Let me start with a digression. I read this morning in Jewish Insider that President Biden is thinking of appointing Jack Lew as the next U.S. Ambassador to Israel. I first met Jack Lew years ago before he became the first Orthodox Jew to be Secretary of the Treasury, Director of OMB and Chief of Staff to President Obama. I think he would be a great choice.

Now to my mini-history. I am setting this down, because – especially for those who do not follow Israel closely – I thought it would be helpful to get a birds’ eye view of the country’s past to help put it in context as Israel tries to sort itself out in the face of a plethora (another first use of a word in this blog) of problems.

1. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Jews of Europe feel less comfortable with increasing pogroms, economic difficulties and instances of antisemitism even in the “civilized” countries of western Europe. Some Jewish intellectuals fantasize about a return to historic Israel.
2. Historic Israel is now part of the Turkish/Ottoman empire which will be dismantled after its defeat in World War I. In 1917, the British government had expressed (without a Parliamentary vote) through what became known as the Balfour Declaration support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
3. After the end of World War I, the newly formed League of Nations gave the British a mandate to govern what had been historic Israel/Palestine for a temporary period until it was ready for self government.
4. During the Mandate period, which lasted until after World War II, there was constant conflict over the meaning of the Balfour Declaration and Britain, depending on Arab friendship for Middle East oil and passage through the Suez Canal, tried to play both sides of the issue – often cutting off Jewish immigration into the area in spite of the terrible position Europe’s Jews find themselves in as a result of Nazi expansion.
5. Faced with increasing frustration, and the refusal of the Arabs to agree to any form of partition of the area between Jews and Arabs, the British ended their mandate in 1948 and Israel declared its independence. This was immediately followed by a joint Arab attack by Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.
6. Following an armistice but not a treaty, temporary boundaries were set for the State of Israel, but after a subsequent war in 1967, these boundaries were expanded to include all of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights bordering Syria, and that part of the area now known as the West Bank (of the Jordan River). These areas (other than East Jerusalem) were not then annexed to Israel but placed under a form of military occupation, which (under various arrangements) continues today.
7. Very important to all of this is to understand the nature of the Israelis themselves:
8. First, during the years prior to the creation of the State in 1948, the Jews in Palestine were largely European intellectuals whose politics were socialist (“good socialist”, not “bad socialist”). This led to the creation, among other things of the kibbutz as a socialist village, and the creation of the Histradut, the labor organization that controlled not only employment, but health care and welfare benefits.
9. Second, following the establishment of the State and continuing after the expansion of the State in 1967, anti-Jewish actions increased in the various Arab states, with some of them expelling their Jewish residents or strongly encouraging their departure. About 800,000 Jews from places like Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Morocco relocated to Israel, virtually doubling the population of the State of Israel. These “Arab Jews” were not European socialist intellectuals, and they changed the politics of Israel, adding a large block of voters with no experience with Europe, European democracies, or socialist thinking. The one thing that these Jews from other middle eastern countries had in common was a distrust of, and often a hate of, the Arabs.
10. In 1977, with the election of Menachem Begin as prime minister, Israel had its first right wing, non-socialist government, and Israel began the transformation from a country that was primarily socialist to one that was basically capitalistic.
11. This trend was increased when over a million Jews from the former Soviet Union immigrated to Israel after the Soviet borders were open to emigration. This large influx of Soviet Jews further intensified the right wing nature of the country, as the one thing the Soviet Jews knew is that they didn’t want to have anything to do with socialism, which they identified with Communism.
12. Throughout this brief period where there were so many demographic changes occurring, there was a second type of change in the population. The original European socialists were, as you would expect of socialists, non-religious, and they expected that Israel, which Jewish, would never be a religious state.
13. But after 1967, this changed, because the land occupied by Israel (the West Bank) was the heart of biblical Judea and Israel (Scriptures knew nothing of Tel Aviv or Haifa), and some religious elements in Israel believed that this land was the true Zion to which the Jews must return. While most in the Israeli government at the time thought that the military occupation would be very short term, these religious Zionists were determined to make sure that Israel would hold on to this land in perpetuity (another new word for the blog).
14. This led to an increase in the number of vocal religious Zionists coming to Israel (many of whom were from the United States) and the pressure for Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. There are now over 600,000 Jews living in this area and the return of all occupied land to Arab control (of any kind) is no longer possible. The discussions that continue are about how much land, if any, could be given up by Israel (all of this obviously complicated by the million or so Arabs living in the area).
15. The culmination of all of this is the latest government where Prime Minister Netanyahu, now Israel’s longest serving prime minister, for whatever reason (perhaps to keep himself out of jail, as he is under indictment for a number of financial crimes), has cobbled together a 4 seat Knesset majority which includes representatives of very right wing parties, who are determined (whether they say so or not) to hold onto all of the occupied territory, to eliminate any concept of equality for Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel proper, and – in effect and perhaps in reality – to convince all Arabs living in Israel or the occupied territories to move out, setting the stage for a Greater Israel that would be Arab-free. This is to be done by increased military and civilian security for actions, as well as by cutting off funding to Arab communities. In addition, the current coalition includes several very religious parties, whose influence has increased with rising birth rates, and who want their children to study Torah and not any secular subjects, to avoid serving in the military and to live in a country whose laws are based on Jewish religious laws, not on the precepts of a secular democracy. The changes in Israeli domestic policy, including the structure of the courts, and in the distribution of governmental funding, are the result of pressure from these groups.
16. While all of this goes on, the other Israel: the intellectual, scientific, business oriented, highly academic Israel continues to thrive, but with ominous clouds overhead. The battle for the control of Israel’s domestic legal structure, the continuing threat of war from its Arab neighbors and non-Arab Iran, and the attempts for Israel to forge ties with some more progressive Arab countries (like the UAE and Morocco) continue as time goes on.
17. It is this extraordinary position, so unthinkable in 1948 and even in 2020, that has caused the turmoil you see in Israel today.

That’s my mini-history. It’s obviously not a complete history. And one perhaps could argue a bit with one or another point. But I think it will help give you context if you are not one of those who follows what happens in Israel day to day.