5 Conflicts in ISRAELI society (2021)
In this video I’ll be talking about the main conflicts in Israeli society: Jews, Israeli Arabs, left, right, ultra-orthodox, secular, Mizrah, Ashkenazi. I’ll be stepping on all the mines of Israeli society and adding my personal thoughts. I think that in tourism today, especially in my field of travel vlogs, people mostly talk about what I like to call ‘soft tourism’: nice boutique shops, great places to have a coffee, and recommendations and tips of all sorts. Hardly anybody in the tourism industry has anything to say about conflicts because you might have someone who disagrees with you or gets angry, and since we all depend on likes and subscribers, it’s just not smart to speak about sensitive topics. Thank god I’m here :-).
I don’t know about you, but if I travel somewhere, let's say to Barcelona, I’m sure there are plenty of great cafes, but you can find great cafes everywhere. If I’m going there, I want to learn about the people, about that particular society and what people are dealing with. Is the tension between Barcelona and Madrid a big issue? Is the tension ethnic or maybe religious or economic? Is the tension there like in other places in Europe, like Scotland and England, or is it totally different? I’m making this video because conflicts are the cracks in society that let you see right through it and help you understand it better.
Now we live in a time when you’re only allowed to criticize your own group and when you talk about other groups you’re only allowed to say: Mmm, they make great food. I don’t like it, I hate political correctness. I love criticism and critical thinking. Don’t talk to me about the weather. Make me think, challenge me,
and you are more than welcome to criticize me as a Jew, as an Israeli, as a tour guide, as a man, as a modern father, and even as a Britney Spears fan… And if I get offended then I will open my ID card, see that I am not a 6-year-old anymore and get over it. Now seriously, I will take the risk of being offended if it means I get the chance to hear something true and meaningful. I’m saying this because there’s a good chance that some of you will not like what I’m going to say here, and that’s ok. I would love to read your comments. But be fair and don’t go out of your way to try not to understand what I’m saying. This is a short video about a huge topic and I will make generalizations. Just to make sure we’re on the same page, here’s a quick example: If I say that men are more violent than women, does it mean that I hate all men? No. Does it mean that all men are violent? No. Does it mean that no women ever use violence? No.
If I say that men are more violent than women I simply mean that men are more violent than women. So, let's get started. The first conflict is the national and religious one that exists between the Jews and the Arabs. Israel's population is about 9 million,
7 million are Jews and 2 million are Arabs. Now to be clear here, I’m not talking about the Palestinians, who are Arabs living in Gaza and the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian Authority. I’m talking about Israeli Arabs, Arabs from Jaffa, the Galilee, the Bedouin in the Negev Desert. Arabs who have been living in Israel since 1948 and have, as we say in Hebrew, a blue I.D., like me. The tension is obvious. Israel defines itself as being Jewish and democratic and the Arab minority is not Jewish, most of them are Muslim, and they are not really democratic. This is not only a theoretical schism. Many Jews consider the Israeli Arabs a threat as they have relatives in enemy states. On the other hand, the Arabs see themselves as a
minority that suffers from discrimination that is rooted in the definition of the state. Moreover, until the establishment of Israel, the area covered by the land of Israel was ruled by Muslim empires for 800 years and now the Arabs find themselves a minority in a Jewish state. But, and this is something you won’t hear in the news, if you give the Israeli Arabs the option of living under Palestinian rule, they choose to stay a part of Israel. This isn’t a theoretical scenario either. People talk about swapping land, making the Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria a part of Israel and Israel giving Arab settlements over in return. But the Israeli
Arabs don’t want to do that. The unspoken truth is that Arabs have a better life in Israel, the Jewish state, than in any other Arab country in the Middle East. Another part of the problem that has been in the news a lot lately is the violence within Israel’s Arab society. The Israeli Arabs blame Israel for many years of neglect and
for not providing budgets for education and infrastructure, and the Jews accuse the Arabs of not cooperating with the police. We also accuse the Arab politician who sits in the Israeli parliament of not taking care of internal issues relating to Arab voters and only aligning with the Arab countries that want to destroy Israel. In some areas the Israeli Arabs are becoming more Israeli and in others, namely on a political level, they identify themselves as Palestinians and not Israeli Arabs. On a national level it seems there’s no solution, but on a personal level you can see that Jews and Arabs, while not living in the same villages or neighborhoods, do work together and not only that, the vast majority define it as a positive environment.
The second schism is an internal Jewish conflict: secular vs ultra-orthodox Jewish society in Israel can be divided into three parts: secular, which accounts for about 45% of the Jewish population, national religious and traditional, which is around 35%, and very religious and ultra-orthodox, which is about 20%. Secular Jews are Jews who don’t wear a kippah, a yarmulke, whereas the national religious do wear a crocheted kippah, usually with a pattern on it, and the women wear skirts, while the ultra-orthodox wear a black kippah under a black hat and often a black suit. There are many issues to discuss here but I will start with the main question: what should Israel's character be? More Jewish or more democratic? Here you need to understand that being Jewish is not only a religion but also who you are. Jews who are totally secular might say that they don’t believe in god, but they won’t say that they’re not Jewish. The ultra-orthodox will say that the Torah, the bible, kept us together as a nation and that Jewish rule should apply in the Jewish state, meaning no public transportation on weekends, more separation between men and women in public places, no women in positions of power, no democracy, no unkosher foods.
This conflict is not only spiritual or philosophical. It is also political. Although the ultra-orthodox only make up 12% of the population, they enjoy a great deal of political power. The reason for this is that both the leftwing and rightwing parties need the orthodox parties to be able to form a coalition. So they enjoy great privileges: they don’t have to serve in the army like us, which is very very unfair, that we need to serve the country and they don’t; we pay for higher education and they don’t, they pay less city tax. It’s not that the law states that the ultra-orthodox should pay less
but the rules are tailor-made for them. They get a 60-90% discount on their city tax because they have a lot of children. I don’t think there is any country in the western world that gives an 80% discount for having a lot of children. They pay much less for kindergarten. And so on. Another crazy thing is that 50% of ultra-orthodox men don’t work. Instead of working they study the Jewish books. Now you might wonder how they manage to sustain themselves without working? So first of all, they live in poverty. Secondly, it’s the women who work. So the women need to raise all
these children and go to work on top of that. Because half of ultra-orthodox men don’t work and don’t pay taxes, they are a big burden on the economy and the people that do pay taxes. Perhaps it’s my socialist, middle-class upbringing, but I believe that going out to work is important not only to support your family, which is pretty fundamental, but also because there’s an inherent value in the work itself. Why is it that 100 years ago half the children didn’t make it to the age of five and today more than 99 percent do make it? It’s because there are workers who clean the streets, who look after the sewage system; there are researchers, doctors, electricians. And the ultra-orthodox sit and think the world keeps
on turning because they’re sitting and studying their Jewish books. In answer to this criticism, they would say that I’m going against the Torah. And to that I would say two things. First, no - you can study the Torah and work, as ultra-orthodox Jews in the U.S. do. And secondly, they don’t have a monopoly on Judaism.
Many years ago I lived and worked with an Amish family. One of the best experiences of my life. And the mother asked me about Israel and about orthodox Jews. And she asked me if they live in cities, and I replied that most of them live in cities like Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, and then she asked: So how do they get to their fields? I absolutely love this question. She was so off and at the same time she got straight to the point. If you read the Bible, it’s all about the Jews working the land of Israel. King David was a man of action, a passionate man. He was a warrior who didn’t speak Yiddish and tell his wife to sit at the back of the bus. The ultra-orthodox speak Yiddish,
dress in black suits, which don’t suit the Israeli weather, and even the names of the Hasidic groups, which are a subgroup of the ultra-orthodox, are Gur, Sanz, Satmar, Belz… all names of cities in Eastern Europe. Cities that have nothing to do with the Land of Israel. Now the rabbis that lived there were great rabbis, but choosing to fly at Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, to the grave of a rabbi, no matter how important he was, instead of being with your family in the land of Israel is very very far from what the Bible is actually about. My main point here is that not only do they not have a monopoly on Judaism, but their way of practicing Judaism went too far in the wrong direction. And here I come to the biggest challenge that Israel will face in the decades to come. It has nothing to do with the issues with Iran or the Palestinians.
The challenge is to integrate the Arabs and the ultra-orthodox, who are both fast-growing poor populations and not really democratic, into Israeli society. If this doesn’t happen, Israel will become a poor, fundamentalist and failing country like the other Middle-Eastern countries. The next conflict is one that you probably recognize from your own country: the conflict between left and right. Until the Six-Day War in 1967, the main difference was the economic one: socialism vs the free market. From the 70s until ten years or so ago, the main difference between the two was that the left was more willing to give up land in the name of peace while the right was against it. Today, the majority of Israelis don’t believe that peace with the Palestinians is possible. And nowadays there isn’t one big leftwing party
and one big rightwing party, but rather many small parties with small differences between them. By the way, this is one of the reasons why I’m making this video. When I fly to Germany so many people want to talk about this topic, but for me and lots of other Israelis it’s like talking about something from the 90s. Today even the lefties don’t believe that peace with the Palestinians is possible. In a way it’s like me saying to a German: I’ve heard about this young female politician, Angela Merkel. I think she’ll be an important figure one day.
In dealing with this issue, the German media tend to always talk to the same smart Israelis who have interesting things to say but are all positioned from the far left to the extreme left and don’t represent the majority of Israelis. So if you are from the German press and you want to interview an average Israeli, then talk to me. Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch :-). Now we Israelis want peace. Ask any Israeli, even someone from the extreme right, if they have anything against the Egyptians or Lebanese, if they want Egypt to be annihilated and destroyed, and no one will say they want that. But ask the average Egyptian or Syrian
what they think about Israel and you’ll get a different kind of answer. I see it on my channel. It doesn’t matter what kind of video I upload, it could be about hostels in Tel Aviv, and 80% of the comments left by people with Arab names will be railing against the existence of Israel. If an Egyptian vlogger made a video about the best hostels in Cairo, I can guarantee that no Israeli would leave hateful comments.
When we Israelis see that the Arab Spring turned to an Islamist winter, that no Arab Muslim society succeeded in creating a democracy with human rights... When we see what they’re doing to each other in Syria: Assad, Al-Qaeda, Al-Baghdadi, Isis... When we see that the Lebanese hate us as much as they do even though we have no border issues with them. As much as we Israelis want peace, as long as the Arab side doesn’t accept our existence as a Jewish state, as long as books like Mein Kampf are bestsellers in the Arab world, as long as they teach their children to become shahids (or martyrs), there will be no chance for peace. Golda Mier, the Israeli prime minister in the 70s, said that peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us. Sadly, large parts of Arab Muslim society in the Middle East are not there yet.
If you want to talk politics with Israelis, my advice is not to start with this topic. I’ve made two videos that sum up the Israeli view on this topic. I will leave the links below. Besides, I’ve just given you enough other topics to talk about. The next tension is between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. This is a much less serious tension than the other three that I’ve mentioned but it does exist. I have to say that I’m ashamed and embarrassed that I need to talk about it, but just because I don’t like it, it doesn’t mean it’s not there.
The Ashkenazi are Jews whose ancestors were born in Europe while Sephardic Jews have ancestors who came from Arab countries. Now I think it’s perfectly OK to be proud of your heritage but if the birthplace of your grandmother still plays a significant role in your life, then man, you haven’t accomplished much in your life. There are lots of marriages between Jews from these two groups, so the tension is decreasing, but in general Ashkenazi Jews are more extreme: either totally secular or ultra-orthodox and Mizrachi Jews are more traditional. Ashkenazi Jews are wealthier than Mizrachi Jews but again, it is getting more and more mixed. The only instance of segregation is ultra-orthodox Jews not wanting to mix with Sephardic Jews.
The last tension involves the biggest generalization I will make and one that sums it all up. This last tension exists between the center of Israel and the periphery or, in other words, the difference between the Tel Aviv area and the rest of Israel. Tel Aviv and the cities to the north of Tel Aviv are richer, more secular, leftwing, and open to the world. The rest of Israel is poorer, more religious, rightwing, and less open to the world. I’m only adding this as this is a travel vlog and as a tourist moving around the country you’ll see the difference between the Tel Aviv area and the rest of Israel. Now although I’ve been talking about the cracks, about what divides us - Jews and Arabs, secular and ultra-orthodox, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, I think that at the end of the day almost all Israelis know that the labels we give ourselves and others: Jew, Arab, leftie... tell only one side of a
multi-sided story and nobody can be defined as being just rich or just religious or just gay. Israelis, I think, do see the human side. There is almost no political violence between the different groups, no demonstrations that end with broken shop windows or people lying wounded in hospitals. I think there is a basic understanding that no one is going anywhere and tomorrow morning we will all still be here, whether we like it or not. That’s it. As I said at the beginning, making these kinds of videos is not a particularly smart thing for me to do as a creator, but I really think that it’s important and I hope you enjoyed it and learned something. If you did, please hit the like button and write a comment. And one last thing, take a moment to think how you would describe the conflicts in your country. It’s no easy task…
See you next week. Yalla bye.
2021-10-04 00:37
