8 | APRIL 20 • 2023 

guest column

The Problem in Israel
I 

have been trying to write 
this piece for a while now. 
Every day in the past three 
months seemed to be a dawn 
of a new era, and a moment 
I had to express myself and 
share how it 
feels to be an 
Israeli. I found 
it extremely 
challenging to 
find the words 
or even to 
identify what it 
is that I think 
and feel. I see myself as a 
critical thinker and a hopeful 
dreamer. Still, if you ask me 
today what am I thinking or 
feeling … Is it despair? Hope? 
I will probably say “confused.”
I just came back from Israel 
as part of the Motor City 
Mission, a mission that took 
140 participants to “return” to 
Israel after we hadn’t gone as a 
community since COVID. 
When we were in 
Jerusalem, I went to a 
protest with my younger 
sister, who is a veteran of 
these demonstrations. It was 
inspiring to see how the rain 
didn’t scare anybody. To the 
contrary — the rain defined 
this moment for them. For 
the first time in many years, 
Israelis are fighting for the 
image of Israel. The term 
Zionism, in its main historical 
form as the establishment 
of a sovereign Jewish state, 
has been fulfilled. Today, 
the question of Zionism as a 
reality of life within the Jewish 
state is at stake. 
People from different 
perspectives walk the streets 
because Zionism needs to be 
defined again — not as an 

intellectual debate but as a 
roadmap for our daily reality. 
Coming back home to 
Detroit, the experiences I 
obtained, mixed with strong 
emotions, allowed me to have 
some new observations.

THE PROBLEM 
AND THE ISSUE 
Judicial reform is what people 
are currently fighting about. 
In favor or not — that is our 
problem. But the issue is much 
deeper. If you ask any part of 
Israeli society, they will tell 
you they feel left behind, that 
Israel as a state forgot about 
them, and that they are not 
truly represented or have real 
power. Even the majority who 
elected this current coalition 
will say that. This is a reality 
after 75 years of neglecting 
our society. 
Remember how hard it 
was to plan for dinner with 
your Israeli friend? Israelis 
are creative, they are problem 
solvers, and they are critical 
and direct — but they don’t 
know how to plan. That is 
why instead of transforming 

a vision into a constitution, 
we still don’t have one. That 
is why many of our deepest 
issues have transformed into 
“status quos” — without a real 
solution and policy. That is 
the truth for our immigration 
and refugee issue, for the 
issue of ultra-Orthodox and 
recruitment to the Army, and 
that is also part of the problem 
we have with our Palestinian 
neighbors. We don’t like 
long-term solutions. We put 
on a short-term bandage. 
It allows flexibility, it takes 
away the fear of being blamed 
… but it does not solve the 
issues. And over the years, 
our problems are becoming 
more challenging and harder 
to solve.

POLITICS OF POWER
In 1977, the coin of political 
power flipped over Israel 
when the Likud party won 
the majority of votes and 
was able to form a coalition. 
The late Menachem Begin 
z’l, came into office and 
replaced Yitzhak Rabin z’l. 
I was curious about this 

moment and found a short 
video showing a toast that was 
held in the prime minister’s 
office, the day they transferred 
power. It was respectful, and 
they appreciated one another. 
This doesn’t mean they 
didn’t have deep ideological 
differences, oh, yes, they had. 
But that’s really it. Ideological 
differences don’t have to be 
translated into hate, and they 
are not solved only by gaining 
more power over the other, 
at least not in the framework 
of modern society and state 
— which relies mostly on 
creating common grounds 
between the gaps of ideologies 
and values. 
 With this pastoral moment 
in 1977 in mind, I ask you 
not to open any Israeli news 
channel broadcasting a debate 
in the Knesset. No respect nor 
ideology is seen there. What 
you will find there is politics 
of power. The use of dirty 
language, bashing people and 
communities, and provocative 
actions are used to breed fear 
and hate in our society. Why? 
Because it’s the easy way to get 
support from your own base. 
Dr. Yoav Heler, who 
established the civil movement 
The Fourth Quarter, calls 
this politics of defeat. This 
type of politics creates a 
win-lose balance, rather than 
understanding that living 
in a healthy and striving 
democracy is based on a way 
to create the widest common 
ground possible, eventually 
forming a win-win in most 
areas of life. Polls show a 
majority of people are much 
more flexible than we tend 
to think, and we can actually 

PURELY COMMENTARY

Yiftah Leket

Israelis protest against the proposed changes to the legal system in 
Haifa, on Feb. 20, 2023. 

SHIR TOREM/FLASH90

