The ability to change
The awarding of the Israel Prize to ZAKA founder, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, is proof that contrary to popular belief, a leopard can change its spots. In Meshi Zahav’s case, the award is in the category of Life Achievement and in recognition of his outstanding contribution both in advancing assistance at disaster events and for his work in creating unity and bringing people together in Israeli society.
According to the citation, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, 61, has for three decades headed the ZAKA Search and Rescue Organization which has become an essential factor in rescue efforts, saving lives and identifying victims in mass disasters in Israel and elsewhere in the world, and serves as an example and role model for the spirit of volunteering in Israeli society in all its forms. Meshi Zahav dedicates his life to unity within Israel out of a sense of mission and a genuine belief in the need to build bridges and maintain a dialogue between all sectors of society as the key to a shared existence in the State of Israel. Life achievement, at face value, means all of one’s life, but until he was 30 years old, Meshi Zahav was a rabid anti-Zionist, who organized violent stone-throwing demonstrations against desecraters of the Sabbath, and was arrested many times.
His epiphany came in 1989, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a bus traveling from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He subsequently escorted his sons when they entered the army, and in 2003, was among the beacon lighters at the ceremony marking the opening of Israel Independence Day festivities. He has not given up his religious lifestyle, and his attire is in keeping with haredi dress code, but he has made a few compromises in relation to bridge-building between all sectors of society.
He formed a women’s philanthropic adjunct to ZAKA under the title of Eshet Lapidot (Woman of the Torch), and seemingly has no problem in being photographed with each new member, and subsequently publishing the photograph. Photographs of women do not appear in the haredi media, and some of the extreme elements in haredi circles have been known to deface advertising posters featuring women or to simply tear the posters from the wall. A recent haredi advertisement calling for financial aid for 27 children who had been orphaned in a single week when their parents succumbed to the coronavirus, includes portraits of all the fathers. The face of the only mother is not shown. Instead, there is a blurred, long distance photo of her grave with the marker that bears her name.
Meshi Zahav acknowledges that women are people too, and that they are not inferior.
■ JEWISH, CHRISTIAN and Muslim peacemakers from Israel and abroad came together on Zoom this week to honor the memory of Elias Jabbour, a distinguished social worker, educator for peace and internationally acknowledged world expert in sulha, the traditional Arab means of conflict resolution. Jabbour, who died in January, was the founder of the House of Hope Peace Center in Shfaram where he served as deputy mayor and was instrumental in helping to settle countless disputes through the National Sulha Committee. In 2004, he was also a cofounder of the Abrahamic Reunion, long before the advent of the Abrahamic Accords which will hopefully bring greater stability and security to the Middle East. Jabbour’s book Sulha, was written in English to promote greater understanding of the importance of reconciliation and how it can be achieved.
The memorial event was organized and attended against the backdrop of the escalating violence in Umm el-Fahm and a wave of recent incidents in the Galilee leading to eruptions of anger and turbulence. Yet what emanated from Jabbour’s family, friends, colleagues and admirers who shared memories of the man and his work, was an aura of tranquility and a recommitment to nonviolence, mutual concern and respect. World-acclaimed singer Achinoam Nini
(known internationally simply as Noa),
who both speaks and sings of her hopes for peace, shared anecdotes of her Yemenite, Arabic-speaking grandmother who imparted to her something of the rich and diverse cultures of the region, and shared the song “There Must be Another Way,” which Nini and Mira Awad sang at Eurovision in 2009. Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh, who knew Jabbour personally, took time out from his party’s election campaign and spoke of Jabbour’s inspiring core values. Baruch Shalev and Juliet Dabbike Karkabi, the cochairpersons of Ossim Shalom (Making Peace) quoted passages from Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh stressing how human beings are not our enemy, which personified Jabbour’s attitude toward humanity, and Yoav Peck,
the director of Sulha translated for the benefit of English speakers. Prof. Zaher Azam,
head of the Internal Medicine Division at Rambam hospital, and adviser to the Health
Ministry on the effects of and response to the pandemic among Israel’s Arab citizens who comprise 20% of the population, spoke of his deep esteem for Jabbour, noting that so many young people had regarded him as their life-changing mentor, The final speaker was Jabbour’s daughter, Nadine Jabbour Jarous, who presented a touching memoir of her father indicating that the family would preserve and continue his legacy.
■ THE JERUSALEM Municipality and the Jerusalem Development Authority are doing everything possible to attract visitors to the capital, especially in the aftermath of the economic disaster which befell so many business enterprises of the city during the past year. Even during the so-called lockdown, the Municipality supplied colorful chairs and tables to coffee shops and restaurants so that people could have some degree of comfort if they wanted to eat their takeaway snacks in the street before going home. Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion patrolled many of the city streets offering words of encouragement to those shops that were permitted to stay open. Among the open shops were those from the Max and Stock chains that do not sell food or pharmaceuticals, though occasionally have some cosmetics. Their other merchandise, though useful, could hardly be classified as essential, but they were open, as were several of the city’s shoe stores. Yet police were not visible in the vicinities of any of them. Most recently, several organizations headed by the Jerusalem Development Authority, joined forces to create and promote the Follow the Lights Festival, which closed on Thursday of this week.
In principle, the concept of illuminating 22 of the city’s landmarks was a great idea – but the timing after months of cultural denial was all wrong. It might have worked in Tel Aviv, which is a grid city that allows for better planning, but in Jerusalem, it was absolute chaos – especially on Monday night when the JDA hosted a group of journalists and a group of diplomats, and determined that never the twain should meet. A minibus was provided for the journalists and a very large bus for the diplomats. Journalists initially directed to the large bus, were asked to get off, and were told that only diplomats could sit there, though truth be told, there was room for both. The illuminated route included the Supreme Court, Israel Museum, Armon Hanatziv, Tower of David, YMCA, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Sacher Park, the bicycle path, the Mifletzet Monster, Mamilla Boulevard, the First Station, the Cords Bridge, the
Rabin Tunnel, the Knesset, the Monastery of the Cross, Mount Zion Hotel, the Cinematheque the Old City Walls and the Khan Theater. Traffic congestion was such, that journalists barely got to see even half of these sites, though admittedly the installations at the Israel Museum were breathtaking. Jessica Cohen, the JDA escort who promised much, but delivered little, went through a series of personality changes from coquette to Sergeant Major to a dance model for Tik Tok at the final stop where Radio FM 106 was blaring across a car park to the delight of several children sitting on top of their family cars, as large beams of colored lights emanated from the scaffolding, cutting through the darkness. The three previous stops had been more interesting, but shorter.
The reason why this final stop was so much longer than the others eventually became clear with the delivery of large boxes of cold pizza. The minibus had passed several of the sites listed above, but had not stopped; in addition to which some of those sites were
not even illuminated. While the intentions may have been good, they lived up to the old adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The organization of the tour was not exactly professional. The journalists in the minibus were asked to identify themselves but were not given name tags or anything else that would identify them as being part of a particular group. There was natural dispersion on the few occasions on which they got out of the minibus, and if anyone would have gone astray, there was no way for them to be identified by someone who might catch sight of them. There was also no roll call when people got back on the bus. To avoid the horrendous traffic congestion, the bus driver took a long, round-about route on which nothing at all was lit up, beyond ordinary street lights. Organizers should have realized that a culture-starved population would not stay at home, but would travel from Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba to Jerusalem to follow the lights which were not always lit.
Two groups of retired IDF generals, Shin Bet operatives, Mossad agents and Israel Police officers are currently engaged in combat. But the battle is not against the enemies of the Jewish state that the organizations’ members devoted much of their adult lives to protecting.
No, the war in question is being fought between Commanders for Israel’s Security and Habithonistim-Protectors of Israel. The casus belli in this case is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers from which former US president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
Following clear indications that the new administration in Washington was eager to return to the JCPOA – both as part of its obsession with diplomacy, and to undo as many of Trump’s policies as possible – CIS announced support for US President Joe Biden’s stance.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 22, CIS said that it “welcomes the American initiative to get Iran to again transparently follow the guidelines in the JCPOA, as long as it includes an Iranian commitment to abide by UN Security Council Resolution 2231.”
To refresh our collective memory, Resolution 2231, which constitutes an affirmation of the JCPOA, mentions an “implementation structure” for the UNSC to “review and decide on proposals by [member] states for nuclear, ballistic missile or arms-related transfers to or activities with Iran.”
Before doing a double take, if not guffawing, at the content of the CIS letter and the resolution on which it based – since the regime in Tehran never upheld its end of the agreement – let’s note the very different message that Habithonistim sent to Biden on March 1.
Expressing “great concern” over Biden’s interest in returning to the “flawed principles” of the JCPOA, the group wrote: “From a strict security perspective, [rejoining the accord] represents an existential threat to the Jewish state. It would also work against your administration’s stated goal of stabilizing the Middle East... [as it] would push Israel and Sunni allies into a dangerous corner, and potentially ignite a massive nuclear arms race.”
The letter went on to say that the JCPOA provided the Iranian regime with a “safe path” to obtaining a large nuclear arsenal, and that the deal’s limitations (which, as pointed out above, are meaningless anyway) have expired or will be “sunsetting shortly.”
It continued: “What is needed is not to succumb to the false brinkmanship and nuclear blackmail of Iran, and to use the maximum-pressure sanctions to demand Iran accept a more effective deal that will not include sunset clauses, and will guarantee that Iran shall never have the capability to produce nuclear weapons — a deal that dismantles the military nuclear facilities, provides for real inspections anywhere anytime, limits enrichment for a very long time or prevents it and takes care of delivery systems (ballistic missiles).”
Endorsed by 1,800 signatories, it concluded: “President Biden, your 40-year history as a public servant has clearly demonstrated that Israel’s security is something you take seriously. The Iranian regime [seems] to be expecting a deal as favorable to them as the original JCPOA. You have a unique opportunity to [disabuse] them of that fallacy by negotiating a deal that protects Israel, the Middle East and the United State of America from an empowered and nuclear-armed Iran.”
THAT NEITHER Netanyahu nor Biden will be swayed by these missives, each of which contradicts the position of its addressee, is irrelevant. What is important is the schism in the Israeli defense establishment, which comes to light as soon as its brass is no longer in uniform or undercover, and therefore at liberty to voice political views.
Unfortunately, their opinions often run counter to the very government policies that they executed during their careers. From both a legal standpoint and as a matter of free speech, this is within their rights. Nevertheless, it’s extremely damaging when the comments of security-establishment veterans are touted by Israel’s foes abroad as proof of Jerusalem’s wrongdoing.
CIS, a well-funded NGO that describes itself as “a non-partisan movement of retired senior members of the defense establishment... that promotes separation from the Palestinians into two states in a regional outline,” is one example.
Ironically, among the objectives laid out by the movement of “more than 300 retired senior officials represent[ing] more than 9,000 years of security experience” are goals that Netanyahu has been achieving at record speed. These include launching a regional peace initiative to solidify Israel’s international standing.
To be fair, CIS was established in 2014, six years before Netanyahu signed the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – followed by normalization treaties with Sudan, Morocco and Kosovo. The group’s founding even preceded the finalization of the JCPOA.
It was quick at the time, however, to criticize Netanyahu ahead of his March 3, 2015, address to a joint session of the US Congress, which had been arranged without the approval of then-US president Barack Obama. The purpose of Netanyahu’s speech was to warn American lawmakers of the “bad deal” in the works with Iran. CIS argued that the occasion would damage Israel’s relationship with the US.
AS LONG ago as that seems, and as different as the situation was at the time, there was one constant that CIS did not acknowledge then and continues to deny to this day: that the path to peace in the Middle East doesn’t pass through Ramallah. On the contrary, the Palestinian Authority is and has always been the main roadblock to its own problems, and appeasement of Iran endangers the entire region.
Army and secret-service officers ought to know that by now. Their continued inability to see it doesn’t reflect well on their collective “9,000 years of security experience,” that’s for sure.
On the other hand, not much can be expected of a group – formed two months after the end of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s war against Hamas terrorist and infrastructure in Gaza – that called on Netanyahu “to adopt the Saudi Peace Initiative as a basis for negotiations and to set in motion a peace process with the Palestinians.”
Equally banal is CIS’s conviction that a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is essential for Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state. It’s as if the people who utter these platitudes, which have proved time and again to be delusional, just awakened from decades of hibernation in a cave.
Take CIS chairman IDF Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Matan Vilnai, for instance. In an article in Maariv in September, he claimed that the then-imminent signing of the Abraham Accords made Israel’s return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians imperative. The deduction beggared belief and defied all logic.
THANKFULLY, Habithonistim – “a movement of officers, commanders and fighters from all Israeli security sectors that aim to protect Israel’s national security needs in a way that will enable its existence and prosperity for generations to come” – emerged last year to present a very different perspective. Rather than bemoaning the absence of a phony “two-state solution,” this collection of defense honchos, headed by IDF Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Amir Avivi, championed Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan.
In an apparent dig to CIS, Avivi said in a statement this week that those who consider the JCPOA beneficial to Israel’s security are “out of touch” with reality. One might – and should – add that any new version of a deal with the devil will be just as perilous.
Meanwhile, the military, under orders from the Netanyahu-led government, should be saluted for striking Iranian targets on a regular basis.