1.
Last Thursday, I stood in Paris Square in Jerusalem, at the height of the stormy demonstration against the prime minister, and I was reminded of what Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev said about Shabbat Hazon. He reiterated that the word 'Hazon', which is associated with the saddest Shabbat of the year, the Shabbat before Tisha B'Av, contains great comfort: "'Hazon' comes from the word 'ray', that God, the Blessed, shows us the good that will come to us," he said in a sermon he delivered on Shabbat Hazon, explaining that on this Shabbat, a person is shown the good that will come.
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""The Blessed One has prepared our sanctuary for us, but we have not yet given it to him. And every year on Shabbat, he calls us in a vision and shows us: Look and see the third temple standing ready to descend to earth by fire from heaven. But the matter is in your hands. Return to me and I will return to you.".
And why did I remember this sermon at the demonstration?
Because someone whose name I don't even remember - I just remember that he introduced himself at the beginning of his speech as a "producer, choreographer and spiritual person" - stood on stage and said the following sentences to the crowd slowly and in a spiritual tone: "Friends, I want to invite everyone to come inside and connect our frequency. I want to do a guided imagery exercise. Come take a deep breath in with me. Close your eyes and let go... continue breathing deeply... and imagine together that we see on television screens, on the news, on CNN, on all the channels in the world - Bibi. His eyes are lowered and his lips say: 'I resign. I resign.' Give yourselves an inner smile and raise your hands, because we are a revolution of love.".
Wow. That's exactly the idea of Shabbat Hazon. To stand amidst all the terrible reality and believe that it could still be different, to close your eyes and imagine how it would be better here. I just wonder what will happen the day after this big and terrible day, the day that generations of producers, choreographers and intellectuals have dreamed of. Okay, Bibi will lower his eyes and his lips will say "I resign. I resign.".
And then what? What real problems will it solve for you? Will your life really change? In my opinion, you're going to be much worse off: first of all in security, in foreign relations, in the economy. But leave politics - on the most personal, family, marital, mental level: is this the maximum you can imagine? Is this the peak of your ambitions? Is this the vision?
2.
Well, why am I talking like this about Netanyahu's resignation? Look at what it is, if you get there, even just as an anthropological observer from the side - something from the spirit of the Festivalfour affects you.
Fact: Without noticing, I began to adopt the participants' way of thinking. I take their childish assumptions seriously and respond instead of laughing at them. What do they really think? If they just shout and dance in the streets enough, then a prime minister who was democratically elected by the majority of the people will stand up and resign?
Look, I don't underestimate the legitimacy of protests. You can demonstrate against or for a specific issue on the agenda. Say, against reparations from Germany. Say, against the Oslo Accords. Say, for the release of Gilad Shalit. There are a thousand and one examples of specific issues that citizens took to the streets en masse over. Some of the protests benefited that issue, most did not, but one thing is pretty clear: you can't replace an elected government in a democratic country with roadblocks. It just doesn't work that way.
But the guys at Balfour think differently, and it's amazing that the media isn't ashamed to support their struggle like this (and by the way, even with an enthusiastic media campaign, only a few thousand people come here).
3.
There was a lot of talk this week about the police and the riot police and the cavalry, but less talk about the essence. About how the Balfour Protest is simply ridiculous.
So here, as a public service, are some quotes from speeches (and meditations) I heard there this week. Before that, I should preface this by saying that in all the many demonstrations that have taken place over the past two weeks, there have been almost no speeches. Why? After all, speeches are the bread and butter of every demonstration. They are the spirit, the path, the agenda, what moves the masses. Oh, so that's the thing, language is much more complicated.
Who will speak? What will they speak about? After all, there is no single leadership, or single protest, or single statement. Just a mob that has heard too much of Razi Barkai and Rino Tzror and Yael Dan, and seen too much of Amnon Abramovich and Rina Matshil. People who have slowly, or quickly, become convinced that it is terribly bad here. And that change must be made. Suddenly, a person wakes up in the morning and feels screwed up and starts walking.
But on Thursday, for one evening, the Movement for the Quality of Government, apparently wanting media attention, set up a stage with loudspeakers in the heart of the mass demonstration in Paris Square. You have to listen to what was said there. It can teach us much more about a "state in protest" than any documentation of this or that extremist sign.
4.
""Good evening to you. What a privilege!" The second speaker held his cell phone in his hand and read his speech from it with great excitement. You could hear the flapping of the wings of history in his voice.
""We are the younger generation, it's time for us to take the reins from the previous generation. Generation after generation, that's what you wanted, right? We need to connect the dots. We know that a small group decides what happens in Israel - media people, business people, politicians, and they call it 'democracy.' Come vote once every four years, or three times a year, and bye. That's what you told our parents or our grandparents. You won't tell us that! (Applause) We have an opinion and you will listen to it! (Roaring applause) You work for us, not us for you! (Ecstasy in the audience).".
And the young revolutionary continued to shout his doctrine: "We don't have a right and a left, this is old, this is a world of the past, which was capitalist and socialist. Today there is justice and equality and the environment and sharing and togetherness. And remember us or, Rebekah, we will turn on you!".
Listen, buddy. You're talking nicely overall, but there still needs to be some kind of logical reasoning in your mishna. You can't say contradictory sentences. "Justice" and "equality" and "environment" and "sharing" are the most socialist. It's a bit like me saying "We don't have a right and a left, it's the world of the past, today there's only the regulation of outposts and the construction of the Path of the Fathers and the death penalty for terrorists.".
Well, there's no time to think, the Revolution Manifesto continues: "We are an entire generation that chose to kick in order to have a different future... We are brave, we are strong, we are the real danger to the Netanyahu regime. We were born into this regime and decided to replace it. We will change the rules of the game here! The politics we know is dead. We will make everything transparent. We will decentralize the world. That's clear to me. We are building something new here, and it will grow to be the new order in Israel. The frequency of the young people will wash over the country. Sprinkle us with water hoses - we will have a water party! We will lead the battle because we cannot be stopped.
""Nothing they say about us will help them. Our call will shake the country. We are special and stubborn, and we will teach Israel what protest is. And it will be with love. To begin a healing process for the entire public that has been continuously brainwashed throughout the years of the dictator's tenure!".
Things are crazy. Guru, the new order of the young is about to sweep the country!
5.
It's not that I don't have criticism of Netanyahu and his handling of the coronavirus, but most of what I heard there this week had nothing to do with the coronavirus at all. They didn't speak against the government's handling of the pandemic, but only against "the dictator.".
Let's do a little exercise, okay? Let's say that the coronavirus suddenly disappears as if it never existed, does the protest against Netanyahu disappear with it? Of course not. The number of participants in the roadblocks in Jerusalem will probably decrease, because there will finally be somewhere to go out at night, but it is clear that the inciting protest will continue in full force. Because the Balfour protest is not against the coronavirus, and you know what? It is not even against Netanyahu. It is against what he symbolizes.
Against hundreds of thousands of citizens who, despite everything, vote again and again at the ballot box in the right-wing way, in the way of tradition. And that is what hurts in the story of the 2020 Egyptian protests.
This feeling that in that deep breath that connects everyone's frequency to the "revolution of love", in that charming inner smile, the collective guided imagination seeks to eliminate not only Bibi, but also half of the people.
• The column is published in the newspaper 'Bisheva'.'
