If AI and urban renewal make you think that the world, including Israel, is progressing, think again. Many things that used to be part of our reality and our norm no longer exist, such as respect for elders or people in high office. Yes, we still have surnames, but in radio and television interviews, interviewees, regardless of age or status, are addressed by their first names, as was the custom before the 11th century, when surnames were popularized.
If a penniless person was caught by an inspector sneaking a free ride on public transport, some kind-hearted fellow traveler could fork out the cost of the fare. That’s impossible under the current system because no money changes hands.
If you don’t have a magnetic travel card or a scanner on your cell phone, you’re in trouble and will have to pay a hefty fine to the bus or train company.
All kinds of transactions used to be face-to-face. Now, it’s all digital, and if you don’t understand it, there’s no one to ask to explain things to you in simpler terminology.
Not so long ago, if you had to take a number at the bank, the medical clinic, the hospital, or the post office, you simply tore it from a numbered roll of paper. Easy, not time-consuming, and no strain for people who either can’t speak Hebrew, are illiterate, or have impaired eyesight. These days, you have to indicate whether you already have an appointment, whether your age entitles you not to stand in line, and what your ID number is.
As for freedom of the press, which in many countries is regarded as one of the pillars of democracy, in Israel, it’s on the way out unless public protests can prevent a bill getting rid of public broadcasting from advancing to the next stage.
Journalists from print, electronic, and digital media flooded to an emergency meeting in Tel Aviv this week, where prize-winning veteran journalist Ilana Dayan, who is also an attorney, declared that whoever doesn’t want a state commission of inquiry does not want the truth to come out. She also warned that government control over media poses a threat to people from the Left and the Right and to those with and without a shtreimel (hat worn by hassidic men).
What it means, in effect, is that anyone who opposes the government will not be able to express his or her opinions via the media – not through interviews, not through articles, and not through letters to the editor. It’s worse than Pravda in the era of the Soviet Union.
It also means that reports from global agencies or from overseas news outlets that are negative with regard to Israel will not be published, and Israelis will be forced to live in a bubble of ignorance. Additionally, the media will not be permitted to publish human rights violations.
Putting a muzzle on the media in Israel also extends to foreign press representatives in Israel, whose umbrella organization, the Foreign Press Association, this week issued a statement of complaint in which it wrote:
“Israel’s Supreme Court has once again granted the Israeli government’s request for an extension in responding to our request for full, unhindered access to Gaza. This is the ninth such delay since we filed our petition in September 2024. This situation is beyond absurd. We are dismayed that the government keeps stalling and deeply disappointed that the court continues to allow this. These repeated delays have robbed the world of a fuller glimpse of conditions in Gaza and made a mockery of the entire legal process.
“Despite this, we remain committed to making our case for the right to information of our audiences worldwide, including Israelis and Palestinians.”
But Israel is not the only country that’s regressing. America, the land of the free and home of the brave, is closing its borders to would-be immigrants from Latin America and parts of the Middle East, and is pouncing on existing immigrants who have not completed the formalities for their naturalization and deporting them.
The UK is reintroducing visas under the euphemism of Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) for citizens of 85 countries, including Israel, who currently do not require a visa for stays of up to six months. As of February 25, people traveling to the UK on an Israeli passport but without an ETA will not be admitted to the country. This is just the tip of the iceberg in a rapidly changing world that seems to be moving forward but is actually going backward.
Celebrating young leaders strengthening German-Israeli ties
During one of his visits to Israel, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced in Jerusalem in May 2017 that the Federal Foreign Office of Germany had initiated an award in memory of Shimon Peres, the late president and prime minister of Israel, who had died less than a year earlier.
The €10,000 award is given annually, in cooperation with the German-Israeli Future Forum Foundation, out of a sense of responsibility for the special friendship between the two countries, to which Peres in his various capacities contributed greatly. It is awarded to young German and Israeli professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the shaping and strengthening of German-Israeli relations.
At an award ceremony this week at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, Steinmeier’s wife, Elke Büdenbender, presented this year’s Peres Prize to the Na Laga’at Theater, which provides workshops in stagecraft and enables the blind and the deaf and those with vision and hearing impairments to act and to sing in front of paying audiences; and to Mashiv HaRuach, which supports members of civil society who devote their lives to helping others and who help those who have suffered or are suffering adversity.
Büdenbender herself was the recipient of a different kind of award. Noa Kedem, the sister of Tamar Kedem Siman Tov, who, together with her husband and three children, was murdered by Hamas on October 7, presented Büdenbender with a divided red heart pin, symbolizing the broken heart of the grieving family, which had the pin made for Tamar’s 37th birthday.
Kedem was one of many members of bereaved families or those of hostages whose loved ones were murdered or kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. Büdenbender listened intently to their stories and learned of the challenges that they faced over the past two years.
Supporting Israel’s wounded through care and expertise
As mentioned previously in Grapevine, most of the requests by Jewish organizations for funds focus far less on the war effort and more on the specific missions and needs of all organizations. However, there is a war effort residue in the attention being paid to the thousands of wounded who are in need of physical or psychological therapies or both.
Israeli hospitals and clinics are paying special attention to physically and mentally wounded soldiers and expect to be doing so for a long time to come. In addition, greater emphasis has been placed on attracting qualified physicians, nurses, and therapists to relocate to Israel, and many have responded to the call.
President Isaac Herzog also played a role in the effort to attract both funds and medical personnel to Israel. When in New York last week, while speaking at a dinner hosted by the American Friends of Shamir Medical Center, Herzog also emphasized the need to introduce Shamir Medical Center to American Jewry, highlighting the vital role it played on October 7, in the days that followed, and throughout the subsequent two years of war, particularly under the leadership of its director-general, Professor Osnat Levtzion-Korach.
“Shamir Medical Center was not traditionally on the radar of American Jewry,” he said. “It sits on the outskirts of the country’s center, toward the South, and, today, treats well over a million people. It is a vast campus, and under Osnat’s leadership, it has become a true gem, with an extraordinary staff. It’s a place American Jewry should know and feel connected to.”
One of the honorees at the New York event was Sgt.-Maj. Reuven Ben Parash, from a special forces police unit, who, on October 7, ran toward danger with only flip-flops and a handgun. Shot six times while battling a dozen terrorists, he still managed to drive several kilometers under fire while bleeding heavily. Though doctors initially recommended amputation, Shamir Medical Center’s Limb Reconstruction Unit rebuilt his shattered leg millimeter by millimeter. Today, he is taking steps no one believed possible, steps toward becoming a father able to stand on his own feet to hold his child.
Parallels and contrasts between Ukraine and Israel
Numerous innocent lives have been lost on both sides in the war between Israel and Hamas, and a similar situation still prevails in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The main difference is that Israel was attacked by Hamas and retaliated in self-defense, but much of the world has turned against Israel, whereas Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia and fought back in self-defense, has won the sympathy of the world.
To give young Israelis aged in their 20s and 30s a better understanding of what is happening in Ukraine, the Tel Aviv International Salon will, at 7 p.m. on Monday, December 15, host an evening at Social Space TLV with intrepid investigative journalist Itai Anghel, who travels the world’s trouble spots to report on facts on the ground, and former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolaienko, who will participate in a Q&A session in English following the screening of a video of events in Ukraine.
When Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize
In various articles about Menachem and Aliza Begin, mention is made of the modest conditions in which they lived. This did not change when Begin, together with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. In addition to the gold-plated statuette and the diploma, Nobel Prize recipients receive a substantial monetary award.
Instead of taking it for himself, Begin established the Menachem and Aliza Begin Prize and scholarships, which will be awarded this year on the third night of Hanukkah, Tuesday, December 16, at the Begin Heritage Center in the presence of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen.
Economic diplomacy brings leaders together
Diplomacy has many faces these days. There’s sports diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, academic diplomacy, and economic diplomacy, among others. The latter was the nature of the annual flagship event of the Center for Jewish Impact, in partnership with the Ximus Forum, which last week hosted numerous foreign diplomats along with Israeli CEOs and industry leaders at the Meyers-Leitersdorf family penthouse in Tel Aviv’s Shalom Meir Tower.
There were professional exchanges, as well as initial steps aimed at the development of meaningful partnerships, which hopefully will strengthen ties between the diplomatic community and Israel’s private sector while supporting Israel’s ongoing economic recovery and resilience.
During the program, participants were presented with the findings of the Center for Jewish Impact’s 2025 Barometer Survey. The survey provided an in-depth picture of Israeli public opinion, societal sentiment, and national priorities regarding key issues.
Robert Singer, chair of the Center for Jewish Impact, and Tomer Cohen, founder of the Ximus Forum and CEO of Wolt Israel, each emphasized the importance of Israel’s social and economic resilience, the vital role of the business sector in national recovery, and the shared responsibility of the diplomatic and business communities to continue building bridges, particularly during challenging times.
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