Shame

What is the first human emotion that the Torah describes? It is shame (or the absence of it). Before Eve and Adam eat from the tree in the centre of the Garden, they are naked but feel no shame. Once they eat from the tree, they are aware of themselves and their surroundings. They feel shame.

The Torah is teaching us that those who cannot feel shame are not fully formed as human beings.

Shame is an emotion and an intellectual response. It grows out of awareness and out of identification with the concerning issue. I feel shame when I realise that I have a role in what is wrong. Out of shame comes the sense of responsibility to make amends.

Several months ago, I wrote a piece where I expressed my shame at what is going on in my country. I was shocked at the amount of negative feedback I received from some who claim to support Israel. They saw my shame as betrayal. How wrong they are.

I am ashamed because I am an integral part of this country and I know what is going on is wrong.

So, this is another piece about my shame – my sense of involvement in the situation and failure to prevent it. You can tell me that it is not my fault – but I live here and I voted and I did not do enough to change the culture of carelessness with the truth and the decline of the values on which this country was based.

Let’s look at what is going on here.

Until the war, which itself reflects major failures from the government and the military, we were arguing about the judicial system. Let me share what is on the agenda at the moment.

First, we have Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial. Benjamin Netanyahu is still on trial in the Jerusalem District Court for charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. President Trump asked the President to give Netanyahu a pardon – (after all, he asked, what is wrong with taking a few gifts?) – but in order to earn a pardon here, you need to admit to your guilt, express contrition and then ask for the pardon. Netanyahu has done none of that. He gives no indication that he feels any shame for any of his actions.

Once, I was proud that Israel was not afraid of prosecuting Presidents and Prime Ministers if they did wrong. Now, when the accused express no shame, I feel the shame.

Two of Netanyahu’s close advisers (e.g., Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein) are under investigation for allegedly working with Qatari interests. It is not yet a “case” but it is likely to be one. The so-called “Qatargate” affair raises serious national-security questions. No-one in the government is expressing any sort of shame that such a scandal could arise at such a high level.

There was a related institutional conflict: the government tried to remove Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, but the Supreme Court ruled that Netanyahu’s attempt to fire Bar was “unlawful,” citing a conflict of interest – (Bar was linked to the investigations into Urich and Feldstein) – but he resigned and saved the government from going against a high court ruling. What a disgrace that would have been!

Since it took power, the government has been accusing Gali Baharav-Miara, the attorney general they inherited, of working against them. She consistently gives advice that proposed legislation is illegal. On August 4th, the government decided unanimously to remove her from office. Almost immediately, Justice Noam Sohlberg, vice president of Israel’s Supreme Court, issued an interim order suspending the legal effect of the government’s decision until a panel of the Supreme Court, sitting as a High Court of Justice (that is, exercising the court’s administrative and constitutional review jurisdiction) has had the chance to consider the pending petitions against the decision and the process leading to it. She is still in her position but finds herself possibly in a conflict of interest with the next major scandal that has arisen.

The country was shocked when Maj.-Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, former Military Advocate General (the most senior legal position in the army), was arrested after admitting she leaked a classified video showing alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention center. The video, which reached millions of people on social media and brought heavy Israel into disgrace, has been doctored and it is not clear what parts of it reflect reality. The police accuse her of, among other things: fraud, breach of trust, obstruction of justice, and unauthorized disclosure of classified information. After a possible suicide attempt, she has been placed under house arrest, with restrictions on movement and on whom she may contact.

Retired Justice Asher Kula was appointed by the Justice Minister to lead parts of the investigation, but the High Court banned the appointment due to conflict of interest involving the Attorney General’s office.

Her case gave those soldiers caught on the video plenty of media coverage. Instead of expressing some sort of shame at their involvement, they complained about the video and avoided the issue.

Add to that the Histadrut (Labor Union) corruption scandal. Arnon Bar-David, head of the Histadrut, is being investigated for a host of crimes including bribery, breach of trust and money laundering. Dozens of people have been detained, and the court has extended the remand of Bar-David and other senior figures due to risk of evidence tampering.

Corruption at such a high level in institutions that are supposed to protect the ordinary worker should make all of us ashamed.

The court also has to deal with other crimes, prosecution of which may be politically motivated.

On September 3^rd, during a protest in Jerusalem advocating for the return of hostages, several garbage bins were set alight near the Prime Minister’s home Four people were arrested and later indicted for arson. The suspects – Lt.-Col. (res.) Amos Doron, 60; Shmuel Reuveni, 61; Eyal Giller, 54; and Mark Foigel, 57, are charged with arson, causing property damage, and obstruction of justice. These men, not public figures and without criminal records, suffered weeks in custody and then house-arrest. They are awaiting trial.

And now, what is NOT before the courts. There is serious public and civil-society concern that Jewish extremist violence — including attacks against Palestinians or Israeli Arabs — is not being prosecuted sufficiently. Even when extremist violence results in serious crimes, there is a lack of legal accountability. This week, dozens of out-of-control rioters set Palestinian vehicles and homes on fire in a village after Israeli forces tore down settlers’ illegal outpost structures in the area. Security and news cameras captured pictures of the masked perpetrators and it is said that the identities of at least some of them are known to police. Despite ministers all saying that violence will not be tolerated, we have yet to hear of any prosecutions connected to this and other similar incidents in recent weeks.

There have been over 200 murders in the Arab Israeli community this year. Based on figures from previous years we can expect about 12% of these cases to lead to prosecution. Of course, this is just a symptom of the failure the state to protect its Arab citizens and treat them as equal citizens.

Our record here makes me ashamed.

Finally, there is still no inquiry into October 7^th. The government approved the creation of a non-state (i.e., government) inquiry committee but explicitly rejected forming a state commission of inquiry, which is the more powerful and independent body under Israeli law.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has appointed a ministerial committee to define the mandate, scope, and powers of the inquiry. That committee has 45 days to recommend what exactly the inquiry should look at (time periods, topics, investigatory powers). Yariv Levin (Minister of Justice, who is the engineer of the highly divisive judicial “reform”) will chair the special ministers’ committee. The other members of this ministers’ committee are all members of the current government, including its most extremist members, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.

This is a shameful disregard of public opinion, which strongly supports a state commission of enquiry and has no faith in the current government to investigate itself or even set the agenda for others to do so.

We are still in this war. We have agreed to a peace-plan that government ministers continue to reject in public. Those who called for “unity” are doing everything in their power to impose their minority will on the majority. This is their idea of “unity.”

And this is only part of the story.

Yes. I am feeling ashamed – ashamed of the country that I love. Perhaps you don’t like me airing my shame in public but do not accuse me disloyalty. It is because I love Israel that I want her to be better.

Without shame, we will not try to change. Without shame, we are not fully human.