Israel Update Week Ending December 10

Lapid meets Sisi, Gantz meets Austin,Trump and Bibi, Ultra Orthodox and the government

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

It's been another busy week for Israeli diplomats. Early in the week, Prime Minister Bennett hosted a trilateral meeting between leaders of Greece, Cyprus, and Israel. This was not the first time official representatives from these three nations have met, but it was the first such gathering since Bennett assumed the helm as Prime Minister.  

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Lapid held meetings in Cairo with that country's leaders, including President Sisi, Foreign Minister Hassan Shoukry, as well as others. Lapid came bearing a considerable gift — 70 archaeological artifacts; national treasures stolen from Egypt, which had found their way into Israel. By all accounts, these meetings were warm and friendly, with a significant amount of time devoted to discussing Gaza and Hamas. 

On the same day, nearly 6,000 miles away, Israeli Defense Minister Gantz met with US Secretary of Defense Austin. The meeting officially focused on further security coordination between Israel and the United States. According to reports in Israeli media, one of the topics of discussion was the possibility of a joint exercise, to simulate an attack on the Iranian nuclear program. This disclosure comes in the wake of what appears to be a failing effort to reach a renewed agreement with Iran. While the likelihood of a joint US-Israel military strike seem slim, even the prospect of such an action creates leverage against Iran.

Gantz also met with US Secretary of State Blinken.

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS

The week began with a knife attack perpetrated against a 20-year old Yeshiva student, outside the Damascus Gate. The assault, which was caught on video, ended with the terrorist being killed by Border Police. The terrorist was on the ground when the fatal shots were fired. Initially, comparisons were made with this shooting, and the killing of a wounded terrorist by Elor Azaria three years ago. However, the two cases are very different. This week's terrorist was killed as part of one continuous action to end his attack. In the midst of the incident, there was no way for the soldiers to know whether the terrorist was fully neutralized. Thus, after an investigation, the case was closed.

A second attack took place in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem; an area in which Jewish settlers have bought properties over the past decades, slowly displacing local residents. A 15-year-old girl attacked a young mother who was her neighbor. Some in Israel immediately decried: "See what we are dealing with … even 15-year-olds become terrorists.” However, a closer look at this situation reveals that this 15-year-old lives in one of the homes at the center of the recent case before the Israeli Supreme Court; the case in which settlers are relentlessly trying to evict Palestinian families. This 15-year-old has been living under a cloud of potential eviction her entire life. Without justifying the attack, it remains essential to look at the incident in its fuller context.

POLITICS

The right-wing held a demonstration in Tel Aviv this week, with about 3,000 protesters in attendance. I spent time speaking with several of the demonstrators, whose views were diverse. One demonstrator informed me that Arabs need not be here at all. When I asked him whether he knew the history of the creation of the state, the man replied, that the only thing he needs to know is that God gave the land to us, and it is ours. 

There was, however, one theme that repeated itself. Demonstrators asserted that they came to protest against alleged government attempts to turn the country into “a state for all its residents,” at the expense of maintaining a Jewish State. They all seemed completely convinced this is currently happening, despite no evidence to substantiate their alarm. 

Indeed, a government led by Bennett would never implement such policy. Moreover, even the most Left-wing Zionist parties in the current coalition (i.e., Meretz and Labor) don't believe in this sort of a fundamental change. Nevertheless, the right-wing entourage who came to demonstrate appeared certain that this shift was well underway. They pointed to reforms in the Kashrut supervision system, designed to break the long-time monopoly and create competition in the market, as proof that the Jewish nature of the state is at risk. One thing stood out was the relatively large number of ultra-Orthodox present at the demonstration.  

Haaretz political reporter, Yossi Verter wrote a piece this morning, titled: “The ultra-Orthodox Parties Don’t Want a Truce With Bennett, They Want an Intifada.”  In the piece, Verter quotes a recording of Shas leader Arye Deri that had been uploaded to the Kikar HaShabbat web site: 

“For many years I was a member of the security cabinet. There is very great danger in the Iranian nuclear project. But the danger of everything [the government] is doing now to change the Jewish identity of the state of Israel is far greater. ... They want to throw away the phylacteries, the ritual fringes, and the Torah, burn Shabbat, and are we going to smile at them and speak with them? I don’t even say hello to them in the Knesset. A person who is at war for himself and his family doesn’t meet with someone who wants to kill him. ...”

Friday morning’s news in Israel was dominated by an interview conducted by one of Israel best journalists, Barak Ravid, with former President Trump. Two quotes stand out. The first, which Yediot Achronot placed on its cover, decried: 

“No one did more for Bibi than me. No one did for Israel more than I did. But the elections were stolen and Netanyahu Ran to Congratulate Biden, I haven’t spoken to him since. F**k him! He made a terrible mistake.”

The reality is that Netanyahu was criticized in Israel for waiting as long as he did to congratulate Biden. Netanyahu was, in fact, one of the last to do so.  

Here’s the other chilling declaration Trump made to Ravid: 

“I don’t understand how the Jews could vote for Biden or Obama, considering what was done to them with the Iran nuclear agreement. If I had not come to power, I think Israel would have been annihilated.”

COVID–19

The daily number of Israelis diagnosed with Covid-19 rose again this week— reaching a high of 786 newly infected patients on Tuesday; a reflection, in part, on the reopening of schools after the Hanukkah break. However, on a positive note, the number of seriously ill has dropped to below 100 for the first time in four months. 

This week, researchers at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University presented the Prime Minister with a report that asserts the recent rise in Covid cases is not connected to the new variant, but is rather indication of a fifth wave of cases spreading throughout the country.  

Israel’s campaign to vaccinate its children has run into a serious impediment — i.e. parents. So far, only 5% of parents have been willing to inoculate their children against Covid. Furthermore, over 1.5 million Israelis have not yet taken the booster shot; and nearly one million have chosen (either for medical reasons or personal preference) not to take the shot at all. Research published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that that the booster decreased Covid morbidity by 90% in Israel, among those who received the booster, when compared to those who did not.

Israel is testing every Covid patient for the Omicron variant. To date, the number of Omicron cases remains very low. Israel's policy of requiring a three-day quarantine and two negative PCR tests for residents returning from abroad, as well as, closing the country’s borders to tourists, seems to be producing the desired positive impact, severely limiting the entry of Omicron, at least for the moment. Late Friday afternoon the Ministry of Health reported that 14 new cases of Omicron have been identified in Israel.

On Thursday night, the decision was made to extend the ban on the entrance of foreign visitors, along with the three-day quarantine for returning residents, at least until December 23rd. The medical community has supported this approach, believing anything that can be done to stop Omicron from spreading here is worth the inconvenience. 

Disapproval of these measures has been expressed throughout the American Jewish community. Being aware of the criticism, Bennett wrote: "I deeply regret any pain felt by you and those in your community, which are cherished members of our global Jewish family,” in a letter to Mark Wilf and Eric Fingerhut, Chairman and President of the Jewish Federations of North America, respectively. But the average Israeli, including most anglo-Israelis, whose families have been barred from visiting, support the measure as being prudent for the country's health.

DEFENSE

This week, Israel announced the official completion of the above and below ground wall surrounding Gaza. The wall is 40 miles long and cost $1.1 billion to build.  This “smart” wall was built to stop infiltrations into Israel via excavated tunnels, as was employed by Hamas in the 2014 war. A similar wall is now being built on Israel's Lebanese border.

The Syrian port of Latakia was attacked this week. It appears that whoever perpetrated the attack had targeted specific shipping containers. The attack resulted in a series of secondary explosions.

ECONOMICS

This week, Intel announced it plans to partially spin off Mobileye, the Jerusalem-based company purchased by Intel in 2017, for $15.3 billion. According to reports, Mobileye will become an independent public company, when shares in the company are made available. It is estimated that Mobileye will be valued at $50 billion. Intel will maintain majority ownership of Mobileye, which is developing an autonomous vehicle; but already sells driver-assistance products that warn of impending accidents, and aid  with parking. As a result of this move, Mobileye will become the most valuable company based in Israel.

MeaTech 3D Ltd. revealed this week that it has succeeded in bio-printing a 3.67 oz (104-gram) cultivated steak, primarily composed of cultivated real fat and muscle cells. The company believes it has produced the largest cultured steak created to date. This groundbreaking achievement serves as an important milestone toward the goal of scaled production of cultivated bio-printed steaks.

Restore Medical Ltd., a clinical-stage MedTech company developing cardiac implants for the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF), announced promising preliminary results of the First-in-Human clinical trial of ContraBand™, a breakthrough treatment for patients suffering from CHF. The minimally invasive, catheter-delivered implants are used to treat patients with chronic left ventricular failure, where the heart is unable to pump sufficient oxygen-rich blood through the body.

Tipalti has raised $270 million, in a funding round that brings its value to $8.3 billion.  The company developed a payment platform to automatically pay vendors. Its sales this year are expected to reach $100 million. The round was led by G Squared Capital.