© REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The annual Eurovision Song Contest is chiefly known for its flamboyant costumes and glittering stage sets. But this month the show has been at the center of a very different kind of discussion—its role in the timing and implications of rocket attacks from Gaza.

Each year the contest, which has been musically pitting European countries against each other for over 60 years, is hosted by the winner of the previous year. And when Israeli Netta’s female empowerment pop hit “Toy” won for Israel last year in Portugal, the discussion immediately turned to the political implications.

Netta’s cry of “Next year in Jerusalem!” upon receiving the contest’s trophy didn’t help with the apprehension over the 2019 hosting. Her remark came just a few days before Donald Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—a move that was met with protests and violence. Though Netta may have merely been availing of the traditional phrase used at the end of Jewish Passover Seders, her smiling appearance shortly afterwards with controversial Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t help to depoliticize her win.

In the end, Israel’s public broadcaster was able to resist Netanyahu’s pressure to stage the contest in Jerusalem—by asking the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the show, to take the unprecedented move of deciding the location itself. Even with the contest being held in Tel Aviv, there were still calls to boycott this year’s contest as part of the BDS movement. BDS campaigners tried to put pressure on national broadcasters to not take part in this year’s contest. But though there were briefly rumors that Ireland’s broadcaster might give in to the pressure, in the end no country pulled out.

Madonna, who is slated to perform as the interval act while votes are being counted on Saturday night, was also subject to boycott pressure. But yesterday she confirmed in a statement that she will perform, saying, “I’ll never stop playing music to suit someone’s political agenda nor will I stop speaking out against violations of human rights wherever in the world they may be.”

Despite her insistence, the organizers say that she has not contacted them and has not signed any contract—leaving open the possibility that she may be a no-show on Saturday.

Gaza Attack

As preparations for the show steeped up a gear this month, violence broke out in Gaza. The worst nightmare of the organizers seemed to be coming true—the idea that the show could suddenly be interrupted by anti-rocket sirens.

As contestants arrived in Tel Aviv to start rehearsals two weeks ago, Hamas militants in Gaza launched a barrage of rockets into southern Israeli towns. Israel then retaliated by bombing sites in Gaza. The battle lasted three days, killing 23 people in Gaza and four in Israel.

It was among the worst flare-ups in violence in recent years. But unlike other recent incidents, it ended very suddenly with a ceasefire. The Israeli response was uncharacteristically restrained, and some attributed this to government fears of disrupting the contest. In turn, analysts suspect that the Hamas militants chose to launch their attack so close to the contest because they knew the Israeli response would be limited.

Michael Oren, Israel’s deputy prime minister, added to that impression when he tweeted that Hamas would be dealt with after Eurovision.

It’s a reflection of the significance of this annual event, which is now the most-watched live television event in the world other than the soccer World Cup final, which takes place every four years. Attracting around 200 million pairs of eyes, it has more viewers each year than the American Super Bowl, the Oscars, and the State of the Union speech combined.

Security Alert

On Monday, the US embassy in Israel issued a security alert for the contest, urging all Americans in Israel to exercise caution—noting that this year’s contest is coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the embassy’s move to Jerusalem.

“Terrorist groups may choose the anniversary, which coincides with the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv and Nakba Day, to conduct violent protests or an attack,” said the statement posted on the embassy’s website. Nakba Day is the commemoration by Palestinians of their displacement following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

This year’s contest has been accompanied by the biggest security operation in Eurovision history, with thousands of police deployed. Around 300,000 tourists are expected to come to Tel Aviv this week for the contest, though this number may be far lower than in previous years as prospective visitors have balked at the far-higher-than-normal ticket costs, something the Israelis say has been necessary to pay for all the security.

So far, Eurovision week has progressed without a hitch. Tuesday night’s semi-final, which saw ten countries qualify for Saturday’s final, went relatively smoothly. However, an Israeli webcast of the show was hacked with animated explosions superimposed on the host city.

Why Is Israel in the Eurovision?

Aside from all the geopolitics and controversy, many viewers may have a far more basic question. Given that it’s a country in the Middle East, why is Israel in Eurovision at all?

The reality is that this isn’t necessarily a “European” singing contest but actually a contest for members of the European Broadcasting Union—which is made up of state broadcasters from across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. But Israel is the only participant from outside of Europe because its Muslim neighbors in the other two groups have refused to share a stage with it. Morocco has only competed once—in 1980, a year Israel wasn’t participating. (Australia is the only non-EBU-member to participate in the contest, which it has done as a guest since 2015.)

This isn’t the first time Israel has hosted the contest. Netta’s win last year was the fourth time Israel has won the contest. It hosted in 1979 and 1999—both times in Jerusalem. In 1979 it even won while it was hosting, though it declined to host the following year’s contest in 1980, or participate at all, because of budgetary and security concerns.

Both of those previous times the contest passed without incident. Organizers are hoping that this year will be the same.

The post Glitter, Glamor, and Rockets appeared first on Berlin Policy Journal - Blog.

© REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool

The Israeli legislature’s vote on February 6 to legitimize, post factum, pure land grabbing is a disgrace on many levels. Land grabs are nothing new in the West Bank, but the sanctioning of the theft of private land from Palestinians, only a few days after the evacuation of the illegal settlement at Amona (as if there were “legal” settlements…), shows new chutzpah from those right-wing extremist politicians who believe that anything is possible with Donald Trump in the White House.

Since Trump has taken office, Israel has announced plans to build more than 2,500 new housing units. The most right-wing government in Israeli history is no longer even subtle about pursuing the plans of settler party leader Naftali Bennett, who wants to annex Area C, including 60 percent of the West Bank. With that step, the two-state-solution would go down the drain.

But there’s more: Last week’s vote showed frightening weakness from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He wasn’t a fan of this new law – not out of ethical conviction, but rather because of a deeper understanding of the consequences this law could entail. Palestinians would have a good case to bring Israel to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The fact that Bibi hopes for the Israeli Supreme Court to annul this law is yet more proof that the prime minister can no longer contain his coalition himself. And it’s not even his coalition partners that are the problem; members of his own party voted in favor of the bill. It is already well known that Bibi is a “leftist” within Likud, but up until now he has known how to tame “his” extremists. This no longer seems to be the case.

The White House, meanwhile, has decided not to comment on the new law, but rather wait for the outcome of the appeal at the Supreme Court. This is, indeed, a mixed message. A few days ago, Trump, to Netanyahu’s surprise, criticized Israel’s intense expansion plans. Now, it seems the US is against the latest settlement enterprise, but waiting for Israel’s “checks and balances” to resolve the problem, as if this would lead Israel to make a U-turn in its settlement policy in its entirety.

In a way, Netanyahu needs some kind of opposition from the White House. The advantage with Obama was that Israel’s strong man could always counter his coalition partners by saying, “We can’t do that, Obama won’t accept it,” thus reining in the most extreme plans of his political “friends.” Now everything is in limbo. What will Trump finally tolerate, and what not? Where will he set the borders for Bibi? And will they be enough to stop Israel’s extremists from going off the leash completely?

At some point, Netanyahu will have to decide whether he will follow his heart and ideology, or at least try to keep Israel somewhat sane, without relying on direction from the White House. In any case, the Trump administration may prove to be Bibi’s greatest test case ever.

The post Bibi’s Test Case appeared first on Berlin Policy Journal - Blog.

© REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Will he or won’t he? In the Jewish world, Donald  Trump’s announcement that he will move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is raising eyebrows. It is a step no previous US president ever dared to take out of fear of the implications of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – even though that’s what the city really is, divided or not.

So what happens if the US embassy moves? The Palestinians are threatening a new uprising and the withdrawal of their recognition of the State of Israel. So what? Peace negotiations have reached a stalemate, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding the Palestinians recognize Israel as the “nation state of the Jewish people,” a demand Palestinians have rejected.

So what would an uprising mean? Let’s look back to the year 1996. Netanyahu had then ordered the official opening of the Western Wall Tunnel, with an exit leading to the Via Dolorosa underneath the Ummariya Madrasah. Palestinians rioted to protest the exit in the East of the Old City; 80 people were killed. And then? Nothing. Today, nobody cares about this exit anymore – Israel created another fact on the ground, and while the loss of so many lives is tragic, it didn’t change a thing.

This pattern has been repeated many times in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Uprising or riot, intervention by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), lots of bloodshed, and then – nothing. The situation might be a bit different this time, but who else would join the cause? Egypt? Jordan? Syria, or what is left of it? Iraq? Qatar? The Saudis? In one way or the other, they all need the US, are scared of Trump, or hope that the new US president will tear up the treaty with Iran. And Iran is, for the Saudis as well as for Egyptians and others, a much bigger headache than a US embassy in Jerusalem. Yes, they will pay lip service to the Palestinian cause, but nothing more. And since Trump is still seen as unpredictable, the Arab world would rather stay put than risk making the wrong move.

So that leaves Russia, China, and the EU. Vladimir Putin probably won’t interfere in Trump’s decision, as the two are trying to be “buddies” rather than enemies. And there is a significant chance that there will be an unspoken understanding between the US and Russia to divide the Middle East into spheres of action – so, “You don’t interfere in Syria and we won’t interfere in Israel, you don’t support this leader and we let you go crazy with Iran,” or something like this.

What about China and the EU? China is not a big player in the Middle East anyway, which leaves the EU. The Europeans will protest, of course, they will oppose it, they might give more money to the Palestinians, they might decide for some symbolic policy, and they will definitely put into place some harsher measures against Israel. But what else? At the moment, the EU appears to be so deeply involved in its own inner crises that at the end of the day it will not be able to do too much to counter such a decision from Trump.

The only thing that remains unclear is whether or not Trump is serious. If he is, the location is already known: a plot which, until 1967, was no man’s land. It might now become the hottest spot in all of Jerusalem.

The post Jerusalem Syndrome appeared first on Berlin Policy Journal - Blog.

© REUTERS/Baz Ratner

May 18, 2016 might become one of those dates later defined as a turning point in history. On that day – Wednesday – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that right-wing politician Avigdor Lieberman will join his coalition, getting the Defense Ministry as his portfolio. Apart from the very serious question of whether Lieberman is even suitable for the job, the announcement is something of a declaration of war against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officers who time and again have disagreed with “Bibi” Netanyahu and been unwilling to pursue his wishes – including his desire to attack Iran a few years ago.

Lieberman’s nomination as defense minister is the latest of Netanyahu’s attacks against the established bastion of generals, who in the past have shown more rationality in questions of war and terror than the Prime Minister and his coalition partners. The latest battle began on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. At Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial, Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan spoke of Germany during the 1930s, discussing how German history shows how fast people, states, and cultures can lose their human values. He went on to speak of the dangers of growing racism and inhumanity within Israeli society today, and made clear that he feels it is the IDF’s responsibility to act according to ethical values and teach its soldiers to fight these tendencies.

Within the blink of an eye, right-wing politicians, Netanyahu included, cynically (and unfairly) attacked Golan, accusing him of comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, comparing the Holocaust to the Palestinian issue, and so on. None of this is true – Golan did not say any of this. But it was a welcome opportunity to once again promote Israel’s case, namely that Israel is morally untouchable. In other words, right-wing Israeli ideology cannot be unjust or cruel, or – God forbid – fascist.

Changing Israel’s Identity

It was Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, himself a hardcore right-winger, who agreed with Golan, making it clear that Golan was defending ethical values which were not only important to the IDF, but to Israel as a society. And he said he welcomed generals who speak their minds – even in public – to defend democracy.

Bibi wasn’t amused, calling in his Defense Minister to speak privately. What they discussed behind closed doors can only be assumed, but it was obvious that Bogie’s days in office might be numbered.

And now here is Lieberman, Bibi’s favorite enemy. Both politicians know each other very well, and each is equally disgusted by the other. But Bibi needed Lieberman to teach Ya’alon, and the generals even more so, a lesson. It is not totally clear yet whether Lieberman and his party, Yisrale Beiteinu (“Israel is Our Home”), will really join Bibi’s governing coalition. But even if they do not, the message remains the same: Bibi is trying to set fire to the IDF. He’s had enough. And just as he is trying to shut up journalists who are too critical, just as he is trying to bring down leftist NGOs (first and foremost Justice Minister Ayalet Shaked’s project, but one Netanyahu will not stop), he’s now trying to make the army leadership tremble.

The latter is astonishing, as the IDF is the last real source of pride for Israelis, an almost untouchable and strongly admired institution. Since everybody, or almost everybody, has been part of the army, or has children in the army, it’s the core of a shared identity, the glue that holds almost all levels of society together. And most generals are deeply admired in Israel.

In 2012, TIME magazine ran a cover story about Netanyahu titled “King Bibi”. It seems now that King Bibi wants to rename his state – frustrated Israelis joke that maybe in a few years it won’t be called “Israel”, but rather “Bibisrael”. May 18 might be remembered as the day when Bibi changed Israel’s identity in the most destructive way, possibly forever.

The post King Bibi appeared first on Berlin Policy Journal - Blog.

© REUTERS/Nir Elias

“Are they nuts? Don’t they understand what kind of trouble they are inviting into their country? They have no clue how the Arab mentality really is – but we do!” That’s one of the reactions you get from Israelis when you talk to them about the “welcoming culture” the Germans have tried to establish for refugees coming from the Middle East. The other reaction: “They are welcoming the Arabs because of their guilt about the Holocaust. They want to compensate for what they did to us Jews by being nice to Muslims.”

These reactions might sound simplistic, but many Israelis – if not all – are deeply convinced that Angela Merkel’s naiveté threatens to be a death sentence for Germany, even all of Europe. And, of course, they refer to the French or Belgian experience for evidence, and to their own experience with the Arab world.

From an Israeli point of view, there is indeed a lot to worry about: more than 30 million Muslims already live inside the EU, and in many countries governments are already drafting policy in response to Islamist terror (or even the threat of terror). In the early 2000s, I reported on areas within Paris that the police refused to enter; the police are still reluctant to operate in many of them. For Israelis, this is difficult to understand. “How can the Europeans give up on their identity and sovereignty?” they wonder. They ask me time and again what I think about it, and how Angela Merkel, a politician who is so pro-Israel, could make the mistake of letting “these people” in.

Israelis do not believe in co-existence. Some of them proudly show off how well integrated so-called Arab Israelis are – 1.5 million Arabs have Israeli passports, and the law says that they are equal to Jewish Israelis – but in reality Israeli Arabs are second class citizens.

They mostly live in parallel societies, in Arab villages, where Jews wouldn’t live, and vice versa. Yes, there is Haifa, a role-model for what good Jewish-Muslim coexistence could look like all over the country – but even in this peaceful city co-existence is beginning to show cracks.

Israelis are generally scared of Arabs, or simply do not care about them. I never understood this lack of interest in learning Arabic properly in a country surrounded by Arab states. While Israeli Arabs speak Hebrew, of course, including Palestinians working in the territories, few Israelis, even those of Oriental descent, make the effort to conquer the second official language of the State of Israel. And if it is true that you understand a culture only by conquering its language, then Israelis really might not know too much about their Arab neighbors.

Yet they have their experiences, and they know that the Arab political and educational culture outside of Israel is anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist. And the Israeli Arabs? Well, in some mosques you will hear incitement against Jews – even in Israel.

The ignorance of Jewish Israelis and the exclusion of Israeli Arabs from mainstream society were, for decades, reciprocated: most Arabs in Israel didn’t want to participate in the Jewish Israeli mainstream. But here and there some small changes are visible. Since the last parliamentary elections in March 2015, which saw the Arab United List become the third largest faction in the Knesset, there has been an Arab-Israeli lawmaker, Ayman Odeh.

Rather than stand on the sidelines, Odeh wants to become part of the Israeli political system. Odeh, the head of his party, is a symbol for Israeli Arabs, who are starting to demand their rights and duties in order to become fully part of the state – a state which they do not really like, but in which they are a vital element. It is common knowledge that, for instance, Israel’s healthcare system would collapse without all of its Arab doctors and nurses.

Nevertheless, few Israelis have any real knowledge about Arabs and their mentality, while they know about their hatred towards Jews all too well. And all they see in the surrounding Arab states is turmoil and dictatorship. Nation building, democracy, human rights, gender equality, liberalism – these hardly exist in the Arab world.

That’s why Israelis are afraid for Germany and Europe: they believe – no, they are convinced – that the influx of too many Arabs will uproot European liberalism and pluralism, and that even the poor Syrian refugees, whose plight Israelis acknowledge, are hardcore Jew-haters. So in Israel you hear the same sentiment expressed again and again: “Europe is lost. For the Jews, it’s definitely over!”

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