Reaching out to the world
Speaker Mickey Levy tells the ‘Post’: The Knesset represents all Jewish people
At Monday’s stormy debate between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum, Netanyahu mockingly asked Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy to be softer on Coalition MKs if they heckle him than he was with the Likud MKs who shouted at Bennett.
Levy threw out a dozen Likud MKs, one after the other, in an effort to restore decorum in the plenum. But even those MKs admitted afterward that Levy was absolutely right, fair, balanced and statesmanlike under difficult circumstances.
The speaker’s background makes him uniquely positioned to handle the Knesset during such a divisive time.
He was raised by poor Kurdish immigrants in a small, Jerusalem shack with no indoor kitchen and with only one bedroom, where his parents and their five children all slept. The part of Nahlaot that was called shchunat hapahim (sheet metal neighborhood) back then has since been gentrified, and apartments there cost millions.
As a child, Levy visited the nearby building site that would become the Knesset and was scolded by his mother when a guard dog ripped his pants, because they could not afford another pair.
His father served in the Irgun underground brigade and spent time in a British prison. His mother smuggled grenades for the resistance. Later on, his father had trouble getting a job, because Irgun members were not allowed in the Histadrut Labor Union.
Levy came from the Right, but is now in a centrist party. bat mitzvah, in which she read from the Torah at Weinblatt’s Conservative synagogue in Potomac, Maryland.
“All the streams of [Judaism He came from a religious in] the world should see Israel home and is now secular, but as their national home,” he did not let a security car Levy said. “All streams deserve follow him when he walked to respect. Every Jew’s Judaism a synagogue near his home in is important, not his stream. the western Jerusalem suburb We need to be a model and fix of Mevaseret Zion during the ongoing problems.” High Holy Days. Levy called for the Western
He rose through the ranks Wall agreement that was of the police to become chief reached in January 2016 to in Jerusalem, and was also be implemented. When a the police emissary in Washington, Reform or Conservative group where he gained an visits the Knesset, Levy said, understanding of religious pluralism and the Jewish world.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post in his Knesset office, which has a panoramic view of the capital – his first interview with the English-language media – Levy said he wants Israeli democracy to go back to being the source of pride for the Jewish state around the world that it was before the country endured four divisive elections in two years.
“It’s not simple to be the speaker of this building at such times, after a change in the government,” he said. “When guests from abroad come, I tell them 73 years ago we founded the state after 2,000 years of exile, but we’re still tribes, and the time has come to be one people. We cannot lose our state to baseless hatred. Israel is the home of the Jewish people, and the Knesset represents the State of Israel and the entire Jewish world.”
Levy said decisions made in the Knesset impact Jews around the world, and therefore it has a responsibility to be pluralist and inclusive of all religious streams.
Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, the president of the rabbinic cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America, taught
Levy’s daughter Liron for her he would be happy to help them make a minyan in the building.
The new government, with its eight parties from across the political spectrum, is representative of the pluralism that Levy advocates. He believes it should be used to present Israel well to the world.
“We can be proud of Israeli democracy,” he said. “The unprecedented diversity displays our democracy at its best. Of course, there are ups and downs, with controversial bills and other tests, but Israeli democracy is very strong. The diversity of the Israeli population – Jews, Muslims, Arabs Circassians, religious, secular – shows we can live together.”
Much like his Yesh Atid Party leader, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Levy aims to reach out to the world. He wants world leaders to come to the Knesset, which has not been addressed by any international figure since then-US vice president Mike Pence in January 2018.
Next week, Levy will go to Greece for the European Conference
of Presidents of Parliaments, which brings together speakers and parliament presidents from dozens of countries. He will be meeting there with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, British House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and the speakers of the Georgian and Austrian parliaments.
“The Knesset needs to return to the international arena,” he said, while acknowledging that the coronavirus still makes that goal a challenge.
This week, Levy hosted former US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, for an event about the Abraham Accords, with a staunchly Republican audience. He recently hosted a group of Democratic senators and congressmen. He said relations with the US need to be strengthened with both parties.
Levy also wants MKs to return to the fight against antisemitism. He said there are countries that still deny their role in the Holocaust, and countries that cross into the definition of antisemitism by singling out Israel unfairly in their criticism of the Jewish state.
BUT LEVY’S main goal is changing the discourse back home in the corridors of the Knesset, which has become increasingly virulent. During Monday’s debate, Likud MK May Golan called Bennett “a liar, a cheat and a scoundrel,” and after Levy kicked her out of the plenum, she went to the visitors gallery, where all guests must be silent, and she got thrown out of there for shouting more epithets.
“We can be political rivals, but we cannot let hatred overcome us,” he said. “There must be an acceptance of the other. I have empathy for those who lost power, and I understand it’s hard to digest. We have to bridge the gaps.”
Levy has hosted six meetings between Coalition and opposition representatives, in
an effort to resolve their dispute over Knesset committees. He initially told the Supreme Court that the Coalition’s decisions about the makeup of the committees was unreasonable, which led to an increase in representation for the opposition, which would chair four Knesset committees instead of the usual two.
The remaining fight is focused on the Coalition’s two-MK majority in the Knesset Finance Committee, and on that, Levy does not think the Coalition needs to compromise further. He believes the time has come for the opposition to end the fight and get back to work on the committees that its MKs have been boycotting in protest.
“The budget will pass, and the coalition will continue to function, despite having eight parties with different worldviews,” Levy said. “It is important for us to stay united to serve the people, their health, education, welfare, economy and the strength of Israel.”
Levy said that after the budget passes, the parties in the coalition have to bring achievements, but added that they will find balances and brakes needed to compromise.
Unlike his predecessor Yariv Levin, who constantly fought the Supreme Court, Levy believes the 18 bills the court has ever canceled is a relatively inconsequential and legitimate amount.
“I want more of a division of authorities, which has been harmed in recent years, but my approach is the opposite of Levin’s,” he said. “As long as I head this house, it will respect the decisions of the Supreme
Court, even if I disagree with them and argue with them.”
The low point for Levy since he became speaker was when he mistakenly voted against the Coalition on a bill facilitating the appointment of more female representatives on the panel that chooses rabbinical judges. He took responsibility, instead of trying to use his powers to pretend the vote didn’t happen. That gained him more respect from his political opponents.
Levy believes the rotation agreement between Bennett and Lapid will be honored, and Lapid will become prime minister.
But even if another candidate forms a government in the current Knesset, it would be nearly impossible to force out Levy. A special majority of more than 80 MKs out of 120 would be needed, and he would need to approve removing himself on the Knesset agenda.
“Theoretically, it can happen; but practically, I don’t see it happening,” he said.
THE PROSECUTION’S INVESTIGATION
After the police report and investigation, victims’ files are transferred to the prosecution.
“In the courts, it’s a never-ending story,” Bet-Or said. “Many times, it’s experienced as this very humiliating process, even in the best courts that are very conscious of it. There’s still the cross-examination. There’s almost limitless postponements. It takes forever
to manage an investigation in an Israeli court.
“Not all the judges are trained, or have had any kind of training... in what sexual assault is. Many of these systems treat this as any other offense, and it’s not. It’s got its special characteristics that require a special kind of treatment. Everything is on the table, and many times it’s a very hard process to go through.”
Leibowitz was told by the State Attorney that her case was being closed because it was complex. When she asked if the suspects had been questioned, she was told that they had not, and that the police had sent the case to the state attorney with a request to close it with no further investigation.
“I started to cry and explained to her what I went through, and in a short conversation she realized and felt that it wasn’t a case that should be closed, and agreed to send the case back down and to investigate one of the suspects,” said Leibowitz.
The men Liebowitz said had hurt her were both questioned, one not as a suspect and the other under warning that he was a suspect.
Leibowitz was later told by two lawyers she worked with that it isn’t at all uncommon for officers to hit on the women who come in to submit complaints about sex offenses.
“Tons of cops hit on people during investigations,” Leibowitz said they told her.
“The police didn’t protect me, and my attackers could still get to me,” said Leibowitz, who added that she sees her attackers around and worries they could attack other women.
Any woman who needs to submit a complaint about a sex offense should first seek help from a lawyer, said Leibowitz.
Victims of sexual assault are trapped in a system that consistently goes head-to-head with them, whether it be over their sincerity or the seriousness of their claims. The people who are given the authority to treat such delicate circumstances receive no training and oftentimes neglect or mislead victims at the most critical time of their healing. With nowhere to turn, the numbers – those 6% alone who actually report their sexual assault – make more sense than ever before.
If you or someone you know is facing sexual or domestic violence, please reach out to the following resources for help:
• Women’s hotline for the Rape
Crisis Center: 1202
• Men’s hotline for the Rape Crisis Center: 1203
• Religious women’s hotline
(kosher): (02) 673-0002
Religious men’s hotline
(kosher): (02) 673-0000
• Hotline for advice and assistance from the ELEM Association:
(03) 647-7898
• MEITAL – Israeli Center for
Treatment of Child Victims of
Sexual Abuse: (02) 633-3387/61,
Sun.-Thurs., 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
• El-Sawar center for Arab women: (04) 853-3044 •
managed completely from within Israel.
During the test, the Cando and High-Lander companies also had a drone performing autonomous emergency security missions for the nearby Reading Fire Station, in which the drone located at the charging station was activated autonomously.
After the first demonstration, we were taken to the Charles Clore Beach, at the south end of Tel Aviv, for a similar drone demonstration by two other companies, SkyLinx and FlyTech. This time, they delivered ice cream from Golda, and they ordered enough for everyone.
The drones traveled a route over the sea, so as not to pass over unauthorized residential areas, and once again touched down exactly on the target set for it. Curious beachgoers stood around snapping photos as the drones landed. The gourmet ice cream was still frozen when it arrived.
Other participating companies, including Simplex and DownWind, conducted flights over urban areas in the center of Tel Aviv during the testing. HarTech Technologies Ltd. and Airwayz performed urban flights over the Hadera area.
While journalists got to cover the day’s food delivery missions, serious business was happening elsewhere. Flights delivered donated blood, platelets and plasma from the Magen David Adom blood bank to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, with the goal of verifying the method of packaging, flying and procedures so that they meet Health Ministry regulations. The goal of that
project is to consolidate the procedures that other companies will be able to use at every blood bank and hospital in Israel when required.
ARE WE headed toward a world where the skies are dotted with drones, buzzing by our homes and invading our personal spaces as they deliver takeout food to our neighbors? Probably not.
“You have to understand that the vision some people had of a drone flying directly to your balcony to deliver a package – it’s not going to work that way anytime in the near future,” explained Udi Shamai, CEO of Pizza Hut Israel, who ran a drone delivery test with the initiative earlier this summer. “There are too many issues of privacy, noise and safety that need to be considered.”
Instead, more likely, drones will make deliveries to drop spots, like shopping malls and parking lots, which will be designated and approved for such use by drone operators and municipalities. From there, drivers will be waiting to pick up the pies and complete the delivery.
In any case, there are still many questions that have yet to be resolved.
Asked how she would respond to people who are skeptical of the drone initiative, Partem said, “Everyone should be skeptical. It’s a new technology, and we’re facing many, many challenges. But we see there’s so much potential for drone usage, and we’re creating the environment to find out how we can use this