Ira Sharkansky

All politics may require complexity in its leaders. How else to put together the various forces necessary to keep an alliance together? And for someone who has served a complex society for more than eleven years, the complexity is likely to spill over into what some would describe as unreliability. Bibi may have been made for it. Considerable time and higher education in the US; three marriages; an earlier period when he changed his name to Benjamin Ben Nitai . Little if any relationship with an older daughter by one of his earlier wives. Skilled in the two languages most important for an Israeli leader. And with a father, wife, and elder son very much on the outside of what would be expected of a national leader. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

It’s been a tough week to judge, and to summarize.The key event occurred Thursday, with the announcement of a formal agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. It came on condition that Israel shelve the plan to annex territories within the West Bank. Also, the UAE indicated that its Embassy would not be in Jerusalem, at least until there was some arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

Stumbling and kvetching. These are our themes. And perhaps not only Israel’s. Set in the context of a pandemic, as yet without a date for vaccine, along with plenty of arguments among the professionals about transmission, infection rates, treatment of the ill, and how to deal with those not yet infected. Plus plenty of politics, with paid lobbyists, articulate advocates, real suffering of those not able to work, and lots of preferences. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

Dog days of August? Or political morass, with no effective leadership? And wandering amidst a pandemic that can be ignored. By some. Israel has recently been mired in a quarrel as to whether to budget for one year or two. The major parties are divided. And if they do not solve the issue this month, they will come up against a deadline that will dissolve the Knesset and require an election. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

Confusion prevails in the government. And has been joined by multiple protests and strikes. Several are protests by the ultra-Orthodox, against closures in their neighborhoods or towns. Others are protests against economic issues, demanding more money for those in the street. [Ir Sharkansky, Ph.D]

Complaints are mounting, especially from sectors of the unemployed, laid off, independents, operators of halls for weddings and other occasions, bar owners, restaurateurs, and those providing cultural events. They’ve been left out of acceptable–or any–programs for aid, and have been been closed in the government’s effort to deal with the current high wave of Coronavirus infections. One sign of the coalition’s fault comes from the multiple plans and promises, none implemented, or implemented only in part, to deal with the economics or the infections. [Ira Sharkansky]

There are several reasons to wonder about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Is he losing it?

A prominent case is a series of tweets that he wrote against the decision of the Attorney General, that Bibi could not receive some 10 million shekels, about $2.9 million dollars, in a contribution from an overseas ally to be used to purchase his defense in a criminal trial. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]