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Israel’s Third Elections Marks the Defeat of Rabbi Kook’s Dream

In the third round of Knesset elections, the party representing religious Zionism once again failed at the ballot box. Its opening position was promising: “Yamina” recruited a young, attractive and dynamic team of men and women, devoid of outside interests and with clear leadership potential, drawn from the various shades of religious Zionism. They enjoyed a one-time opportunity, albeit brief,…
13/03/2020

What’s at Stake in This Election?

What’s at stake in this election? Is there any point to making the effort to go out and vote for the third time within a year? With regard to a long series of issues, nothing will change as a result of which political bloc comes out on top. On issues of security — from Gaza to Iran — we will…
02/03/2020

Our Jewish Solidarity is Eroding

In recent weeks, we have repeatedly awoken to news of murderous antisemitic attacks in the United States. The extensive coverage of these attacks by the Israeli media gives the impression of Jewish unity and a sense of a common Jewish fate, but in reality it appears that many Israelis do not share this feeling. The Israel Democracy Institute’s 2019 Democracy…
11/02/2020

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Many months have passed since the Knesset has performed its primary duty – legislating on behalf of the public good. Instead, it has been fixated on itself. By means of the Central Elections Committee, some Knesset members are focused on the question of whether specific individuals and lists will be allowed to run in the next election. Sitting as the…
10/02/2020

Rabbis in Politics—A Disaster for Both

The U-turns performed by Rabbi Rafi Peretz after promising that “my words are written in stone” last week and the recent months, have once again proven that the involvement of rabbis in politics is bad for the rabbinate, bad for Judaism, and bad for politics. Rabbis are not necessarily any better or any worse than other politicians. But politicians who…
25/01/2020

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel vs. the Jews

The abusive diatribe recently leveled by Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef against Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union is merely a symptom, not the problem itself. The real problem is that the Chief Rabbinate, headed by Rabbi Yosef together with his Ashkenazi counterpart Rabbi Lau, makes life difficult for this immigrant population on a daily basis, applying an extremely stringent…
19/01/2020

A Vote of Confidence in the Rule of Law

The Prime Minister decided to invoke his right to request immunity from prosecution. On the face of it, when the request is heard by the Knesset House Committee and then by the Knesset plenum, it will apply only to a specific and limited issue, namely, the question of when Netanyahu’s trial will take place—immediately, or only after he is no…
13/01/2020

The Decade in Review: Religion and State

This has been a dramatic decade with regard to the religion-State relationship in Israel. It is true that, formally, the old status quo remains unchanged and has been maintained in the coalition agreements of the various governments over this period; in practice, however, there have been changes in almost all the significant aspects of this relationship, and the status quo…
31/12/2019

Israeli Voters – Not Judges

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the Likud, is up and running for yet another election campaign, as so many times in the past. This time, however, he is running despite three serious criminal indictments hanging on his neck. After lengthy deliberation, the attorney-general, who holds the statutory authority to file charges against him, decided to indict Netanyahu. Does…
16/12/2019
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