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Share 2021.08.03 國際新聞導讀-美國研擬回應伊朗攻擊以色列船隻 對策、以色列內閣批准新預算方案但要國會通過、伊朗革命衛隊控制伊朗經濟的優劣點分析
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2021.08.03 國際新聞導讀-美國研擬回應伊朗攻擊以色列船隻 對策、以色列內閣批准新預算方案但要國會通過、伊朗革命衛隊控制伊朗經濟的優劣點分析
2021.08.03 國際新聞導讀-美國研擬回應伊朗攻擊以色列船隻 對策、以色列內閣批准新預算方案但要國會通過、伊朗革命衛隊控制伊朗經濟的優劣點分析
布林肯誓言對伊朗因與以色列有聯繫的油輪被擊中做出“集體回應”
國務卿說，美國正在與英國、以色列、羅馬尼亞和其他國家協調應對致命襲擊；約翰遜稱德黑蘭將不得不面對其“無恥”行為的後果
通過AFP和雅各布·馬吉德今天，晚上 11:24
美國國務卿安東尼·布林肯在與意大利外交部長舉行聯合新聞發布會時聽取了他的講話2021 年 6 月 28 日，布林肯的歐洲三國巡演。（ANDREAS SOLARO / 法新社）
美國國務卿安東尼·布林肯週一發誓要對伊朗進行“集體回應”，當天早些時候，伊朗因襲擊一艘與以色列有關的油輪而受到指責，伊朗在當天早些時候警告對手不要進行報復。
“我們與英國、以色列、羅馬尼亞和其他國家保持著非常密切的聯繫和協調。並且會有集體回應，”布林肯在國務院的新聞發布會上告訴記者。
他重申，美國已經得出結論，伊朗是在阿曼海岸附近的 MT Mercer 街發動無人機襲擊的幕後黑手，該街由以色列著名億萬富翁 Eyal Ofer 管理。
一名英國保安人員和一名羅馬尼亞船員遇難。
布林肯稱這一事件是“對航行和商業自由的直接威脅”，但淡化了這表明其在易卜拉欣·賴西 (Ebrahim Raisi) 領導下變得強硬的說法，後者將於週二宣誓就任伊朗總統。
“我們已經看到伊朗在幾個月內採取了一系列行動，包括反對航運，所以我不確定這一特定行動是否有任何新意，或者對新政府有什麼預示，”布林肯說。
這張 2016 年 1 月 2 日的照片顯示了南非開普敦附近懸掛利比里亞國旗的油輪默瑟街（Johan Victor via AP）
“但它確實說的是，伊朗繼續以極其不負責任的方式行事，”他補充說。
週一早些時候，英國首相鮑里斯·約翰遜發表了自己對無人機襲擊的譴責。
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“我認為伊朗應該正視他們所做事情的後果，”他告訴 BBC。“這顯然是對商業航運的不可接受和令人髮指的攻擊……伊朗和所有其他國家尊重世界各地的航行自由絕對至關重要。”
到目前為止，以色列、美國、英國和羅馬尼亞將周四的無人機襲擊歸咎於伊朗。
週一晚上，國防部長本尼·甘茨表示，以色列必須立即就無人機襲擊對德黑蘭採取行動。
“伊朗，在本週上任的‘劊子手’賴西的領導下，對世界的危害將比迄今為止更大，對該地區的破壞力將比迄今為止更大，並將努力成為一個存在主義的國家。對以色列的威脅，”甘茨說，他指的是即將上任的伊朗總統，他被指控在 1980-1988 年伊朗和伊拉克之間的戰爭即將結束時參與了對囚犯的大規模屠殺。
Mercer Street 是一艘日本油輪，懸掛著利比里亞國旗，船上有外國船員。它與以色列的唯一關係是，它由總部位於倫敦的 Zodiac Maritime 管理，該公司是 Ofer 旗下的公司。
儘管如此，以色列認為這正是它被擊中的原因，並將這次襲擊視為針對其利益的襲擊。
最近的襲擊標誌著該地區商業航運遭受多年襲擊後，已知的第一次致命襲擊與以色列和伊朗之間因核協議的緊張局勢有關。
Blinken vows ‘collective response’ to Iran over hit on tanker with Israel ties
Secretary says US coordinating with UK, Israel, Romania and others on response to deadly attack; Johnson says Tehran will have to face consequences of its ‘outrageous’ actions
By AFP and JACOB MAGIDToday, 11:24 pm
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as he gives a joint press conference with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, following a meeting of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group, at the Fiera di Roma, in Rome, as part of Blinken's three-nation tour of Europe, on June 28, 2021. (ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday vowed a “collective response” to Iran, which had earlier in the day warned adversaries against reprisals after it was blamed for an attack on an Israeli-linked tanker.
“We are in very close contact, in coordination, with the United Kingdom, Israel, Romania and other countries. And there will be a collective response,” Blinken told reporters at a press appearance at the State Department.
He repeated that the United States had concluded that Iran was behind the drone attack off the coast of Oman on the MT Mercer Street, which is managed by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.
A British security guard and a Romanian crew member were killed.
Blinken called the incident a “direct threat to freedom of navigation and commerce,” but played down suggestions that it showed a hardening under Ebrahim Raisi, an ultraconservative who is set to be sworn in as Iranian president on Tuesday.
“We have seen a series of actions taken by Iran over many months, including against shipping, so I’m not sure that this particular action is anything new or augurs anything one way or another for the new government,” Blinken said.
This Jan. 2, 2016 photo shows the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa (Johan Victor via AP)
“But what it does say is that Iran continues to act with tremendous irresponsibility,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued his own condemnation of the drone attack.
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“I think that Iran should face up to the consequences of what they’ve done,” he told the BBC. “This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping… it is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedom of navigation around the world.”
So far, Thursday’s drone attack was blamed on Iran by Israel, the US, the UK and Romania.
On Monday evening, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel must act immediately against Tehran over the drone strike.
“Iran, under the ‘hangman’ Raisi, who will take office this week, will be more dangerous to the world than it has been so far, more destructive to the region than it has been so far, and will strive to become an existential threat to Israel,” Gantz said, referring to the incoming Iranian president, accused of taking part in the mass killings of prisoners toward the end of the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq.
The Mercer Street is a Japanese-owned tanker flying a Liberian flag and with a foreign crew. Its only ties to Israel are that it is managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime, a company owned by Ofer.
Still, Israel believes that is precisely the reason it was hit, and views the attack as one that targeted its interests.
The recent attack marked the first known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions between Israel and Iran over the tattered nuclear deal.
伊朗船隻遇襲對維也納會談有何影響？
“從歷史上看，當面臨真正的阻力時，伊朗人會變得更加謹慎。他們會尋求外部危機來促進民族主義聯合嗎？還是他們會尋求緩和緊張局勢？”
由OMRI NAHMIAS
2021 年 8 月 2 日 20:15
2021 年 6 月 21 日，伊朗當選總統易卜拉欣·賴西在伊朗德黑蘭舉行的新聞發布會上做手勢。
（圖片來源：MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA（西亞新聞社）通過路透社）
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華盛頓——美國和英國周日表示，他們將與他們的盟友合作，應對對默瑟街的襲擊，這是一艘懸掛利比里亞國旗的日本石油產品油輪，由以色列所有的 Zodiac Maritime 管理。
國務卿安東尼·布林肯週日表示，美國“正在與該地區內外的政府就適當的回應進行磋商，這將是即將到來的。”
隨著美國和伊朗之間的緊張局勢升級，這是否會影響伊朗核談判的動態？上一輪會談大約在六週前，即 6 月 20 日舉行，此後雙方尚未重新安排下一輪會談。
卡內基國際基金會核政策項目聯合主任詹姆斯·阿克頓（James Acton）表示：“如果伊朗正在尋找一個方便的藉口結束談判，它可能會利用美國對默瑟街襲擊事件的任何報復來這樣做。”和平，告訴耶路撒冷郵報。“然而，如果伊朗想要恢復 JCPOA——我認為它可能會這樣做——那麼我認為美國的報復不會改變它的計算，”他補充道。“我懷疑美國與伊朗核談判的政策是否已經改變。”
華盛頓近東政策研究所傑出研究員丹尼斯·羅斯大使告訴《華盛頓郵報》，伊朗的做法是向美國施加壓力。“對其他問題的回應可能會讓伊朗人清醒，”他說，“但伊朗人也有可能誤判和誇大其詞。”
“從歷史上看，當面臨真正的阻力時，伊朗人會變得更加謹慎，”羅斯指出。“現在，他們在國內也面臨抗議。他們會尋求外部危機來促進民族主義聯合嗎？還是他們會尋求緩和緊張局勢？我敢打賭，他們將繼續製造緊張局勢來測試我們的反應，這意味著在維也納，可能會提出新的要求，至少最初是這樣。”
“Raisi 沒有拒絕 JCPOA，但為了與最高領導人的戰略保持一致，該政權將繼續進行艱苦的討價還價；他們將繼續通過推進他們的核計劃向我們施加壓力，同時拒絕 IAEA（國際原子能機構）進行監測，”羅斯說。
“同時，為了重返 JCPOA，他們將敦促更廣泛地解除制裁併保證不會重新實施制裁。我說討價還價是因為伊朗人想看看他們能得到什麼，並會試圖強迫他們做出更多讓步；他們必須確信，不會有更多的讓步，如果他們堅持走這條路，他們將根本無法獲得制裁減免。他們還必須看到這條道路會帶來真正的風險，在某個時候，我們可能會得出結論，我們不再有限制他們核計劃的外交途徑。我認為伊朗的目標是成為一個有核武器門檻的國家，並將測試這方面的可能性，”羅斯說。
華盛頓民主保衛基金會首席執行官馬克·杜博維茨 (Mark Dubowitz) 告訴《華盛頓郵報》，他懷疑任何回應是否有意義。“本屆政府擔心與伊朗的衝突升級，這就是為什麼神職人員政權繼續在談判中佔據主導地位的原因，”他說。
“最高領袖是最高決策者。但現在他在Raisi有一位總統 ，與魯哈尼不同，他對重返 JCPOA 並不熱衷，他相信不依賴西方投資的抵抗經濟，並且看到核升級只會導致更多的拜登政府讓步，”杜博維茨說。“隨著美國談判代表的參與，文職政權正朝著核門檻國家邁進。它可能會決定重返核協議，但前提是它已將所有最後的讓步擠出華盛頓，並在 JCPOA 限製到期後堅定地走上核武器之路。”
How could the Iran ship attack affect the Vienna talks?
“Historically, when faced with real pushback, the Iranians become more cautious. Will they seek an external crisis to try to promote a nationalist coalescence? Or will they look to defuse tension?"
By OMRI NAHMIAS
AUGUST 2, 2021 20:15
Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi gestures at a news conference in Tehran, Iran June 21, 2021.
(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)
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WASHINGTON – The United States and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their allies to respond to the attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US is “consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming.”
As tension rises between the US and Iran, could that affect the dynamic of the Iran nuclear talks? The last round of talks took place almost six weeks ago, on June 20, and since then the sides have yet to reschedule the next one.
“It’s possible that if Iran is looking for a convenient excuse to end the negotiations, it will use any US retaliation for the Mercer Street attack to do so,” James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Jerusalem Post. “If, however, Iran wants to revive the JCPOA – as I think it probably does – then I don’t think US retaliation will alter its calculations,” he added. “I doubt that US policy toward the nuclear negotiations with Iran has changed.”
Ambassador Dennis Ross, a distinguished fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Post that Iran’s approach is to build pressure on the US. “Responses on other issues may sober the Iranians,” he said, “but there is a risk that the Iranians can also miscalculate and overplay their hand.”
“Historically, when faced with real pushback, the Iranians become more cautious,” Ross noted. “Now, they are also facing protests domestically. Will they seek an external crisis to try to promote a nationalist coalescence? Or will they look to defuse tension? My bet is they will continue to build tension to test our response, and that means in Vienna, probably coming in with new demands, at least initially.”
“Raisi has not rejected the JCPOA, but in keeping with the supreme leader’s strategy, the regime will continue to engage in hard bargaining; they will continue to build the pressure on us by advancing their nuclear program, while denying the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) its access for monitoring,” said Ross.
“Simultaneously, to return to the JCPOA, they will press for more expansive sanctions relief and assurances against the re-imposition of sanctions. I say hard bargaining because the Iranians are trying to see what they can get and will try to coerce more concessions; they must become convinced that no more concessions will be forthcoming and they will jeopardize getting sanctions relief at all if they persist on this path. They must also see that this path creates real risks that at some point, we may conclude that we no longer have a diplomatic path to limit their nuclear program. I think Iran aims to become a threshold nuclear weapons state and will test the limits of what is possible in this regard,” Ross said.
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundations for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told the Post that he was skeptical that any response will be meaningful. “This administration fears escalation with Iran which is why the clerical regime continues to have negotiation dominance,” he said.
“The supreme leader is the supreme decider. But now he has a president in Raisi who, unlike Rouhani, is not enthusiastic about a return to the JCPOA, who believes in a resistance economy that doesn’t depend on Western investment and who has seen that nuclear escalation only leads to more Biden administration concessions,” said Dubowitz. “The clerical regime is moving closer to a nuclear threshold state as it strings along American negotiators. It may decide to return to the nuclear deal but only after it has squeezed every last concession out of Washington and firmly put itself on a pathway to nuclear weapons as JCPOA restrictions expire.”
IRGC 網絡在新報告中曝光
托尼·布萊爾全球變化研究所的一份新報告揭示了伊朗新任強硬伊斯蘭主義總統易卜拉欣·賴西與伊朗革命衛隊 (IRGC) 之間的關係。
作者：勞倫摩根貝瑟
2021 年 8 月 2 日 19:22
上週五，伊朗總統選舉的獲勝者易卜拉欣·賴西 (Ebrahim Raisi) 在伊朗的一個投票站旁觀
（圖片來源：MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS）
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托尼·布萊爾全球變化研究所的一份新報告揭示了伊朗新任強硬伊斯蘭主義總統易卜拉欣·賴西與伊朗革命衛隊 (IRGC) 之間的關係。
週一發表的題為“易卜拉欣·賴西時代的伊斯蘭革命衛隊：伊朗革命衛隊的決策和派系主義”的報告審查了伊斯蘭革命衛隊在該國日益增長的作用和權力，並強調了它將如何進一步擴大在即將到來的賴西總統任期內。這項由賽義德·戈爾卡爾和卡斯拉·阿拉比進行的研究首次突出了伊斯蘭革命衛隊的關鍵權力中心和個人，其中許多人將成為賴西政府的新部長和政治任命人員。
賴西將於 6 月當選後於週四成為伊朗總統。Raisi 是一名強硬派神職人員，曾是伊斯蘭共和國最高領導人阿亞圖拉阿里哈梅內伊的學生。報告指出，隨著哈梅內伊變老，他正試圖“確保他死後強硬的伊斯蘭政權繼續存在”，包括通過選舉賴西和賦予伊斯蘭革命衛隊權力。
在接受《耶路撒冷郵報》採訪時，該報告的作者之一 Kasra Aarabi 解釋了該報告的重要性：“我們在西方嘗試使用各種模型來了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊及其內部運作，但都未能理解警衛隊內部存在的精英內部競爭與合作。”
來自 Jpost 的最新文章
該報告還指出，伊斯蘭革命衛隊在該國發揮著巨大的作用，現在控制著該國的大量生活，上升到從政治到經濟、軍事和情報等大多數關鍵機構的高層。
IRGC 的作用只會在 Raisi 擔任總統期間擴大。“來自伊朗社會提供哈梅內伊支持基石的部分的
伊斯蘭革命衛隊
成員很有可能將擔任下一屆政府和874名高級政府中的許多人爭奪的關鍵部長職位-伊朗各部委和國家官僚機構任命的職位，”報告描述。“因此，伊斯蘭革命衛隊將佔領伊朗的深層狀態，同時進一步鞏固自己在可見狀態中的地位，增加其獲得資源和權力的機會。”
然而，它還指出了伊斯蘭革命衛隊內部存在的分歧。該報告創建了一個模型來理解這些分歧，伊斯蘭革命衛隊的三個主要權力中心相互競爭：經濟、政治和安全情報。
在接受《華盛頓郵報》採訪時，阿拉比解釋了了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊內部運作的重要性：“雖然伊斯蘭革命衛隊是一個絕對支持哈梅內伊政權的強硬伊斯蘭組織，但它並不是一個龐然大物。我們的研究揭示了衛隊的三個主要權力中心，並確定了其中的關鍵伊斯蘭革命衛隊等級。精英內部的競爭和合作往往是政治體制穩定和不穩定的驅動因素。因此，能夠研究和了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊內部的這些精英內部競爭，將有助於預測伊斯蘭共和國的未來。”
這份報告發布之際，拜登政府希望重啟與該國的核談判，這證明對了解將組成伊朗新政府的安全人員和意識形態不可或缺。它還將使世界各地的政策制定者了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊的主要參與者是誰，以便知道在國內與誰合作或製裁誰。
“了解 Raisi 背後的驅動力很重要：革命衛隊，”Aarabi 解釋說。“要了解美國將不得不面對的政府類型，我們需要了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊的內部運作，而我們的研究可以幫助我們做到這一點。一旦我們了解並熟悉了政府將是什麼樣子，那麼這就引出了一個問題，即給予該政權高達 900 億美元的製裁減免是否符合美國的利益，作為重新…加入 2015 年的核協議。誤判可能導致這樣一種情況，它實際上增加了對美國國家安全和該地區的威脅，而不是減少了威脅。”
IRGC networks exposed in new report
A new report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change unpacks the relationship between Iran’s new hardline Islamist president Ebrahim Raisi and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
By LAUREN MORGANBESSER
AUGUST 2, 2021 19:22
THE WINNER of Iran’s presidential election, Ebrahim Raisi, looks on at a polling station in Iran this past Friday
(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS)
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A new report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change unpacks the relationship between Iran’s new hardline Islamist president Ebrahim Raisi and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The report published Monday, entitled “The IRGC in the Age of Ebrahim Raisi: Decision-Making and Factionalism in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard,” examines the increasing role and power of the IRGC in the country, as well as highlighting how it will expand even more under the upcoming presidency of Raisi. The research, conducted by Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi, for the first time highlights the key centers of power and individuals in the IRGC, many of whom will become the new ministers and political appointees in Raisi’s administration.
Raisi will become the president of Iran on Thursday after being elected in June. Raisi, a hardline cleric, is a former student of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic. The report notes that as Khamenei gets older, he is attempting to “ensure the survival of his hardline Islamic regime after his death,” including through the election of Raisi and empowerment of the IRGC.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Kasra Aarabi, one of the report’s authors, explained the significance of the report: “There have been various models we have tried to use in the West to understand the IRGC and its inner workings, but all have fallen short in making sense of the intra-elite competition and cooperation that exists within the Guard.”
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The report also notes that the IRGC plays an outsized role in the country, and now controls huge swaths of life in the country, rising to the top of most key institutions, from politics to the economy, military and intelligence.
The role of the IRGC will only expand under Raisi’s presidency. “It is highly likely that
IRGC
members, who are drawn from the section of Iranian society that provides the bedrock of Khamenei’s support, will come to occupy key ministerial roles that are up for grabs in the next administration and many of the 874 senior government-appointed positions across Iran’s ministries and state bureaucracy,” the report describes. “As a result, the IRGC will occupy the Iranian deep state while further entrenching itself in the visible state, increasing its access to resources and power.”
However, it also notes internal divisions that exist within the IRGC. The report creates a model to understand these divisions, with three major competing centers of power in the IRGC: economic, political, and security-intelligence.
In an interview with The Post, Aarabi explained the importance of understanding the innerworkings of the IRGC: “While the IRGC is a hardline Islamist organisation absolutely committed to Khamenei’s regime, it is not a monolith. Our research uncovers three major centres of power in the Guard and identifies the key IRGC ranks within them. Intra-elite competition and collaboration are often drivers of stability and instability in political regimes. So being able to study and understand these intra-elite rivalries within the IRGC will aid the efforts to forecast the future of the Islamic Republic.”
The report comes as the Biden administration looks to reopen nuclear talks with the country, proving integral to an understanding of the security personnel and ideology that will make up the new administration in Iran. It will also allow policymakers from around the world understand who the key players are in the IRGC in order to know who to work with or who to sanction within the country.
“It's important to understand the driving force behind Raisi: the Revolutionary Guards,” Aarabi explained. “To understand the kind of administration that the US will have to deal with, we need to understand the inner workings of the IRGC, and our research helps us do that. And once we've understood and familiarized ourselves with what the administration is going to look like, then that leads the question as to whether it's in the US interest to grant this regime up to 90 billion dollars in sanctions relief as part of a re-entry into the 2015 nuclear agreement. A miscalculation could lead to a situation where actually, it increases the threats to US national security and the region rather than decreases the threats.”
內閣三年來第一次批准國家預算，這是對政府的關鍵考驗
貝內特：“在停滯 3 年後，以色列重新開始工作”；利伯曼說，改革的重點是降低生活成本；霍洛維茨表示將確保為健康增加 20 億新謝克爾
通過TOI人員今天，上午 8:19更新於上午 9:21
內閣批准國家預算，2021 年 8 月 2 日（GPO/Amos Ben Gershom）
經過漫長的隔夜會談，內閣週一投票批准三年來首次批准國家預算，這將為以色列經濟和社會帶來一系列深刻變化。
複雜的立法現在必須在 11 月 4 日的最後期限之前通過委員會階段和議會全體會議的三讀——這是對在議會中佔微弱多數的聯盟的關鍵挑戰。如果它不通過，議會將自動解散，新的選舉將隨之而來。
總理納夫塔利·貝內特 (Naftali Bennett) 對推進涵蓋 2021-22 年的預算表示歡迎，此次談判標誌著對新政府的重大考驗。
總理在其辦公室發表的一份聲明中說：“經過三年的停滯，以色列重新開始工作。”
“我要求政府成員了解當下的重要性，”貝內特說。“經過多年的忽視，今天早上我們制定了最大膽、最關注競爭、對[社會]弱勢群體最有幫助、最關心我們孩子未來的預算。”
表單的頂端
財政部長阿維格多·利伯曼（Avigdor Liberman）表示，仍需議會通過的改革將為許多人的生活帶來切實的改變。
“我們批准的改革主要側重於降低生活成本。我們在基礎設施、交通運輸和房地產方面投入了大量資金，並實施了重大改革，以減少官僚主義，使我們日常業務或私人生活中的每個人都更輕鬆，”利伯曼在聲明中說。
總理納夫塔利·貝內特（中）和財政部長阿維格多·利伯曼（左）在內閣會議上批准國家預算，2021 年 8 月 2 日（GPO/Amos Ben Gershom）
據報導，衛生部長 Nitzan Horowitz 從財政部獲得了 20 億新謝克爾（6.19 億美元）的醫療保健資金增加，這是一項重要進展。
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如果他的要求得不到滿足，衛生部長一直威脅要投票反對預算。
霍洛維茨此前曾警告，衛生系統“處於生命支持狀態，需要緊急輸血，無論冠狀病毒如何……。它在緊急模式下運行，不可能再這樣繼續下去了。”
據報導，除了要求更多資金外，衛生部還堅持計劃中的進口改革開放市場不包括化妝品。
另一個絆腳石是計劃中的農業改革，遭到農民和新鮮農產品供應商以及一些聯盟成員的反對。
週日，農民們在部長們開會討論預算的外交部外抗議該計劃。
其他重大改革包括在 11 年內逐步將女性的退休年齡提高到 65 歲，以每年四個月的速度持續三年，再以每年三個月的速度再增加八年。
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部長們對預算的各個方面提出了保留意見。
交通部長梅拉夫·米凱利反對在高峰時段對進入該國中部古什丹地區的司機徵收擁堵費的計劃，稱如果司機覺得有必要，公共交通還不能勝任填補空缺的任務。據 12 頻道新聞報導，將車輛留在家中。
移民和吸收部長 Pnina Tamano-Shata警告說，除非財政部同意她增加資金以將埃塞俄比亞移民帶到以色列的要求，否則她不會支持預算。
經過數週的討論，部長們於週日上午在投票前聚集在一起進行會談。
會議開始時，貝內特表示，預算“將成為政府穩定的里程碑”，並補充說，它將使部長們能夠履行職責，而無需討好利益集團。
“這一次，預算不是為這個或那個部門的利益服務，而是為整個以色列國的利益服務，”總理說。“這個政府可以自由地代表普遍利益行事。我們正在減少官僚主義並增加競爭，為每個人，但主要是為較弱的部門。那些將從競爭和較低價格中獲益最多的是較弱的行業。”
部長們在整個週日的會談一直持續到晚上 8 點，在休息後，談判一直持續到午夜過後，當貝內特召集聯盟首長在他的辦公室開會時，又一次暫停。然後談判持續了一夜，直到達成協議。
利伯曼正在推進 2021-2022 年預算（2021 年為 1870 億美元，2022 年為 1730 億美元），儘管它在 11 月 4 日的通過截止日期之前在議會面臨重大障礙。
預算將需要薄薄的聯盟的所有選票才能通過，一個立法者的反對就可以將其推翻。由貝內特領導的新政府的多元化組成——由右翼、中間派和左翼政黨組成——使這項工作複雜化。
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未能通過國家預算將意味著政府自動解散。
新的國家預算包括對kashrut 機構和農業的全面改革，對一次性塑料製品徵收高額稅和含糖飲料，以及對進口政策進行重大調整。
根據上週的一份政府聲明，該預算還將把 2022 年的國防預算提高到 580 億新謝克爾（178 億美元）。根據Kan公共廣播公司的說法，這將包括大幅增加——大約70億新謝克爾（21.5億美元）——用於“重整軍備和加強以色列國防軍”，為軍隊對伊朗可能發動的襲擊做好準備。總理、國防部長和財政部長。
以色列上一次批准的國家預算是 2019 年，之後該國陷入長達兩年的政治僵局。該預算於 2018 年 3 月通過。
在前任政府中，當時的總理本雅明·內塔尼亞胡拒絕通過預算——這使他能夠在沒有當時的聯盟夥伴國防部長本尼·甘茨根據輪換協議的條款立即成為過渡總理的情況下舉行選舉。
利伯曼曾表示，他相信預算會通過，因為即使是大多數反對派也不希望進行新一輪選舉。菅直人周日報導稱，政府消息人士一直在與反對黨聯合名單的成員進行談判，以協商聯盟外部對預算的支持。
Cabinet approves state budget for 1st time in 3 years in key test for government
Bennett: ‘After 3 years of stagnation, Israel is back to work’; Liberman says reforms focus on lowering cost of living; Horowitz said to secure NIS 2 billion increase for health
By TOI STAFFToday, 8:19 amUpdated at 9:21 am
Cabinet approves the state budget, August 2, 2021 (GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)
After marathon overnight talks, the cabinet voted on Monday to approve the national budget for the first time in three years, one that will introduce a slew of profound changes to the Israeli economy and society.
The complex legislation must now pass through committee stages and three readings in the Knesset plenum by a November 4 deadline — in a key challenge for the coalition, which holds a narrow parliamentary majority. If it does not pass by then, the Knesset would automatically dissolve and new elections would follow.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed the advancing of the budget, which covers 2021-22, the negotiations for which mark a major test for the new government.
“After three years of stagnation, Israel is back to work,” the premier said in a statement from his office.
“I ask members of the government to understand the magnitude of the moment,” Bennett said. “After years of neglect, this morning we have produced the most daring, most competition-focused budget, the most helpful to the weaker sections [of society], and the most concerned about the future of our children.”
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the reforms, which still need to be passed by the Knesset, would bring tangible change to the lives of many.
“The reforms we have approved focus primarily on lowering the cost of living. We have invested huge amounts of funding in infrastructure, transportation and real estate, and we have implemented significant reforms that will reduce bureaucracy, making it easier for everyone in our day-to-day business or private life,” Liberman said in the statement.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (C) and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (L) at a cabinet meeting to approve the state budget, August 2, 2021 (GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)
In a key development, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz reportedly secured a NIS 2 billion ($619 million) increase in funding for health care from the Finance Ministry.
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The health minister had been threatening to vote against the budget if his demands were not met.
Horowitz had previously warned that the health system is “on life support and needs an urgent transfusion, irrespective of the coronavirus…. It is functioning in emergency mode and it’s impossible to continue like this.”
In addition to asking for more money, the Health Ministry was also reportedly insisting that a planned reform on imports to open up the market not include cosmetics.
Another stumbling block had been a planned agriculture reform, opposed by farmers and fresh produce providers, as well as some coalition members.
Farmers had protested against the plan Sunday outside the Foreign Ministry where ministers were meeting to discuss the budget.
Other major reforms include the gradual raising of the retirement age for women to 65 over the course of 11 years, at a rate of four months a year for three years and three months a year for further eight years.
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Ministers had raised reservations about various aspects of the budget.
Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli opposed the plan to introduce a congestion fee for drivers entering the Gush Dan area in the center of the country during rush hours, saying that public transportation is not yet up to the task of picking up the slack if drivers feel compelled to leave their vehicles at home, Channel 12 news reported.
Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata warned she would not support the budget unless the Finance Ministry agreed to her demand for increased funding to bring Ethiopian immigrants to Israel.
After weeks of discussions, ministers gathered on Sunday morning for the talks ahead of the vote.
At the start of the meeting, Bennett said the budget “will be a milestone for government stability,” adding that it will enable ministers to carry out their roles without needing to curry favor with interest groups.
“This time, the budget is not serving the interests of this or that sector but of the entire State of Israel,” the premier said. “This government is free to act on behalf of the general interest. We are reducing bureaucracy and increasing competition, for everyone, but mainly for the weaker sectors. Those who will gain the most from competition and lower prices are the weaker sectors.”
The ministers continued their talks throughout Sunday until 8 p.m. and after taking a break, negotiations went on till past midnight, when another halt was called while Bennett summoned coalition chiefs for a meeting in his office. Negotiations then continued through the night until the agreements were reached.
The 2021-2022 budget ($187 billion for 2021, $173 billion for 2022) is being advanced by Liberman, though it faces significant hurdles in the Knesset before a November 4 deadline for passage.
The budget will require all the votes of the wafer-thin coalition to pass, with the opposition of a single lawmaker able to bring it down. The diverse composition of the new government led by Bennett — it is made up of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties — complicates the effort.
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A failure to pass a state budget will spell the automatic dissolution of the government.
The new state budget includes sweeping reforms of the kashrut establishment and the agriculture industry, steep taxes on disposable plasticware and sugary drinks, and considerable changes to import policies.
The budget will also raise the defense budget for 2022 to NIS 58 billion ($17.8 billion), according to a government statement last week. That will include a substantial increase — some NIS 7 billion ($2.15 billion), according to the Kan public broadcaster — for “rearmament and strengthening the Israel Defense Forces” to prepare the military for a potential strike on Iran, according to the statement from the prime minister, defense minister, and finance minister.
Israel’s last approved state budget was for 2019, before the country became embroiled in a two-year political gridlock. That budget that was passed in March 2018.
In the previous government, then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to pass a budget — which allowed him to call elections without then-coalition partner Defense Minister Benny Gantz immediately becoming transitional prime minister under the terms of their rotation deal.
Liberman has said he believes the budget will pass because even most of the opposition does not want a fresh round of elections. Sources in the government have been talking to members of the opposition’s Joint List to negotiate support from outside the coalition for the budget, Kan reported Sunday.
內塔尼亞胡抨擊“殘暴”的國家預算；拉皮德預測它將在以色列議會通過
反對黨領袖聲稱預算“充滿經濟削減、稅收和價格上漲”，誓要阻止它；Yesh Atid 負責人表示，政府可能會尋求聯盟以外政黨的支持
通過拉烏爾WOOTLIFF 今天，晚上 7:23
在內閣三年來首次投票批准國家預算後，反對黨領袖本雅明內塔尼亞胡週一抨擊了支出計劃，稱這是他見過的最糟糕的情況，並發誓要阻止其在以色列議會通過。
內塔尼亞胡在以色列議會舉行的利庫德集團黨派會議開幕式上對記者說：“我在我的時間里通過了很多預算，但我以前從未見過如此殘酷的預算。”
“它充滿了經濟削減、稅收和價格上漲。他們沒有降低稅收並讓以色列公民更輕鬆，而是提高稅收和價格並傷害以色列公民，“他聲稱。
“為什麼以色列公民需要付出代價，政府才能向 MK Mansour Abbas 支付 530 億新謝克爾？” 這位前總理補充說，他指的是阿拉伯以色列社區向聯盟的 Ra'am 黨領袖承諾的預算。
內塔尼亞胡表示，他將“不遺餘力地”阻止議會通過預算，此舉將自動推翻政府並強制進行新的選舉。
為期兩年的國家預算為 2021 年撥款 1870 億美元，為 2022 年撥款 1730 億美元，其中包括對kashrut 機構和農業的全面改革、對一次性塑料製品和含糖飲料徵收高額稅款，以及對進口政策進行重大調整。
其他重大改革包括在 11 年內逐步將女性的退休年齡提高到 65 歲，以每年四個月的速度持續三年，再以每年三個月的速度再增加八年。
在獲得內閣批准後，這項複雜的立法現在必須在 11 月 4 日的最後期限之前通過委員會階段和議會全體會議的三讀——這對在議會中佔微弱多數的聯盟來說是一個關鍵挑戰。如果它不通過，議會將自動解散，選舉將隨之而來。
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預算將需要薄薄的聯盟的所有選票才能通過，一個立法者的反對就可以將其推翻。由總理納夫塔利·貝內特 (Naftali Bennett) 領導的新政府的多元化組成——由右翼、中間派和左翼政黨組成——使這項工作複雜化。
Shas 主席 Aryeh Deri 也發誓要反對他所謂的“白人預算”，他在周一的黨派會議上表示，這將傷害以色列社會中最薄弱的部分。
“今天貝內特、[外交部長亞伊爾]拉皮德和[財政部長阿維格多]利伯曼的遊船政府批准了‘白人’預算，”他說。“利伯曼半夜拿著一杯白葡萄酒在政府走廊裡走來走去，壓垮了社會上最弱的人。這個政府是強者對弱者。”
聯合托拉猶太教 MK Yaakov Asher 還聲稱預算忽略了以色列最弱勢的人口，並將對需要援助的社會關鍵部分增稅。
“財政部長承諾不會增稅。如果他要對伏特加徵稅，我會說，'這是需要勇氣的事情，'”阿舍告訴 Radio 103 FM，提到利伯曼在前蘇聯的根源。
然而，在 Yesh Atid 派系會議上，拉皮德為內閣批准預算而歡呼，並預測它將贏得以色列議會的支持。
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“三年來，以色列國沒有預算，完全是因為政治，”他說。
兼任候補總理的拉皮德表示，他將與“所有派別”接觸以討論預算，暗示聯盟將尋求反對黨的額外支持。
拉皮德回應了貝內特的話，貝內特對周一早些時候提出的預算表示歡迎，他說：“經過三年的停滯，以色列重新開始工作。”
“經過多年的忽視，今天早上我們制定了最大膽、最關注競爭的預算，對[社會]弱勢群體最有幫助，最關心我們孩子的未來，”貝內特在馬拉鬆比賽后說通宵內閣會議。
以色列上一次批准的國家預算是 2019 年，之後該國陷入長達兩年的政治僵局。該預算於 2018 年 3 月通過。
總理納夫塔利·貝內特（中）和財政部長阿維格多·利伯曼（左）在內閣會議上批准國家預算，2021 年 8 月 2 日（GPO/Amos Ben Gershom）
在前任政府中，當時的總理內塔尼亞胡拒絕通過預算——這使他能夠在沒有當時的聯盟夥伴國防部長本尼·甘茨（Benny Gantz）根據輪換協議的條款立即成為過渡總理的情況下舉行選舉。
財政部長利伯曼週一上午表示，計劃中的改革將為許多人的生活帶來切實的改變。
“我們批准的改革主要側重於降低生活成本。我們在基礎設施、交通和房地產方面投入了大量資金，並實施了重大改革，以減少官僚主義，使我們日常業務或私人生活中的每個人都更輕鬆，”利伯曼在一份聲明中說。
利伯曼曾表示，他相信預算會通過，因為即使是大多數反對派也不希望進行新一輪選舉。菅直人周日報導稱，政府消息人士一直在與反對黨聯合名單的成員進行談判，以協商聯盟外部對預算的支持。
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以色列工作人員時報為本報告做出了貢獻。
Netanyahu assails ‘atrocious’ state budget; Lapid predicts it’ll pass in Knesset
Opposition leader claims budget ‘full of economic cuts, tax and price increases,’ vows to block it; Yesh Atid chief says government may seek support of parties outside coalition
By RAOUL WOOTLIFF Today, 7:23 pm
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After the cabinet voted to approve a national budget for the first time in three years, Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu assailed the spending plan Monday, saying it was the worst he had ever seen and vowing to block its passage in the Knesset.
“I have passed many budgets in my time but I have never seen such an atrocious budget before,” Netanyahu told reporters at the opening of his Likud party faction meeting in the Knesset.
“It is full of economic cuts, tax and price increases. Instead of lowering taxes and making it easier for Israeli citizens, they are raising taxes and prices and harming Israeli citizens,” he claimed.
“Why do Israeli citizens need to pay the price so the government can pay NIS 53 billion to MK Mansour Abbas?” the former prime minister added, referring to budgets for the Arab Israeli community promised to the head of the coalition’s Ra’am party.
Netanyahu said he would “leave no stone unturned” in his bid to block to budget from passing in the Knesset, a move that would automatically bring down the government and force new elections.
The two-year state budget allocates $187 billion for 2021 and $173 billion for 2022, and includes sweeping reforms of the kashrut establishment and the agriculture industry, steep taxes on disposable plasticware and sugary drinks, and considerable changes to import policies.
Other major reforms include the gradual raising of the retirement age for women to 65 over the course of 11 years, at a rate of four months a year for three years, and three months a year for a further eight years.
Having been approved by the cabinet, the complex legislation must now pass through committee stages and three readings in the Knesset plenum by a November 4 deadline — in a key challenge for the coalition, which holds a narrow parliamentary majority. If it does not pass by then, the Knesset would automatically dissolve and elections would follow.
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The budget will require all the votes of the wafer-thin coalition to pass, with the opposition of a single lawmaker able to bring it down. The diverse composition of the new government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — made up of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties — complicates the effort.
Shas chair Aryeh Deri also vowed to oppose what he called “the white budget,” telling his party’s faction meeting on Monday that it would harm the weakest segments of Israeli society.
“Today Bennett, [Foreign Minister Yair] Lapid and [Finance Minister Avigdor] Liberman’s pleasure-boat government approved the ‘white’ budget,” he said. “Liberman walks around the middle of the night in the government corridors with a glass of white wine and crushes the weakest people in society. This government is of the strong versus the weak.”
United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher also claimed the budget ignored Israel’s weakest populations and will raise taxes on critical segments of society in need of assistance.
“The finance minister promised not to raise taxes. If he were to institute a tax on vodka, I would have said, ‘This is something that takes courage,'” Asher told Radio 103 FM, in a reference to Liberman’s roots in the former Soviet Union.
At the Yesh Atid faction meeting, however, Lapid cheered the cabinet’s approval of a budget and predicted it would win Knesset backing.
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“For three years the State of Israel was without a budget, all because of politics,” he said.
Lapid, who also serves as alternate prime minister, said he would reach out to “all factions” to discuss the budget, suggesting the coalition would seek additional support from opposition parties.
Lapid echoed the words of Bennett, who welcomed the advancing of the budget earlier Monday, saying, “After three years of stagnation, Israel is back to work.”
“After years of neglect, this morning we have produced the most daring, most competition-focused budget, the most helpful to the weaker segments [of society], and the most concerned about the future of our children,” Bennett said following a marathon all-night cabinet meeting.
Israel’s last approved state budget was for 2019, before the country became embroiled in a two-year political gridlock. That budget was passed in March 2018.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (C) and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (L) at a cabinet meeting to approve the state budget, August 2, 2021 (GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)
In the previous government, then-prime minister Netanyahu refused to pass a budget — which allowed him to call elections without then-coalition partner Defense Minister Benny Gantz immediately becoming transitional prime minister under the terms of their rotation deal.
Finance Minister Liberman said Monday morning that the planned reforms would bring tangible change to the lives of many.
“The reforms we have approved focus primarily on lowering the cost of living. We have invested huge amounts of funding in infrastructure, transportation and real estate, and we have implemented significant reforms that will reduce bureaucracy, making it easier for everyone in our day-to-day business or private life,” Liberman said in a statement.
Liberman has said he believes the budget will pass because even most of the opposition does not want a fresh round of elections. Sources in the government have been talking to members of the opposition’s Joint List to negotiate support from outside the coalition for the budget, Kan reported Sunday.
在“發布”專欄之後，CNN 就錯誤引用向 Dore Gold 道歉
美國有線電視新聞網的法里德·扎卡里亞向多爾·戈爾德道歉，因為他向阿卜杜拉國王斷言他希望約旦成為未來的巴勒斯坦國。戈爾德在耶路撒冷郵報專欄中做出了回應。
通過耶路撒冷郵報STAFF
2021 年 8 月 2 日 15:57
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Fareed Zakaria 向 Dore Gold 道歉。信用：美國有線電視新聞網
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CNN 新聞主播法里德·扎卡里亞 (Fareed Zakaria) 週日向以色列前外交部總幹事多爾·戈爾德 (Dore Gold) 博士道歉，此前他錯誤地聲稱戈爾德表示，當約旦成為巴勒斯坦國時，“兩國解決方案”將實現。
扎卡里亞在 8 月 1 日的 CNN 電視節目GPS 中道歉。
扎卡里亞說：“在上週的節目中，我向阿卜杜拉國王詢問了一個概念，即未來不會有獨立的巴勒斯坦國，而是他的國家約旦將成為事實上的巴勒斯坦國。”以色列長期外交官多爾·戈爾德最近提到了這個想法。我錯了。很多人都談到了這個概念，但不是戈爾德大使。我為那個錯誤道歉。”
“事實和對真相的追求在我所做的工作中很重要，所以糾正這個錯誤很重要，”戈爾德回應說。
扎卡里亞 於 7 月 25 日採訪了 阿卜杜勒國王，並詢問國王對約旦將成為巴勒斯坦國的想法的看法，並聲稱黃金是解決方案的支持者。
根據耶路撒冷公共事務中心的新聞稿，扎卡里亞的指控在他的個人推特賬戶上流傳，隨後被約旦媒體引用。在撰寫本文時，無法找到該推文。
戈爾德於 7 月 29 日為 《耶路撒冷郵報》發表了一篇 專欄 文章 ，其中他指出了扎卡里亞的錯誤信息造成的損害，“加劇了約旦長期以來的恐懼，即以色列正計劃以約旦為代價來解決巴勒斯坦問題。 ”
多爾博士也在推特上稱扎卡里亞的採訪是假新聞，並否認他曾說過這樣的話。相反，多爾博士說，他認為“哈希姆王國是以色列和整個地區的支柱”。
@FareedZakaria在接受#Jordan的@KingAbdullahII採訪時發布的假新聞。面試官指責我質疑喬丹的未來。我從來沒有說過這些話。我認為約旦是#Israel和整個地區的戰略支柱。https://t.co/JjlYXgoBqM #CNN #GPS
— Dore Gold 博士 (@DrDoreGold) 2021 年 7 月 28 日
除了擔任前外交部總幹事外，戈爾德還是以色列常駐聯合國代表。目前，他擔任耶路撒冷公共事務中心的主席。
Following 'Post' op-ed, CNN apologizes to Dore Gold for misquote
CNN's Fareed Zakaria apologized to Dore Gold for asserting to King Abdullah that he wanted Jordan to become the future Palestinian state. Gold responded in a Jerusalem Post Op-Ed.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
AUGUST 2, 2021 15:57
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Fareed Zakaria issues an apology to Dore Gold. Credit: CNN
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CNN news anchor Fareed Zakaria apologized to Israel's former Foreign Ministry director-general Dr. Dore Gold on Sunday after mistakenly claiming that Gold said that the "two-state solution" would be realized when Jordan became the Palestinian state.
Zakaria apologized on the August 1 episode of his CNN television program GPS.
"On last week's show, I asked King Abdullah about the concept that there would be no stand-alone Palestine state in the future that but instead his nation, Jordan, would become the de-facto Palestine state," said Zakaria "I said the idea had been recently mentioned by long time Israeli diplomat, Dore Gold. I was wrong. Many have talked about that concept, but not ambassador Gold. I apologize for that error."
“Facts and the pursuit of truth are important things in the work I do, so it was important that this mistake be corrected,” Gold said in response.
Zakaria interviewed King Abdulluh on July 25, and asked the king for his thoughts on the idea that Jordan would become the Palestinian state, asserting that Gold was a proponent of the solution.
According to a Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs press release, Zakaria's allegations circulated on his personal Twitter account, which was then quoted by the Jordanian press. As of the writing of this article the tweet cannot be found.
Gold published an Op-Ed for The Jerusalem Post on July 29, in which he noted the damage that Zakaria's misinformation had done, "by feeding into a long-held fear in Jordan that Israel was scheming to solve the Palestinian problem at Jordan’s expense."
Dr. Dore also took to Twitter, calling Zakaria's interview fake news and denying that he had ever said such a thing. On the contrary, Dr. Dore said that he views "the Hashemite Kingdom as an anchoring element for Israel and the entire region."
In addition to being the former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Gold was also Israel's representative to the United Nations. Currently, he serves as the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
面對宗教改革，一些哈雷迪姆現在呼籲猶太教堂與國家分離
哈雷迪政客警告說，新政府正在“摧毀”和“腐蝕”以色列的猶太人性格。有人說，分離可能是不可避免的
作者：HAVIV RETTIG GUR 今天，中午 12:39
長達兩個月的時間裡，Haredi 政黨 Shas 和 United Torah Judaism 一直在激烈地詆毀新政府。在 Haredi 詞典中，幾乎沒有一個綽號不是針對總理 Naftali Bennett、外交部長 Yair Lapid、宗教事務部長 Matan Kahana 和其他人的。
大部分謾罵都針對政府改革大型國家宗教官僚機構的提議，特別是在kashrut和皈依方面，但它並沒有就此止步， UTJ 領導人 MK Moshe Gafni 本周稱貝內特是以色列人的“兇手”。最近死于冠狀病毒。
6 月 8 日，在極端正統派系的“緊急”新聞發布會上，加夫尼說出了古老的猶太詛咒，“惡人的名字將腐爛”。他指的是班尼特和拉皮德。
本週，加夫尼還在以色列議會講台上稱卡哈納為“安條克”，指的是光明節故事中禁止猶太宗教活動、褻瀆聖殿並最終點燃馬加比起義的反派。
Shas 領導人 Aryeh Deri 在 6 月警告說，“一個以 Bennett 為首的政府將摧毀安息日、皈依、首席拉比和 kashrut，並將撕裂以色列人民。” 本月早些時候，他說 Kahana 的 kashrut 改革旨在“播下破壞和腐敗的種子”。
“你這個一無是處”、“以色列的毀滅者”、“脫掉你的基帕”——幾乎在每一次以色列議會辯論和每一次對哈雷迪 MK 的電視採訪中，這種謾罵都來得又快又猛。
但這不僅僅是政治領導。Haredi 派係都有拉比委員會，他們表面上負責政黨的大局決策。這些拉比也加入了誹謗。週二，Shas MK Uriel Busso 走上講台，宣讀了該國最著名的 Sephardi Haredi 拉比、89 歲的 Shalom Cohen、耶路撒冷 Porat Yosef Yeshiva 的負責人、Shas 的 Torah Sages 委員會主席的一封公開信.
在古老的希伯來語中，典型的哈雷迪拉比呼籲懺悔，科恩闡述了沙斯關於新改革的敘述。
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“最近，為了我們的大罪，那些壞人起來攻擊摩西的律法，企圖摧毀以色列土地上的宗教堡壘，並向上帝和他的律法宣戰，並希望拆除和摧毀摩西律法。在所有神聖事物中建立宗教基礎，設置障礙並給以色列人民帶來錯誤，”科恩開始說。“他們威脅要改變皈依系統，願仁慈的 [上帝] 拯救我們，並破壞我們長期維護的 kashrut 系統。
“因此，我呼籲所有市政拉比和所有拉比法官，無論他們身在何處，以及首席拉比委員會的成員，明確反對對卡什魯特和皈依制度的任何改變。沒有人以任何方式與他們合作。你必須像堡壘一樣堅強地站起來，反對這些奇怪的改革，這些改革會給以色列土地上的猶太教帶來毀滅和破壞。”
集結隊伍
我們應該如何認真對待這些言論？這僅僅是政治活動嗎，哈雷迪政客們假裝不想成為政府的一部分，至少暫時不希望他們在內部妨礙宗教改革？畢竟，當 Haredi 社區的許多機構和生活方式都依賴於國家資助時，他們的政黨還能容忍多久？
還是哈雷迪政客表達了他們對新改革者及其改革的真實看法？對於外部觀察者來說，這種言論可能顯得太過分了——他們真的相信放棄國家拉比對 kashrut 監管的壟斷，轉而支持嚴格監管的競爭監管系統相當於對猶太教的“破壞和破壞”嗎？- 但它可能仍然反映了對貝內特-拉皮德聯盟發起的全面變革的真正焦慮。
政治上經常出現這種情況，似乎兩者兼而有之：源源不斷的譴責反映了哈雷迪街的認真觀點和政黨的戰術政治算計。民意調查顯示，哈雷迪選民是右翼，支持本傑明內塔尼亞胡擔任總理的比例甚至高於利庫德集團選民。哈雷迪政客全力反對新政府，是在強調選民的意見。
然而，他們試圖營造的道德恐慌還有一個更平淡的目的。將在新一輪改革中被顛覆的機構是 Haredi 社區的巨大影響力和收入的來源，該社區為他們的大部分主管、法學家和工作人員提供服務。他們堅持認為以色列的靈魂正在進行一場戰爭，他們希望團結這些機構的普通人——市政拉比、宗教委員會、kashrut 檢查員、皈依法官——站穩腳跟，阻礙改革的進展。
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但是，所有關於以色列毀滅的激烈和可怕警告都有一個缺點：許多哈雷迪領導人和公眾人物開始相信它，並以意想不到的方式做出回應。
週四早上，閱讀量最大的 Haredi 周刊 Mishpacha 上出現了一個驚人的專欄。由耶路撒冷副市長海姆·科恩 (Haim Cohen) 執筆，他是一名長期的沙斯人，標題直截了當：“宗教與國家：是時候分開了嗎？”
科恩認為，鑑於政府的新改革，以及由此導致的哈雷迪對宗教標準的控制力下降，也許是時候考慮完全拆除強制性的國家宗教機構了。
單個 Haredi 政治家的單個專欄不是重點。正是對此的回應標誌著社區內對哈雷迪要求控制該國宗教生活的新不安。該專欄是由一位完美的內部人士撰寫的——科恩是耶路撒冷市議會事實上的沙斯領導人德里的任命者——在受歡迎的 Mishpacha 中佔據顯著位置，在 Haredi 社交媒體上被廣泛分享，其激進的提議基於過去幾十年的頂級 Haredi 精神領袖。
說明：24 名新拉比法官於 2018 年 10 月 15 日在耶路撒冷總統官邸宣誓就職 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
一位 Twitter 用戶 Moshe Weisberg 是受歡迎的 Behadrey Haredim 網站的編輯，其 Twitter 帳戶擁有超過 33,000 名粉絲，他分享了全文並稱該論點“很有趣”。
換句話說，這不是自由化的哈雷迪活動家通常認真討論宗教和國家應該第一次在以色列國分離的想法。這是主流。
'沒有選擇'
科恩的論點始於高等法院在 2000 年代中期的裁決，根據該裁決，以色列國家必須承認為阿利亞目的在國外進行的改革皈依。
當時的哈雷迪政客求助於當時最著名的哈雷迪聖人，即十多歲的拉比 Yosef Shalom Elyashiv。
他們提出了一些建議供 Elyashiv 考慮，包括哈雷迪政黨可以通過支持正式的宗教與國家分離來回應的激進想法——這是一種試圖將宗教機構從世俗機構的強制性權力中拯救出來的嘗試，正如世俗法院的法令所證明的那樣拉比的宗教規定不會成為國家對 aliya 資格的標準。
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2009 年 12 月拉比 Yosef Sholom Elyashiv 的肖像。 (Matanya Tausig/Flash90)
Elyashiv 的回應很有說服力，科恩說：繼續保護現有的國家宗教官僚機構並在其內部工作，他建議道，同時補充說（用科恩的話來說），“總有一天，別無選擇，只能採取這個方向。”
隨著新政府努力打破哈雷迪黨在任命拉比法官方面的束縛，並用私人公司取代拉比對 kashrut 監督的壟斷，問題又回來了。
“今天的情況是，我們無法阻止有問題的皈依所引起的問題，”科恩寫道，“也無法[阻止]那些無法與[猶太宗教法下的其他猶太人]結婚的人進入系統。我們無法監控和知道誰經歷了halachic轉換，誰沒有；根據摩西和以色列的律法結婚，誰沒有結婚。”
他指出，Haredi 社區維持強制性宗教機構的成本很高。
“我們被視為家長式的，並強迫我們對公眾發表意見，即使我們自己對現有情況感到不安。更糟糕的是，halachic 機構在某種程度上從屬於世俗國家體系。今天，拉比法庭被迫考慮[在他們的裁決中]他們的決定將被上訴到高等法院的可能性。”
這個問題並不新鮮，但新政府提出的改革方案卻讓人無法忽視：“現政府給自己定下的目標是摧毀首席拉比，摧毀一切可以摧毀的宗教與國家關係，”科恩說。
耶路撒冷拉比法庭的景色，2008 年 10 月 5 日。（Yossi Zamir/Flash90）
答案是：分離。
“在兩個系統分開的情況下，國家在halachic問題上沒有發言權。任何對 halacha 認可的轉換軌道感興趣的人都必須求助於 halacha 承諾的公眾認可的系統。任何不是 - 不會與我們發生任何爭吵。國家將無法取消拉比法庭的裁決，就像今天一樣……而且我們不會發現自己被指控為家長作風。”
Elyashiv 說，分離的那一天是不可避免的。對於科恩來說，它可能已經到來。
“分水嶺的確切位置以及何時重新考慮我們的道路的決定掌握在以色列偉大的[聖人]手中，但隨著我們保護現有局勢的能力減弱，必須再次將這個想法帶到他們的門。”
Facing religious reforms, some Haredim now call for synagogue-state separation
The new government, Haredi politicians warn, is ‘destroying’ and ‘corrupting’ Israel’s Jewish character. Separation, some say, may be inevitable
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR Today, 12:39 pm
Representatives of the chief rabbinate deliver a kashrut certificate to a local restaurant in central Jerusalem, on December 31, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
For two long months, the Haredi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism have engaged in an intense campaign of vilification against the new government. There’s scarcely an epithet in the Haredi lexicon that hasn’t been leveled at Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana and others.
Much of the vituperation has been directed at the government’s proposals for reforming the large state religious bureaucracies, especially in kashrut and conversions, but it hasn’t stopped there, with UTJ leader MK Moshe Gafni this week calling Bennett a “murderer” of Israelis who have recently died of the coronavirus.
On June 8, at an “emergency” press conference of the ultra-Orthodox factions, Gafni uttered the old Jewish curse, “the names of the wicked shall rot.” He was referring to Bennett and Lapid.
This week, Gafni also called Kahana “Antiochus” from the Knesset podium, referring to the villain of the Hanukkah story who banned Jewish religious practice, desecrated the Temple and ultimately ignited the Maccabean revolt.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri warned back in June that “a government headed by Bennett will destroy the Sabbath, conversion, the Chief Rabbinate, kashrut and will tear the people of Israel asunder.” Earlier this month, he said Kahana’s kashrut reforms were intended “to sow destruction and corruption.”
“You piece of nothing,” “destroyers of Israel,” “take off your kippa” — the invective has come fast and furious, at nearly every Knesset debate and every television interview with a Haredi MK.
But it isn’t just the political leadership. The Haredi factions all have councils of rabbis who are ostensibly in charge of the parties’ big-picture policy decisions. These rabbis, too, have joined in the vilification. On Tuesday, Shas MK Uriel Busso took to the podium to read out a public letter from the most prominent Sephardi Haredi rabbi in the country, 89-year-old Shalom Cohen, head of Jerusalem’s Porat Yosef Yeshiva and chairman of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages.
In archaic Hebrew typical of Haredi rabbis’ calls to penance, Cohen laid out the Shas narrative about the new reforms.
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“Of late, for our great transgressions, those bad people arose and struck at the Torah of Moses, seeking to destroy the fortress of religion in the land of Israel, and declared war on God and his Torah, and wish to demolish and destroy the foundations of religion in all sacred things, to place obstacles and bring fault to the people of Israel,” Cohen began. “They threaten changes to the conversion system, may the merciful [God] save us, and the destruction of the kashrut system as we have long maintained it.
“Therefore, I call on all municipal rabbis and all rabbinic judges wherever they may be, and the members of the Chief Rabbinate Council, to oppose unequivocally any change whatsoever to the kashrut and conversion systems. No one is to cooperate with them in any way. You must stand strong, like a fortress wall, against these strange reforms that will bring ruin and destruction to Judaism in the land of Israel.”
Rallying the ranks
How seriously should we take the rhetoric? Is it merely politicking, a way for Haredi politicians to pretend not to want to be part of a government that, for the time being at least, doesn’t want them on the inside getting in the way of its religious reforms? After all, how long can the Haredi community tolerate their parties remaining out of government when so many of its institutions and so much of its way of life are dependent on state funding.
Or are Haredi politicians expressing their authentic views about the new reformers and their reforms? The rhetoric may seem over the top to outside observers — do they really believe that abandoning the state rabbinate’s monopoly on kashrut supervision in favor of a heavily regulated system of competing supervision companies amounts to the “ruin and destruction” of Judaism? — but it may nevertheless reflect real anxieties about the sweeping changes being inaugurated by the Bennett-Lapid coalition.
As is often the case in politics, it seems to be a bit of both: The constant stream of denunciations reflects both the earnest views of the Haredi street and the tactical political calculations of the parties. Polls have shown that Haredi voters are right-wing and support Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister at higher rates than even Likud voters. In opposing the new government with all their might, Haredi politicians are emphatically reflecting the views of their constituents.
Yet the moral panic they are trying to foster has a more prosaic purpose too. The institutions set to be upended in the new raft of reforms are sources of immense influence and income for the Haredi community, which supplies most of their supervisors, jurists and functionaries. In insisting that there’s a war underway for the soul of Israel, they are hoping to rally the rank and file of those institutions — municipal rabbis, religious councils, kashrut inspectors, conversion judges — to stand their ground and stymie the progress of the reforms.
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But there’s a downside to all that vehemence and dire warnings about the destruction of Israel: Many Haredi leaders and public figures are starting to believe it, and to respond in unexpected ways.
On Thursday morning, a startling column appeared in Mishpacha, the most-read Haredi weekly. Penned by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Haim Cohen, a longtime Shas man, it carried the blunt headline: “Religion and state: Is it time to separate?”
Given the government’s new reforms, Cohen argued, and the resulting decline in Haredi control over religious standards, perhaps it’s time to consider dismantling the coercive state religious apparatus altogether.
A single column by a single Haredi politician isn’t the point. It is the response to it that signals a new disquiet within the community over the Haredi demand to control the country’s religious life. The column was penned by a consummate insider — Cohen is a de facto appointee of Shas leader Deri to the Jerusalem City Council — was carried prominently in popular Mishpacha, was shared widely on Haredi social media, and based its radical proposal on the views of the top Haredi spiritual leaders of the past few decades.
Illustrative: 24 new rabbinical judges are sworn in at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on October 15, 2018 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
One Twitter user, Moshe Weisberg, an editor at the popular Behadrey Haredim website whose Twitter account has over 33,000 followers, shared the entire text and called the argument “interesting.”
In other words, it wasn’t the usual run of liberalizing Haredi activists who have taken to discussing seriously the idea that religion and state should, for the first time, be separated in the State of Israel. It’s the mainstream.
‘No choice’
Cohen’s argument begins in the High Court of Justice’s rulings in the mid-2000s according to which the Israeli state must recognize Reform conversions conducted abroad for the purposes of aliya.
Haredi politicians at the time turned to the most prominent Haredi sage of the day, the nonagenarian Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
They brought a few suggestions for Elyashiv’s consideration, including the radical idea that Haredi parties could respond by supporting a formal separation of religion and state — an attempt to rescue religious institutions from the coercive power of secular ones, as witnessed in the secular court’s decree that the religious rulings of the rabbinate would not be the state’s standard for aliya eligibility.
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Elyashiv’s response was telling, Cohen related: Continue to protect and work within the existing state religious bureaucracies, he counseled, while adding (in Cohen’s paraphrase), “There will come a time when there would be no choice but to take this direction.”
As the new government works to break the Haredi parties’ stranglehold on the appointment of rabbinic judges and to replace the rabbinate’s monopoly on kashrut supervision with private companies, the question has returned.
“The situation today is that we have no way to prevent the problems that arise from problematic conversions,” Cohen wrote, “nor [to prevent] those unable to marry [other Jews under Jewish religious law] from entering the system. We have no way to monitor and know who underwent a halachic conversion and who did not; who married under the laws of Moses and Israel and who did not.”
There was a steep cost for the Haredi community in maintaining coercive religious institutions, he noted.
“We’re seen as paternalistic and coercing our views on the public, even as we ourselves are uncomfortable with the existing situation. Worse, the halachic institutions are subordinate to some degree to the secular state system. Today, rabbinic courts are forced to consider [in their rulings] the possibility that their decisions will be appealed to the High Court.”
The question isn’t new, but the new government’s proposed reforms have made it impossible to ignore: “The current government has set itself a goal of destroying the chief rabbinate and demolishing all that can be demolished in the relationship between religion and state,” Cohen said.
The answer: separation.
“In a situation in which the two systems are separated, the state will have no say in halachic matters. Anyone interested in a conversion track recognized by halacha will have to turn to systems that the halacha-committed public recognizes. Anyone who isn’t — won’t have any quarrel with us whatsoever. The state won’t be able to cancel rabbinic court rulings, as it can today… and we won’t find ourselves accused of paternalism.”
The day of separation, Elyashiv said, was inevitable. For Cohen, it may have already arrived.
“The decision where the watershed lies precisely and when the time has come to rethink our path is in the hands of the great [sages] of Israel, but as our ability to protect the existing situation diminishes, the idea must once more be brought to their door.”
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2021.08.03 國際新聞導讀-美國研擬回應伊朗攻擊以色列船隻 對策、以色列內閣批准新預算方案但要國會通過、伊朗革命衛隊控制伊朗經濟的優劣點分析
布林肯誓言對伊朗因與以色列有聯繫的油輪被擊中做出“集體回應”
國務卿說，美國正在與英國、以色列、羅馬尼亞和其他國家協調應對致命襲擊；約翰遜稱德黑蘭將不得不面對其“無恥”行為的後果
通過AFP和雅各布·馬吉德今天，晚上 11:24
美國國務卿安東尼·布林肯在與意大利外交部長舉行聯合新聞發布會時聽取了他的講話2021 年 6 月 28 日，布林肯的歐洲三國巡演。（ANDREAS SOLARO / 法新社）
美國國務卿安東尼·布林肯週一發誓要對伊朗進行“集體回應”，當天早些時候，伊朗因襲擊一艘與以色列有關的油輪而受到指責，伊朗在當天早些時候警告對手不要進行報復。
“我們與英國、以色列、羅馬尼亞和其他國家保持著非常密切的聯繫和協調。並且會有集體回應，”布林肯在國務院的新聞發布會上告訴記者。
他重申，美國已經得出結論，伊朗是在阿曼海岸附近的 MT Mercer 街發動無人機襲擊的幕後黑手，該街由以色列著名億萬富翁 Eyal Ofer 管理。
一名英國保安人員和一名羅馬尼亞船員遇難。
布林肯稱這一事件是“對航行和商業自由的直接威脅”，但淡化了這表明其在易卜拉欣·賴西 (Ebrahim Raisi) 領導下變得強硬的說法，後者將於週二宣誓就任伊朗總統。
“我們已經看到伊朗在幾個月內採取了一系列行動，包括反對航運，所以我不確定這一特定行動是否有任何新意，或者對新政府有什麼預示，”布林肯說。
這張 2016 年 1 月 2 日的照片顯示了南非開普敦附近懸掛利比里亞國旗的油輪默瑟街（Johan Victor via AP）
“但它確實說的是，伊朗繼續以極其不負責任的方式行事，”他補充說。
週一早些時候，英國首相鮑里斯·約翰遜發表了自己對無人機襲擊的譴責。
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“我認為伊朗應該正視他們所做事情的後果，”他告訴 BBC。“這顯然是對商業航運的不可接受和令人髮指的攻擊……伊朗和所有其他國家尊重世界各地的航行自由絕對至關重要。”
到目前為止，以色列、美國、英國和羅馬尼亞將周四的無人機襲擊歸咎於伊朗。
週一晚上，國防部長本尼·甘茨表示，以色列必須立即就無人機襲擊對德黑蘭採取行動。
“伊朗，在本週上任的‘劊子手’賴西的領導下，對世界的危害將比迄今為止更大，對該地區的破壞力將比迄今為止更大，並將努力成為一個存在主義的國家。對以色列的威脅，”甘茨說，他指的是即將上任的伊朗總統，他被指控在 1980-1988 年伊朗和伊拉克之間的戰爭即將結束時參與了對囚犯的大規模屠殺。
Mercer Street 是一艘日本油輪，懸掛著利比里亞國旗，船上有外國船員。它與以色列的唯一關係是，它由總部位於倫敦的 Zodiac Maritime 管理，該公司是 Ofer 旗下的公司。
儘管如此，以色列認為這正是它被擊中的原因，並將這次襲擊視為針對其利益的襲擊。
最近的襲擊標誌著該地區商業航運遭受多年襲擊後，已知的第一次致命襲擊與以色列和伊朗之間因核協議的緊張局勢有關。
Blinken vows ‘collective response’ to Iran over hit on tanker with Israel ties
Secretary says US coordinating with UK, Israel, Romania and others on response to deadly attack; Johnson says Tehran will have to face consequences of its ‘outrageous’ actions
By AFP and JACOB MAGIDToday, 11:24 pm
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as he gives a joint press conference with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, following a meeting of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group, at the Fiera di Roma, in Rome, as part of Blinken's three-nation tour of Europe, on June 28, 2021. (ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday vowed a “collective response” to Iran, which had earlier in the day warned adversaries against reprisals after it was blamed for an attack on an Israeli-linked tanker.
“We are in very close contact, in coordination, with the United Kingdom, Israel, Romania and other countries. And there will be a collective response,” Blinken told reporters at a press appearance at the State Department.
He repeated that the United States had concluded that Iran was behind the drone attack off the coast of Oman on the MT Mercer Street, which is managed by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.
A British security guard and a Romanian crew member were killed.
Blinken called the incident a “direct threat to freedom of navigation and commerce,” but played down suggestions that it showed a hardening under Ebrahim Raisi, an ultraconservative who is set to be sworn in as Iranian president on Tuesday.
“We have seen a series of actions taken by Iran over many months, including against shipping, so I’m not sure that this particular action is anything new or augurs anything one way or another for the new government,” Blinken said.
This Jan. 2, 2016 photo shows the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa (Johan Victor via AP)
“But what it does say is that Iran continues to act with tremendous irresponsibility,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued his own condemnation of the drone attack.
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“I think that Iran should face up to the consequences of what they’ve done,” he told the BBC. “This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping… it is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedom of navigation around the world.”
So far, Thursday’s drone attack was blamed on Iran by Israel, the US, the UK and Romania.
On Monday evening, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel must act immediately against Tehran over the drone strike.
“Iran, under the ‘hangman’ Raisi, who will take office this week, will be more dangerous to the world than it has been so far, more destructive to the region than it has been so far, and will strive to become an existential threat to Israel,” Gantz said, referring to the incoming Iranian president, accused of taking part in the mass killings of prisoners toward the end of the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq.
The Mercer Street is a Japanese-owned tanker flying a Liberian flag and with a foreign crew. Its only ties to Israel are that it is managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime, a company owned by Ofer.
Still, Israel believes that is precisely the reason it was hit, and views the attack as one that targeted its interests.
The recent attack marked the first known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions between Israel and Iran over the tattered nuclear deal.
伊朗船隻遇襲對維也納會談有何影響？
“從歷史上看，當面臨真正的阻力時，伊朗人會變得更加謹慎。他們會尋求外部危機來促進民族主義聯合嗎？還是他們會尋求緩和緊張局勢？”
由OMRI NAHMIAS
2021 年 8 月 2 日 20:15
2021 年 6 月 21 日，伊朗當選總統易卜拉欣·賴西在伊朗德黑蘭舉行的新聞發布會上做手勢。
（圖片來源：MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA（西亞新聞社）通過路透社）
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華盛頓——美國和英國周日表示，他們將與他們的盟友合作，應對對默瑟街的襲擊，這是一艘懸掛利比里亞國旗的日本石油產品油輪，由以色列所有的 Zodiac Maritime 管理。
國務卿安東尼·布林肯週日表示，美國“正在與該地區內外的政府就適當的回應進行磋商，這將是即將到來的。”
隨著美國和伊朗之間的緊張局勢升級，這是否會影響伊朗核談判的動態？上一輪會談大約在六週前，即 6 月 20 日舉行，此後雙方尚未重新安排下一輪會談。
卡內基國際基金會核政策項目聯合主任詹姆斯·阿克頓（James Acton）表示：“如果伊朗正在尋找一個方便的藉口結束談判，它可能會利用美國對默瑟街襲擊事件的任何報復來這樣做。”和平，告訴耶路撒冷郵報。“然而，如果伊朗想要恢復 JCPOA——我認為它可能會這樣做——那麼我認為美國的報復不會改變它的計算，”他補充道。“我懷疑美國與伊朗核談判的政策是否已經改變。”
華盛頓近東政策研究所傑出研究員丹尼斯·羅斯大使告訴《華盛頓郵報》，伊朗的做法是向美國施加壓力。“對其他問題的回應可能會讓伊朗人清醒，”他說，“但伊朗人也有可能誤判和誇大其詞。”
“從歷史上看，當面臨真正的阻力時，伊朗人會變得更加謹慎，”羅斯指出。“現在，他們在國內也面臨抗議。他們會尋求外部危機來促進民族主義聯合嗎？還是他們會尋求緩和緊張局勢？我敢打賭，他們將繼續製造緊張局勢來測試我們的反應，這意味著在維也納，可能會提出新的要求，至少最初是這樣。”
“Raisi 沒有拒絕 JCPOA，但為了與最高領導人的戰略保持一致，該政權將繼續進行艱苦的討價還價；他們將繼續通過推進他們的核計劃向我們施加壓力，同時拒絕 IAEA（國際原子能機構）進行監測，”羅斯說。
“同時，為了重返 JCPOA，他們將敦促更廣泛地解除制裁併保證不會重新實施制裁。我說討價還價是因為伊朗人想看看他們能得到什麼，並會試圖強迫他們做出更多讓步；他們必須確信，不會有更多的讓步，如果他們堅持走這條路，他們將根本無法獲得制裁減免。他們還必須看到這條道路會帶來真正的風險，在某個時候，我們可能會得出結論，我們不再有限制他們核計劃的外交途徑。我認為伊朗的目標是成為一個有核武器門檻的國家，並將測試這方面的可能性，”羅斯說。
華盛頓民主保衛基金會首席執行官馬克·杜博維茨 (Mark Dubowitz) 告訴《華盛頓郵報》，他懷疑任何回應是否有意義。“本屆政府擔心與伊朗的衝突升級，這就是為什麼神職人員政權繼續在談判中佔據主導地位的原因，”他說。
“最高領袖是最高決策者。但現在他在Raisi有一位總統 ，與魯哈尼不同，他對重返 JCPOA 並不熱衷，他相信不依賴西方投資的抵抗經濟，並且看到核升級只會導致更多的拜登政府讓步，”杜博維茨說。“隨著美國談判代表的參與，文職政權正朝著核門檻國家邁進。它可能會決定重返核協議，但前提是它已將所有最後的讓步擠出華盛頓，並在 JCPOA 限製到期後堅定地走上核武器之路。”
How could the Iran ship attack affect the Vienna talks?
“Historically, when faced with real pushback, the Iranians become more cautious. Will they seek an external crisis to try to promote a nationalist coalescence? Or will they look to defuse tension?"
By OMRI NAHMIAS
AUGUST 2, 2021 20:15
Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi gestures at a news conference in Tehran, Iran June 21, 2021.
(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)
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WASHINGTON – The United States and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their allies to respond to the attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US is “consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming.”
As tension rises between the US and Iran, could that affect the dynamic of the Iran nuclear talks? The last round of talks took place almost six weeks ago, on June 20, and since then the sides have yet to reschedule the next one.
“It’s possible that if Iran is looking for a convenient excuse to end the negotiations, it will use any US retaliation for the Mercer Street attack to do so,” James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Jerusalem Post. “If, however, Iran wants to revive the JCPOA – as I think it probably does – then I don’t think US retaliation will alter its calculations,” he added. “I doubt that US policy toward the nuclear negotiations with Iran has changed.”
Ambassador Dennis Ross, a distinguished fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Post that Iran’s approach is to build pressure on the US. “Responses on other issues may sober the Iranians,” he said, “but there is a risk that the Iranians can also miscalculate and overplay their hand.”
“Historically, when faced with real pushback, the Iranians become more cautious,” Ross noted. “Now, they are also facing protests domestically. Will they seek an external crisis to try to promote a nationalist coalescence? Or will they look to defuse tension? My bet is they will continue to build tension to test our response, and that means in Vienna, probably coming in with new demands, at least initially.”
“Raisi has not rejected the JCPOA, but in keeping with the supreme leader’s strategy, the regime will continue to engage in hard bargaining; they will continue to build the pressure on us by advancing their nuclear program, while denying the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) its access for monitoring,” said Ross.
“Simultaneously, to return to the JCPOA, they will press for more expansive sanctions relief and assurances against the re-imposition of sanctions. I say hard bargaining because the Iranians are trying to see what they can get and will try to coerce more concessions; they must become convinced that no more concessions will be forthcoming and they will jeopardize getting sanctions relief at all if they persist on this path. They must also see that this path creates real risks that at some point, we may conclude that we no longer have a diplomatic path to limit their nuclear program. I think Iran aims to become a threshold nuclear weapons state and will test the limits of what is possible in this regard,” Ross said.
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundations for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told the Post that he was skeptical that any response will be meaningful. “This administration fears escalation with Iran which is why the clerical regime continues to have negotiation dominance,” he said.
“The supreme leader is the supreme decider. But now he has a president in Raisi who, unlike Rouhani, is not enthusiastic about a return to the JCPOA, who believes in a resistance economy that doesn’t depend on Western investment and who has seen that nuclear escalation only leads to more Biden administration concessions,” said Dubowitz. “The clerical regime is moving closer to a nuclear threshold state as it strings along American negotiators. It may decide to return to the nuclear deal but only after it has squeezed every last concession out of Washington and firmly put itself on a pathway to nuclear weapons as JCPOA restrictions expire.”
IRGC 網絡在新報告中曝光
托尼·布萊爾全球變化研究所的一份新報告揭示了伊朗新任強硬伊斯蘭主義總統易卜拉欣·賴西與伊朗革命衛隊 (IRGC) 之間的關係。
作者：勞倫摩根貝瑟
2021 年 8 月 2 日 19:22
上週五，伊朗總統選舉的獲勝者易卜拉欣·賴西 (Ebrahim Raisi) 在伊朗的一個投票站旁觀
（圖片來源：MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS）
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托尼·布萊爾全球變化研究所的一份新報告揭示了伊朗新任強硬伊斯蘭主義總統易卜拉欣·賴西與伊朗革命衛隊 (IRGC) 之間的關係。
週一發表的題為“易卜拉欣·賴西時代的伊斯蘭革命衛隊：伊朗革命衛隊的決策和派系主義”的報告審查了伊斯蘭革命衛隊在該國日益增長的作用和權力，並強調了它將如何進一步擴大在即將到來的賴西總統任期內。這項由賽義德·戈爾卡爾和卡斯拉·阿拉比進行的研究首次突出了伊斯蘭革命衛隊的關鍵權力中心和個人，其中許多人將成為賴西政府的新部長和政治任命人員。
賴西將於 6 月當選後於週四成為伊朗總統。Raisi 是一名強硬派神職人員，曾是伊斯蘭共和國最高領導人阿亞圖拉阿里哈梅內伊的學生。報告指出，隨著哈梅內伊變老，他正試圖“確保他死後強硬的伊斯蘭政權繼續存在”，包括通過選舉賴西和賦予伊斯蘭革命衛隊權力。
在接受《耶路撒冷郵報》採訪時，該報告的作者之一 Kasra Aarabi 解釋了該報告的重要性：“我們在西方嘗試使用各種模型來了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊及其內部運作，但都未能理解警衛隊內部存在的精英內部競爭與合作。”
來自 Jpost 的最新文章
該報告還指出，伊斯蘭革命衛隊在該國發揮著巨大的作用，現在控制著該國的大量生活，上升到從政治到經濟、軍事和情報等大多數關鍵機構的高層。
IRGC 的作用只會在 Raisi 擔任總統期間擴大。“來自伊朗社會提供哈梅內伊支持基石的部分的
伊斯蘭革命衛隊
成員很有可能將擔任下一屆政府和874名高級政府中的許多人爭奪的關鍵部長職位-伊朗各部委和國家官僚機構任命的職位，”報告描述。“因此，伊斯蘭革命衛隊將佔領伊朗的深層狀態，同時進一步鞏固自己在可見狀態中的地位，增加其獲得資源和權力的機會。”
然而，它還指出了伊斯蘭革命衛隊內部存在的分歧。該報告創建了一個模型來理解這些分歧，伊斯蘭革命衛隊的三個主要權力中心相互競爭：經濟、政治和安全情報。
在接受《華盛頓郵報》採訪時，阿拉比解釋了了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊內部運作的重要性：“雖然伊斯蘭革命衛隊是一個絕對支持哈梅內伊政權的強硬伊斯蘭組織，但它並不是一個龐然大物。我們的研究揭示了衛隊的三個主要權力中心，並確定了其中的關鍵伊斯蘭革命衛隊等級。精英內部的競爭和合作往往是政治體制穩定和不穩定的驅動因素。因此，能夠研究和了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊內部的這些精英內部競爭，將有助於預測伊斯蘭共和國的未來。”
這份報告發布之際，拜登政府希望重啟與該國的核談判，這證明對了解將組成伊朗新政府的安全人員和意識形態不可或缺。它還將使世界各地的政策制定者了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊的主要參與者是誰，以便知道在國內與誰合作或製裁誰。
“了解 Raisi 背後的驅動力很重要：革命衛隊，”Aarabi 解釋說。“要了解美國將不得不面對的政府類型，我們需要了解伊斯蘭革命衛隊的內部運作，而我們的研究可以幫助我們做到這一點。一旦我們了解並熟悉了政府將是什麼樣子，那麼這就引出了一個問題，即給予該政權高達 900 億美元的製裁減免是否符合美國的利益，作為重新…加入 2015 年的核協議。誤判可能導致這樣一種情況，它實際上增加了對美國國家安全和該地區的威脅，而不是減少了威脅。”
IRGC networks exposed in new report
A new report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change unpacks the relationship between Iran’s new hardline Islamist president Ebrahim Raisi and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
By LAUREN MORGANBESSER
AUGUST 2, 2021 19:22
THE WINNER of Iran’s presidential election, Ebrahim Raisi, looks on at a polling station in Iran this past Friday
(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS)
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A new report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change unpacks the relationship between Iran’s new hardline Islamist president Ebrahim Raisi and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The report published Monday, entitled “The IRGC in the Age of Ebrahim Raisi: Decision-Making and Factionalism in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard,” examines the increasing role and power of the IRGC in the country, as well as highlighting how it will expand even more under the upcoming presidency of Raisi. The research, conducted by Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi, for the first time highlights the key centers of power and individuals in the IRGC, many of whom will become the new ministers and political appointees in Raisi’s administration.
Raisi will become the president of Iran on Thursday after being elected in June. Raisi, a hardline cleric, is a former student of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic. The report notes that as Khamenei gets older, he is attempting to “ensure the survival of his hardline Islamic regime after his death,” including through the election of Raisi and empowerment of the IRGC.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Kasra Aarabi, one of the report’s authors, explained the significance of the report: “There have been various models we have tried to use in the West to understand the IRGC and its inner workings, but all have fallen short in making sense of the intra-elite competition and cooperation that exists within the Guard.”
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The report also notes that the IRGC plays an outsized role in the country, and now controls huge swaths of life in the country, rising to the top of most key institutions, from politics to the economy, military and intelligence.
The role of the IRGC will only expand under Raisi’s presidency. “It is highly likely that
IRGC
members, who are drawn from the section of Iranian society that provides the bedrock of Khamenei’s support, will come to occupy key ministerial roles that are up for grabs in the next administration and many of the 874 senior government-appointed positions across Iran’s ministries and state bureaucracy,” the report describes. “As a result, the IRGC will occupy the Iranian deep state while further entrenching itself in the visible state, increasing its access to resources and power.”
However, it also notes internal divisions that exist within the IRGC. The report creates a model to understand these divisions, with three major competing centers of power in the IRGC: economic, political, and security-intelligence.
In an interview with The Post, Aarabi explained the importance of understanding the innerworkings of the IRGC: “While the IRGC is a hardline Islamist organisation absolutely committed to Khamenei’s regime, it is not a monolith. Our research uncovers three major centres of power in the Guard and identifies the key IRGC ranks within them. Intra-elite competition and collaboration are often drivers of stability and instability in political regimes. So being able to study and understand these intra-elite rivalries within the IRGC will aid the efforts to forecast the future of the Islamic Republic.”
The report comes as the Biden administration looks to reopen nuclear talks with the country, proving integral to an understanding of the security personnel and ideology that will make up the new administration in Iran. It will also allow policymakers from around the world understand who the key players are in the IRGC in order to know who to work with or who to sanction within the country.
“It's important to understand the driving force behind Raisi: the Revolutionary Guards,” Aarabi explained. “To understand the kind of administration that the US will have to deal with, we need to understand the inner workings of the IRGC, and our research helps us do that. And once we've understood and familiarized ourselves with what the administration is going to look like, then that leads the question as to whether it's in the US interest to grant this regime up to 90 billion dollars in sanctions relief as part of a re-entry into the 2015 nuclear agreement. A miscalculation could lead to a situation where actually, it increases the threats to US national security and the region rather than decreases the threats.”
內閣三年來第一次批准國家預算，這是對政府的關鍵考驗
貝內特：“在停滯 3 年後，以色列重新開始工作”；利伯曼說，改革的重點是降低生活成本；霍洛維茨表示將確保為健康增加 20 億新謝克爾
通過TOI人員今天，上午 8:19更新於上午 9:21
內閣批准國家預算，2021 年 8 月 2 日（GPO/Amos Ben Gershom）
經過漫長的隔夜會談，內閣週一投票批准三年來首次批准國家預算，這將為以色列經濟和社會帶來一系列深刻變化。
複雜的立法現在必須在 11 月 4 日的最後期限之前通過委員會階段和議會全體會議的三讀——這是對在議會中佔微弱多數的聯盟的關鍵挑戰。如果它不通過，議會將自動解散，新的選舉將隨之而來。
總理納夫塔利·貝內特 (Naftali Bennett) 對推進涵蓋 2021-22 年的預算表示歡迎，此次談判標誌著對新政府的重大考驗。
總理在其辦公室發表的一份聲明中說：“經過三年的停滯，以色列重新開始工作。”
“我要求政府成員了解當下的重要性，”貝內特說。“經過多年的忽視，今天早上我們制定了最大膽、最關注競爭、對[社會]弱勢群體最有幫助、最關心我們孩子未來的預算。”
表單的頂端
財政部長阿維格多·利伯曼（Avigdor Liberman）表示，仍需議會通過的改革將為許多人的生活帶來切實的改變。
“我們批准的改革主要側重於降低生活成本。我們在基礎設施、交通運輸和房地產方面投入了大量資金，並實施了重大改革，以減少官僚主義，使我們日常業務或私人生活中的每個人都更輕鬆，”利伯曼在聲明中說。
總理納夫塔利·貝內特（中）和財政部長阿維格多·利伯曼（左）在內閣會議上批准國家預算，2021 年 8 月 2 日（GPO/Amos Ben Gershom）
據報導，衛生部長 Nitzan Horowitz 從財政部獲得了 20 億新謝克爾（6.19 億美元）的醫療保健資金增加，這是一項重要進展。
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如果他的要求得不到滿足，衛生部長一直威脅要投票反對預算。
霍洛維茨此前曾警告，衛生系統“處於生命支持狀態，需要緊急輸血，無論冠狀病毒如何……。它在緊急模式下運行，不可能再這樣繼續下去了。”
據報導，除了要求更多資金外，衛生部還堅持計劃中的進口改革開放市場不包括化妝品。
另一個絆腳石是計劃中的農業改革，遭到農民和新鮮農產品供應商以及一些聯盟成員的反對。
週日，農民們在部長們開會討論預算的外交部外抗議該計劃。
其他重大改革包括在 11 年內逐步將女性的退休年齡提高到 65 歲，以每年四個月的速度持續三年，再以每年三個月的速度再增加八年。
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部長們對預算的各個方面提出了保留意見。
交通部長梅拉夫·米凱利反對在高峰時段對進入該國中部古什丹地區的司機徵收擁堵費的計劃，稱如果司機覺得有必要，公共交通還不能勝任填補空缺的任務。據 12 頻道新聞報導，將車輛留在家中。
移民和吸收部長 Pnina Tamano-Shata警告說，除非財政部同意她增加資金以將埃塞俄比亞移民帶到以色列的要求，否則她不會支持預算。
經過數週的討論，部長們於週日上午在投票前聚集在一起進行會談。
會議開始時，貝內特表示，預算“將成為政府穩定的里程碑”，並補充說，它將使部長們能夠履行職責，而無需討好利益集團。
“這一次，預算不是為這個或那個部門的利益服務，而是為整個以色列國的利益服務，”總理說。“這個政府可以自由地代表普遍利益行事。我們正在減少官僚主義並增加競爭，為每個人，但主要是為較弱的部門。那些將從競爭和較低價格中獲益最多的是較弱的行業。”
部長們在整個週日的會談一直持續到晚上 8 點，在休息後，談判一直持續到午夜過後，當貝內特召集聯盟首長在他的辦公室開會時，又一次暫停。然後談判持續了一夜，直到達成協議。
利伯曼正在推進 2021-2022 年預算（2021 年為 1870 億美元，2022 年為 1730 億美元），儘管它在 11 月 4 日的通過截止日期之前在議會面臨重大障礙。
預算將需要薄薄的聯盟的所有選票才能通過，一個立法者的反對就可以將其推翻。由貝內特領導的新政府的多元化組成——由右翼、中間派和左翼政黨組成——使這項工作複雜化。
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未能通過國家預算將意味著政府自動解散。
新的國家預算包括對kashrut 機構和農業的全面改革，對一次性塑料製品徵收高額稅和含糖飲料，以及對進口政策進行重大調整。
根據上週的一份政府聲明，該預算還將把 2022 年的國防預算提高到 580 億新謝克爾（178 億美元）。根據Kan公共廣播公司的說法，這將包括大幅增加——大約70億新謝克爾（21.5億美元）——用於“重整軍備和加強以色列國防軍”，為軍隊對伊朗可能發動的襲擊做好準備。總理、國防部長和財政部長。
以色列上一次批准的國家預算是 2019 年，之後該國陷入長達兩年的政治僵局。該預算於 2018 年 3 月通過。
在前任政府中，當時的總理本雅明·內塔尼亞胡拒絕通過預算——這使他能夠在沒有當時的聯盟夥伴國防部長本尼·甘茨根據輪換協議的條款立即成為過渡總理的情況下舉行選舉。
利伯曼曾表示，他相信預算會通過，因為即使是大多數反對派也不希望進行新一輪選舉。菅直人周日報導稱，政府消息人士一直在與反對黨聯合名單的成員進行談判，以協商聯盟外部對預算的支持。
Cabinet approves state budget for 1st time in 3 years in key test for government
Bennett: ‘After 3 years of stagnation, Israel is back to work’; Liberman says reforms focus on lowering cost of living; Horowitz said to secure NIS 2 billion increase for health
By TOI STAFFToday, 8:19 amUpdated at 9:21 am
Cabinet approves the state budget, August 2, 2021 (GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)
After marathon overnight talks, the cabinet voted on Monday to approve the national budget for the first time in three years, one that will introduce a slew of profound changes to the Israeli economy and society.
The complex legislation must now pass through committee stages and three readings in the Knesset plenum by a November 4 deadline — in a key challenge for the coalition, which holds a narrow parliamentary majority. If it does not pass by then, the Knesset would automatically dissolve and new elections would follow.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed the advancing of the budget, which covers 2021-22, the negotiations for which mark a major test for the new government.
“After three years of stagnation, Israel is back to work,” the premier said in a statement from his office.
“I ask members of the government to understand the magnitude of the moment,” Bennett said. “After years of neglect, this morning we have produced the most daring, most competition-focused budget, the most helpful to the weaker sections [of society], and the most concerned about the future of our children.”
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the reforms, which still need to be passed by the Knesset, would bring tangible change to the lives of many.
“The reforms we have approved focus primarily on lowering the cost of living. We have invested huge amounts of funding in infrastructure, transportation and real estate, and we have implemented significant reforms that will reduce bureaucracy, making it easier for everyone in our day-to-day business or private life,” Liberman said in the statement.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (C) and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (L) at a cabinet meeting to approve the state budget, August 2, 2021 (GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)
In a key development, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz reportedly secured a NIS 2 billion ($619 million) increase in funding for health care from the Finance Ministry.
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The health minister had been threatening to vote against the budget if his demands were not met.
Horowitz had previously warned that the health system is “on life support and needs an urgent transfusion, irrespective of the coronavirus…. It is functioning in emergency mode and it’s impossible to continue like this.”
In addition to asking for more money, the Health Ministry was also reportedly insisting that a planned reform on imports to open up the market not include cosmetics.
Another stumbling block had been a planned agriculture reform, opposed by farmers and fresh produce providers, as well as some coalition members.
Farmers had protested against the plan Sunday outside the Foreign Ministry where ministers were meeting to discuss the budget.
Other major reforms include the gradual raising of the retirement age for women to 65 over the course of 11 years, at a rate of four months a year for three years and three months a year for further eight years.
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Ministers had raised reservations about various aspects of the budget.
Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli opposed the plan to introduce a congestion fee for drivers entering the Gush Dan area in the center of the country during rush hours, saying that public transportation is not yet up to the task of picking up the slack if drivers feel compelled to leave their vehicles at home, Channel 12 news reported.
Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata warned she would not support the budget unless the Finance Ministry agreed to her demand for increased funding to bring Ethiopian immigrants to Israel.
After weeks of discussions, ministers gathered on Sunday morning for the talks ahead of the vote.
At the start of the meeting, Bennett said the budget “will be a milestone for government stability,” adding that it will enable ministers to carry out their roles without needing to curry favor with interest groups.
“This time, the budget is not serving the interests of this or that sector but of the entire State of Israel,” the premier said. “This government is free to act on behalf of the general interest. We are reducing bureaucracy and increasing competition, for everyone, but mainly for the weaker sectors. Those who will gain the most from competition and lower prices are the weaker sectors.”
The ministers continued their talks throughout Sunday until 8 p.m. and after taking a break, negotiations went on till past midnight, when another halt was called while Bennett summoned coalition chiefs for a meeting in his office. Negotiations then continued through the night until the agreements were reached.
The 2021-2022 budget ($187 billion for 2021, $173 billion for 2022) is being advanced by Liberman, though it faces significant hurdles in the Knesset before a November 4 deadline for passage.
The budget will require all the votes of the wafer-thin coalition to pass, with the opposition of a single lawmaker able to bring it down. The diverse composition of the new government led by Bennett — it is made up of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties — complicates the effort.
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A failure to pass a state budget will spell the automatic dissolution of the government.
The new state budget includes sweeping reforms of the kashrut establishment and the agriculture industry, steep taxes on disposable plasticware and sugary drinks, and considerable changes to import policies.
The budget will also raise the defense budget for 2022 to NIS 58 billion ($17.8 billion), according to a government statement last week. That will include a substantial increase — some NIS 7 billion ($2.15 billion), according to the Kan public broadcaster — for “rearmament and strengthening the Israel Defense Forces” to prepare the military for a potential strike on Iran, according to the statement from the prime minister, defense minister, and finance minister.
Israel’s last approved state budget was for 2019, before the country became embroiled in a two-year political gridlock. That budget that was passed in March 2018.
In the previous government, then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to pass a budget — which allowed him to call elections without then-coalition partner Defense Minister Benny Gantz immediately becoming transitional prime minister under the terms of their rotation deal.
Liberman has said he believes the budget will pass because even most of the opposition does not want a fresh round of elections. Sources in the government have been talking to members of the opposition’s Joint List to negotiate support from outside the coalition for the budget, Kan reported Sunday.
內塔尼亞胡抨擊“殘暴”的國家預算；拉皮德預測它將在以色列議會通過
反對黨領袖聲稱預算“充滿經濟削減、稅收和價格上漲”，誓要阻止它；Yesh Atid 負責人表示，政府可能會尋求聯盟以外政黨的支持
通過拉烏爾WOOTLIFF 今天，晚上 7:23
在內閣三年來首次投票批准國家預算後，反對黨領袖本雅明內塔尼亞胡週一抨擊了支出計劃，稱這是他見過的最糟糕的情況，並發誓要阻止其在以色列議會通過。
內塔尼亞胡在以色列議會舉行的利庫德集團黨派會議開幕式上對記者說：“我在我的時間里通過了很多預算，但我以前從未見過如此殘酷的預算。”
“它充滿了經濟削減、稅收和價格上漲。他們沒有降低稅收並讓以色列公民更輕鬆，而是提高稅收和價格並傷害以色列公民，“他聲稱。
“為什麼以色列公民需要付出代價，政府才能向 MK Mansour Abbas 支付 530 億新謝克爾？” 這位前總理補充說，他指的是阿拉伯以色列社區向聯盟的 Ra'am 黨領袖承諾的預算。
內塔尼亞胡表示，他將“不遺餘力地”阻止議會通過預算，此舉將自動推翻政府並強制進行新的選舉。
為期兩年的國家預算為 2021 年撥款 1870 億美元，為 2022 年撥款 1730 億美元，其中包括對kashrut 機構和農業的全面改革、對一次性塑料製品和含糖飲料徵收高額稅款，以及對進口政策進行重大調整。
其他重大改革包括在 11 年內逐步將女性的退休年齡提高到 65 歲，以每年四個月的速度持續三年，再以每年三個月的速度再增加八年。
在獲得內閣批准後，這項複雜的立法現在必須在 11 月 4 日的最後期限之前通過委員會階段和議會全體會議的三讀——這對在議會中佔微弱多數的聯盟來說是一個關鍵挑戰。如果它不通過，議會將自動解散，選舉將隨之而來。
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預算將需要薄薄的聯盟的所有選票才能通過，一個立法者的反對就可以將其推翻。由總理納夫塔利·貝內特 (Naftali Bennett) 領導的新政府的多元化組成——由右翼、中間派和左翼政黨組成——使這項工作複雜化。
Shas 主席 Aryeh Deri 也發誓要反對他所謂的“白人預算”，他在周一的黨派會議上表示，這將傷害以色列社會中最薄弱的部分。
“今天貝內特、[外交部長亞伊爾]拉皮德和[財政部長阿維格多]利伯曼的遊船政府批准了‘白人’預算，”他說。“利伯曼半夜拿著一杯白葡萄酒在政府走廊裡走來走去，壓垮了社會上最弱的人。這個政府是強者對弱者。”
聯合托拉猶太教 MK Yaakov Asher 還聲稱預算忽略了以色列最弱勢的人口，並將對需要援助的社會關鍵部分增稅。
“財政部長承諾不會增稅。如果他要對伏特加徵稅，我會說，'這是需要勇氣的事情，'”阿舍告訴 Radio 103 FM，提到利伯曼在前蘇聯的根源。
然而，在 Yesh Atid 派系會議上，拉皮德為內閣批准預算而歡呼，並預測它將贏得以色列議會的支持。
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“三年來，以色列國沒有預算，完全是因為政治，”他說。
兼任候補總理的拉皮德表示，他將與“所有派別”接觸以討論預算，暗示聯盟將尋求反對黨的額外支持。
拉皮德回應了貝內特的話，貝內特對周一早些時候提出的預算表示歡迎，他說：“經過三年的停滯，以色列重新開始工作。”
“經過多年的忽視，今天早上我們制定了最大膽、最關注競爭的預算，對[社會]弱勢群體最有幫助，最關心我們孩子的未來，”貝內特在馬拉鬆比賽后說通宵內閣會議。
以色列上一次批准的國家預算是 2019 年，之後該國陷入長達兩年的政治僵局。該預算於 2018 年 3 月通過。
總理納夫塔利·貝內特（中）和財政部長阿維格多·利伯曼（左）在內閣會議上批准國家預算，2021 年 8 月 2 日（GPO/Amos Ben Gershom）
在前任政府中，當時的總理內塔尼亞胡拒絕通過預算——這使他能夠在沒有當時的聯盟夥伴國防部長本尼·甘茨（Benny Gantz）根據輪換協議的條款立即成為過渡總理的情況下舉行選舉。
財政部長利伯曼週一上午表示，計劃中的改革將為許多人的生活帶來切實的改變。
“我們批准的改革主要側重於降低生活成本。我們在基礎設施、交通和房地產方面投入了大量資金，並實施了重大改革，以減少官僚主義，使我們日常業務或私人生活中的每個人都更輕鬆，”利伯曼在一份聲明中說。
利伯曼曾表示，他相信預算會通過，因為即使是大多數反對派也不希望進行新一輪選舉。菅直人周日報導稱，政府消息人士一直在與反對黨聯合名單的成員進行談判，以協商聯盟外部對預算的支持。
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以色列工作人員時報為本報告做出了貢獻。
Netanyahu assails ‘atrocious’ state budget; Lapid predicts it’ll pass in Knesset
Opposition leader claims budget ‘full of economic cuts, tax and price increases,’ vows to block it; Yesh Atid chief says government may seek support of parties outside coalition
By RAOUL WOOTLIFF Today, 7:23 pm
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After the cabinet voted to approve a national budget for the first time in three years, Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu assailed the spending plan Monday, saying it was the worst he had ever seen and vowing to block its passage in the Knesset.
“I have passed many budgets in my time but I have never seen such an atrocious budget before,” Netanyahu told reporters at the opening of his Likud party faction meeting in the Knesset.
“It is full of economic cuts, tax and price increases. Instead of lowering taxes and making it easier for Israeli citizens, they are raising taxes and prices and harming Israeli citizens,” he claimed.
“Why do Israeli citizens need to pay the price so the government can pay NIS 53 billion to MK Mansour Abbas?” the former prime minister added, referring to budgets for the Arab Israeli community promised to the head of the coalition’s Ra’am party.
Netanyahu said he would “leave no stone unturned” in his bid to block to budget from passing in the Knesset, a move that would automatically bring down the government and force new elections.
The two-year state budget allocates $187 billion for 2021 and $173 billion for 2022, and includes sweeping reforms of the kashrut establishment and the agriculture industry, steep taxes on disposable plasticware and sugary drinks, and considerable changes to import policies.
Other major reforms include the gradual raising of the retirement age for women to 65 over the course of 11 years, at a rate of four months a year for three years, and three months a year for a further eight years.
Having been approved by the cabinet, the complex legislation must now pass through committee stages and three readings in the Knesset plenum by a November 4 deadline — in a key challenge for the coalition, which holds a narrow parliamentary majority. If it does not pass by then, the Knesset would automatically dissolve and elections would follow.
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The budget will require all the votes of the wafer-thin coalition to pass, with the opposition of a single lawmaker able to bring it down. The diverse composition of the new government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — made up of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties — complicates the effort.
Shas chair Aryeh Deri also vowed to oppose what he called “the white budget,” telling his party’s faction meeting on Monday that it would harm the weakest segments of Israeli society.
“Today Bennett, [Foreign Minister Yair] Lapid and [Finance Minister Avigdor] Liberman’s pleasure-boat government approved the ‘white’ budget,” he said. “Liberman walks around the middle of the night in the government corridors with a glass of white wine and crushes the weakest people in society. This government is of the strong versus the weak.”
United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher also claimed the budget ignored Israel’s weakest populations and will raise taxes on critical segments of society in need of assistance.
“The finance minister promised not to raise taxes. If he were to institute a tax on vodka, I would have said, ‘This is something that takes courage,'” Asher told Radio 103 FM, in a reference to Liberman’s roots in the former Soviet Union.
At the Yesh Atid faction meeting, however, Lapid cheered the cabinet’s approval of a budget and predicted it would win Knesset backing.
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“For three years the State of Israel was without a budget, all because of politics,” he said.
Lapid, who also serves as alternate prime minister, said he would reach out to “all factions” to discuss the budget, suggesting the coalition would seek additional support from opposition parties.
Lapid echoed the words of Bennett, who welcomed the advancing of the budget earlier Monday, saying, “After three years of stagnation, Israel is back to work.”
“After years of neglect, this morning we have produced the most daring, most competition-focused budget, the most helpful to the weaker segments [of society], and the most concerned about the future of our children,” Bennett said following a marathon all-night cabinet meeting.
Israel’s last approved state budget was for 2019, before the country became embroiled in a two-year political gridlock. That budget was passed in March 2018.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (C) and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (L) at a cabinet meeting to approve the state budget, August 2, 2021 (GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)
In the previous government, then-prime minister Netanyahu refused to pass a budget — which allowed him to call elections without then-coalition partner Defense Minister Benny Gantz immediately becoming transitional prime minister under the terms of their rotation deal.
Finance Minister Liberman said Monday morning that the planned reforms would bring tangible change to the lives of many.
“The reforms we have approved focus primarily on lowering the cost of living. We have invested huge amounts of funding in infrastructure, transportation and real estate, and we have implemented significant reforms that will reduce bureaucracy, making it easier for everyone in our day-to-day business or private life,” Liberman said in a statement.
Liberman has said he believes the budget will pass because even most of the opposition does not want a fresh round of elections. Sources in the government have been talking to members of the opposition’s Joint List to negotiate support from outside the coalition for the budget, Kan reported Sunday.
在“發布”專欄之後，CNN 就錯誤引用向 Dore Gold 道歉
美國有線電視新聞網的法里德·扎卡里亞向多爾·戈爾德道歉，因為他向阿卜杜拉國王斷言他希望約旦成為未來的巴勒斯坦國。戈爾德在耶路撒冷郵報專欄中做出了回應。
通過耶路撒冷郵報STAFF
2021 年 8 月 2 日 15:57
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Fareed Zakaria 向 Dore Gold 道歉。信用：美國有線電視新聞網
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CNN 新聞主播法里德·扎卡里亞 (Fareed Zakaria) 週日向以色列前外交部總幹事多爾·戈爾德 (Dore Gold) 博士道歉，此前他錯誤地聲稱戈爾德表示，當約旦成為巴勒斯坦國時，“兩國解決方案”將實現。
扎卡里亞在 8 月 1 日的 CNN 電視節目GPS 中道歉。
扎卡里亞說：“在上週的節目中，我向阿卜杜拉國王詢問了一個概念，即未來不會有獨立的巴勒斯坦國，而是他的國家約旦將成為事實上的巴勒斯坦國。”以色列長期外交官多爾·戈爾德最近提到了這個想法。我錯了。很多人都談到了這個概念，但不是戈爾德大使。我為那個錯誤道歉。”
“事實和對真相的追求在我所做的工作中很重要，所以糾正這個錯誤很重要，”戈爾德回應說。
扎卡里亞 於 7 月 25 日採訪了 阿卜杜勒國王，並詢問國王對約旦將成為巴勒斯坦國的想法的看法，並聲稱黃金是解決方案的支持者。
根據耶路撒冷公共事務中心的新聞稿，扎卡里亞的指控在他的個人推特賬戶上流傳，隨後被約旦媒體引用。在撰寫本文時，無法找到該推文。
戈爾德於 7 月 29 日為 《耶路撒冷郵報》發表了一篇 專欄 文章 ，其中他指出了扎卡里亞的錯誤信息造成的損害，“加劇了約旦長期以來的恐懼，即以色列正計劃以約旦為代價來解決巴勒斯坦問題。 ”
多爾博士也在推特上稱扎卡里亞的採訪是假新聞，並否認他曾說過這樣的話。相反，多爾博士說，他認為“哈希姆王國是以色列和整個地區的支柱”。
@FareedZakaria在接受#Jordan的@KingAbdullahII採訪時發布的假新聞。面試官指責我質疑喬丹的未來。我從來沒有說過這些話。我認為約旦是#Israel和整個地區的戰略支柱。https://t.co/JjlYXgoBqM #CNN #GPS
— Dore Gold 博士 (@DrDoreGold) 2021 年 7 月 28 日
除了擔任前外交部總幹事外，戈爾德還是以色列常駐聯合國代表。目前，他擔任耶路撒冷公共事務中心的主席。
Following 'Post' op-ed, CNN apologizes to Dore Gold for misquote
CNN's Fareed Zakaria apologized to Dore Gold for asserting to King Abdullah that he wanted Jordan to become the future Palestinian state. Gold responded in a Jerusalem Post Op-Ed.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
AUGUST 2, 2021 15:57
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Fareed Zakaria issues an apology to Dore Gold. Credit: CNN
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CNN news anchor Fareed Zakaria apologized to Israel's former Foreign Ministry director-general Dr. Dore Gold on Sunday after mistakenly claiming that Gold said that the "two-state solution" would be realized when Jordan became the Palestinian state.
Zakaria apologized on the August 1 episode of his CNN television program GPS.
"On last week's show, I asked King Abdullah about the concept that there would be no stand-alone Palestine state in the future that but instead his nation, Jordan, would become the de-facto Palestine state," said Zakaria "I said the idea had been recently mentioned by long time Israeli diplomat, Dore Gold. I was wrong. Many have talked about that concept, but not ambassador Gold. I apologize for that error."
“Facts and the pursuit of truth are important things in the work I do, so it was important that this mistake be corrected,” Gold said in response.
Zakaria interviewed King Abdulluh on July 25, and asked the king for his thoughts on the idea that Jordan would become the Palestinian state, asserting that Gold was a proponent of the solution.
According to a Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs press release, Zakaria's allegations circulated on his personal Twitter account, which was then quoted by the Jordanian press. As of the writing of this article the tweet cannot be found.
Gold published an Op-Ed for The Jerusalem Post on July 29, in which he noted the damage that Zakaria's misinformation had done, "by feeding into a long-held fear in Jordan that Israel was scheming to solve the Palestinian problem at Jordan’s expense."
Dr. Dore also took to Twitter, calling Zakaria's interview fake news and denying that he had ever said such a thing. On the contrary, Dr. Dore said that he views "the Hashemite Kingdom as an anchoring element for Israel and the entire region."
In addition to being the former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Gold was also Israel's representative to the United Nations. Currently, he serves as the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
面對宗教改革，一些哈雷迪姆現在呼籲猶太教堂與國家分離
哈雷迪政客警告說，新政府正在“摧毀”和“腐蝕”以色列的猶太人性格。有人說，分離可能是不可避免的
作者：HAVIV RETTIG GUR 今天，中午 12:39
長達兩個月的時間裡，Haredi 政黨 Shas 和 United Torah Judaism 一直在激烈地詆毀新政府。在 Haredi 詞典中，幾乎沒有一個綽號不是針對總理 Naftali Bennett、外交部長 Yair Lapid、宗教事務部長 Matan Kahana 和其他人的。
大部分謾罵都針對政府改革大型國家宗教官僚機構的提議，特別是在kashrut和皈依方面，但它並沒有就此止步， UTJ 領導人 MK Moshe Gafni 本周稱貝內特是以色列人的“兇手”。最近死于冠狀病毒。
6 月 8 日，在極端正統派系的“緊急”新聞發布會上，加夫尼說出了古老的猶太詛咒，“惡人的名字將腐爛”。他指的是班尼特和拉皮德。
本週，加夫尼還在以色列議會講台上稱卡哈納為“安條克”，指的是光明節故事中禁止猶太宗教活動、褻瀆聖殿並最終點燃馬加比起義的反派。
Shas 領導人 Aryeh Deri 在 6 月警告說，“一個以 Bennett 為首的政府將摧毀安息日、皈依、首席拉比和 kashrut，並將撕裂以色列人民。” 本月早些時候，他說 Kahana 的 kashrut 改革旨在“播下破壞和腐敗的種子”。
“你這個一無是處”、“以色列的毀滅者”、“脫掉你的基帕”——幾乎在每一次以色列議會辯論和每一次對哈雷迪 MK 的電視採訪中，這種謾罵都來得又快又猛。
但這不僅僅是政治領導。Haredi 派係都有拉比委員會，他們表面上負責政黨的大局決策。這些拉比也加入了誹謗。週二，Shas MK Uriel Busso 走上講台，宣讀了該國最著名的 Sephardi Haredi 拉比、89 歲的 Shalom Cohen、耶路撒冷 Porat Yosef Yeshiva 的負責人、Shas 的 Torah Sages 委員會主席的一封公開信.
在古老的希伯來語中，典型的哈雷迪拉比呼籲懺悔，科恩闡述了沙斯關於新改革的敘述。
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“最近，為了我們的大罪，那些壞人起來攻擊摩西的律法，企圖摧毀以色列土地上的宗教堡壘，並向上帝和他的律法宣戰，並希望拆除和摧毀摩西律法。在所有神聖事物中建立宗教基礎，設置障礙並給以色列人民帶來錯誤，”科恩開始說。“他們威脅要改變皈依系統，願仁慈的 [上帝] 拯救我們，並破壞我們長期維護的 kashrut 系統。
“因此，我呼籲所有市政拉比和所有拉比法官，無論他們身在何處，以及首席拉比委員會的成員，明確反對對卡什魯特和皈依制度的任何改變。沒有人以任何方式與他們合作。你必須像堡壘一樣堅強地站起來，反對這些奇怪的改革，這些改革會給以色列土地上的猶太教帶來毀滅和破壞。”
集結隊伍
我們應該如何認真對待這些言論？這僅僅是政治活動嗎，哈雷迪政客們假裝不想成為政府的一部分，至少暫時不希望他們在內部妨礙宗教改革？畢竟，當 Haredi 社區的許多機構和生活方式都依賴於國家資助時，他們的政黨還能容忍多久？
還是哈雷迪政客表達了他們對新改革者及其改革的真實看法？對於外部觀察者來說，這種言論可能顯得太過分了——他們真的相信放棄國家拉比對 kashrut 監管的壟斷，轉而支持嚴格監管的競爭監管系統相當於對猶太教的“破壞和破壞”嗎？- 但它可能仍然反映了對貝內特-拉皮德聯盟發起的全面變革的真正焦慮。
政治上經常出現這種情況，似乎兩者兼而有之：源源不斷的譴責反映了哈雷迪街的認真觀點和政黨的戰術政治算計。民意調查顯示，哈雷迪選民是右翼，支持本傑明內塔尼亞胡擔任總理的比例甚至高於利庫德集團選民。哈雷迪政客全力反對新政府，是在強調選民的意見。
然而，他們試圖營造的道德恐慌還有一個更平淡的目的。將在新一輪改革中被顛覆的機構是 Haredi 社區的巨大影響力和收入的來源，該社區為他們的大部分主管、法學家和工作人員提供服務。他們堅持認為以色列的靈魂正在進行一場戰爭，他們希望團結這些機構的普通人——市政拉比、宗教委員會、kashrut 檢查員、皈依法官——站穩腳跟，阻礙改革的進展。
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但是，所有關於以色列毀滅的激烈和可怕警告都有一個缺點：許多哈雷迪領導人和公眾人物開始相信它，並以意想不到的方式做出回應。
週四早上，閱讀量最大的 Haredi 周刊 Mishpacha 上出現了一個驚人的專欄。由耶路撒冷副市長海姆·科恩 (Haim Cohen) 執筆，他是一名長期的沙斯人，標題直截了當：“宗教與國家：是時候分開了嗎？”
科恩認為，鑑於政府的新改革，以及由此導致的哈雷迪對宗教標準的控制力下降，也許是時候考慮完全拆除強制性的國家宗教機構了。
單個 Haredi 政治家的單個專欄不是重點。正是對此的回應標誌著社區內對哈雷迪要求控制該國宗教生活的新不安。該專欄是由一位完美的內部人士撰寫的——科恩是耶路撒冷市議會事實上的沙斯領導人德里的任命者——在受歡迎的 Mishpacha 中佔據顯著位置，在 Haredi 社交媒體上被廣泛分享，其激進的提議基於過去幾十年的頂級 Haredi 精神領袖。
說明：24 名新拉比法官於 2018 年 10 月 15 日在耶路撒冷總統官邸宣誓就職 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
一位 Twitter 用戶 Moshe Weisberg 是受歡迎的 Behadrey Haredim 網站的編輯，其 Twitter 帳戶擁有超過 33,000 名粉絲，他分享了全文並稱該論點“很有趣”。
換句話說，這不是自由化的哈雷迪活動家通常認真討論宗教和國家應該第一次在以色列國分離的想法。這是主流。
'沒有選擇'
科恩的論點始於高等法院在 2000 年代中期的裁決，根據該裁決，以色列國家必須承認為阿利亞目的在國外進行的改革皈依。
當時的哈雷迪政客求助於當時最著名的哈雷迪聖人，即十多歲的拉比 Yosef Shalom Elyashiv。
他們提出了一些建議供 Elyashiv 考慮，包括哈雷迪政黨可以通過支持正式的宗教與國家分離來回應的激進想法——這是一種試圖將宗教機構從世俗機構的強制性權力中拯救出來的嘗試，正如世俗法院的法令所證明的那樣拉比的宗教規定不會成為國家對 aliya 資格的標準。
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2009 年 12 月拉比 Yosef Sholom Elyashiv 的肖像。 (Matanya Tausig/Flash90)
Elyashiv 的回應很有說服力，科恩說：繼續保護現有的國家宗教官僚機構並在其內部工作，他建議道，同時補充說（用科恩的話來說），“總有一天，別無選擇，只能採取這個方向。”
隨著新政府努力打破哈雷迪黨在任命拉比法官方面的束縛，並用私人公司取代拉比對 kashrut 監督的壟斷，問題又回來了。
“今天的情況是，我們無法阻止有問題的皈依所引起的問題，”科恩寫道，“也無法[阻止]那些無法與[猶太宗教法下的其他猶太人]結婚的人進入系統。我們無法監控和知道誰經歷了halachic轉換，誰沒有；根據摩西和以色列的律法結婚，誰沒有結婚。”
他指出，Haredi 社區維持強制性宗教機構的成本很高。
“我們被視為家長式的，並強迫我們對公眾發表意見，即使我們自己對現有情況感到不安。更糟糕的是，halachic 機構在某種程度上從屬於世俗國家體系。今天，拉比法庭被迫考慮[在他們的裁決中]他們的決定將被上訴到高等法院的可能性。”
這個問題並不新鮮，但新政府提出的改革方案卻讓人無法忽視：“現政府給自己定下的目標是摧毀首席拉比，摧毀一切可以摧毀的宗教與國家關係，”科恩說。
耶路撒冷拉比法庭的景色，2008 年 10 月 5 日。（Yossi Zamir/Flash90）
答案是：分離。
“在兩個系統分開的情況下，國家在halachic問題上沒有發言權。任何對 halacha 認可的轉換軌道感興趣的人都必須求助於 halacha 承諾的公眾認可的系統。任何不是 - 不會與我們發生任何爭吵。國家將無法取消拉比法庭的裁決，就像今天一樣……而且我們不會發現自己被指控為家長作風。”
Elyashiv 說，分離的那一天是不可避免的。對於科恩來說，它可能已經到來。
“分水嶺的確切位置以及何時重新考慮我們的道路的決定掌握在以色列偉大的[聖人]手中，但隨著我們保護現有局勢的能力減弱，必須再次將這個想法帶到他們的門。”
Facing religious reforms, some Haredim now call for synagogue-state separation
The new government, Haredi politicians warn, is ‘destroying’ and ‘corrupting’ Israel’s Jewish character. Separation, some say, may be inevitable
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR Today, 12:39 pm
Representatives of the chief rabbinate deliver a kashrut certificate to a local restaurant in central Jerusalem, on December 31, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
For two long months, the Haredi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism have engaged in an intense campaign of vilification against the new government. There’s scarcely an epithet in the Haredi lexicon that hasn’t been leveled at Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana and others.
Much of the vituperation has been directed at the government’s proposals for reforming the large state religious bureaucracies, especially in kashrut and conversions, but it hasn’t stopped there, with UTJ leader MK Moshe Gafni this week calling Bennett a “murderer” of Israelis who have recently died of the coronavirus.
On June 8, at an “emergency” press conference of the ultra-Orthodox factions, Gafni uttered the old Jewish curse, “the names of the wicked shall rot.” He was referring to Bennett and Lapid.
This week, Gafni also called Kahana “Antiochus” from the Knesset podium, referring to the villain of the Hanukkah story who banned Jewish religious practice, desecrated the Temple and ultimately ignited the Maccabean revolt.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri warned back in June that “a government headed by Bennett will destroy the Sabbath, conversion, the Chief Rabbinate, kashrut and will tear the people of Israel asunder.” Earlier this month, he said Kahana’s kashrut reforms were intended “to sow destruction and corruption.”
“You piece of nothing,” “destroyers of Israel,” “take off your kippa” — the invective has come fast and furious, at nearly every Knesset debate and every television interview with a Haredi MK.
But it isn’t just the political leadership. The Haredi factions all have councils of rabbis who are ostensibly in charge of the parties’ big-picture policy decisions. These rabbis, too, have joined in the vilification. On Tuesday, Shas MK Uriel Busso took to the podium to read out a public letter from the most prominent Sephardi Haredi rabbi in the country, 89-year-old Shalom Cohen, head of Jerusalem’s Porat Yosef Yeshiva and chairman of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages.
In archaic Hebrew typical of Haredi rabbis’ calls to penance, Cohen laid out the Shas narrative about the new reforms.
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“Of late, for our great transgressions, those bad people arose and struck at the Torah of Moses, seeking to destroy the fortress of religion in the land of Israel, and declared war on God and his Torah, and wish to demolish and destroy the foundations of religion in all sacred things, to place obstacles and bring fault to the people of Israel,” Cohen began. “They threaten changes to the conversion system, may the merciful [God] save us, and the destruction of the kashrut system as we have long maintained it.
“Therefore, I call on all municipal rabbis and all rabbinic judges wherever they may be, and the members of the Chief Rabbinate Council, to oppose unequivocally any change whatsoever to the kashrut and conversion systems. No one is to cooperate with them in any way. You must stand strong, like a fortress wall, against these strange reforms that will bring ruin and destruction to Judaism in the land of Israel.”
Rallying the ranks
How seriously should we take the rhetoric? Is it merely politicking, a way for Haredi politicians to pretend not to want to be part of a government that, for the time being at least, doesn’t want them on the inside getting in the way of its religious reforms? After all, how long can the Haredi community tolerate their parties remaining out of government when so many of its institutions and so much of its way of life are dependent on state funding.
Or are Haredi politicians expressing their authentic views about the new reformers and their reforms? The rhetoric may seem over the top to outside observers — do they really believe that abandoning the state rabbinate’s monopoly on kashrut supervision in favor of a heavily regulated system of competing supervision companies amounts to the “ruin and destruction” of Judaism? — but it may nevertheless reflect real anxieties about the sweeping changes being inaugurated by the Bennett-Lapid coalition.
As is often the case in politics, it seems to be a bit of both: The constant stream of denunciations reflects both the earnest views of the Haredi street and the tactical political calculations of the parties. Polls have shown that Haredi voters are right-wing and support Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister at higher rates than even Likud voters. In opposing the new government with all their might, Haredi politicians are emphatically reflecting the views of their constituents.
Yet the moral panic they are trying to foster has a more prosaic purpose too. The institutions set to be upended in the new raft of reforms are sources of immense influence and income for the Haredi community, which supplies most of their supervisors, jurists and functionaries. In insisting that there’s a war underway for the soul of Israel, they are hoping to rally the rank and file of those institutions — municipal rabbis, religious councils, kashrut inspectors, conversion judges — to stand their ground and stymie the progress of the reforms.
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But there’s a downside to all that vehemence and dire warnings about the destruction of Israel: Many Haredi leaders and public figures are starting to believe it, and to respond in unexpected ways.
On Thursday morning, a startling column appeared in Mishpacha, the most-read Haredi weekly. Penned by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Haim Cohen, a longtime Shas man, it carried the blunt headline: “Religion and state: Is it time to separate?”
Given the government’s new reforms, Cohen argued, and the resulting decline in Haredi control over religious standards, perhaps it’s time to consider dismantling the coercive state religious apparatus altogether.
A single column by a single Haredi politician isn’t the point. It is the response to it that signals a new disquiet within the community over the Haredi demand to control the country’s religious life. The column was penned by a consummate insider — Cohen is a de facto appointee of Shas leader Deri to the Jerusalem City Council — was carried prominently in popular Mishpacha, was shared widely on Haredi social media, and based its radical proposal on the views of the top Haredi spiritual leaders of the past few decades.
Illustrative: 24 new rabbinical judges are sworn in at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on October 15, 2018 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
One Twitter user, Moshe Weisberg, an editor at the popular Behadrey Haredim website whose Twitter account has over 33,000 followers, shared the entire text and called the argument “interesting.”
In other words, it wasn’t the usual run of liberalizing Haredi activists who have taken to discussing seriously the idea that religion and state should, for the first time, be separated in the State of Israel. It’s the mainstream.
‘No choice’
Cohen’s argument begins in the High Court of Justice’s rulings in the mid-2000s according to which the Israeli state must recognize Reform conversions conducted abroad for the purposes of aliya.
Haredi politicians at the time turned to the most prominent Haredi sage of the day, the nonagenarian Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
They brought a few suggestions for Elyashiv’s consideration, including the radical idea that Haredi parties could respond by supporting a formal separation of religion and state — an attempt to rescue religious institutions from the coercive power of secular ones, as witnessed in the secular court’s decree that the religious rulings of the rabbinate would not be the state’s standard for aliya eligibility.
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Elyashiv’s response was telling, Cohen related: Continue to protect and work within the existing state religious bureaucracies, he counseled, while adding (in Cohen’s paraphrase), “There will come a time when there would be no choice but to take this direction.”
As the new government works to break the Haredi parties’ stranglehold on the appointment of rabbinic judges and to replace the rabbinate’s monopoly on kashrut supervision with private companies, the question has returned.
“The situation today is that we have no way to prevent the problems that arise from problematic conversions,” Cohen wrote, “nor [to prevent] those unable to marry [other Jews under Jewish religious law] from entering the system. We have no way to monitor and know who underwent a halachic conversion and who did not; who married under the laws of Moses and Israel and who did not.”
There was a steep cost for the Haredi community in maintaining coercive religious institutions, he noted.
“We’re seen as paternalistic and coercing our views on the public, even as we ourselves are uncomfortable with the existing situation. Worse, the halachic institutions are subordinate to some degree to the secular state system. Today, rabbinic courts are forced to consider [in their rulings] the possibility that their decisions will be appealed to the High Court.”
The question isn’t new, but the new government’s proposed reforms have made it impossible to ignore: “The current government has set itself a goal of destroying the chief rabbinate and demolishing all that can be demolished in the relationship between religion and state,” Cohen said.
The answer: separation.
“In a situation in which the two systems are separated, the state will have no say in halachic matters. Anyone interested in a conversion track recognized by halacha will have to turn to systems that the halacha-committed public recognizes. Anyone who isn’t — won’t have any quarrel with us whatsoever. The state won’t be able to cancel rabbinic court rulings, as it can today… and we won’t find ourselves accused of paternalism.”
The day of separation, Elyashiv said, was inevitable. For Cohen, it may have already arrived.
“The decision where the watershed lies precisely and when the time has come to rethink our path is in the hands of the great [sages] of Israel, but as our ability to protect the existing situation diminishes, the idea must once more be brought to their door.”
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