Tel Aviv Diary October 28, 2022

Agreement Signed, Herzog in Washington, Gantz in Turkey,Election Deadlock?Demonstrating for the Environment, Business and a Restaurant Review

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

It’s been a hectic time in Israeli diplomacy, even though we are just one week before the election. First, on Thursday morning, the Israeli cabinet gave final approval to the gas deal with Lebanon. Prime Minister Lapid then signed the agreement, and an Israeli representative took the document to the UN station at Rosh Hanikra, where a Lebanese representative brought copies of their signed agreement.

Lapid Signing the Agreement

After the American negotiator reviewed the authorized deal, he announced, “Mazal Tov we have an agreement!” All of the delegates, who had acted very formally until that moment, broke into applause. Of course, one can quibble about whether Israel could have reached a better deal, but by all accounts, the new gas deal is an important agreement; one which eliminated an area of friction between Israel and Lebanon, and should prove to be in the economic interests of both countries.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, President Herzog visited Washington. Herzog was warmly greeted by President Biden. While Herzog is not officially a political figure (although he once headed the Labor Party), in my opinion, Biden’s invitation was a subtle attempt to influence the upcoming election here — as if to say, “Look at how good relations are now without Netanyahu. Why would you possibly want to endanger that?

”

On Thursday, Defense Minister Gantz paid a historic working visit to Turkey, where he met with the Turkish Defense Minister and President Erdoğan. The leaders announced the resumption of official military cooperation between Israel and Turkey, after a break of many years.

This was another subtle attempt to influence the election, by stating, “Look how much cooperation between our countries has improved since Netanyahu is not on the scene. Do you think relations of this kind could survive with a government with Ben Gvir in it?”

DEFENSE

The IDF entered the Kasbah of Nablus twice this past week to kill two terrorist leaders, as well as other members of the Palestinian terror group “Lions’ Den,” responsible for a number of the recent West Bank shooting attacks. On Thursday, a number of additional members of the “Lions’ Den” group surrendered to the Palestinian Authority to avoid the fate suffered by their comrades.

It was reported that the Israeli Air Force struck targets in Syria three times during this past week. These attacks came after an extended time when the Israeli Air Force refrained from attacks on Iranian targets in Syria. 

Also on Thursday, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Kochavi announced that after a three-year trial, women will be permanently integrated into Israel’s tank corps, in all female units. This marks a major step toward the full integration of women in combat roles in the Israeli army.

In addition, Israeli army paratroopers participated with the US, Bahraini military and Emirati Armed forces in a joint paratrooper dive to mark the second anniversary of the Abraham Accords.

POLITICS

We are now only a few days away from the next election. If people had not paid attention to this point, they are now. One side harbors a fear; the chilling concern Netanyahu and his coalition partners will gain 61 seats, and that once back in power, they will do lasting damage to Israel’s democratic institutions. The other side hopes to return to power, and celebrate the return of their beloved leader. 

This week tapes emerged of both Smotritch and Ben Gvir asserting that Netanyahu lies all the time — not a big reveal to those who have followed his recent political career, but the timing of these statement have hurt Netanyahu, to some extent. Another “self goal” was unintentionally racked up by the Likud was when one of their leading media spokesman, Shimon Riklin berated voters in Development Towns for coming out to vote is lower number than those in the cities.

Lapid continues to run a campaign as the sitting Prime Minister. Lapid has given interviews to all the major TV stations, while Netanyahu will only appear on Channel 14, a station set up almost exclusively to support him. There, Netanyahu has no fears of having to field difficult questions. Netanyahu has also appeared on US TV, where American reporters are not as acerbic in their questioning as Israeli reporters tend to be.

Latest polls continue to project that the election will once again leave Netanyahu just short of the seats needed to form a government — i.e. nothing will have changed in five elections. It appears that, once again, many people will end up voting for Meretz or Labor— not because they want to, but because they fear those two parties would otherwise fall below the electoral threshold. Sadly, neither of those two parties have given voters a good reason to support them, but that is a longer discussion.

Once again, the outcome of this election will come down to turnout. The Likud seems very worried that its traditional supporters will not come out to vote. Meanwhile, there are widely divergent polls on the number of Arab Israelis who are likely to cast ballots — that number could very possibly determine the outcome of the election.

TEL AVIV MUNICIPALITY

While there was no official announcement of the delay, the first Light Rail line which was scheduled to begin operations next month, has seemingly been delayed until June.  Supposedly this latest delay was due to an issue that causes the trains to suddenly stop. Whatever the source of the problem, it is inexcusable in project that is already two years late.

RALLY FOR CLIMATE

Today, the annual rally for the climate took place — this, the week before the international conference on climate that will be conducted in Sharm El Sheik. Prime Minster Lapid announced he will attend.  Thousand took place in the march. Almost all of the marchers were high school students.

.

ECONOMY

A new report shows that the number of startups in Israel dropped to approximately 600 in 2021. This represents an 11% drop per year since 2017. There are a number of explanations for this decline. However, I believe the real reason is that with so many established start-ups, plus all of the bi-national corporations (such as: Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc.) operating in Israel, many people who might have founded start-ups have chosen to take comfortable, well-paying jobs with established companies.

Trigo, an Israeli startup that supplies technology to convert a standard supermarket into cashier-less, automatic supermarket has raised an additional $100 million. The investment round was led by Singapore-based Temasek Holdings, and the 83 North fund. Trigo’s technology is based on camera systems, with an AI to automatically keep track of customers’ purchases and charge them. Trigo’s management said that in an earlier atmosphere they would have raised even more capital.

Forsea Foods, a FoodTech start-up, is the first company to use organoid technology for culturing seafood products. Forsea embarked on a mission to cultivate seafood (initially eel meat), without harming sea life. Forsea has raised $5.2M in a seed-round led by Berlin-based Target Global. Also invested in the round were: The Kitchen FoodTech Hub; PeakBridge VC; Zora Ventures; FoodHack, and Milk & Honey Ventures

.

Elbit announced two major sales this week: Today, Elbit shared that it had been awarded a contract valued at approximately $215M to provide an aerial intelligence solution to an Asia-Pacific country. The contract will be delivered over a period of two years. In addition, the company was awarded a contract valued at approximately $65M to supply a modernization solution to a Latin American Army. That contract will be executed over a period of two and a half years. 

In addition, Elbit Systems will supply the first fully networked mechanized brigade solution to a Latin American Army, under the contract, as part of its planned army-wide modernization program. The digitally networked mechanized brigade solution will comprise of Shaldot’s 4X4 and Paramount’s 6X6 armored vehicles equipped with an E-LynXTM Software Defined Radio mobile network solution, a battle management suite of applications as well as MAGNI mini-Vertical Take-Off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Systems

.

A PIECE OF HISTORY — TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY

The origins of Tel Aviv University lie with a group of people who believed Jewish Palestine needed an additional institution of higher education. With the promotion of Tel Aviv mayor Meir Dizengoff two new schools were opened in the 1930s — the Biological-Pedagogical Institute and the School of Law and Economics. In 1953, the Tel Aviv City council decided to transform the Biological-Pedagogical Institute into the Academic Institute of Natural Sciences. It was located in South Tel Aviv, and its first class consisted of 24 students. The school expanded with additional classes and a library. 

The cornerstone of the School of Law and Economics’ permanent home, the Trubowicz Building, was laid in Ramat Aviv in 1955. The school expanded its offering and became fully accredited. 

The Ramat Aviv campus was dedicated on November 4, 1964. The festive dedication ceremony was attended by President Zalman Shazar, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, ministers, Knesset members. At that time, the university had 3,174 students. In the early 1970s, Tel Aviv University opened two more faculties: The School of Engineering and the Arts School. By 1972, the University had nine faculties, with 12,000 students.

Tel Aviv University is now Israel's largest and most comprehensive institution of higher learning, with over 30,000 students, in 29 schools, and 98 departments. 

RESTAURANT REVIEW— BY TALI SCHULMAN

A TASTE OF TEL AVIV: BRUNCH

Let’s talk brunch. As an American in Israel, brunch can be a slightly sore subject. There are fairly limited options, and to be honest, most of the famously known spots are pretty overrated. So, instead of my classic individual restaurant recommendation, I decided to switch it up and provide you with some of the best brunch menus that Tel Aviv has to offer right now. 

1. Weiss: Not your average brunch food, Weiss puts an elevated spin on the classics. Served Friday & Saturday 11:30 AM—2:30 PM.

2. Cicchetti: Italian–style tapas brunch, with a lot of fun variety. Served Friday & Saturday 11 AM—3 PM.

3. HaAchim: All-you-can-eat, Mediterranean buffet for 75 NIS. Served Friday & Saturday 9/9:30 AM—12:30/45 PM.

4. Herzl 16: A variety of breakfast and lunch foods, merging Mediterranean and Asian flavors in one menu. Served Friday & Saturday 8 AM—4:45 PM.

5. Taizu: A fun selection of Asian flavors, for 148 NIS you will get 2 appetizers and a main dish from their unique brunch menu. Served Fridays from 11 AM.

6. Cafe Europa: Mediterranean-inspired brunch food. If you’re searching for brunch cocktails this is your spot. Served Friday & Saturday 12—5 PM.

7. Par Derriere: If you’re searching for some wine with brunch, this is just the place you’re looking for. Served Friday & Saturday 11 AM—4 PM

8. Depi: Small but fun menu with lots of fish, meat, and seafood. Served Friday 1pm-5pm, and Saturday 12 PM—4 PM.

To be clear, this is a list specifically of my personally recommended brunch menus. (and if it's not on this list, I most likely do not endorse it), not including places that always serve breakfast/brunch food, or offer specific breakfast menus (daily until 11/12). Those will be saved for another time. Happy brunching! 

For more Tel Aviv restaurant recommendations, you can find me on Instagram @talischulman where I save all my food adventures in my highlights!