THE TRUTH ABOUT TRADE AND JOBS JULY/AUGUST 2016 / • The • Struggle for Israel FOREIGNAFFAIRS.COM MJ16_cover_SUB.indd All Pages 5/20/16 1:13 PM THE STRUGGLE FOR ISRAEL t’s common knowledge that the it, Netanyahu now leads the most right- Middle East is in turmoil these days wing government in Israel’s history, Iand that there are major tensions which Benn argues is allowing Netanyahu between the United States and one o its to realize his long-held dream: replacing crucial allies in the region, Israel. Less Israel’s old moderate and secular elite commonly understood are the profound with a new hard-line and religious one. ways in which Israel itsel is changing. Robert Danin, an American diplo- In important respects, the country matic veteran o the now-moribund no longer resembles the image many peace process, examines the new threats Westerners still picture—the liberal and often overlooked new opportunities Zionist state o David Ben-Gurion, facing Israel’s foreign-policy makers. Abba Eban, Golda Meir, and Yitzhak As’ad Ghanem o the University o Rabin. The socialist Ashkenazi elite Haifa explores the plight o Israel’s that used to dominate Israel’s politics Arab citizens, who are enjoying unprec- has long since fractured and faded away. edented material gains even as they face Sephardic Jews, Soviet immigrants, unprecedented threats to their political settlers, the religious right, secular rights. And Amos Harel, one o Israel’s Jews, and Arab Israelis now vie for inu- leading defense analysts, describes the ence. In foreign policy, meanwhile, what challenges facing the country’s vaunted Israel stands for, and who it stands military, including the recent wave o with, is also in play. “lone wol ” knife attacks. To scout this new landscape, we’ve Finally, Martin Kramer o Shalem turned to some o Israel’s leading poli- College oers a vigorous dissent, noting ticians and observers. What emerges is that in many respects, Israel is better a picture o a country enjoying a rare o today than ever before. What has moment o relative peace with most changed, in his view, is less Israel o its neighbors, even as it experiences than the attitudes o others, including intensifying conicts at home. Washington—whose fecklessness and Leading o the package are interviews withdrawal from the Middle East repre- with two o Israel’s most powerful sent a real but man ageable problem for women: Ayelet Shaked, the current justice the Jewish state. min ister, and Tzipi Livni, a former justice Israelis disagreeing with one another is minister and former foreign minister. hardly new. But the bitterness o today’s Their contrasting visions starkly illumi- ghts underscores the depth o the nate the country’s current political divide. changes and choices facing the country. Next, Alu Benn, editor in chie o —Jonathan Tepperman, Managing Editor Haaretz, describes Israel’s transforma- tion through the story o Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long career. A moderate when circumstances required 03_commentdiv_Blues.indd 2 5/19/16 3:38 PM THE STRUGGLE FOR ISRAEL Israel—at least the largely secular and progressive version of Israel that once captured the world’s imagination—is over. —Aluf Benn A Conversation With Ayelet Shaked 2 Israel’s Second-Class Citizens As’ad Ghanem 37 A Conversation With Tzipi Livni 10 Israel’s Evolving Military STAVROS The End o the Old Israel Amos Harel 43 Aluf Benn 16 PAVLIDES Israel and the Post-American Israel Among the Nations Middle East Robert M. Danin 28 Martin Kramer 51 03_commentdiv_Blues_2.indd 3 5/19/16 5:42 PM bill, which the Knesset has tried to pass for Ministering more than ve years without success, will pass next month [in June]. It’s also very Justice important; it gives the Shabak [Israel’s internal security service, also known as the Shin Bet] and the police new tools A Conversation With to ght terror. Ayelet Shaked What kind of tools? yelet Shaked is a relative For example, it allows them, in specic new comer to Israeli politics. circumstances, to prohibit a suspect from A Shaked, 40, served as Benjamin seeing a lawyer for 21 days. Things Netanyahu’s oce manager before like that. breaking with the prime minister and THE STRUGGLE FOR ISRAEL joining Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home What’s it like to be a leader of the Jewish party in 2012 and then winning election Home—a political party known as the to the Knesset in 2013. Following the main voice for religious settlers—as a 2015 election, Shaked was named Israel’s secular woman and Tel Aviv resident? minister o justice. Since then, she has The fact that I was elected to my post courted controversy with a number o in an open party primary shows that moves that critics call undemocratic, Jewish Home voters are very open and such as promoting a bill that would very liberal. I see my party as a bridge highlight which nongovernmental organ- between the Orthodox and the secular. izations (s) get a majority o their We believe that we should all live funding from foreign governments. together and respect one another. Shaked, who worked as a software engi- neer before entering politics, recently You currently serve under Prime Minister spoke to Foreign Aairs’ managing editor, Netanyahu. You started your career Jonathan Tepperman, in Tel Aviv. working for him directly but then broke with him in 2012 and left Likud. What You’ve been justice minister for a year are the main dierences today between now. Which accomplishments you are you and Netanyahu, you and Likud? most proud of? The main dierence between the Jewish One is the nomination o judges. I’ve Home and Likud, apart from religion and already nominated 100 judges [to ll vacant ideology, is that we object to a Palestinian YEFIMOVICH ILIA posts], which is a lot. Also, we are doing state, while Likud, and the prime a lot o things to reform the legal system, minister, supported one. to alleviate court backlogs, to reform the To return to your earlier question, bankruptcy law. I’m trying to nd any I’m also trying to promote Arab society / business regulations that I can relax. in Israel, by creating new courts in Arab GETTY The transparency bill is also important, cities and appointing a woman as a qadi but it hasn’t passed yet. And the terror [an Islamic judge, with jurisdiction over IMAGES family law] for the rst time. This interview has been edited and condensed. 2 JA16.indb 2 5/16/16 7:41 PM Niss as ipsunt eum, omniet veliquatet eos res ut doler omnihiliquis abora dem eos aut laboreShaked lorem in sipim.Tel Aviv, February 2015 04_Shaked_pp2_9Bb.indd 3 5/16/16 7:59 PM Ministering Justice Are these reforms meant to address the by funding specic s that serve inequalities between Arab Israelis and their ideology. Jewish Israelis? There’s no inequality. According to the By “some countries,” do you mean the law, everyone is equal. But o course, United States and Europe? we need to invest more in some Arab Mainly Europe. And by the way, it’s not towns. And the government just passed that [such funding] won’t be allowed. It’s a big plan to do so. allowed in a democracy. But I think that the public has the right to know about it. So the problem is not one of legal equality but one of resources? Critics say that the real point of the law Yes, sometimes. But the government is is to shame these organizations by now xing that. And here in my ministry, making their members wear special nine percent o employees are Arabs badges in the Knesset and by imposing or Druze. a public label that would damage these groups’ legitimacy. To return to politics, there are rumors First o all, the badges aren’t part o that the prime minister is trying to the law. But by the way, every lobbyist create a big new party of the right, which in the Knesset needs to wear a badge. would absorb all the smaller right-wing So even i the badges were in the law, parties. What do you think of that? it wouldn’t be bad. It’s not something we’ve really talked Second, it’s not about shaming. It’s about. I don’t think it’s realistic. But about the right to know. That’s all. we’d never rule anything out. Do you feel that foreign governments Some critics, including U.S. Ambassador should not be funding NGOs in Israel? Dan Shapiro, have criticized the NGO I think that foreign governments should transparency bill as an attempt to muzzle not fund political s in Israel. I don’t dissent. Why is the bill necessary? think that the U.S. administration would Why publicly identify those NGOs that like it i¬ Israel, for example, were to fund get more than half of their support from an in the United States that sued foreign governments? American soldiers for their service The amount o attention this bill is in Afghanistan. getting is absurd. There are so many other important things that we are Do you see the NGOs that would be working on, yet for some reason, this targeted by the law, such as Breaking bill gets so much attention. It’s just a the Silence, as foreign agents or threats transparency bill. I an gets more to Israel? than hal o its money from a foreign They are not threatening Israel. Our government, it’s the right o the democracy is very strong; we can handle citizens o¬ Israel to know that.