JERUSALEM — Life here has focused on the confluence of holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah, plus the preoccupation of the Prime Minister with his indictments.
The combination is a spike in the illnesses of the ultra-Orthodox, and manipulations by the Prime Minister to remain on the good side of his Haredi colleagues, to oppose mass demonstrations against himself, and to keep things going, more or less.
51 percent of infections traced to schools came from the Haredi sector.
A physician who headed a hospital in Bnei Brak came out forcefully in the media against the behavior of the Haredim, referring to them as a source of continuing infection, and saying that they demanded much, and contributed nothing in return. .
No surprise that it produced a demand for his resignation, along with comments from ultra-Orthodox against his speaking out, and praise from other leading physicians for his willingness to speak truth in the media.
Meanwhile, government meetings that occur discuss a continuation of the lock down, opposition to demonstrations, and avoid all focused discussions about reasonable departures from a lockdown, and differential treatments of different communities.
Bibi has told mayors that there are no green cities in Israel.
A continued lockdown, with a minimum of exceptions, helps him to limit demonstrations.
Meanwhile, to evade limitations against demonstrators more than a kilometer from their home, there have been lots of demonstrations throughout Israel.
One of them at an intersection that leads to French Hill.
There were a couple of dozen enthusiasts, with some noise makers and lots of signs. Almost all pre-printed, and several of them curious in their writing.
Two included lengthy quotes from sacred text, difficult to comprehend when waved in front of moving vehicles. Another dealt with protest and income loss, held by a retired friend well protected from any loss of income due to being dismissed from work. Others included symbols impossible to comprehend.
Such demonstrations may have fueled the anti-Bibi feelings of those waving signs, but hardly seemed likely to topple a government supported by the Haredim.
But the national organizer claims to have reached a total of some 100,000 protesters throughout the country, and may have reached 200,000.
Those are impressive figures.
And there is hope in recent polls showing a closeness between the polling of Likud and Yamina (Right wing). That’s the party of Naftali Bennett, kept out of the current government, and supposedly opposed by Sara Netanyahu for one or another reason.
Bennett is making a name for himself as a reasonable opponent of Carona, who has distanced himself from Netanyahu.
His history is right wing, but with a capacity to align with Yair Lapid, also doing well in the polls, and perhaps with what’ll be left of Gantz’s Blue White and maybe the Haredim able to form a government..
There’s also noise from several Haredim of their opposition to Netanyahu.
It’s hard to understand various moves within that cluster, but there’s enough to heighten the nervousness of Bibi.
The lockdown has reduced infections among Arabs and the general population, but there are several hot spots among the ultra-Orthodox that reflect contrary urgings coming from certain Rabbis, and a more general disbelief among the populations. We’re hearing of beliefs that it isn’t any worse than the flu; that it’s a matter for leftists to make prominent; and that a generalized infection may eventually stop the spread further.
More or less nonsense, but who can penetrate a closed population with medical information.
We’ve been seeing pictures of mass gatherings of the Haredim during Simchat Torah, and wondering about a spike in infections.
We’ve seen pictures of synagogues that remain open in Haredi towns, and tough confrontations between the Haredim and police who seek to disperse gatherings.
And who can penetrate the larger population that has largely lost confidence in its government?
We’re wondering about a return to school, when we know that beyond second or third grade the incidence of infections is likely to spike. Government discussions are about postponing schooling, but avoiding a focused concern with differential populations, i.e., the Haredim..
And schooling among the ultra-Orthodox will resume, no matter what the government decides along with an increase of infections in crowded study halls.
What’s decided about general education is not likely to penetrate into the Haredim, especially when they have their spokesmen in the government. And the Prime Minister assigns crucial matters to a committee headed by a Haredi Member of Knesset.
Along with the focus on the Haredim in Israel is a parallel concern with the behavior of Haredim in the US, along with violent demonstrations by them against efforts of officials in New York to close their schools and synagogues.
There has been public criticism of a government minister, the head of Shin Bet, a Knesset Member of Yair Lapid’s party, a former senior police officer, the head of the IDF, and several senior police officers each of whom violated the rules about travel or hosting groups in their homes. The minister has also been accused of hiding her diagnosis of Coronavirus, as well as traveling across the country from her home in Tel Aviv to a relative’s place in Tiberias, and attending a synagogue that should have been closed on Yom Kippur.
Each of them are said to have violated what the public should expect from leading officials, setting poor examples, and undercutting whatever public trust there exists in the government’s decisions.
Mild criticism from the Prime Minister, who himself violated the rules over Passover by hosting his kids at home, and whose wife violated the rules, most recently, by having a hair cutter visit her home, where he did what he could to make her look good.
There’s increased speculation about an election, as this government cannot decide anything important. Here and there are signs of unrest in Likud, along with those demonstrations against the Prime Minister.
We’ll see.
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Ira Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com