{"id":59855,"date":"2020-10-20T11:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=59855"},"modified":"2020-10-20T10:52:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T23:52:59","slug":"how-israel-failed-its-covid-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-israel-failed-its-covid-test\/","title":{"rendered":"How Israel failed its Covid test"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the Jewish new year began late last month, Israel was enduring its second nationwide lockdown, after daily per capita Covid-19 infection and death rates reached<\/a> some of the world\u2019s highest levels. How did a country with practically closed external borders, sophisticated technological and institutional capacities, a high-quality and efficient health-care system, and a culture of solidarity in wartime fail so spectacularly at addressing the pandemic?<\/p>\n

Although long years of neoliberal economics have certainly taken their toll on the country\u2019s welfare system, the answer lies elsewhere. Partly, it is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s deceitful, divisive approach to managing the crisis\u2014and to governing more generally\u2014that has been laid bare. But, more fundamentally, Israel\u2019s pandemic failure reflects the deeply fragmented society and dysfunctional political system of which Netanyahu has taken advantage throughout his career.<\/p>\n

The virus has exposed Israel as a polarised federation, whose various tribes put their sectarian interests ahead of the common good. The ultra-Orthodox community, for example, has sought to exercise its autonomy above all\u2014and it has paid the price, with the country\u2019s highest Covid-19 infection rates. Though this community comprises only about 12% of Israel\u2019s population, it accounts<\/a> for about half of all infected people over 65 and under 18. Until recently, Israel\u2019s Arab community\u201421% of the population\u2014did not lag far behind.<\/p>\n

But Israel\u2019s minorities do not have a monopoly on the defiance of norms. Breaking conventions, an innate lack of discipline, and disregard for authority\u2014the very traits to which some experts attribute the country\u2019s extraordinary creativity as a \u2018start-up nation\u2019\u2014are national hallmarks. Netanyahu and his ministers who were caught violating the precautionary rules they had imposed on the country reflect a broader phenomenon; the government hasn\u2019t exactly been a role model for the unruly public.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has built his career on stoking sectarian divisions. In contrast to French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a>, who has now launched a campaign against \u2018Islamist separatism\u2019 in France, Netanyahu has thrived on a rapidly escalating Kulturkampf<\/em>. In particular, he has formed a corrupt coalition with the ultra-Orthodox community, whose political support he has bought with the labour and sacrifice of other segments of society.<\/p>\n

For starters, he actively encourages the unproductive, burdensome lifestyle of the ultra-Orthodox, who have staggeringly high fertility rates (averaging<\/a> 7.1 children per woman, compared to 3.1 overall). Moreover, barely half of ultra-Orthodox men participate in the labour market<\/a>. And the community includes about 135,000 yeshiva students, who refuse military service and study only scripture\u2014an education that leaves them unfit for modern life.<\/p>\n

Who pays for this lifestyle? Israel\u2019s dynamic, secular middle class, which produces much of the country\u2019s wealth, carries the burden of military service and accounts for a large share of the government\u2019s tax revenues.<\/p>\n

Now, the pandemic is compounding these costs. Rather than heeding expert advice and imposing targeted lockdowns on hard-hit communities\u2014such as the ultra-Orthodox\u2014Netanyahu chose nationwide measures, punishing the groups that make Israel\u2019s economy run to avoid targeting a key constituency. The entire country is effectively a hostage to political expediency.<\/p>\n

But Netanyahu\u2019s motivation for imposing another lockdown extends well beyond mollifying the ultra-Orthodox community. His corruption trial, which has already been delayed by his lawyers\u2019 obstructive tactics, will resume in January. Netanyahu would eschew no dirty trick to disrupt the proceedings, which threaten to keep his bribery and corruption scandals, and questions about his fitness to lead, in the national consciousness.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s anti-corruption trial is also a key motive for his repeated thwarting of an agreement on a new budget. As long as there is no agreement, there will be regular opportunities to dissolve parliament and hold new elections, an outcome that might finally enable Netanyahu to form a coalition willing to bar the indictment of a serving prime minister.<\/p>\n

To be sure, in late August, Netanyahu agreed<\/a> to a 100-day extension with his coalition partner, the Blue and White party\u2019s Benny Gantz, narrowly avoiding Israel\u2019s fourth election in two years. But that probably reflects the fact that opinion polls<\/a> indicate a sharp decline in support for Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party. Netanyahu probably hopes that this will change by the time the next budget deadline arrives.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he is hoping to change the conversation, not by providing real leadership, but by stifling dissent. He has been using the Covid-19 crisis as a pretext for conducting China-style digital surveillance and sharply limiting the freedom to protest.<\/p>\n

Mass demonstrations over Netanyahu\u2019s alleged corruption and the government\u2019s handling of the pandemic have been raging for months. To get protesters off the streets\u2014and out of the news\u2014Netanyahu backed a rule banning protesters from holding demonstrations more than one kilometre \u00a0from their place of residence, under the guise of stopping the spread of Covid-19. The measure was also aimed at appeasing his Orthodox allies, as it created a false symmetry between the ban on protests in open spaces (where the risk of infection is minimal) and the restriction of prayers in synagogues (known infection hotspots).<\/p>\n

But the move backfired. Unable to participate in the single localised protest in front of the prime minister\u2019s Jerusalem residence, demonstrators began protesting close to home\u2014all across the country.<\/p>\n

This nationwide display of popular rage is also a model of creative, orderly civic resistance. The array of groups leading the charge\u2014with names such as \u2018Black Flag\u2019 and \u2018Crime Minister\u2019\u2014largely comprise young, educated and conscientious Israelis and many self-employed workers facing severe economic hardship. They are unlikely to give up easily, despite Netanyahu\u2019s best efforts.<\/p>\n

But while Netanyahu\u2019s narcissistic leadership demands resistance, the upheaval in Israel carries significant risks. Israel is besieged not only by a deadly virus, but by identity politics, sectarian strife and dishonest leadership. As the economic consequences of lockdown multiply, social and political tensions will only rise. As President Reuven Rivlin noted<\/a> ominously last week, \u2018the air is full of gunpowder\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Jewish new year began late last month, Israel was enduring its second nationwide lockdown, after daily per capita Covid-19 infection and death rates reached some of the world\u2019s highest levels. 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