APRIL 6 • 2023 | 9

her pithy aphorisms, such as, 
“Peace will come when the 
Arabs love their children more 
than they hate us.
”
It’s a privilege to be a woman 
in Israel today. Women have 
succeeded at all levels of Israeli 
society. Two stunning recent 
examples are Ada Yonath, a 
scientist who won the Nobel 
Prize in Chemistry in 2009, and 
Dorit Beinisch, who served as 
the ninth president of Israel’s 
Supreme Court from 2006-2012.

PURSUING DREAMS
Israel enabled me to pursue 
and fulfill my own dreams. 
From being a child star to 
becoming a producer in 
Hollywood, an author and 
Israel’s Special Envoy for 
Combating Antisemitism, I 
have never known a difference 
between what I can achieve 
and what a man can achieve. 
Israeli women are known to 
be tough — and we are.
But in other Middle Eastern 
countries, women are living a 
nightmare instead of achieving 
their dreams. If I had been born 
in any of these neighboring 
countries, I would never have 
had the opportunities life in 
Israel brought me. 
Yet, the media overwhelm-
ingly highlights negative nar-
ratives about Israel and often 
blatantly lies about us, smearing 
us as an “apartheid” state in 
a heartbreaking comparison 
to the institutional racism of 
pre-Mandela South Africa.
If you go to Israel, you will 
see the truth. Everyone, no 
matter what his or her gender, 
race, religion, sexual orientation 
or age is treated equally. 
I’m proud to be an Israeli 
woman. I call on my sisters 
around the world to recognize 
Israel’s legacy of empowering 
women and vigorously support 
women’s rights across the great-
er Middle East. 

ISRAELI WOMEN’S KEY ROLE 
from page 4

a key component of Israel’s 
democratic system. Reservists 
in the Israel Defense Forces 
vowed to absent themselves 
from duty in protest.
Netanyahu and his allies 
said that the reform reflect-
ed the will of Israel’s right-
wing majority. But facing 
the threats from reservists, 
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant 
announced on television the 
night of March 25 that he sup-
ported a pause in the legisla-
tion, as well as dialogue toward 
a compromise. He said internal 
conflict in the IDF surround-
ing the overhaul put Israel’s 
security at risk.
One day later, on March 26, 
Netanyahu fired Gallant — a 
decision that sparked massive, 
spontaneous protests across 
the country, starting late that 
Sunday night and lasting until 
Monday’s early hours, and then 
reconvening Monday after-
noon.
In his speech on Monday, 
Netanyahu railed against 
reservists refusing to report for 
duty, which he called a “terrible 
crime.
”
“The State of Israel cannot 
exist without the IDF, and the 
IDF cannot exist with refusal,
” 
he said. “Refusal from one side 
will lead to refusal from the 
other side. Refusal is the end of 
our country. So I demand — 
demand — of the commanders 
of the security forces, and the 
commanders of the IDF, to 
forcefully oppose the phenom-
enon of refusal.
”
Opposition leaders, includ-
ing Benny Gantz and Yair 
Lapid, accepted Netanyahu’s 
call for dialogue. Lapid said 
the dialogue should lead to 
the writing of a constitution 
for Israel, which the country 
currently lacks, under the aegis 
of President Isaac Herzog. For 
weeks, Herzog has been calling 
for a pause in the legislative 

process and had previous-
ly unveiled a compromise 
on the judicial reform that 
Netanyahu’s coalition rejected. 
The Biden administration had 
also urged Netanyahu to find 
a compromise, including in a 
conversation between President 
Joe Biden and Netanyahu. 
Netanyahu’s announcement 
was endorsed by several large 
Jewish organizations.
“We welcome the Israeli 
government’s suspension of 
legislative consideration of 
judicial reform measures,
” 
read a joint statement by the 
Anti-Defamation League, the 
American Jewish Committee, 
Jewish Federations of North 
America and Conference of 
Presidents of Major American 
Jewish Organizations. 
“The last three months have 
been painful to watch and yet a 
textbook case of democracy in 
action. We respect the political 
leaders, business executives, 
community activists, cultural 
figures and ordinary Israelis 
who took to the streets, exer-
cising their love of country and 
their passion for democracy.
”
Bitter feelings were still 
evident in the prime minis-
ter’s speech: Netanyahu said 
pro-government protesters 
who turned out on Monday 
evening were “spontaneous,
” 
“not paid for, not spurred by 
the media.
” Netanyahu has at 
times depicted the massive 
protests as a conspiracy.
Gantz, in accepting the offer, 
said, “The prime minister is 
principally responsible for 
tearing the country apart.
” He 
also called on Netanyahu to 
reinstall Gallant. Netanyahu 
did not mention Gallant in his 
address.
Netanyahu said his decision 
to pause the legislative process 
was backed by a majority of 
his governing coalition. In 
December, Netanyahu allied 

with the far-right Religious 
Zionist bloc as part of his gov-
erning coalition, and one of the 
bloc’s leaders, Finance Minister 
Bezalel Smotrich, was press-
ing for quick passage of the 
reforms up until Netanyahu’s 
announcement.
Another leader of the far-
right bloc, Itamar Ben-Gvir, 
the national security minister, 
circulated an agreement signed 
by himself and Netanyahu to 
establish a “National Guard” 
alongside the decision to 
pause the court reform. It is 
not clear how such an entity 
would function alongside 
Israel’s already massive security 
infrastructure, but a report on 
Kann, Israel’s public broad-
caster, said the new initiative 
would receive a budget of 
$2.5 billion and operate under 
Ben-Gvir’s authority. Ben-Gvir 
has called for the loosening 
of open-fire rules in clashes 
between Israeli security forces 
and Palestinians. Netanyahu 
likewise did not mention the 
agreement with Ben-Gvir in 
his speech.
In a tweet posted shortly 
before Netanyahu’s speech, 
Ben-Gvir sounded defiant.
“The reform will pass. The 
national guard will be estab-
lished. The budget I demanded 
for the Ministry of National 
Security will pass in its entire-
ty,
” he wrote. “No one will 
frighten us. No one will be able 
to change the decision of the 
people.
”
Then, mimicking the central 
chant of the anti-government 
protesters, he added: “Repeat 
after me: De-mo-cra-cy!” 

CORRECTION
In “What’s New with Andy 
Levin?” (March 30, page 30), 
we mistakenly described his 
father as the “late Sander Levin.
” 
Sander Levin is not deceased. 
We apologize for the error.

NETANYAHU ANNOUNCES PAUSE 
ON JUDICIARY REFORM from page 6

