And then came the pandemic

I have written this short piece over and over several times since mid-June because the situation is changing so rapidly, both Healthwise and politically that even what I am writing today will probably not be the case by the time you read it. When I first started to work on this project, early in June, Israel was well on the way out of the first wave and closure, and a new coalition government was formed after three general elections over the last 12 months. Today, Israel is in the middle of the second wave pandemic, undergoing the worst economic crisis since its establishment with almost 1 million unemployed (21.4% unemployment rate), fast approaching another general elections, the 4th since April 2019, and in the middle of the largest wave of protests since 2011. The double health and severe economic crises exist in many societies. In Israel we are facing the additional political crisis of unprecedented magnitude and thus we are living through the intertwining of three deep- crises: political, health and economic.

On the pandemic front, having successfully emerged from the first round after a closure of about two months (since March 17), we are now in the middle of the second wave. It seems that the lessons from the first round were not assimilated and the authorities did not prepare for the second round as well as they should have. There are many disagreements between the health ministry, the treasury, and epidemiological specialists, chaos is the rule; instructions are declared and then cancelled due to political pressures and it seems that we are heading for another closure from mid-September to mid-October (due the approaching Jewish High Holidays: the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles).

On the economic front, the closure has had devastating effects. About 1 million people lost their jobs, many of them women and young men, businesses closed, and many are on the verge of bankruptcy. Whole sectors were closed and not reopened yet and many had no income since March and have no means to support their families. Many young families were forced to go and live with their parents. Every now and then the government comes up with a plan they call "compensation package" and with promises of relief packages for the unemployed and closed businesses but most of these plans fall short of the promise and are "ridiculously low" as some have claimed on interviews in the media. Many have received no aid whatsoever and are without any income since the closure at the mid-March. There is a general feeling that we are in a total chaos in the deepest economic crisis we have ever experienced without a "responsible adult" leadership that could cope with the situation and provide a safety net.

On the political front, Israel is governed by a coalition between two blocks of rival parties characterized by deep distrust between them and it looks like we will be facing a fourth round of elections soon. Prime minister Netanyahu is awaiting trial, charged by the attorney general with fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three investigation files. The conduct of the prime minister and his ministers seems totally disassociated from the real-life situation of the citizens. For example, in the middle of the severe triple crisis, the ruling coalition formed the largest, most extravagant government ever in Israel, with 36 ministers and 16 deputy ministers. Further, at the height of the crisis, the prime minister was more concerned with securing personal tax returns, involved in continuous attempts at delegitimating the judiciary system and new appointments that are "loyal" to the prime minister, in an attempt to avoid trial, instead of dealing with the most urgent economic crisis and planning long term strategy for boosting the economy and relief funds for the million unemployed and many who have exhausted their economic resources and have no means of subsistence.

The mismanagement of these crises has led to a feeling that we are in a total chaos, and that the government is totally incapable of dealing with this situation. There is a feeling that the citizens have been abandoned by the authorities and the government who are completely disconnected from the reality. This deep distrust of the government and authorities is further fueled by constant attempts at passing anti-democratic laws, by existential anxieties and the growing understanding that they do not have a safety net for the future. All these had the explosive effects that we are experiencing these days: the protest wave of 2020.

Protests started towards the end of March with the emergence of the Black Flags movement that mobilized during the closure and called citizens to hang black flags from their windows in disagreement with the continuous attempts by the government to pass anti-democratic legislation. Since then the protests have evolved with tens of thousands of citizens and like the 2011 protests, many individuals and groups have joined in. The largest events usually occur on Saturday nights in three chief locations, in Jerusalem in front of the prime minister's official residence, in Caesarea in front of the prime minister's personal home and in Tel Aviv. The first largest groups were women protesting violence against women, the self-employed small business owners and the artists and workers of the cultural sector. In Jerusalem the protest is more focused on the opposition to the prime minister, calling him "crime minister" and demanding his resignation claiming that a man who is charged with fraud, breach of trust and bribery and awaiting trial has no moral standing to be the prime minister. During the past five weeks the protests spread to other towns and to over 300 bridges over highways with tens of thousands of protesters. These protests are very creative and artistic. In line with Geoffrey's analysis (Pleyers 2020) of the five roles that social movements play in the current situation, the Israeli wave also includes protests, workfare actions and strikes, solidarity, monitoring policy makers and politicization.

There are attempts at oppressing these protests on the part of authorities and right-wing supporters of the prime minister, most particularly 'La Familia' organization. These range from ridicule, incitement, delegitimating, policing, stigmatizing the protesters by labelling them as "anarchists", "Corona spreaders", "aliens", "hallucinators" and other titles. There are arrests, physical attacks, horse-mounted riot police and riot dispersal water hose cars and constant attempts at enact anti-protest laws. Despite these measures and perhaps because of these measures, the protests keep increasing.

I would like to close this account by referring to the contribution of women. Among the first to protest were individual women and organizations wearing black, protesting the alarming increase of violence against women during the closure. At the same time, women organized car convoys carrying black flags to Jerusalem with the participation of over 1,000 cars. Women are also among the initiators and organizers of the Black Flags movement and initiated many displays and acts of solidarity and help to the elderly and the needy. Many women, "Mothers Against Police Violence" copied the practices of women in Portland, Oregon. They mobilized in yellow vests to protect the protesters, "our children", standing as a buffer between the police and the protesters. Across the country there are also signs carried by women with the message: "Men have failed, we need a woman leader". One of the women activists said to the press that "the contesting parties will meet a totally different public in the next elections". The polls predict otherwise.

The picture that I portrayed here is rather a simplified version of a much more complex setting. Resolving these crises will require deep changes at all spheres and levels of society and will require new leadership.

21st August 2020 | Tova Benski

Addendum 26.9.2020: As claimed in paragraf 2 above, yesterday, September 25, general lock-up has been declared in Israel. The government could not secure a law to ban the protests and as a result, the protests will continue despite the closure. It remains to be seen how the police will react. The conflict is raging, and the government wants to declare a state of national emergency that will enable ruling out the protests without the consent of the Israeli parliament. It is possible that we are facing the largest civil disobedience movement in Israel, for the first time since the establishment of the state.