled child or a case involving the separation of a farmer from his farmland by the security fence can both go straight to the Supreme Court. The Judges will listen to testimony, look at exhibits, take briefs on the law and hear argument. The fun part is that this can be an almost simultaneous event. For you New York lawyers, its much more like a wild morning in the Appellate Division than the formality of the Court of Appeals.
We sat in on two cases. One was a criminal appeal. We know because Becky caught the words vodka and hashish (and wouldn’t tell me why these two words just sort of jumped out at her). Liz heard kilograms, which is a heck of a lot of hashish. The other case had Army officers and several lawyers gesturing and talking about a map that was spread out on the Judges’ bench. Possibly a fence case or at least some dispute about whether the Army can take over someone’s land or put up a roadblock that stops someone from commuting to his or her business. In any event, every time a Judge asked a question or just paused to take a breath, one of the lawyers would launch into another long speech. This particular panel was being very patient with all this. Sylvia Ornstein recalls sitting in on a case when the Judge had had enough with a long-winded attorney and verbally whacked him upside the head. Ah, that's the courtroom I know and love. Anyway, for you lawyer types, the Supreme Court tour is a good busman’s holiday.
And speaking of a unique legal system. Has anyone been wondering just how Marwan Barghouti, a man serving five consecutive life terms for murdering Jews, is able to lead a faction within Fatah that has now gained control of the final Parliamentary list, with Marwan in the number one spot? And how he is able to release statements to the Palestinians apologizing for Fatah and the PA to date and asking for another chance? Or saying something diplomatic about Sharon’s condition? Isn’t this guy in prison? Well, yes, but prison here, like the Army here, does not work quite the way it works in the US. Here, prison officials, who ultimately answer to the political leaders of their agency, have certain amounts of discretion with respect to prisoners receiving visitors or making phone calls. Barghouti only speaks with those people who have been approved by the Warden and only communicates in designated rooms or on designated phones. Marwan has been allowed to participate in conference calls originating from the Warden’s office. Clearly, someone up the foodchain has decided that its better to allow Barghouti to become the next Prime Minister of the PA than just sit back and allow Hamas to grab it all. Besides, wouldn’t you like to be able to tape every key conversation between one of your most powerful enemies and his closest advisors (to say nothing of his wife)? Can you see Rumsfeld allowing Osama’s number 2 to call in from Guantanamo? And why wouldn’t that be a good idea?
Take The Aleph Train
What is new since my 1992 trip is that many of the major population centers and the main airport are now linked by Israel Railways. The trains are clean, modern, comfortable and run on time. Once again Israel destroys old stereotypes and replaces them with irony. The Army works, the trains run on time, it’s the education system and the government that are a mess.
But with the trains comes something that I never thought I’d see here. Israelis commuting to work from suburbs by train. You can see the cars parked in the station lots as you whiz by on an express. Try looking at that sight and humming Zum Gali Gali* to yourself.
YC Retreats from Hatikvah
The YC kids are not happy about this. They know that a major part of the experience was actually living in the neighborhood. But Hadassah is not going to put any kids at risk. So, after a series of break-ins, including the fellow who was just standing in the living room when one young woman came out of the shower, Hadassah has moved the current Hatikvah group to a hotel near our apartment. The kids get double rooms and two meals a day plus 20 shekels spending money and a bus pass. They commute to their volunteer jobs. The reaction from Becky’s crew was generally to say that this makes everyone look like wimps and takes away the real benefit of the program. By and large, the kids were part of the neighborhood, looked after by neighbors and merchants and generally made to feel at home. They were not treated like a bunch of prissy do-gooders from the outside. I’m certain most parents are happy with this arrangement. But I think the kids have got this right.
Last Word On Hanukkah
Its now way past Hanukah and I never did get around to my annual rant about Hasmoneans and the right wingers. My version of the Hanukah story was delivered just once at the Kiddie Service. Treasure and Cynthia have since carefully organized the services so that I am never left alone with the children. I take no offense at this. I have, however, decided to spare you my Hanukah story. At least for this year. Maybe you’ll get unlucky next year.
___________________________________________________________________
* Zum Gali Gali is a sing-a-long whose only words are “Pioneers are for work. Work is for the Pioneers.” Its an early Kibbutz/youth group song that mostly lives on at US summer camps. I doubt anyone sings it while getting coffee on their way to their job for a nanotechnology firm.
Read more!
Tel Aviv
Contemporary Art and Cholent
Shabbos in Tel Aviv is a combination of contemporary art (the Tel Aviv Museum is open and has a really good Menashe Kadishman exhibit – some of you have seen Kadishman at places like MOMA or Storm King Mountain) and cholent. Kadishman has a thing for goats’ heads but really stands out with his outdoor sculptures of things like negative trees, torn washing hanging from lines, the binding of Isaac and, at Storm King, a huge rectangle, standing on end in the middle of what would be a good-sized fairway if Storm King were a golf course. The rectangle is broken about a third of the way up and the broken piece dangles at an angle and a weight distribution that is simply impossible within Earth's gravity.
Cholent is what you eat when you want hot food on Shabbos but cannot start an oven or stove or cut new vegetables. Cholent (which varies in content depending upon where your great grandmother was born but consists largely of beans, potatoes, mystery meat and whatever else did not make it into the Friday night soup) stays on a stove or in an oven until Saturday afternoon when it has congealed into a uniform mass that instantly expands upon ingestion. There are those who think this stuff is delicious. Batya, a restaurant near our apartment, makes an excellent cholent served with a chunk of kishke. Kishke is lamb or cow intestine (depending on what you had around to kill before the weekend) stuffed with bread, grease and G-d only knows what else. Those of you from in between the coasts who have had a knish or a kosher hot dog and think you have had Jewish food have been spared the real stuff. And, by the way, if your great grandmother was not from central or Eastern Europe you don’t get off easy. There’s jachnun and shakshukah. Jachnun is solid starch and grease mitigated with a hard-boiled egg or two. Shakshukah is egg and cheese in a tomato sauce. Now that I think of it, cholent does sort of go with Kadishman.
You’re In The Army Now
Last night, Friday 6 January, we had Shabbos dinner with the DeCastros (Maurizio, Nurit and Keren, our Yemenite daughter, the officer). Also with us are Deborah and Marissa, two of Becky’s Hatikvah roommates who are taking a break from their current locations. This middle part of YC is, for Becky’s group, the Israel Experience. Deborah is working north of Acco at a shelter/school for troubled and abused teenagers. Marissa is working near Modiin at an environmental/organic farm that runs education programs for schools in the surrounding area. We are also joined by Michal Zur. So we are having a grand old time eating this incredible Yemenite vegetable and chicken soup, ktzitzot (a sort of chicken latke – don’t even try to pronounce this unless you speak Hebrew or you will hurt yourself) and plenty of wine to wash this down. The Kiddush is familiar though done in a Sephardic melody.
My highlight of the evening was the call from Becky. Becky just finished her first week of Marva, a sampling of Army training. She her day (which began at 4:15 and, at 10:30 was not over) has been spent on guard duty, on kitchen duty, cleaning herself, cleaning her weapon, getting into trouble with her commander, cleaning her living area, standing at attention with her weapon while being lectured at and, at 01:00, going back on guard duty. I will directly quote the only quotable portion of the phone call:
Becky: So they get me up at f-----g 4:f------g15 in the morning and we have to run for an hour before they let us eat food that really s---s big time and then we have to clean the f------g tents and the f-----g area around the tents and then, from 10 until 2 for four f-----g hours I have to wash f-----g dishes and then, finally, they let me take a shower but then I have to clean up the f-----g area and stand at f-----g attention with my rifle while they give me a f-----g lecture until they finally let me eat more food that isn’t worth eating and at f-----g 01:00 to 01:30 I have more f------g guard duty.
At this moment I really missed my Father who would have loved the rant and started telling some of his “fond” memories of army life. After I stopped laughing hysterically, I assured her that she will survive this and she should just suck it up and stick it out. She wasn’t asking to come home. She just wanted to complain, like a real soldier. She did ask how I could have let her volunteer for this. I reminded her that I don’t let her do anything.
Seven Jews Are Talking
On 25 and 26 January Liz and Becky and I toured the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The building alone is worth the trip. It is architecturally a masterpiece of symbolic and functional design. But the fun part, for us retired attorneys, is sitting in on a case.
The Israeli Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. It has a panel of 15 judges, all appointed by a panel of government ministers. They court usually sits in panels of three though the Chief Judge may appoint (on his own volition or on petition) a larger, odd-numbered panel. In Israel there are no juries. Judges determine the facts and apply the law. There is also no written Constitution, just a series of Basic Laws that get amended from time to time by the Knesset and get interpreted by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has two basic jurisdictions. One is that any case from a lower court can be appealed, creating a serious backlog. The other is direct jurisdiction over certain cases including Human Rights cases. A Human Rights case has a very broad definition here. Remember, there is no Article III and no Judiciary Act for Congress to fool with. The Supreme Court can pretty much take whatever cases it decides to take. For example, a case involving the provision of appropriate education to a learning disabled child or a case involving the separation of a farmer from his farmland by the security fence can both go straight to the Supreme Court. The Judges will listen to testimony, look at exhibits, take briefs on the law and hear argument. The fun part is that this can be an almost simultaneous event. For you New York lawyers, its much more like a wild morning in the Appellate Division than the formality of the Court of Appeals.
We sat in on two cases. One was a criminal appeal. We know because Becky caught the words vodka and hashish (and wouldn’t tell me why these two words just sort of jumped out at her). Liz heard kilograms, which is a heck of a lot of hashish. The other case had Army officers and several lawyers gesturing and talking about a map that was spread out on the Judges’ bench. Possibly a fence case or at least some dispute about whether the Army can take over someone’s land or put up a roadblock that stops someone from commuting to his or her business. In any event, every time a Judge asked a question or just paused to take a breath, one of the lawyers would launch into another long speech. This particular panel was being very patient with all this. Sylvia Ornstein recalls sitting in on a case when the Judge had had enough with a long-winded attorney and verbally whacked him upside the head. Ah, that's the courtroom I know and love. Anyway, for you lawyer types, the Supreme Court tour is a good busman’s holiday.
And speaking of a unique legal system. Has anyone been wondering just how Marwan Barghouti, a man serving five consecutive life terms for murdering Jews, is able to lead a faction within Fatah that has now gained control of the final Parliamentary list, with Marwan in the number one spot? And how he is able to release statements to the Palestinians apologizing for Fatah and the PA to date and asking for another chance? Or saying something diplomatic about Sharon’s condition? Isn’t this guy in prison? Well, yes, but prison here, like the Army here, does not work quite the way it works in the US. Here, prison officials, who ultimately answer to the political leaders of their agency, have certain amounts of discretion with respect to prisoners receiving visitors or making phone calls. Barghouti only speaks with those people who have been approved by the Warden and only communicates in designated rooms or on designated phones. Marwan has been allowed to participate in conference calls originating from the Warden’s office. Clearly, someone up the foodchain has decided that its better to allow Barghouti to become the next Prime Minister of the PA than just sit back and allow Hamas to grab it all. Besides, wouldn’t you like to be able to tape every key conversation between one of your most powerful enemies and his closest advisors (to say nothing of his wife)? Can you see Rumsfeld allowing Osama’s number 2 to call in from Guantanamo? And why wouldn’t that be a good idea?
Take The Aleph Train
What is new since my 1992 trip is that many of the major population centers and the main airport are now linked by Israel Railways. The trains are clean, modern, comfortable and run on time. Once again Israel destroys old stereotypes and replaces them with irony. The Army works, the trains run on time, it’s the education system and the government that are a mess.
But with the trains comes something that I never thought I’d see here. Israelis commuting to work from suburbs by train. You can see the cars parked in the station lots as you whiz by on an express. Try looking at that sight and humming Zum Gali Gali* to yourself.
YC Retreats from Hatikvah
The YC kids are not happy about this. They know that a major part of the experience was actually living in the neighborhood. But Hadassah is not going to put any kids at risk. So, after a series of break-ins, including the fellow who was just standing in the living room when one young woman came out of the shower, Hadassah has moved the current Hatikvah group to a hotel near our apartment. The kids get double rooms and two meals a day plus 20 shekels spending money and a bus pass. They commute to their volunteer jobs. The reaction from Becky’s crew was generally to say that this makes everyone look like wimps and takes away the real benefit of the program. By and large, the kids were part of the neighborhood, looked after by neighbors and merchants and generally made to feel at home. They were not treated like a bunch of prissy do-gooders from the outside. I’m certain most parents are happy with this arrangement. But I think the kids have got this right.
Last Word On Hanukkah
Its now way past Hanukah and I never did get around to my annual rant about Hasmoneans and the right wingers. My version of the Hanukah story was delivered just once at the Kiddie Service. Treasure and Cynthia have since carefully organized the services so that I am never left alone with the children. I take no offense at this. I have, however, decided to spare you my Hanukah story. At least for this year. Maybe you’ll get unlucky next year.
___________________________________________________________________
* Zum Gali Gali is a sing-a-long whose only words are “Pioneers are for work. Work is for the Pioneers.” Its an early Kibbutz/youth group song that mostly lives on at US summer camps. I doubt anyone sings it while getting coffee on their way to their job for a nanotechnology firm.
Read more!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
