In the course of the last two weeks, three prominent MKs – Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Transportation Minister of Merav Michaeli – traveled to the US, despite the fact that because of the renewed outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bennett advised all Israelis not to travel abroad unless absolutely necessary.
In retrospect of the three trips, not only Bennett’s trip to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden could be classified as absolutely necessary, but also that of Michaeli and her spouse, Lior Schleien, who traveled to the US to pick up their newly born son, Uri, delivered by a surrogate mother.
Before Michaeli announced why she and Schleien had made the trip, she was viciously attacked by the media, which was partially her own fault for failing to indicate in advance that the trip had nothing to do with a vacation, but was due to unavoidable personal circumstances.
Netanyahu’s trip to the Hawaiian island of Lanai is anything but absolutely necessary, besides being way beyond his financial means or willingness to pay for it, for reasons of frugality or sheer stinginess. It is part of a pattern that repeats itself in Netanyahu’s style of life, of accepting the generous hospitality of billionaire acquaintances – in this case Larry Ellison, who, besides being the owner of Lanai, also happens to be a witness for the prosecution in Case 2000 (Netanyahu/Mozes).
What is disturbing about Netanyahu’s trip is that the general public (not only the quarter that voted for him) seems very lenient and forgiving in his case, and much less so in the case of Michaeli, before the purpose of her trip was revealed.
Perhaps this is because a member of the government is believed to have greater responsibility than the leader of the opposition when it comes to recommendations of the current prime minister, but since Netanyahu is critical of Bennett for failing, in his opinion, to take a more rigid position in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic – especially with regards to his failure to close down Ben-Gurion Airport altogether – his conduct certainly raises some disturbing questions.
Especially when it comes to Netanyahu’s supporters, many might consider his decision to fly to Hawaii for a family vacation justified because it disobeys a recommendation by a prime minister whom Netanyahu considers illegitimate and a crook, who robbed him of his kingdom.
I find the fact that somewhere between 25% and 49% of the Israeli population still believes that Bibi has the right to do anything he likes – from taking or giving bribes, thorough milking of the public purse for his personal pleasure (how many security personnel are accompanying the Netanyahus in Hawaii at the state’s expense?) to pooh-poohing the prime minister’s recommendations, because allegedly “he is the king” – most disturbing.
BUT ON to Michaeli. At first, after Michaeli announced the real purpose of her trip to the US, many sighed a sigh of relief and wished her and Schleien mazal tov – including, surprisingly enough, MK Galit Distal Atbaryan from the Likud. In Israel the birth of a child is always considered a joyous event, and the fact that for the 54-year-old Michaeli this is a first child seems a reason for special joy.
But very soon “good souls” started to raise eyebrows at best, and fling mud at worst. They stated that to bring a child into the world at the age of 54 is selfish, pointing out that when it will be time for the boy to serve in the army, his mother will be 72 years old. “The fantasy of preserving perpetual youth” was the way one of my friends described the phenomenon, while totally ignored the fact that it was Schleien (who is 43) who kept speaking of having a child, “but only with Merav,” thus expressing his love for her, and Merav decided to comply with his wishes, even though she herself was always opposed to having children on principle.
Michaeli is also being attacked for appearing to have broken one of her own principles, after having spoken for years about women being able to be complete without bearing a child – as if changing one’s mind, or letting circumstances intervene with one’s plans, is an unforgivable crime.
Then there are those who point out that she has always viewed surrogacy as the crime of taking advantage of the bodies of poor woman for selfish reasons. Again: changing one’s mind is not a crime, though the subject of surrogacy is, and will remain, controversial.
But the most revolting reaction came from Dov Halbertal, a publicist, lawyer and bearer of the title of rabbi, who ran in the elections to the 24th Knesset together with former Shas MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem (and failed to enter the Knesset).
Halbertal, who views himself as a haredi, who used to attend the classes of the late Litvak Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, has been the haredi darling of many liberal seculars because he advocates separation of religion and state, is highly critical of the attitude of the haredim to the state in general and the IDF in particular, is especially critical of the haredi attitude toward the COVID-19 pandemic, and for a certain period in the past (before he started defining himself as a right-winger) was opposed to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.
On Amnon Levy’s program on Channel 13 last week, several days after the announcement about Michaeli and Schleien’s son, Halbertal argued that not only should Michaeli not be congratulated for the birth, but the child should be taken out of her hands (by whom, he did not say) because she is unworthy of raising a child, after (as he falsely argued) she had preached for years against having children, had ruined the lives of thousands of families, and had let down thousands of women who had followed her – as if she were the guru of a cult, which she certainly is not.
Halbertal continued by arguing that the child is a complete goy, since in all likelihood the egg used to create the embryo was from a non-Jewish woman – as if all of this is any of his business, or the business of anyone besides Michaeli and Schleien themselves, for that matter.
Even if the child is not Jewish according to the Halacha, there are hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the same status, and it is neither a crime nor something to be ashamed of, simply one of the shameful consequences of religious coercion in Israel, which should vanish from the face of the earth.
As if all this was not outrageous enough, Halbertal added that perhaps Michaeli will decide to marry the child off to 46-year-old Labor MK Ibtisam Mara’ana-Menuhin (an Arab MK, married to a Jew!), whom he referred to as a terrorist. That is sick.
I cannot understand why Channel 13 didn’t simply cut off Halbertal’s microphone. But what worries me most is that I suspect that many Israelis agree with Halbertal’s basic approach, even if not with the way he expressed it.
Incidentally, Bennett was one of those who congratulated Michaeli and Schleien. He himself should be congratulated for getting through his first meeting with Biden honorably, under the difficult circumstances of the deadly terrorist attack at Kabul airport. Our man in Hawaii is apparently not so pleased about this event. Whether or not he congratulated Michaeli and Schleien, we do not know.
The writer was a researcher in the Knesset Research and Information Center until her retirement, and recently published a book in Hebrew, The Job of the Knesset Member – An Undefined Job, soon to be published in English by Routledge.