Israel Update: Week Ending April 23

Missile Strikes Near Dimona, Netanyahu Trying Desperately to Stay in Power, Violence in Jerusalem, Covid Update and Economics

DEFENSE

Israeli woke up Thursday morning to the disturbing news that an errant Syrian anti-aircraft missile had landed near Dimona. Loud explosions were heard during the night in central and southern Israel, as intercept missiles made failed attempts to down the missile. Israel has come to rely on its three-tiered defense system to protect it from incoming missiles. That system’s failure to down this anti-aircraft missile is a matter of concern.

There has been some speculation that this missile might not have been an anti-aircraft missile, but rather, a planned Iranian-sponsored attack on the Dimona nuclear plant. Indeed, it seems like quite a coincidence that merely two weeks after Israel allegedly engaged in sabotage at the Iranian Nuclear facility at Natanz, a Syrian anti-aircraft missile would go so far off course, so as to near the Dimona facility, hundreds of miles away. Nevertheless, both Israel and American defense officials insist the incident was merely poor Syrian control of their anti-aircraft missile systems.

POLITICS

On Wednesday night, Israelis had the opportunity to hear from MK Naftali Bennett, followed by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Bennett, head of the Yamina party, (with 7 Knesset seats), stated that his first preference was a right-wing coalition, i.e., a coalition Netanyahu does not seem to have the votes to pass. However, Bennett claimed that all Netanyahu wants is a new (meaning, 5th) election. Bennett went on to say that if the right-wing could not form a government, he would help form a national unity government. For the first time, Bennett stated publicly that he was willing to join a government with Lapid.

Netanyahu then took to the air, blasting Bennett, saying that Bennett’s sole interest was to become Prime Minister. Netanyahu even sarcastically went as far as to suggest that perhaps he should let Bennett stay at the Prime Minister’s residence on Balfour St. for a weekend — “so he [Bennett] can “get it [the desire to be Prime Minister] out of his system.” Netanyahu then kept pushing his newest plan — to conduct a direct election for the Prime Minister in 30 days — “Let the people decide,” he demanded. 

When a reporter quoted Netanyahu’s comment from a few years ago — “You do not change the electoral system, like you change a pair of pants” — Netanyahu ignored the question and went on to insist that direct election of the Prime Minister was the only democratic way forward. In other words, if he is unable to form a government, it's not a democracy. It became clear earlier in the week when Netanyahu lost the vote in the Knesset on how to conduct the Organizing Committee that controls the Knesset until the government is formed, that he does not have the votes to form a coalition. 

Netanyahu’s impossible mission has come down to what I wrote immediately following the election; i.e., it would be impossible for Netanyahu to square the circle of Smotrich and the Religious Zionist party accepting the aid of the Arab-Israeli Ra'am party. As a direct result of the continual attacks by Smotritch and his cohorts, Ra'am voted with opposition groups to set up the Organizing Committee. In response to their loss, the Likud has ensured the committee does not meet. Thus, the work of the Knesset is at a complete standstill. Similarly, Netanyahu continues to block the appointment of a Justice Minister. Since the Minister of Justice fills a statuary role in several circumstances, the lack of one seriously hampers governmental operations. Yesterday, the Supreme Court angrily gave Netanyahu until Sunday morning to explain his basis for holding up this important appointment.

Meanwhile, Lapid and Bennett continue to negotiate the details of their potential coalition. Bennett has been pushing Lapid to rapidly complete the negotiations so that a government can be introduced almost immediately when Rivlin transfers the mandate to Netanyahu's opponents. At this time, Bennett demands that the two right-wing parties (Yamina and New Hope, with a combined 14 seats, compared to Yesh Atid’s 17 seats) be granted parity with the rest of the coalition. Under the current circumstances, Lapid will likely agree to this condition. Another demand appears to be for Saar to replace Gantz in the Ministry of Defense — a ridiculous demand considering that Saar only received seven seats to Gantz's eight. Moreover, considering the fact Gantz has decades of military experience and is the current Defense Minister, and Sa'ar has zero experience in the area, this demand is ludicrous.

It's been disclosed that the two sides have agreed on issues of State and Religion, reportedly to endorse the positions of Tzohar, the liberal orthodox organization of Israeli rabbis. There is guarded optimism that agreements on any remaining differences can be reached.

Jerusalem Violence

On Thursday night, right-wing Israeli protestors chanting “Death to the Arabs,” clashed with Arab protestors in Jerusalem. It was the second night in the row of clashes, which began earlier in the week, with a number of Jews being attacked by Arabs near Jerusalem’s Old City. Thursday night's rally was organized by the Lehava organization, whose members marched to the Damascus Gate of the Old City. Many of those demonstrators were ultra-Orthodox youth, who have been attracted to the extreme-right Kahanist ideologies.  

Several hundreds of Palestinian counter-demonstrators awaited Lehava loyalists. The police strived to keep the two groups apart. Hundreds of Palestinians were injured in clashes with police; a much smaller number of Lehava demonstrators were injured, as they continued to agitate and attack Arabs throughout downtown Jerusalem. Over the course of a night, a Jewish motorist was attacked and his car burned in east Jerusalem; while an Arab home, just inside the wall of the old city, was set on fire. Dozens were arrested. These Thursday night riots followed a week in which Arab Youth in East Jerusalem randomly attacked Jews, and then posted the video affirmation on Tik Tok.  

COVID

One of the most visible aspects of the COVID-19 outbreak ended this week in Israel, when the governmental mandate to wear face masks outside came to an end. It has been a very liberating feeling, as I wrote in a piece earlier in the week. Yesterday, was the first day since the beginning of the pandemic in which no Israelis died from Covid. There were 129 new cases yesterday in Israel, and 160 remain seriously ill here. 

Over 5 million Israelis have now received both doses of the vaccine. The main concern continues to be the potential entrance of mutations into the country. However, the government has been unable, or unwilling, to take action like Australia and New Zealand, and keep our borders closed.

Iran Talks

The US and Iran have been negotiating a return to the JCOPA. It's unclear whether or not those talks will bear fruit. Senior Israeli officials are going to Washington next week, including the Chief of Staff, and the head of the Security Council. According to ace Israeli journalist and commentator Barak Ravid, the delegation was instructed by Netanyahu to oppose the agreement, talk about how bad Iran is, and refuse to discuss the agreement. Under Netanyahu, the Israeli government seems to be following the same playbook it used in 2015 — i.e. opposing any agreement. It was a failed policy in 2015, and it will likely fail again now.

JStreet Conference

This past week JStreet held its annual conference. The speech delivered by Senator Warren received a significant amount of coverage — especially her call for US aid to deny support of the occupation— the same policy shift I raised on i24News this week. In short, I find all the concerns about her statement to be misplaced. Currently, US aid goes solely to purchase US military products, e.g., F-35s. Israel certainly does not use F-35 planes on the West Bank. I question the overall effectiveness of the JStreet, but more on that will have to wait for a longer conversation.

Economy

Israeli “Unicorns” now have a combined value of $145 billion. With one week left in April, Israeli companies have already raised more than $1 billion this month.  

It is important to note that it is not just Israelis start-ups that have been doing well. Elbit, Israel’s leading defense contractor, has been steadily racking up orders, from countries throughout the globe. This week Elbit announced that as part of new Defense agreements between Israel and Greece, Elbit has received a contract worth approximately $ 1.65 billion, to develop and operate a flight training center for the Greek Air Force. Even Zim Shipping, which has had its financial ups and downs this past decade, has been doing very well. Zim’s cash flow has been so positive that it has redeemed $349 million in notes, two years early.