Independence or Out-Dependents? The Fall of Israeli Sovereignty

The State of Israel came into being for one central reason: ensuring that Jews, through their own elected government, are in control of their lives and destiny. Sadly, such “sovereignty” has lately suffered from significant erosion – and not only from external forces. Here are some of the more egregious examples, foreign and domestic.

The war in Gaza has left Hamas in control – at least the southern part of the strip. Why? Because President Trump ordered PM Netanyahu to cease fighting in order to resolve the problem diplomatically. It was clear from the outset that such a “peaceful” end to Hamas’s rule was not in the cards, but Bibi had no choice given that he harnessed Israel’s foreign (and military) policy to Trump’s whims.

Ditto regarding Israel’s war on Iran. Here Israel’s “Siamese Twin” relationship with the U.S. was even starker. Despite the combined military onslaught of the two countries somewhat successfully destroying a good part of Iran’s capabilities, here again when Trump decided “enough was enough” Israel had to kowtow to the U.S., despite the Iranian regime’s ability to continue inflicting pain on its enemies. Worse still, the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) between the U.S. and Iran (note: no Israeli signature or even input!), leaves virtually all of Israel’s original war goals unachieved, other than destroying part of Iran’s armaments. Even worse, according to (at least) Iran’s interpretation of the MOA, the final treaty will not be signed until the IDF leaves all of Lebanon, without Hezbollah demilitarized. In short, by overly aligning with America, Israel successfully leveraged its military might – but at the price of losing independent decision-making. Ben-Gurion is certainly turning in his grave…

The situation is not much better on the home front. First, large swaths of the country have become internal security wastelands. In the north, organized crime has overwhelmed small and medium-sized businesses with their “protection” rackets, a euphemism for economic extortion. After several years of this, only recently has Israel’s police force begun to address the problem upon the numerous victims’ continual and vociferous protests in the media and through legislators.

In the Negev, the problem is not merely economic, although “rustling” of Jewish farm animals is endemic. No less worrisome – and from a socio-demographic standpoint far worse – is rampant polygamy among the Bedouin, some having up to four “wives”: one officially registered as married (Israeli law allows only one legal spouse) and the others are what once were called “concubines.” These are marriages usually performed according to Sharia (Moslem) law but not registered in Israel’s system. Indeed, many such women are not even native-born but are brought in from Gaza or the West Bank/Judea & Samaria (and occasionally from neighboring countries). As per the mafia “protectionists” in the north, the Israeli authorities are doing very little to eliminate this social scourge, rendering marriage in large parts of Israel ex territoria.

Speaking of social scourge, the one that’s made ongoing headlines for the past year or so is the very high murder count in Israel’s Arab sector. This has three sources: “family honor” killings of (allegedly) “promiscuous” wives or daughters; inter-family feuds (neighbors who don’t get along); gang vs. gang murders. Whereas the first two are difficult for the police to prevent (and solve, given the Arab culture of “silence” vis-à-vis the authorities), the latter shouldn’t be, and they constitute the majority of such Arab community mayhem. Here too the Israeli authorities have seemingly thrown up their hands in frustration – much to the dismay and anger of Israel’s Arabs, the vast majority of whom are normative citizens.

Ditto to a large extent in the Administered Territories, where the “Hilltop Youth” have been running amok for over a year, attacking and maiming Palestinian residents of the area – with the IDF doing very little to stop the scourge. Although technically this isn’t Israeli sovereign territory, large parts are governed solely by Israel and these wayward youth are Israeli citizens. But here too, the government’s policy is hands-off.

Then there’s the “Religion & State” situation, in which from the start of Israel’s history the government granted exclusive authority to the rabbis regarding kosher certification, marriage, and divorce. Given that the latter two are critical areas of life (non-kosher stores and restaurants do exist), such a monopoly constitutes a significant yielding of sovereignty.

And a few weeks ago, such sovereignty loss was compounded by a new law that enabled religious courts to deal with civil matters if both sides agree to that. This sounds “reasonable,” but misses the way the haredi world works: women can easily be “persuaded” by the rabbis, or “threatened” with social ostracism, if they don’t agree to have their claims adjudicated in a haredi court.

Finally, we arrive at the 800-pound (political) gorilla in Israeli politics: the refusal of the ultra-Orthodox to be drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This too has been an ongoing story from the start of the state but has reached a boil in the past year or so given the huge burden carried by IDF reservists in the wake of the Gaza War.

The present government tried passing legislation that would perpetuate the exemption for many (perhaps most) haredim – a serious lacuna in the very raison d’etre of Israeli sovereignty. Even for several Likud Knesset members this was a step too great to accept. Realizing that Bibi’s promise to them was not going to be fulfilled (a promise made from the start of the government’s tenure almost four years ago), the haredi parties have ostensibly “left the coalition” and this past week initiated a massive “slow drive to Jerusalem” protest with hundreds of cars and trucks halting traffic for hours on end.

The irony in all this, of course, is that the loss of Israeli independent governance has been occurring under the watch of the country’s “nationalistic,” right-wing government. Sovereignty is not something to be negotiated away for political purposes, whether from the Left or Right. Assuming the current Center-Left Opposition wins the upcoming elections (all polls indicate this), it will be interesting to see whether and to what extent it will prioritize a return of full Israeli sovereignty in foreign and domestic policy alike.