The legend of King Midas is well known. He was the king of Phrygia (in what is now Turkey) who was granted a reward by Bacchus for his hospitality. The god of wine and dance endowed him with the ability of having everything he touched turn into gold. This made the king happy for a while, until he realized that this “Midas touch” had a downside: It included his food and drink and much else besides, which included his beloved daughter. He begged to be released from this unbearable gift. And his request was granted, to his great relief.
Something similar seems to have happened to the newly re-elected president of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump. Believing in his supernatural powers, he set an unachievable goal of dismantling the Palestinian territory of Gaza and turning it into another one of his Shangri-las, complete with casinos, luxury hotels, and golf courses – apparently dismissing, or suppressing, the fact that he has seen six of his earlier casinos sue for bankruptcy.
Mr. Trump is under the illusion that he can force the Palestinians to give up their ancestral lands for money – lots of it. He was not shy to speak of the millions of dollars his government gives to the Palestinians every year. This is like King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, offering to buy out the vineyard of Nabot, who refused to sell on the grounds that his land was a family inheritance going back to the time of Joshua and was therefore not for sale. The Palestinians likewise can point to the centuries of their inherited lands, though not as far back as Joshua. Either way, their claim is based on a value much higher than mere lucre.
Our prime minister has fallen for the same illusion, which is hardly surprising. One the one hand, Netanyahu could not do anything but praise Mr. Trump for his “creative and innovative idea.” On the other hand, he must realize that the great plan is absurd, DOA. Maybe the Palestinians will turn to another provider, such as the oil-rich kingdoms of Saudi Arabia or the Emirates, and end their reliance on the rich uncle from far-away America.
What the hell?
The Netanyahus’ love of material luxuries was no more apparent than in their stay in the US. Not only did the family stay longer than was absolutely necessary and thus missed the return of the three emaciated captives from Gaza, but they feasted at a luxurious hotel in full view of the cameras. What was even worse than this display of gluttony was what the prime minister said on his belated return to the Holy Land.
Referring to the trial of corruption which has been dragging on for eight years, he had the temerity to call his experience Gehinnom – hell. This was the very week when our imprisoned and now freed captives had indeed been through a real hell at the hands of Hamas. Much of the time the prime minister complained about was caused by his own delaying tactics, beside the fact that at the beginning of his trial he claimed that it would not interfere with his public duties in running the country.
Both of these examples show Netanyahu as being cynical, insensitive, if not indifferent, to the fate of ordinary citizens who have been caught up in a war, a good part of whose origins can be laid at the door of the prime minister himself. All this will hopefully come to light in the official state inquiry, when and if it comes.
Drought? What drought?
Has anyone noticed that Israel is suffering a sever drought? Judging by the lack of any serious coverage in the media, it seems not. Yet we are already in March, and most places around the country have had at most a third or a half of their annual rainfall. There are biblical precedents, of course. Droughts appear in various stories (for example, with Abraham (Genesis 12: 10) and Isaac (Genesis 26:1) and help to drive their narratives forward. But in one place, there is an explicit reason given for the drought – that of the three-year drought in the time of Achav and Jezebel (again!).
According to the sages, Achav was a brilliant Torah scholar, as well as “a king of the world” – a rabbinical hyperbole. His turning away from the God of Israel was caused in part by his wife, the very beautiful but wicked princess from Phoenicia. Together, the two led the nation of Israel astray. The prophet Elijah reminded them in no uncertain terms that their behavior, and in particular their idolatry, was the cause of the heavens seizing up. Elijah then challenged their priests of Ba’al to a contest, which he won outright. The result allowed Elijah to tell Achav, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of heavy rain...The wind rose and a heavy rain came on, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel...” (1 Kings 19:41 and 45).
These biblical references point to the strong connection between human behavior and heavenly intervention. Whether we can draw from this narrative a conclusion that would fit our own dire situation today is only speculative. After all, we have no king or queen sitting on a royal throne. We are living in “the only parliamentary democracy in the region.” But there are others who might argue for the opposite hypotheses, in particular how the current coalition government is trying its hardest to turn away from democratic values into an authoritarian dictatorship.
Meanwhile, we have no rain.
Salt of the earth
I am a member of a group of volunteers who go to the farms on the edge of Gaza every week to help with the pruning or the gathering of the harvests. We are one group of maybe 50,000 volunteers throughout the country who are helping with the crops. Without our assistance, the fruits and vegetables would rot in the ground or perish on their bushes and trees.
What has become clear in these months of volunteering is the character of the farmers and their families. Deeply attached to the soil of Israel, they are in the literal sense the salt of the earth.
They are heirs to the intrepid pioneers of a generation or two ago who built the land, without whom there would be no agricultural base to Israel’s burgeoning economy. The individuals we have had the merit of speaking to include highly sophisticated and educated people who have brought to their labors all the best of modern technology and know-how which has turned this previously unproductive land into one of the wonders of the contemporary world. It is a great privilege to be able to help these people and to be reminded how without these farmers, we would lack the basic infrastructure that keeps the country going.
So it is galling that few, if any, of the so-called higher ups, the politicos, have deemed it appropriate to visit the destroyed farms and the grieving families, to apologize or to re-connect with them after the disasters that were caused by their own negligence. A true embarrassment that will take more than an election to erase from the collective memory.■