Despite how terrible it may have been, the new Hamas attack on Israel and the huge intelligence failure it exposed posed no real threat to the State of Israel.
Local strife, on the other hand, that has been building for the past three years and shows no signs of abating, is gradually evolving into an existentialist crises that poses a threat to the very underpinnings of the state as it was established by its founding fathers.
Granted, this was not an overnight process but quite a gradual deterioration that was hampered by an increase in sporadic situations. These gradually merged into a fad that appears to have no way out.
Flight 002 of the Jewish flight El Al, which took off from New York to Tel Aviv on November 19, 2018, was postponed by five days due to bad weather. There was an unexpected noise on board as the plane approached Athens, which is about two days from Tel Aviv.
Some of the customers lost control and demanded that the plane touch down in Athens. They asserted that if it had traveled to Tel Aviv, it would have arrived after the start of the Sabbath, which they found unpleasant. & nbsp,
However, other individuals insisted that the flight go on as scheduled.
The noise quickly intensified to the point where the pilot decided to land in Athens for safety reasons as passengers began noisily taunting one another. That, until the Sabbath was over and the plane was continue its flight, the passengers were housed at El Al’s cost in a hotel.
The struggles of El Al Flight 002 were merely the beginning of a problem that had its roots in 1948 and is now heralding an existential issue that jeopardizes the State of Israel’s continued living in its current form.
The Declaration of Independence
Israel’s The Declaration of Independence was adopted on May 14, 1948, by a “provisional council” of Palestinian Jews. The council, which included representatives of the full spectrum of Jewish Palestinian society, from ultra-Orthodox to reform Jews to secular liberal socialists, was not one likely to come to a consensus; but a consensus was what David Ben-Gurion, the founding father of Israel, was striving for.
In order to achieve this, he acceded to the needs of the ultra-Orthodox majority, who demanded that students attending Torah rabbinic schools remain exempt from military service.
Likewise, while the The Declaration of Independence guaranteed all rights irrespective of “race, religion and sex,” it was agreed that this would be a guiding principle but not a legal pronouncement, as it contravened traditional Jewish Halacha law as regards the role of women.
Left unanswered by the The Declaration of Independence were a number of substantive questions; if Israel was the land of the Jews, would an Israeli Jew who converted to another religion lose his citizenship? And if a non-Jew could be a citizen of Israel, would he have to submit to Jewish traditional law? And, last but not least, who was a Jew and who was to decide who was a Jew and who was not?
Role of the Knesset
Israel had little choice but to tackle questions that did not concern matters of instant necessity because it was surrounded by hostile Arab says that openly advocated wiping it off the chart. It continued in this way, without a constitution and with its legislature, the Knesset, eventually enacting 13″ standard laws” and nbsp as necessary.
This legal void had been tolerated as long as Israel was under attack from its Muslim companions. However, over time, shifts in Jewish culture and the introduction of a semblance of peace have pushed the system dangerously close to collapse. The end result is an existentialist problems that now poses a threat to Israel’s founding principles.
Israel is a parliamentary democracy where laws are passed by the 120-seat legislature. The Supreme Court is the only restriction placed on parliament because there is no law and, as a result, no legal court. In fact, just the Supreme Court has the authority to overturn a parliamentary voting.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently attempting to emasculate that court. If productive, this move may open the floodgates of a parliamentary outpouring orchestrated by the right and the ultra-Orthodox, which could very well alter the course of Israel.
Israel has 43 social functions, of which 12 are represented in the Knesset, and has a population of about 9.3 million. As a result, Likud, Netanyahu’s group, which only has 32 votes, is forced to form an alliance with other parties in order to secure at least 61 votes for the formation of the government. The State of Israel & nbsp, as it has persisted to this day, is likely to be overthrown as a result of this alliance between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox community.
The might of the Haredim
Currently, the majority of the population of Israel is made up of 18 % Haredi ultra-Orthodox, 25 % traditionalists, and 40 % secular people, excluding Muslims and Christians. The Haredim are their own planet within this portrait.
They do not identify as Zionists, live in closed communities, talk typically Hebrew among themselves, and firmly believe that Halacha, Hebrew traditional law, supersedes state laws. & nbsp,
They finally reside in the equivalent of a socio-economic embryo on the periphery of Jewish community. Only 13 % of the men have finished high school, compared to 80 % for the general population, and about 50 % of them are unemployed and live off state subsidies and nbsp.
They reject liberal education, gender equality, individual freedom, and democracy in general and would rather study Torah than look for a job that would pay well. & nbsp,
Some of Israel’s organizations have slanted to adapt to their values over the past few decades. They are not only exempt from military service because they are Torah pupils, but Conservative rabbis are the only ones who can legally marry Jews.
There are now about 400, 000 Jewish citizens who identify as Jews but are not recognized as such because only Catholic rabbinical courts can decide who is Jewish.
In a similar vein, Egged, the regional bus company, is prohibited from operating on the Sabbath and is required by law to close all eateries. This regulation is impractical because 70 % of the population wants restaurants to remain open.
The hard right’s bond with the Haredim puts them in conflict with major Israel, and the idea that the nation has been” hijacked by religious zealots” is beginning to take shape.
Half of the companies founded in March of this year are registered as foreign companies, and high-tech companies are beginning to keep Israel. When people are denied the opportunity to board railways on the grounds that they are not gender-segregated, some reserve members are now refusing to serve in the military, and resentment toward violence on a grassroots level is growing. & nbsp,
The Haredim will make up 30 % of the people by 2062, with an average of seven kids per family, according to statistical styles. With this date approaching, it is not just debate as to whether the State of Israel as a whole can last until finally, beyond, and in what form.
Halacha Jewish religious law may take precedence over state laws in the eyes of the Haredim. Their goal is to guarantee Israel’s adherence to Halacha in this way. Democracy is not a problem if it is governed by the lot; the Haredim and the extreme right do, albeit quite weakly, control it. The problem is that the majority is imposing a code of conduct on the majority that is inconsistent with how democracy should operate in the twenty-first century.
The problem is much more complex for Israel than it is for Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian people, or even the Egyptian and NBP state. It is home and can only be dealt with internally. The issue is how.
It might be appealing to curb the Haredim’s authority by mandating that voting be contingent upon military company, but this would likely necessitate a vote by parliament. The alternative choice is a” European solution.”
Switzerland is a confederation of 26 territories, each with its own parliament, government, administration, educational system, & nbsp, money, and officers. Giving the Haredim their own space without endangering the rights of their fellow Israelis or the viability of the State of Israel could be greatly aided by Israel’s” cantonization,” which may well include one or several Palestinian” cantons” in addition to secular ones and those belonging to the” Haredi.”