After four long weeks, including all the Holydays, Israel is carefully and slowly coming out of the lock-down that was imposed on the population to curb the increasing spread of the Corona virus. The government made decisions to avoid the mistakes of the first lock-down and will relax restrictions slowly and with a continuous control of the infection rate, so as to prevent a third lock-down (even though many experts and as well as non-experts, claim that a third lock-down is inevitable in any case).
Thus, while some restrictions are being lifted or eased up upon, many others remain in place including the wearing of masks, the social distancing, the strict limitations on gatherings and the continued closure of institutions and businesses that come into contact with the public.
The opening of the Education system has been a particularly sensitive issue, because on one hand, indications are (disputed or not) that the opening of the school year in September caused an outbreak among teachers and pupils alike, while the economy cannot restart properly if children are being kept at home and parents need to remain home to take care of them.
In the end, a decision was made that appears reasonably balanced, whereby the kindergartens will be operating, allowing 3-6 year olds to go back to the classrooms, and their parents back to work, while elementary school and high school would remain closed and only “distance learning” will be allowed.
However, it quickly became clear that balanced plans and pompous declarations by politicians is one thing, and the Haredi community is another. On Saturday evening it was announced that one of the leaders of the Haredi community, the Rabbi Kanievsky, was consulted by his followers on the issue and his decision was clear. Torah studies must continue and the Haredi schools will open on Sunday, allowing tens of thousands of pupils between 6 and 18 to go back to school.
When asked about this flagrant violation of the rules, Netanyahu could do no more than plead with the Haredi population to abide by the rules and appeal to their common sense and their religious feelings by stating that “Our Bible” is a bible of life and we must act in order to preserve life. When asked if the regulations would be enforced, all he managed to utter is that the police are responsible and violations will not be allowed. Compared to his inciting, vitriolic remarks about the demonstrators near his house, whom he accused of spreading the disease, and killing the population, when talking about the Haredim, Netanyahu sounded, very uncharacteristically demure and hesitant, as if the events about to unfold in the Haredi cities, where not under his control or his responsibility.
The sad truth is that indeed, Israel’s prime minister, this one and all of them before him, have been hesitant and demure when it comes to the Haredi population, for a very simple reason. The Haredim are a State within the State, and they do not feel the need to abide by the Rules of the State of Israel, only the Rules of the State of Haredim. They do not accept authority from the State of Israel, they do not recognize its institutions, and they do not feel themselves part of the State of Israel. Of course, they do receive health care from the State, Social Services from the State, including child support, and their educational institutions, which upon their insistence are separate from State education institutions and fully under their control, are financed by the State of Israel. Thus, when the Rabbi tells them tho open the schools, it doesn’t matter what the State says. And indeed, on Sunday morning institutions in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, and other Haredi cities, did open and children went back to school. And the police did nothing. The Rule of Law apparently does not include the Haredim, because Law Enforcement saw what was happening and did nothing.
Haredi communities are very densely populated, large, sometimes very large families, living in overcrowded, cramped apartments and one single infected person may quickly spread the virus. While many Haridim do not regularly leave their neighborhoods, they do use public transportation and the infection may easily spread, also because for instance, the separation between Bnei Brak, a Haredi city, and Ramat Gan, is impossible to enforce and people will move back and forth all the time. When new outbreaks of the virus will occur in Haredi cities, it will have spread way beyond them long before it is even detected. When such a large segment of the population does not adhere to the rules, the rest will be endangered by it and the decisions by Rabbi Kanievsky amount to no less than incitement and endangerment of the population which undoubtedly is punishable under the law.
And this is where politics comes in. The Haredi coalition partners of Netanyahu are in a position to cause a government crisis and that is the last thing Netanyahu wants, at least not a crisis that is not initiated by himself. But the demands of the Haredi parties, especially the Ashkenazi Haredim, (yes, for those not initiated in the intricacies of Israeli politics, also the Haredim are split up in several parties, often squabbling between them), their demands are very clear: we will do what the Rabbis tell us, and if you resist, we will topple you.
The situation that is now rapidly developing is rather clear and very ominous. The third lock-down is a matter of time only, because the Haredim will not relent and continue to do what they are being told by their leaders, and thus spreading the disease. It has been claimed that accusing the Haredim of spreading the virus is anti-Semitic, but if that is the case, causing other Israelis to catch the disease when it could have been avoided, is no less anti-Semitic. If the Haredim are not made to abide by the rules that are supposed to protect all of us, we will not see the end of this pandemic before everybody can be inoculated and it is the duty of the State to make certain that everybody does their part, including the Haredim.
The behavior of the Haredim has also broader implications than just the Corona crisis. For years, in fact since the establishment of the State, the Haredim, even those that do not recognize the State of Israel, have demanded and received special treatment, often by using political blackmail and often appealing to the fact that “we are all Jews”. This has resulted in a modern-day Israel where religion and religious rituals are forced upon a population that is often not interested in these rituals. Blackmail and civil disobedience by the Haredim has been a fact of modern Israel life, and encouraged by their success, their demands are continuously increasing. And even though the secular forces in Israel are still strong, the comparison with Iran is inescapable and while for the Haredim it wouldn’t make much of a difference, for the secular population, the result will be devastating and rolling it back is (almost) impossible. The clear victory of the Haredim over Netanyahu and the State of Israel, will only encourage them to come up with further demands, while at the same time convincing others that political blackmail and ignoring the rules does pay off in Israel.
And politicians, even those that see the dangers, are continuously trying to have their cake and eat it, and one of the most popular and most dangerous lies being spread now even by moderate, secular politicians is that Israel is “Jewish and Democratic”. And as is the way of lies, especially heavy ones like this one, if you tell them often enough, they may not become true, but they will be believed anyway.
But the Secular Democracy that Israel was destined to be, is a long way off these days, and the Corona crisis is another nail in the coffin of Israeli democracy. I wonder how many nails we still need.
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