Israel Week Ending September 24
Iron Dome Financing, Covid, Foreign Relation and the Economy
This week began on a high note, with Israeli forces capture of the last Gilboa prison escapees, without a gunfight, or collateral damage. Despite the dire warnings that the escape would lead to a larger confrontation, the incident ended smoothly, with all six escapees returned to prison. A committee led by the former military advocate general has been established to investigate the circumstances that led to the prison break.
US–Israel Relations
This week's primary story occurred in Washington when funding for Iron Dome was removed from the House Budget Resolution, only to be passed on Thursday, in a special Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriation. The initial decision to remove Iron Dome funding from the budget resolution came as members of the Progressive Caucus pressured the Democratic leadership, threatening to vote against the overall bill, if it earmarked funding for Iron Dome. However, the actual allocation for Iron Dome was never in doubt, and those opponents of Israel in Congress picked a strange item to oppose, the only solely defensive weapon Israel possesses.
The final vote was illuminating, with eight Democrats (Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Andre Carson, Marie Newman, Jesus Garcia, Raul Grijalva), and one Republican, (Rep. Tom Massie), voting against it. A vote in favor of the bill was cast by Representative Jamaal Bowman, the newly-elected Congressman, representing sections of the Bronx and lower Westchester, who has previously tried to align himself with the Squad. Fellow NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had partially led the earlier charge against the funding, abstained.
There are several takeaways that Israel should glean from the events of this past week. The first, is to understand that the Squad will continue to be a problem — especially while Democrats hold such a slim majority in the House. Second, we need to realize that two Squad members (Tlaib and Omar) will be relentless in their attempts to limit American support for Israel.
We should understand and accept Tlaib's view, as a Palestinian-American. As long as our conflict with the Palestinians continues and she is in Congress, she will oppose any American aid or support for Israel, as will her fellow traveler Omar. The key for Israeli supporters in the US going forward will be to limit their influence on Israel among other Progressives in Congress. On Thursday, we saw that the two Representatives from New York; one of whom is the most outspoken member of the Squad, and the other who has tried to become part of it, abstained or voted in favor of the aid. This means there is room to try to influence them and other Progressives. It will be a challenge, but it is doable.
On a different level, we need to ask ourselves how much aid do we think Israel should receive from the US. While it's true that the Israeli government runs a substantial budget deficit, over the past decade, the country, as a whole, has consistently, run a large current accounts surplus. Furthermore, our economy is doing very well, overall. Therefore, I think it's time to rethink the aid we receive. Our strategic support from the US is our most important asset. We do not want to endanger that as a result of a fight over money.
RISING AMERICAN ANTISEMITISM
Today, I published an article inspired by Bari Weiss’ latest piece on Anti Semitism. My response is titled, “Hey Bari Weiss, Why Not Move to Israel?” I hope it provokes some reflections on the part of the readers.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Yair Lapid continues to take his job as Foreign Minister seriously, conducting the first conversation between an Israeli Foreign Minister and the Swedish Foreign Minister in a decade. Lapid also spoke to his Norwegian counterpart and other Foreign Ministers.
COVID–19
Israel’s Covid-19 daily infection numbers remain high, with around 6,000 new cases reported each day during this holiday period. The number of seriously ill has plateaued in the low 700s, with approximately 20 patients dying each day. Every indication shows that the vaccines and the booster work to profoundly reduce infection and severe disease. Unfortunately, while Israeli hospitals possess the ability to accommodate a surge of even larger numbers, the current numbers are not sustainable on an ongoing basis. They are beginning to impact the care of other non-Covid patients.
Not to sound like a broken record, but the Israeli government's repeated decisions to keep everything open, including allowing mass gatherings as long as you are vaccinated — against the advice of medical professionals — is a grave mistake! While close to 70% of the severely ill have not been vaccinated (even though they make up less than 15% of the population), the other 30% have been vaccinated, and still have become gravely ill.
The government’s message is that vaccinations solve everything. While on a societal level, that is true. However, on the individual level, it is not. When infection is all around, even vaccinated people are at risk. At a time like this, going to physically packed gatherings is like playing Russian roulette. If you are not vaccinated, you’re playing with a gun with five empty chambers and one bullet; if you are vaccinated, you’re playing with 34 blanks and one bullet. Your odds are good, but if you play long enough, you will lose. Therefore, it is insane to keep open large indoor venues, like the Opera and Theater.
Once again, this week, I met two couples in their 70's heading to the Opera. They seemed unfazed by any potential danger. Daily, I see multi-generational gatherings, with grandparents taking care of their school-aged, unvaccinated grandchildren. They do not meet outdoors in the playground, but indoors— and no one is warning them to be careful. That is why we have so many seriously ill and deaths in Israel, despite having a highly vaccinated population. Vaccines are great when the infection rates are low, but they cannot provide full protection when Covid-19 is still widely being spread.
VIOLENCE WITHIN THE ARAB-ISRAELI COMMUNITY
Hassan Othman, an Arab Israeli resident of Haifa, was gunned down and killed. He was then the 91st victim of violence in the Arab Israeli community this year. Earlier this week, a gunman opened fire at a wedding, killing one person and wounding five. This government, and the previous government, both pledged to address this vicious problem, but no one has succeeded. While additional money has been allocated for the Arab Israeli communities, no overall plan seems to have been developed. Moreover, there is no broad consensus as to the underlying root sources of the violence, and why it continues to surge now. Whatever the cause, the hashtag #Arablivesmatter has become popular in Israel at the moment. As I was about to hit publish on this article I received a notification that another Arab Israeli was just a 55 year old in Nazareth.
ECONOMY
El Al, Israel Airlines, is in serious difficulty, after a year and a half of the pandemic. The Israeli government has put far more restrictions on air travel than almost any government, except for Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, the government or, more directly, the professionals in the Finance Ministry have been very stingy in supporting the airlines — primarily, giving them loans, and in El Al’s case, prepaying for the seats of security personnel. By some estimates, the Israeli government has extended El Al half as much support as the US government and Europeans has offered their national airlines (calculated on a per plane basis).
The Israeli Treasury has demanded El Al find further operational savings. As a result, the management has proposed a cut of its fleet by one-third, from 45 to 29 aircraft, mainly by selling, or terminating the lease on its fleet of 737s. In addition, El Al plans on cutting its workforce by another third. El Al would then concentrate on the North American market, along with the major cities of Europe.
Blue White Robotics, which produces equipment to automate large vehicles, including farm equipment, has decided to concentrate on farm equipment. As a result, the company has raised $37 million. Entrée Capital co-led this Series-B funding round, after seeding Blue White Robotics, and participating in its Series-A round. They are joined by Clal Insurance, Jesselson Family Office, Peregrine VC, and Regah Ventures, who also made significant contributions to this round.
LG Electronics has made its first investment in Israel, with its purchase of a controlling interest in Cybellum, a maker of cyber defense software for cars. In a complicated deal, LG will pay $140 million to acquire 64% of Cybellum and invest $20 million more into the company. This will give Cybellum a value of $220 million. LG says it will purchase the balance of the company at a later date. Cybellum was founded by two alumni of IDF’s Tech units and had raised $15 million, to date.
Stream Elements, which has developed software to help live video streaming on different platforms, has raised $100 million in funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The nine-figure sum was raised with additional participation from PayPal Ventures, MoreTech, and existing investors State of Mind Ventures, Pitango First, Menorah, and Mivtach Shamir, among others.