The Jewish state, as Benjamin Netanyahu reminded us in his Knesset speech on Thursday after becoming prime minister for a sixth term, will soon celebrate the 75th anniversary of its independence. What he didn’t say was that after nearly 75 years, Israel finally has a Jewish government.
I don’t mean, of course, that this government will be the first where only Jews are sitting in its cabinet and governing coalition. Israel has had many of those in the past. But this is the first government that has felt the need to emphasize that it is going to strengthen Israel’s Jewish character by establishing multiple new government agencies dedicated to this task.
Which raises a question. Why did previous governments that were no less dedicated to building a new Jewish sovereign state in the ancient homeland, going all the way back to the founding one, not feel the need to do so?
David Ben-Gurion felt confident enough that the Declaration of Independence he read out in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948 – which included plenty of talk about Jewish history and destiny – was sufficient to safeguard the state’s identity. His governments, and those of his successors (including all of Netanyahu’s previous governments), had no need to repeat any of this.
For all its faults, Israel got along perfectly well without either an Authority for Jewish National Identity or a Jewish Identity Directorate, both of which this new government will have. their talk of “Jewish power” and “Torah Judaism,” one thing is clear about the Jewish fundamentalists in this new government: they’re scared.
Both the Haredi and religious-nationalist components of the coalition are still fully aware that they’re in a minority, and that the large majority of Israeli Jews – whether they define themselves as secular, traditional or Modern Orthodox – are not on the same page as them.
In the case of the Haredim, they’re not even sure about their own young generation: Many of them are yearning for modern education and the opportunity to become part of Israel’s high-tech workforce.
The fundamentalists have been given a once-in-a-nation’s-lifetime opportunity, courtesy of Netanyahu’s legal predicament, to demand powers and public funds to further their agenda. And they’re going to squeeze everything they can out of that opportunity.
It may work. In this government’s term, they may succeed in irrevocably changing Israel’s identity, its education system, the cultural and media landscape, and even tamper with the Law of Return – Israel’s basic DNA.
Israel under Netanyahu and his fundamentalist partners may become a country of one narrow and reactionary type of Judaism, a country where other iterations of a faith that has a thousand interpretations and evolutions over millennia no longer has public legitimacy. But these kinds of changes are rarely effected in the space of the few years of one government, or in the twilight of the career of one prime minister. Even one with Netanyahu’s astonishing longevity.
And Netanyahu, with his keen political instincts, is fully aware that many of his own supporters are uncomfortable with his partners’ fundamentalism.
This is why his few public statements in recent weeks have mainly been repeated attempts to assure them that he won’t allow the new government to infringe on their rights.
It is no coincidence that Netanyahu just appointed two of the (relatively) more liberal and secular-leaning members of his party – Yoav Kisch and Amichai Chikli – as education and Diaspora affairs minister, respectively.
Netanyahu already tore away various departments from the education minister, giving the proud homophobe Avi Maoz control over outsourced educational programming. But Kisch’s appointment is a belated attempt to try to reassure nonfundamentalist voters that their children’s schools will not be violated. The prime minister realizes he is vulnerable there.
Before it became a political liability in the Netanyahu camp, Chikli claimed to belong to the Conservative stream of Judaism. He is another appointment made in the hope of shoring up one of the government’s weakest flanks. The alarm with which the inclusion of neo-Kahanists in the government has been greeted by leaders of Jewish organizations in the Diaspora, especially in the United States, has finally registered with Netanyahu.
Chikli is hardly a figure to calm Diaspora Jews. He is a hard-liner who refused to be part of Israel’s first coalition with an Arab party and was the first defector from the previous government – even before it was sworn in. Indeed, he is as likely to assuage their fears as the appointment of Israel’s first openly gay Knesset speaker will calm the LGBTQ community. But he’s all Netanyahu has.
Likud Minister Avichai Chikli. Hardly a figure to calm Diaspora Jews.Credit: Oren Ben Hakoon
This last-minute empty gesture toward the nonfundamentalists is a sign that Netanyahu knows this is where his majority is vulnerable.
Sadly, the middle classes of Israel – both political and social – are not about to mount any serious opposition over his plans to eviscerate the legal system.
And after 55 years of occupation, it’s clear he has nothing to worry about from the valiant but tiny “peace camp” that still believes in resolving the conflict with the Palestinians.
The only clear majority still opposing this government is the Israelis who refuse to have an identity imposed on them. Netanyahu’s reactions prove he is worried by the political damage of this majority against his government – even without an election on the horizon. And he’s concerned by the implications of losing support from the Diaspora while there’s a Democratic administration in Washington.
The biggest liability of Israel’s first Jewish government is the Jews.