Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society Conference

IDI Convenes Thought Leaders; Policy Makers for Annual Conference on Shared Society

Hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute's Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society.

So many of the deep divisions we see in Israeli society today come down to matters of religion and state. Each year IDI experts convene with policymakers, thought leaders, journalists, and experts from all sectors of society to consider how all Israelis – religious and secular; Jewish, Muslim, Christian and beyond – can live together in a shared democratic society.

As Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, Director of IDI's Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society noted while opening the conference, “Israeli society has always been divided, but it seems that today more than ever, the rules of the game have collapsed. The danger to the resilience of Israeli society is present.” Through the diverse views expressed by speakers from differing political camps, religious backgrounds, and walks of life, all speakers were unified behind this idea of preserving said resilience in Israeli society.

Selected Quotes:

Former President Reuven Rivlin, IDI Honorary Chair and Joan and Irwin Jacobs Distinguished Fellow in a conversation with Prof. Suzie Navot, IDI's Vice President of Research:

Speaking about divisions in Israeli society and referencing his iconic 2015 "Four Tribes" speech: “We knew that we were establishing a state composed of tribes, but I came to fear that a system might develop in which the tribes would think they have a state, rather than the state having tribes. The Tribes Speech was delivered as a warning sign. Very few saw it as a warning, and today we find ourselves in terrible days in which democracy is shaking beneath our feet. Citizens are being incited by one system or another against one another, in order to seize control of a system that today has become more important than the state itself.”

On the question of a possible presidential pardon for Prime Minister Netanyahu:

“A pardon is granted after a court judgment. Under no circumstances is it an appeal against the court or its ruling. When we find ourselves in a situation in which a public figure is in confrontation with the public itself and with the authorities—the judicial authority and the investigative authorities—we are in an almost impossible situation: a person accuses the state of conspiring to persecute him, and the state has filed an indictment. When you are a defendant and you accuse the state, someone must determine who is right. Can the President of the State serve as a judge between the contending sides? Of course not. It is the court that must make that determination.”

Israeli journalist and commentator Amit Segal in a conversation with IDI President Yohanan Plesner provided analysis on the issue of Haredi integration and the political implications: “We are reaching a point of no return. Although there isn't a dramatic growth in ultra-Orthodox political power [in the Knesset], there is a nightmare scenario in which 47–49% of the population does not study core curriculum subjects, does not serve in the army, and does not participate in the workforce. This is a situation that cannot be sustained, and therefore we must think differently about what to do about it. If we want to change this reality, the obvious step is the formation of a government based on a 'coalition of those who serve' and the removal of the [political] boycott of Netanyahu."

MK Avigdor Liberman, Chair of Yisrael Beiteinu party on this same issue: “What is needed is a conscription law for everyone: Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Circassians... My legislative proposal is simple: conscription at age 18 with no exemptions for anyone. Everyone reports to the induction center; the army decides whom it wants for the military track, and the rest go to a civilian service track, which will also be administered by a department within the Ministry of Defense.”

Dr. Khader Sawaed, Head of IDI's Arab Society in Israel Program, on a panel on closing the gaps and integrating Arab Israelis and the recent government decision to divert funding for the Arab sector to additional policing and security measures : "The cuts being made (to Resolution 550) constitute a double sin: on the one hand, they weaken the underlying drivers of crime and violence reduction in the medium and long term; on the other hand, in the short term they increase and expand both the number and scope of students and young people...who fall into cycles of poverty and, as a result, into the world of crime.”

MK Ohad Tal (Religious Zionist Party) and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset MK Michael Biton (Blue and White) on a panel on polarization and the role of political leaders in seeking moderation:

MK Ohad Tal (Religious Zionist Party): “The discourse of division is largely intended to silence the right. Take the term "judicial revolution," for example - it can be argued that it is divisive because it assumes there are good and bad actors, rather than a principled disagreement between two sides that both want what is best for the country… Anyone who truly cares about polarization needs to talk about how we avoid turning the other side into a demon.”

MK Michael Biton (Blue and White): “In this war, we have buried left-wingers and right-wingers, Haredi, religious and secular Jews, Ashkenazim and Mizrahim. We buried them all together, in the same cemetery. In death, we know how to be together; to be equal and heroic. But living and fighting together, sustaining a shared framework—that is much harder. And when a soldier says to her commander, ‘I will not go into battle with you because you are left-wing’—that is where something broke in Israel...”

Dr. Nechumi Yaffe Vice President, the Tatya Institute, on a panel on the tenth annual Statistical Report on Ultra-Orthodox Society published by IDI: “One of my consistent research findings is that there is a personal willingness among Haredim to integrate, but their identification of the social norm is mistaken. They hold in their minds an image of a…highly controlling society that dictates what is normal and appropriate, and this prevents them from realizing what they would like for themselves and for their children. Haredim love the state, love being Israeli, and feel that they belong—but they think that others around them do not feel the same way.”

Dr. Ariel Finkelstein, Head of IDI's Local Government Project: “When I was younger, Likud campaigns spoke about peace, and Peres’s campaign was ‘A Strong Israel with Peres.’ Each party tried to appeal to the political center and sought to appeal to the other side. Today, parties appeal only to their base.

In local government, it isn’t like that. In Jerusalem, Moshe Lion formed as broad a coalition as possible; in Tel Aviv, Huldai insisted on bringing in the Haredim as well as the single mandate of Religious Zionism. Politicians who grow out of local government behave differently—they are more pragmatic, and their spirit is different.

Zehava Galon, President of the Zulat Institute for Equality and Human Rights; Former Chair, Meretz party on a panel on how the different sectors contribute to polarization and cohesion: “I am secular, and I understand the fear of polarization, but we must not allow that fear to blur the differences between us. The questions we are dealing with today are questions of survival, and we must not evade them in the name of cohesion… The ideology of those currently in government is ‘now it’s my turn to eat,’ while they pay lip service to cohesion, to love of Israel, to the Jewish people. They say they will do everything to prevent rifts and polarization—and I’m telling you, I’ve had it up to here with this lip service.”

MK Mansour Abbas, Chair of the Ra’am Party, on the same panel said the following in the conference's closing session: “We must demand more from our leaders: to stand before the public, to keep their promises, to look to the future, and to give people hope and vision. I believe that Israeli leadership in recent years has made grave mistakes and has led us into a culture that accepts corruption, fragmentation, disqualification, and delegitimization. We have suffered from delegitimization, and the left also suffers from it. Today, when someone wants to insult another person, they say that he has ‘become left-wing.’ And on the day when the question of Ra’am joining a coalition is taken off the table, believe me, that same question will arise in relation to Israel’s left-wing party."