Jew against Jew

There’s a frightening split among Israelis right now that’s deepening and growing. Former allies are becoming enemies. While one group of people are celebrating as the prime minister and his colleagues move to change fundamental laws and policies, his former allies are distraught about the dire implications for the country.

The president, Isaac Herzog, who hails from a family of Zionist leaders, called on the prime minister not to go ahead with legislating the judicial overhaul before holding discussions with those leaders opposed to his plans.

However, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed that there needs to be discussion, he’s not stopping the process for such talks. In fact, it seems the incumbent leadership has ignored the massive weekly protests, digging in its heels, and pushing forward with its agenda.

Obviously, it believes that it’s doing what’s right for the country, and that it has the people’s blessing to do so.

However, Israel is at fever pitch right now. We know Israeli politicians can be fiery, but on Wednesday this week, Knesset members Yitzhak Pindrus from the United Torah Judaism party and Israeli Labour Party leader Gilad Kariv publicly clashed at the Kotel before the Rosh Chodesh morning prayers. This was over the fact that Kariv was bringing a Sefer Torah to the women’s area.

Was this worth a public spat between fellow Knesset members? I think not. It just adds to the great divide that’s harming the country.

And for the first time, people are talking about the potential of a civil war in Israel. How horrifying! Jew against Jew is unconscionable, not least of all in the Jewish state.

Israel and the Jews have enough enemies in this world without being so self-destructive. It’s essential that the new government listens to its people, and ensures that it does what’s best for all its citizens. Surely, this isn’t negotiable and, whatever you may believe or whose side you take, everything possible must be done to ensure that Israel’s democracy is secured and its people are heard.

Now, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies has joined many diaspora Jewish communities in calling on the Israeli government to rethink changing the Law of Return that allows all Jews to emigrate to Israel.

Once again, I cannot think of a time that we have pleaded with an Israeli government not to do something. I could be wrong, but it appears to be something no Jew does lightly in such a public way.

The impact of allowing only those who are halachically Jewish to make their home in Israel is massive, it will change the face of aliya and Israel’s growth and, ultimately, the connection between Israel and the Jewish world. We need to be united and not sweat the small stuff. We don’t need to be our own enemies, we have enough enemies as it is.

Speaking about Israel’s enemies, we find ourselves amid a diplomatic crisis following Sharon Bar-Li, Israel’s foreign ministry deputy director general for Africa, being forcibly removed from the African Union (AU) summit opening last weekend.

I find the misinformation and fake news about this being disseminated by anti-Israel lobby astonishing.

Africa4Palestine has even turned it into an antisemitic incident, which it clearly wasn’t. When nobody had said anything about this being an anti-Jewish thing, this nasty group took to social media and made it such with the statement that, “Israel said South Africa was antisemitic and extreme for kicking it out the AU. South Africa’s foreign minister responds.”

Its post shows a screengrab of foreign minister Dr Naledi Pandor having her say. Only, Africa4Palestine clearly didn’t listen to what she said, because she made no mention about anything like that. But I guess its agenda isn’t the truth, but whatever works for its ugly cause.

Having said that, that example may have been the most extreme, but it wasn’t the only one to twist the facts.

Many claimed Israel wasn’t invited and/or the wrong person was there to represent Israel and – the best one – Israel created the scene to cause trouble at the AU.

Have you ever tried to get into an international event like a government summit with the wrong accreditation? I’m a journalist. I have. It’s nigh impossible.

Sharon Bar-Li was invited, was accredited, and had the right name tag with her face and even the correct spelling of her name. There was a special seat for her, which she was sitting in when she was forcibly made to leave.

Why would Israel and Bar-Li lie about this? They have absolutely no reason to.

The other side, however, has every reason to be horribly ashamed and embarrassed about forcing someone who was legitimately there to leave.

So exactly who do you believe? To me, this is a no-brainer.

Once again, Israel is thrown under the bus because it’s the Jewish state that a minority of AU member countries – which unfortunately includes our own South Africa – don’t want to have to deal with.

It’s their right not to agree with everything Israel does. Hell, right now we’re not all on the same page with what’s going on politically in the country – and that’s okay. Like any country, Israel isn’t perfect.

However, when we’re talking about human rights, way too many countries involved in the AU or its observers – consider Iran – have far worse track records than Israel by hundreds of kilometres.

This isn’t a contest, but this diplomatic spat is about a country that has done so much good in Africa, intends to do far more, and simply wants to be acknowledged as a respected observer at the AU.

Surely those, like our own government, should see that to oust Israel from the AU isn’t beneficial to our continent? Oh well, we’ll watch this space to see what happens.

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor