At the end of a month in which I was part of the Open Waves Marathon, it seems to me that the most significant things said in the studios were not about "Protective Edge," but about a number of other things:
• In fact, the left and the right have not yet agreed on who is in control here. "Maybe once, let us try our policy," said MK Michal Rozin of Meretz to MKs from the right in the Ulpan, "After all, since 1977 we have been following your path." The next day, in the same Ulpan, Danny Danon of the Likud said: "From Oslo I and Oslo II until the disengagement, we have been following the path of the left. Maybe we will finally try to control and implement a right-wing policy?" So the debate is not only about the future path, but also about who controlled in the past and who controls in the present.
• Zvi Hendel, a former resident of Gush Katif and former MK, said that to this day his wife sends money to the Palestinian workers who worked for them for years. At first, the bank transfer was direct, and today aid has to be sent through the workers' Arab-Israeli relatives. "It's not their fault that our greenhouses have become terrorist greenhouses. They would be happy if we stayed there and supported them," he explained.
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• And in general, during serious conversations in the studio, many Israelis suddenly had small memories of Gaza: Eli Yishai told how he studied as a young man at the "Negev" yeshiva in Netivot and had his dental treatments in Gaza, without any fear. Dr. Anat Barko, a terrorism researcher, casually told how as a child her father took her to the Gaza beach. MK Zevulun Kalfa recalled how he used to hitchhike in the area of the Sajaiya junction. There were days.
• To the attention of Bozhi Herzog and Aryeh Deri: The two previous chairmen of your parties successfully burned down the studios. Shelly Yachimovich and Eli Yishai well represented the positions of their constituents, day and night.
• Miri Regev simultaneously shouted at MK Tamar Zandberg from Meretz, Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer, and a little bit at the presenter in the studio. In the meantime, all the while, she was also texting and receiving encouragement and hugs from her fans. And despite this description, to the best of my impression, she is really not a "shy". She sometimes makes an effort to appear that way. Regev is much more sophisticated and planned than she seems.
Sunday, 6 p.m., Mount Herzl. The memorial service for Jonathan Einhorn is delayed, because the funeral for Liel Gideoni has not yet ended. Only after the friends of Gideoni, who fell in Gaza, disperse from the square does the ceremony begin in memory of Einhorn, eight years after he fell in the Second Lebanon War. His mother, Revital Einhorn, surprises the audience. She attacks the war in which her son fell, but tells him, over his grave, how much the situation has changed for the better: "Eight years, Yoni, and it seems like yesterday. And really, today we are at war too. And it seems like, but only like, it's the same, but in fact everything has changed. Indeed, it is a war of survival, then in the north and today in the south. Then the war began because of two kidnapped soldiers, Regev and Goldwasser, and today — a rolling operation began because of three kidnapped young boys, who it turns out were ordered to live by their deaths. But again, Yoni, it only seems similar. On the inside, everything is different. Then it was a war of hollow statesmen, today — of brave generals. In the Second Lebanon, there was no direction, no path, and the leaders had no faith in the justice of the path. Today, thank God, the goals are clear and the path is firm. So, in those days, beloved Yoni, there was really no support from the people for the war. We felt it. Today, we all feel one hundred percent love, dedication, Determination, giving, prayer, unity, faith.
""In your war, my dear child, you didn't eat for days. I didn't know. I didn't imagine you were hungry, that there was such a mess of equipment and food at the front. Today — a trained and skilled army, and so many supportive citizens. Thousands of food packages, lots of action, volunteering, letters, psalms. All of them are Protective Edge. You defended the north, dear Yoni, and peace returned to the communities. Today we are fighting — at the front and in the rear — for the south, and how wonderful it is to look around now, to see a different people, more wonderful. Don't get sad, my friends," Revital concluded by saying to the audience. "Look around and see how much everything has changed and become clearer. Nothing is the same. Yoni, go to the Creator of the Universe and pray for us, for your people. I love you very much and miss you painfully, Mom.".
Tuesday, 8 p.m., "Gan Ha'ir" in Tel Aviv. Discussion panel on the occasion of the fast of Tish B'Av.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau listened to all the speakers, and then it was his turn. In the days when everyone was talking about the gratuitous hatred that destroyed the Temple, and the gratuitous love that should build it, he apparently decided he was a little fed up.
""It's great that we're speaking out against gratuitous hatred. It's great that we're trying to cultivate love," the city's chief rabbi began his remarks. "It would really be wonderful if this unity remained with us even after the days of emergency. But it's impossible to take things out of context. It's impossible to accept only what sounds comfortable and nice, like love, but not embrace what obliges us and perhaps limits us a little.
""If our sources don't seem right to us, we say about them: It's an anachronism, it's outdated, it wasn't meant for the 21st century. So here's what the prophet Jeremiah says, in a prophecy that is difficult and poignant, and in my opinion also contemporary.".
Here Rabbi Lau began to quote a prophecy in which Jeremiah pleads with the people to stop working on Shabbat and sanctify this day, or else Jerusalem will be destroyed. After reading the verses, he also explains them: "Jeremiah stands before the people and does not speak about love and hate, but about Shabbat. Also in this week's parashah, Parashah 'Va'tchanan, the Ten Commandments appear, and there it is also said: 'Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it.'".
The rabbi doesn't even need to mention Ron Huldai's fight against Gideon Sa'ar over the explosions and the Sabbath. Everyone in the audience understands.
Then he pulls out another, less old source: "Meir Dizengoff, the father of this city and its first mayor, issued a proclamation that was published throughout the city, with Resolution No. 33 of the City Council, in 1933. The title is: 'Against Public Desecration of Shabbat.' It says inside: 'The Shabbat is the sign of national solidarity of the people of Israel in all generations, and whoever harms it harms the unity of Israel. Keep the Shabbat, and it will protect us all.' That's what Dizengoff said to the residents of Tel Aviv. Not Jeremiah, and not me.
""And do you know what he calls this city? Not a city without a break and not a secular city. In the same ad, he writes about our city, 'the pure Hebrew city.' On this particular night, I ask that we pay attention to these things as well.".
Jewish status:""Comfort, comfort my people, says your God" (from the Haftarah read on Shabbat)
• The column is published in Yedioth Ahronoth
