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Israel’s Next Female Prime Minister

Who could be the first woman to lead the Jewish state since Golda Meir? And why is it taking so long?

In November 1973, soon after the Yom Kippur War, Nora Ephron flew to Israel and wrote an article titled “Women in Israel: The Myth of Liberation” for New York, about the then-fairly-new feminist movement in Israel and the challenges it faced.

In one paragraph, Ephron writes about the prime minister at the time, Golda Meir:

There is, of course, a prevalent belief in Israel, as well as in the rest of the world, that this country is some sort of paradise for women. To begin with, there is Golda Meir, and her extraordinary achievements are constantly used as an argument against the need for liberation—as in ‘How can you say women are discriminated against when we have a woman Prime Minister?’ In fact, Golda is simply Golda, and she is frequently referred to, in a line that is regarded as a witticism, as ‘the only man in the Cabinet.’ What is more to the point is that she is not only the only woman in the Cabinet, but also the only woman who has ever served in the Cabinet. Mrs. Meir has never shown any active interest in women’s rights—she is a classic example of the successful woman who believes that because she managed to rise to the top, anyone can.

Since Golda resigned from the premiership, there have been other women in the Cabinet, and 43 years later, there are four, the most ever at one time, and one in the more exclusive Diplomatic-Security Cabinet. However, no other woman has risen to the top like Golda.

In a year in which the United Kingdom has its second female prime minister, Theresa May, and a woman, Hillary Clinton, is the Democratic Party’s nominee for president of the United States, the question is: When will it be Israel’s turn again? Which of the prominent women in Israeli politics is the likely next contender for prime minister?

Continue reading at Tablet

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MK Ghattas calls for Israel boycott at far-left Montreal conference

Speaking in Montreal, Ghattas said that Israel’s “occupation” extends outside the West Bank.

Joint List MK Basel Ghattas has called on the world to boycott and sanction Israel, repeatedly comparing the Jewish state to apartheid South Africa, in a recording obtained by The Jerusalem Post.

Ghattas made the statements last week at the World Social Forum in Montreal, which is meant to be a farleft alternative to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. The Canadian federal government revoked its partnership with the forum because of anti-Semitic content, policies and promotional materials, as well as the exclusion of Jewish Israelis and supporters of Israel. Continue reading, and listen to the recording

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Ahead of Tisha B’Av, MK Glick calls on colleagues to show a little more love

Jewish sages say the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, which is marked on the fast of Tisha Be’av beginning Saturday night, can be attributed to sinat chinam, or baseless hatred between Jewish people at the time.

MK Yehudah Glick (Likud), known for his activism for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, the former site of the destroyed center of Jewish worship, knows a thing or two about the Temple. And after more than two months as a member of Knesset, he has some things to say about baseless hatred.

One of the first things that struck Glick upon becoming a lawmaker at the end of May was the way MKs spoke to and treated one another.

“I saw it in the committees, in the plenum, people screaming at each other and not listening to one another,” Glick told The Jerusalem Post this week. “I said to myself, this is something I would like to work on, changing the whole dialogue and level of conversation, and turn it into something more civilized, so people listen and respect each other.” Continue reading

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A guide for the newbie coalition whip

The Knesset’s summer session that ended this week also marks nearly three months since coalition chairman David Bitan began his often-controversial tenure.

When the Knesset’s summer session began in May, a new coalition chairman, MK David Bitan (Likud), came along with it.

The job of coalition chairman, similar to that of the majority whip in other legislatures, sounds simple enough: Be the disciplinarian who ensures fellow coalition MKs are in attendance when they need to be and vote the way the coalition decided is its policy, and lead whatever negotiations are necessary to make that happen.

Politics being politics, the coalition chairman’s job is always easier said than done, and the position is among the most challenging in the Knesset, though its benefits are significant, including greater prominence in the party and the media and a closer working relationship with the prime minister.

Bitan, a freshman MK, replaced now-Minister-without-Portfolio Tzachi Hanegbi after a prolonged battle within the Likud for the position, and as a result, feelings in the party were mixed about him. After a year in which Hanegbi often seemed to be asleep on the job and gave the opposition small victories here and there, the new coalition chairman was someone who had earned a reputation while chairman of the Knesset House Committee as a bulldozer – he gets things done but doesn’t mind trampling whatever and whoever gets in his way. Continue reading

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Five years after social protests, has anything really changed?

Three of the 2011 demonstrators who are MKs today put blame on Netanyahu for skyrocketing prices.

On July 14, 2011, 25-year-old video editor Daphne Leef pitched a tent in Tel Aviv’s Habimah Square to protest high rental rates in the city.

Within a day, she was joined by others on the adjacent Rothschild Boulevard; a day after that, the National Union of Israeli Students enlisted in the effort and soon after, other protests popped up around the country demanding “social justice.”

The government did what it always does in a crisis: It formed a committee, this time to address cost of living concerns. But protesters were not assuaged. By September, demonstrations ballooned into the “March of the Million,” which really was an estimated 300,000 protesters in Tel Aviv and some 160,000 in 19 other cities.

For months, the protests and their leaders dominated the news cycles. Individuals whom the vast majority of Israelis had never heard of before became household names, with Leef at the fore. Continue reading
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Gotta catch ’em all, even in the Knesset

Pokemon Go is a massive trend, but has it gone too far?

Pokemon Knesset

I was sitting in the reporter’s mezzanine in the Knesset on Monday evening, waiting for the debate on the contentious NGO transparency bill to begin, when I noticed something strange slightly to the right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was a greenish creature with what looked like a tulip bulb on his back, and he somehow made it through security and into the Knesset.

“Bulbasaur!” I shouted. “I choose you!”

I tossed a Pokeball in his direction, and snapped him up, then quickly shared my achievement on social media.

If you’re confused, then you’re probably at least a few years older than I am, and maybe haven’t been reading up on the last week’s biggest trend: Pokemon Go. Continue reading

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How the Second Lebanon War led Bennett from hi-tech millions to politics

Bennett soldier lebanon

A start-up millionaire completely changed his life’s course after fighting in Lebanon in 2006; Naftali Bennett talks about how the war pushed him into politics.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett may be the most outspoken minister in the security cabinet. He doesn’t reveal what’s said behind closed doors, but he’s often the only minister to publicly make his opinions known about what’s being discussed and his tactical suggestions of what Israel should do, as he did last weekend, releasing a 10-point plan to curb the current wave of terrorism.

Bennett has faced criticism for his outspokenness about strategy and has even delineated specific points citing what he thinks the army and government should do. He has also spoken to soldiers and officers on his own initiative, but he’s convinced from his experiences that his way is the right way. He’s willing to threaten the coalition over it, like he did in late May, refusing to have his Bayit Yehudi party vote to approve Avigdor Liberman as defense minister until security cabinet ministers were given more regular updates from the National Security Council.

The way Bennett sees it, being informed and voicing opinions that could rattle the military brass or his fellow politicians is the only way to make sure the right decisions are being made for the country and that the people sitting in the security cabinet room don’t fall victim to groupthink. It’s the only way that the failings of the Second Lebanon War, in which he and the soldiers that he commanded saw firsthand the damage an ineffective security cabinet can cause, won’t happen again.

When the Second Lebanon War broke out, politics was the furthest thing from Bennett’s mind, but the war was the turning point that put him on his current trajectory. Continue reading