Tel Aviv Diary Week Ending October 21

Tension in the West Bank,Elections, Ukraine,Trump Again, Business and a Restaurant Review

DEFENSE

For nine days, the murderer of Border Police Sgt. Noa Lazar (age 18) remained on the loose in the West Bank. The killer was finally shot and neutralized, when he assaulted a guard at the checkpoint by the entrance to Ma’aleh Adumim. The fact that the most wanted man in the West Bank was not caught before he could undertake another terror attack was humiliating for Security Services.

Jewish settlers attacked Israeli paratroopers near Huwara in the West Bank, while soldiers attempted to restrain settlers who threw stones at passing Palestinian vehicles. In response, settlers pepper-sprayed four of the soldiers. It should be noted that had Arabs thrown rocks at passing settler cars, soldiers would have opened fire with live ammunition. The latest incident is just one in a chain of events, in which settler youth continue to attack Palestinian and Jewish aid workers attempting to help Palestinians with their olive harvest. This week, a 70-year-old Jewish woman was hospitalized with broken ribs and other injuries after being attacked by settlers who objected to her helping the Palestinians.

THE UPCOMING ELECTION

The election campaign received a jolt this week, when leaders of the Religious Zionists announced their plan for judicial “reform,” which includes authorizing politicians to appoint judges and elimination of the public corruption laws that forbid public officials to engage in self dealing, favors for friends and other actions that hurt the public. Bezalel Smotritch insisted that elimination of the public corruption law would not impact the trial of Netanyahu — a claim which was quickly shown to be a complete lie. 

Under Israeli law, when a law is repealed, every trial involving that charge is terminated, every prisoner convicted of that charge is released, and every record of those previously convicted of that infraction is expunged. Should Smotritch’s law pass, corruption — short of straight-out bribery would become legal in Israel. I am glad that this is what the religious Zionists believe. I am not surprised the person most involved with this dubious "judicial reform” for the NRP is MK Simcha Rothman, who I debated many times (before he became a member of Knesset), and whose views I always thought were beyond the pale.

Plans for “judicial reform” was only one of the bombshells that Netanyahu's future coalition members recently fired into the political discourse. The first was two weeks ago, while Arye Deri was interviewed about his plans to serve as a minister in the next government. When asked how he could become a minister again, since he had just signed a plea agreement to resign from the Knesset because of his recent wrongdoings as a minister. Deri replied that if the Supreme Court dared to stop him from serving, the government would pass a bill to override the Supreme Court.

This past week the new head of ultra-Orthodox Degel Torah party, Yitzhak Goldknopf was interviewed several times. In those interviews, Goldknopf claimed it was more difficult to be a Yeshiva student than a soldier — after all, he said, most of the time, soldiers are not fighting. Tell that to the families of the two soldiers were killed serving in the West Bank, or to Paratroopers who just finished a 40-mile hike earlier this week. Goldknopf went on to say he does not see why Math is vital. After all, according to Goldknopf, in the last twenty years, math has not helped out Israel economically. (Tell that to the software programmers behind Israel's exceptional economic growth.)

It's clear what this election is all about … that would be the forces of “light” vs. forces of “darkness.”

AID TO UKRAINE

Pressure is mounting on Israel to get off the fence and provide military aid to Ukraine. The pleas are both external, especially from Washington, and partially internal, with leading figures such as Natan Sharansky, all calling for action. Iran's strong involvement in Russia's support, providing the Russians with arms, and even advisors has created additional incentive to aid the Ukrainians. Netanyahu, who sold Israeli UAVs to Russia (Israeli tech whose design somehow ended up in Teheran), has made the absurd claim that if Israel were to provide arms to Ukraine, those arms would get to the Iranians. If Netanyahu is re-elected, there is no chance Israel will aid the Ukrainians. Lapid, on the other hand, is said to favor a policy change that would include the sale of weapons to Ukraine. The problem, is that in the West as a whole, there are simply not enough defensive weapons in stock. Nobody planned for the possibility of long high, intensity war and production times for new weapons are long. Israel is one of the only Western countries that produces arms that have not been tapped to help Ukraine. Israel is trapped in an ever more difficult dilemma- help the West and our most important ally (the US) and put at greater risk the Jews left in Russia, or not.

NETANYAHU AND TRUMP

Prime Minister Netanyahu defended former President Trump, after the latter wrote the statement below

:

Netanyahu's defense of Trump is proof of his total tin ear to concerns of American Jewry and his sycophantic support of Trump. I wrote about this dangerous connect before Trump was elected. Unfortunately, everything I wrote then came true. I think Trump is the perfect example of someone who is not anti-semitic on the individual level, but whose actions and statements show a complete lack of understanding of the history of antisemitism and stoke hate in antisemites across the US and worldwide.

BUSINESS

Shipping, which has developed a software and hardware package for cargo ships, announced it has raised $20 million. The company's inventory system keeps track of all critical occurrences on a vessel and warns of dangers. In addition, it provides real-time data to a fleet data center, allowing fleet operators to optimize their fleet usage.

GOOGLE OPEN DATA CENTER IN ISRAEL

Until recently, there were no major data centers in Israel. However, during the past two years, all of the major corporations have been racing to open data centers here. The first to open a center was Oracle, but the other significant players, AWS, Google, and Microsoft, have all been working to get their centers online. This week, Google won the race when it announced that its center was now open. Google’s new data center will allow the government, and others who do not want their sensitive data stored overseas, to use Google Cloud. It should also marginally increase responsiveness for those of us who use Google services. 

HOUSING MARKET

Raising interest rates has cooled the Israeli housing market. In September, the total sum of mortgages granted was NIS 7.7 billion. This represents a drop of 21% from the previous month. In addition, the rate for a linked mortgage rose from 2.2% to 4% in September.

A PIECE OF HISTORY — NEVE TZEDEK

In 1887, Neve Tzedek was officially established as suburb a Jewish suburb of Jaffa. Leading the way was Aharon Chelouche's family, one of the most prominent Jewish families in Jaffa, who moved to the areas in 1883. The area attracted an eclectic group of people, including writer Shai Agnon, artist Nachum Gutman, and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who opened a Yeshiva in the area. As Tel Aviv began to develop, many people moved north to the new city center. The Neve Tzedek area slowly fell into disrepair. While there had been plans to destroy the Neve Tzedek neighborhood to make way for hi-rise buildings, it was decided to preserve the older dwellings due to their historic nature. Over the past 20 years, most of Neve Tzedek has been renovated, and today, it is once again home to artists, boutiques, as well as a host of trendy large and small restaurants

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THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT— THE GOOD POLICEMAN

“Hashoter Hatov” is an Israeli series on Netflix. The show is a comedy based on the life of an Israeli policeman. It deals with the officer’s complicated private life, as well as the goingson in his police station, which is (not surprisingly) full of clowns. If you liked “Brooklyn 99,” you will also like this show. “Hashoter Hatov” is a fun show that deals with universal issues. I recommend it.

RESTAURANT REVIEW— BY TALI SCHULMAN

A TASTE OF TEL AVIV — OPA  

Since October is vegetarian awareness month, now’s a great time to discuss Opa, one of the many delicious vegan restaurants Tel Aviv has to offer. While the vegan scene has quite a growing variety in the city, Opa is the only one to offer a fine dining experience. Each of the dishes in Chef Shirel Berger’s 11-course tasting menu utilizes fruits and vegetables in a unique and imaginative way that will surprise you with every bite. As a non-vegan, I can tell you that the culinary experience was no less exciting than the many tasting menus I’ve experienced that were not plant-based. Beyond the food, the beautiful sleek interior, ambiance and wonderful wine menu create a fabulous overall dining experience. This is your sign to invite your favorite plant-based eater out to a spectacular meal.

 

For more of my restaurant adventures, find me on Instagram @talischulman, and checkout my saved highlights for all my favorites!