Bibi’s Back, Baby

Fifth time's the charm.

By

With religion, political corruption, nationalism, and court reform on the ballot, Israel concluded this week its fifth election in three years. Tomer Persico, research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, joins Adaam to offer a quick explainer about Benjamin Netanyahu’s comeback, the rise of religious nationalism in Israel, and the universal language of populism.

Show Notes:

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
By
Comments (26)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. KateBird

    Nice job, Adaam. Very interesting and informative. Thanks.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    John

    Thanks for putting together this episode. The discussion of Kahanism was illuminating. It was also a troubling illustration of what the illiberal right can be.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Seth B

    Excellent.

    Adaam should be given the keys to the Dispatch Podcast every Sunday.

    Collapse
  4. Avatar photo
    Michael Berkowitz

    It was a good interview, and I absolutely don't want to litigate Persico's presentation here. You've given Dispatch readers, most of whom have no reason to know anything about what's going on in Israel, a very good overview.

    Still, some of it was wrong and/or misleading, and I'd like to offer a corrective:

    1. Although the "Anyone but Bibi" movement gained steam after the indictments, Ari Shavit wrote a long-form piece for Haaretz in 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟱 about the Left's pathological hatred of Netanyahu. The crimes he's accused of wouldn't happen 'til decades later. I've been watching all along and my experience has been that most people didn't know why they hated Netanyahu, only that you were a lowlife if you didn't.

    2. With all due respect to Persico and the recording, if the Court thought it was and open-and-shut case it would have been shut by now.

    3. Opposition to the "fraud and breach of trust" law runs across the political spectrum. It's a law left over from the British Mandate that would never pass a constitutional challenge in the US. Its main problem is that there's no definition of the terms, so that no public servant can know for sure that he's not violating it with any given act. This leads to the side-effect of giving enormous power to unelected government legal advisors.

    4. And while opposition to the power of the Supreme Court does not have much traction on the Israeli Left, I know members of both the NY bar and the Israeli bar, staunch Democrats, who are horrified by the philosopher-king position occupied by the Israeli Justices. Make no mistake, were Israel to move towards American norms of standing, justiciability and the appointment of judges, the Israeli Left would say that it's all over for democracy.

    5. Another commenter pointed out, and Adaam agreed, that "rule of law" gets lost in the translation here. Israelis are very concerned with the rule of law, which covers not only their complaints about crime but also selective enforcement of such things as zoning violations, with draconian enforcement against Jews building over the Green Line and almost none against Palestinians in Area C or Bedouins in the Negev.

    6 And to round it out, while I don't recall the exact words, you mentioned the Jewish and Arab rioting during the last Gaza conflict. That does a great disservice to the Jews, not to mention the truth. The police were telling Jews in the Galilee to stay in their communities because their safety couldn't be guaranteed if they left. No warning was needed on the other side.Show less

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

      Fascinating exchange of comments here between Michael Berkowitz and Adaam James Levin-Areddy.

      To save others a bit of casual googling, which I think has located for me the correct Michael Berkowitz: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Berkowitz

      [EDIT: I guessed wrongly. Ignore my attempted identification.]

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Michael Berkowitz

        Sorry, but I can't claim such distinction. There isn't even a Wikipedia entry for me (though one always hopes).

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

          Oh! Well, it was a stab. Sorry for my confusion.

          Collapse
          1. Avatar photo
            Michael Berkowitz

            No need to apologize. You're not the first to think that was I.

            Collapse
    2. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
      Adaam James Levin-Areddy vertical-nib Author

      You're raising some important points.

      1) Very true about Netanyahu. The left has always reserved a special kind of loathing for him. Some trace it back to Netanyahu's prominence during the infamous anti-Rabin rally in 1995, weeks before the assassination. But many other Likud members were present who never attracted the same levels of scorn, including former PM Sharon and, apparently, former President Rivlin.

      Still, the indictment led to the formation of an anti-Bibi bloc which transcended political and ideological differences. It's true that Bennett and Saar were most likely acting out of their own political ambition (and personal grudges). But without the indictments, the outgoing government would have lacked what little glue was holding it together.

      3+4) Excellent points. I actually asked Tomer about the "judicial junta," as the right calls it. I ended up leaving it on the cutting room floor thinking it's a little too in the weeds for a 30 min explainer. But you're right: I've spoken with several jurists, both Israeli and American, who worry about the philosopher-king status of the judiciary and the political power of state prosecutors. On the other hand, I know a few who support Daniel Friedman-style changes to the judiciary, but also don't trust the Bibi bloc to spearhead the reform.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Michael Berkowitz

        Thanks for the response. We're agreed that the anti-Bibi movement went into overdrive with the indictments, I just think it's in part because there was finally something objective to pin it to. I remember over the years asking people why they hated him and not getting an answer, but once he was indicted it was "The corruption, of course." The possibility that the indictments themselves were more an effect than a cause of the hatred deserves serious consideration as well.

        I absolutely agree that one can't hope to cover all sides in a 30-minute explainer. My comment wasn't meant as a complaint, but as a way of filling in some gaps for the interested reader.

        Regarding the judiciary, Bibi himself was a big defender of the status quo there, until it came for him. And I would posit that 𝗮𝗹𝗹 dictatorships (or at least those not imposed at gunpoint) begin with the idea that the people and their representatives can't be trusted to govern themselves.

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
          Adaam James Levin-Areddy vertical-nib Author

          Oh, of course –– I took your comment entirely as intended! I was glad you brought up the subject: it's one of the most interesting pieces in Israel's current political divide, and one which consistently gets misunderstood in media coverage. (I only mentioned the unaired segments to be transparent about my behind-the-scenes considerations.)

          Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Something Borrowed

    Hi, thanks for this episode! Very interesting back and forth.

    With all due respect, I think that your discussion of the rise of Religious Zionism/Otzma Yehudit/ Noam was missing the "Yamina" of it all. This election cycle, there was no viable alternative Religious Zionist party--and there were certainly those who previously voted for Yamina who were very angry with the current coalition. Additionally, many of those (observant Jews) who voted for Yamina as headed by Bennett could not bring themselves to vote for Yamina as headed by the non-observant Shaked. It's impossible to know how many of the fourteen seats belong to Yamina defectors, how many to Smotritch, how many to Ben Gvir, and how many to Rav Thau, if one can even make such clear delineations between them. All the more so, the number of seats apportioned to each party this cycle is not as representative as usual, since the "pro-Bibi" coalition banded together and all passed the threshold, and the "anyone but Bibi" coalition fractured into a disjointed mess of smaller parties, some of whom failed to make it to 3.25%. I think there's an argument for waiting an election cycle or two before we declare Ben Gvir a star-on-the-rise or simply "the moment."

    Additionally, as much as I disagree with Kahanist philosophy, I was surprised to hear a discussion on The Dispatch of a country banning a political party essentially for hate speech without pushback from either panelist. Would be interested to hear Sarah and David's take on it! (As well as on the current system of Judicial selection in Israel ;) )

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
      Adaam James Levin-Areddy vertical-nib Author

      Great point about Yamina. Though I'll look into Koppel's argument before responding.

      Regarding hate speech: very true. Without getting into the specific history of Kach, I'll just note that Israel's speech laws are quite stringent, and not infrequently abused.

      I wrote recently about how a number of (supposedly) civil rights groups in Israel were calling on government to form a de-facto ministry of truth that would punish "the spread of misinformation" online and in public. In their proposal, they unironically quoted Justice Holmes' fire cliche. Appalling. All that's to say the both the law and social norms around free speech are quite different in Israel.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Something Borrowed

        I'm also interested to read it!

        Agree wholeheartedly regarding free speech (or lack thereof) in Israel. I hope there's room for persuasion there. Am I being too optimistic? Probably.

        Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      Michael Berkowitz

      Actually, Professor Moshe Koppel of Bar Ilan has a breakdown of where the Yamina votes went. I don't know if there's a copy in English, but if you can't find one, respond here and I'll ask him.

      Also, I agree with you on your last two points. Excuse me if I expand a bit on one in my own comment.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Something Borrowed

        Very interesting. He's using machine learning for this? I'd never heard of him before, thanks for posting.

        How would you go about verifying these numbers?

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          Michael Berkowitz

          I assume ML because that's his field (along with Computational Linguistics and some other stuff). I wouldn't go about verifying the numbers. 😀 They're not important enough to me that I wouldn't just take his word.

          Collapse
  6. Deleted Comment

    This comment has been deleted

  7. Andrewchida

    Great episode thank you!

    Collapse
  8. Avatar photo
    Gabrielle G

    Thanks, Adaam! Great episode. Glad you were able to break it down so concisely. If I heard you right, there’s a possibility of Bibi ditching the far-Right parties in favor of a Lapid and Gantz coalition? That seems implausible to me but would by far be my preference.

    I’ve started to notice an uptick in demarcating “observant” Jews from “secular” ones on the far-Right and within the NatCon contingent in the US. At first I thought they just liked Ben Shapiro and didn’t want to alienate him but now I think I’m seeing the connection between Religious Zionism in Israel and our politics here. Wondering if anyone has noticed the same.

    Also, shoutout to Shalom Hartman’s excellent podcast Identity/Crisis https://open.spotify.com/show/2hqwE9vn7TWsAryUYoFJTk

    Thanks again! Nicely done!

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
      Adaam James Levin-Areddy vertical-nib Author

      You're touching on one of my greatest obsessions –– the importation of incongruent American politics to Israel and vice versa. It's a trend of globalized tribalism that troubles me deeply.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Gabrielle G

        first time I saw it I was like, that’s weird. The second time I was like, that’s not nice. Now I’m like, uh oh. What a horrible development.

        Collapse
  9. Israel.D.Gale

    Good, inside perspective. One serious misrepresentation:
    "The Israeli right standing for 'law and order' refers to Netanyahu's personal legal troubles."
    This is quite wrong. Israel, like America, currently has a serious law-and-order problem, especially in the Arab sector and in the territories. Discontent with this situation was a major factor in the rise of the far-right parties in this past week's election.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
      Adaam James Levin-Areddy vertical-nib Author

      Absolutely -- security concerns in the Negev and in some of the mixed cities have been a major issue this election, heavily influenced by the riots of Summer 2021. This was a major piece in Ben Gvir's rise.

      But I think that Tomer used "law and order" specifically in reference to the anti-Bibi bloc ("the coalition of center left and center right parties), referencing their stance in defense of the judiciary, political norms, and "the rule of law."

      Collapse
      1. Israel.D.Gale

        In the Israeli public mind, the Left stands for defense of the judiciary? Yes. For political norms? Arguably. For "the rule of law"? In some narrow sense. For "law and order"? Definitely not.

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
          Adaam James Levin-Areddy vertical-nib Author

          That's a fair analysis -- I think, though, that it's just an idiomatic mixup. Tomer probably meant "rule of law," not to suggest that the left is running on the security/safety ticket.

          Collapse