Israeli Nachman Shai Pulled No Punches

If having serious historian Ken Stein start the program, then have the diplomatic Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon welcome the audience and mild-mannered Rabbi Peter Berg of The Temple introduce the speaker, the audience could have been surprised by Nachman Shai’s provocative headlining speech.

Listeners who were familiar with the former Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, however, expected no less from the Jerusalem-born, former visiting professor at Emory University. As he said when he opened his remarks at the Oct. 4 program celebrating both the 15-year anniversary of the Center for Israel Education and the 75th year of Israel’s birth, “I’m not running for anything. I am retired from politics.”

Indeed, his speech may have flustered some feathers, but it was obviously heartfelt and based on his long experience in Israel where he served in the country’s legislature, the Knesset, and achieved national attention in 1991 when, as a brigadier general, he served as the Israel Defense Forces spokesman during the Persian Gulf War.

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“I am deeply saddened and worried about what is happening in Israel,” Shai shared with his audience who came to congratulate Stein for founding CIE. “These are indeed deep, intense days, filled with numerous events – one might even say dramatic events — in the history of the State of Israel.”

According to Shai, “the internal political divide between the incumbent government and the opposition is unprecedented in both its content and form. Both camps believe in democracy but have vastly different interpretations of what democracy entails.” One camp, he said, argues that democracy means majority rule, that “we won the elections and therefore, we are entitled to do anything we please.”

The other camp, however, “contends that democracy goes beyond mere numbers…but rather, it calls for a democracy that safeguards minority rights, upholds the rule of law and maintains a separation of powers,” he said.

“Never before in our history have we experienced such a divisive conflict,” which has brought Israelis into the streets to protest against the agenda of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for more than 40 weeks in a row – including Shai, his children and his grandchildren.

Shai said the roots of today’s contentious crisis can be traced back to the decision of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, who decided to quickly declare the creation of the state and agreed to make compromises with his partners to make that happen. “That’s how great leaders act in critical moments. They must look over the horizon into the future. They must judge today, at this moment, what is best for the country.”

As an aside, Shai added, “I wish our present prime minister understood that compromise is the right way to go.”

Ben Gurion and 36 other leaders signed the Declaration of Independence which “lacks legal standing,” and promised to have a constitution within four months. It’s now been 75 years and Israel still doesn’t have a constitution. “The seeds of the current crisis were sown at that time,” he said, and are the basis of “today’s foremost challenge.”

“We should immediately reconcile those deep divisions on the nature of Israel’s democracy, otherwise the country’s future may be at risk. Time is not on our side,” he warned. “Without any legal agreement on how to run the state, we are looking to the Supreme Court as an appropriate source of authority to hold lawmakers accountable and protect the people’s rights. What is the appropriate balance between our judges and the Knesset members? This is the debate that is at the core of the domestic churning in Israel,” stressed the former Knesset member.

In fact, Israel’s Supreme Court is debating several challenges against legislation passed by the current government, which holds a majority in the Knesset, that critics – including Shai – say will weaken Israel’s judicial system and its democracy. A decision from the court is expected by the end of the year.

Without any legal agreement on how to run the state, we are looking to the Supreme Court as an appropriate source of authority to hold lawmakers accountable and protect the people’s rights. What is the appropriate balance between our judges and the Knesset members? This is the debate that is at the core of the domestic churning in Israel.

The second issue Israel must deal with is its relationship with the Palestinians, Shai noted. Israel needs a solution that addresses both Palestinian refugees and their desire for self-determination, he said. As a board member of a 14-year-old group that includes hundreds of former senior commanders from the military, defense, intelligence, and foreign service whose goal is “peace with security” and separation from the Palestinians, Shai said, “We must find a way to grant them self-governance while ensuring Israel’s security and security for our citizens.”

He added that “as human beings and as Jews,” Israelis need to give the Palestinians a chance to run their own government. He emphasized that Israel must not annex the West Bank, or the country will lose its Jewish and democratic character. According to him, both Netanyahu and former Prime Minister Menachem Begin promised not to annex the territory.

Personally, he said, he didn’t want his children or grandchildren to continue ruling over another people.

As Minister of Diaspora Affairs until last year, Shai also spoke of the long relationship between Israel and the Jewish people outside the country. He said that Israel is the only country that helps protect Jews who live abroad, noting the historical and dramatic rescue of Air France passengers in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976 by Israeli commandos, and more recently, the Israeli rescue team who hurried to Surfside, Fla., in 2021, when a condominium in which many Jews lived collapsed.

“It was Jews in the Diaspora who laid the foundation of Israel and built the State,” he said, and now it’s time for Israel to give back. He said the two communities “are the link in the long chain of Jewish history.”