Where in the world do people drop everything they are doing on a school or work night and spontaneously go out in their hundreds of thousands to protest the firing of a minister?
This is what happened on Sunday night, 26 March, in Israel when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his fellow-Likudnik, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, for publicly calling on the government not to proceed with the controversial overhaul of the judiciary.
For the protesters, whose numbers were believed to be somewhere around 600 000, this was no evening of fun. They didn’t consider babysitters or how they were going to wake up in time to get the kids to school the next day. Nothing else mattered – they simply took their families and went out to do what they could to save their country.
For those in South Africa who still believe this is an issue of the political left and right, this was dispelled when Likudniks in their numbers joined all the others in protesting what many believe has the potential to destroy Israel.
This protest – and all those of the past few months – was about Israelis loving their country so much, they refuse to allow politicians to damage its integrity to further their own agenda.
Israelis may have tough exteriors, but they are passionate about their country. They will do what needs to be done to avoid harming their home.
On Monday, the country came to a total standstill. The airport came to a grinding halt. Shopping centres were closed. Schools and business didn’t open.
Even President Isaac Herzog publicly called on Netanyahu to stop the legal-reform process, saying, “The eyes of the whole world are on you. For the sake of the unity of Israelis, for the sake of committed responsibility, I call on you to halt the legislative procedure immediately.”
A Channel 12 TV opinion poll found that 63% of Israelis – including 58% of Likud voters – were against Netanyahu firing Gallant. Similar numbers supported the halting of the reforms. The poll also found that the Netanyahu coalition would lose if an election were held now.
I believe another election is what’s needed. I know Israelis are sick and tired of elections, having had five between April 2019 and December 2022. However, right now, many would happily go to the polls to change the government they have.
I don’t have a crystal ball, nor am I a political expert, but I think Gallant is the first of the Likudniks to break ranks from what has become a far-right government. I believe many more will follow to collapse the government and they will reform as a party without Netanyahu.
Time will tell.
Suffice to say, as much as it has been hard to witness what has been happening in Israel and tough for Israelis to experience, I take my hat off to them for caring enough not to accept what they believe is unacceptable. Kol hakavod!
There was no complaining and whingeing at home while they watch their favourite Netflix series on television on Saturday nights. If they weren’t happy with what was happening in government, each one of them took it upon themselves to go out and protest. And they didn’t do it one night and then collapse in the knowledge that they had done something. No, when they saw that no change was wrought, they went back out week after week.
They had no problem with bringing the country to a complete standstill to get Netanyahu to back down. And, miraculously, back down he did – albeit tentatively and not permanently.
I have no doubt that should Netanyahu get back on track with his plans, the country will again be brought to a standstill to remind the government whom it serves.
South Africans have a lot to learn from Israelis in what to do to get the government to put its people first. For 15 years, we have watched load shedding become more and more of a problem. We watched as our government corruptly used taxpayers’ money to line its pockets, and we complained and whinged.
We, too, should make our voices heard. We also love our country, but I believe we have more fear than determination. We have more differences than similarities, and we don’t know how to talk to one another.
So, we watched as the Economic Freedom Fighters took to the streets, and worried. Not that I’m suggesting that we work with Julius Malema and his cronies, who apparently see us only as white monopoly capital. But there is a majority of South Africans who feel the same way we do and want to heal our land. We, too, need to make our unified voice heard.
Myrna Rosen
As we finish our Pesach edition, I want to say farewell to a woman I have never met, but has been a part of my life through her recipes. Myrna Rosen passed away this week. For most of us in the community, her name is synonymous with delicious (mostly Jewish) food and recipes.
My late mother gave me The New Myrna Rosen Cookbook when I moved into my first home on my own. I won’t tell you how far back that was, but it was the very first cookbook I owned, and I cherished it. I still have it with an inscription in the front cover from my mom.
My family is known for the delicious cheesecake we bake – we all have the recipe. I only recently discovered after enjoying the kudos I got for baking it for years that it was a Myrna Rosen recipe. So many of her recipes have become staples in our community and have been shared far and wide. They will continue to do so.
Rosen will live forever in the delicious recipes she gave us, many of which we will be using for Pesach this year. We wish her family “a long life”!
Enjoy our special bumper Pesach edition, and chag Pesach sameach!
Peta Krost
Editor
Our next edition will be on 20 April 2023.
