1.
After the speeches ended and the crowd began to disperse at the AIPAC conference in Washington, Labor party head Avi Gabbay came over to where a friend and I were speaking. As he leaned on her chair, she told him we had been discussing the term "solution" and whether any solution can actually be implemented in the Middle Eastern reality. Gabbay took one look at me and replied, "The question is, what do we do with a newspaper that is handed out free to half the population?"
His remark had nothing to do with the topic we had been discussing. He did not address the ideology or the bitter intra-Israel conflict surrounding the issues. Nothing. He commented only on the newspaper that employs me, exposing his desire to do away with the one platform that gives a voice to a substantial part of the Israeli population.
What exactly is the difference between this newspaper, Israel Hayom, and any television news channel? They too are free, I retorted. How are we different from Army Radio, the ynet website, and countless other media outlets that are available to everyone without charge?
Across from Gabbay was a distinguished-looking woman. I didn't recognize her, but she repeated his sentiments, firing accusations at me and this newspaper in rapid succession. The phrase she continuously repeated was "Believe me, I know." The only argument she made that was worthy of any response was that giving out yogurt for free is prohibited because that would destroy the yogurt market, and therefore it should be forbidden to circulate a newspaper without charge.
I thought this argument was valid only as long as no yogurt was being handed out free. But if giant vats of free yogurt were available across the country, and only the cups were to cost money, then what would be the problem in handing out cups as well?
I think the analogy is clear. The product here is news. In ancient times, the news were carved on stone tablets. The columnists of ancient Greece were philosophers; in our lore, they were the prophets. Everyone gave their wares away for free. People were only charged for print media once it became possible to charge for it. The fact is that television and radio outlets provide the same product and do not charge. How is print media different? It isn't. This is exclusively about the leftist camp having lost its hegemony.
2.
I wanted to ask Gabbay why he advocated intervening in a free market, but he fled before I had a chance. But I was able to ask his cheerleader a small question: How do you "know"?
"I used to work for you," she replied.
"When?"
"Between 2011 and 2013."
"In what capacity?"
"As a freelancer."
"And this is how you know everything about how the paper is run? Even James Bond wouldn't make that claim."
"Believe me. I know."
At this point I still didn't recognize her, so I asked, "Who are you?"
She must have interpreted my question as belligerent, and my question sparked her ire.
"Rude!" she yelled at me, adding a host of unflattering adjectives. "I was a journalist for 14 years. Believe me, I know."
That's when the penny dropped. I was speaking with MK Ksenia Svetlova. If she ever gains power, people like me will be sent to gulags for reprogramming.
Gabbay disappeared. But I recalled his address to AIPAC a day earlier. What did he say there? Nothing. He tried to imitate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just as Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid have done.
But the masses at the AIPAC conference wanted the real thing: Netanyahu himself. The U.S. administration was also unfazed by the "threat to democracy" warnings issued daily in Israel. They welcomed Netanyahu with open arms, honoring him like a king. No "lame duck" and no anything. The administration went out of its way to demonstrate that it does not buy into any of that.
3.
Globally, Israel is enjoying a golden age. Foreign relations are booming, defying the doomsday prophecies of the false messiahs who warned of an imminent "diplomatic tsunami." The U.S. Embassy is relocating to Jerusalem. Iran is under warning. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence promised conference-goers that if the contentious 2015 Iranian nuclear deal is not fixed within a month, the U.S. will pull out of it, ensuring its collapse.
When President Donald Trump was elected, several prominent left-wing individuals wanted to make a bet with me that he would go back on his word. I don't want to embarrass them now that Trump has made good on so many campaign promises, but there's a good lesson to be learned here. The lesson is that the Left is not made of up great political experts with any kind of special knowledge. They are merely politicians belonging to a well-known social tribe whose job is to issue doomsday prophecies and predict the destruction of Israel.
Three years ago, I was in the audience when Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress. He warned against the Iran nuclear agreement and received a standing ovation. If the U.S. doesn't help us, he pledged, Israel will help itself.
The Jews are no longer helpless in the face of their enemies. Those days are long gone. The final solution that the rulers of Iran have been openly declaring will not be ignored. What I saw that day at Congress was a Jewish leader arriving in a modern Rome after 2,000 years and declaring to the world: The nation of Israel lives! In the Jewish tradition, this is a sanctification of God's name, as charged as that term may be.
During that historic speech, a number of sour journalists were also sitting in the audience, and they told a different story. Fortunately, the speech was broadcast for all to see and exposed those journalists' biases. It's a good thing this newspaper told the truth, because it wasn't too long before everything changed.
Just compare Netanyahu to all his rivals, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, and you'll see why the deposed Israeli elite is so obsessed with toppling this man (and his family). They can't think about anything else. They level allegations based on nothing, blown entirely out of proportion by his enemies in the media. What a disgrace. This is a strategic blow to the State of Israel. In the face of this powerful assault that aims to sway our opinions, it is important that we stand up and fight for our right to think differently. We must protect the choice that the citizens of Israel made in a democratic process.
4.
But back to Gabbay, a man born to immigrant parents from northern Africa, in a poor neighborhood in Jerusalem, who knows all too well what it is like to be silenced for so many years just because of his ethnic background – silenced by the same deposed elite, by the academic establishment (how many Mizrahi professors are there today?), by the media (for decades, where was the media platform representing traditional Likud voters?), by the cultural establishment (just ask any Mizrahi artist). What makes a man like that turn around and silence his rivals the moment he is voted the leader of the left-wing camp?
Gabbay's colleague, Zionist Union MK Eitan Cabel, is also like that. He, too, is of Mizrahi descent, a Yemenite Jew from Rosh Haayin, where the residents were silenced by the elite for many years. He too, when he gained a little bit of power, turned around and became the Left's messenger, specializing in silencing the Right.
Svetlova, born in Moscow in 1977, hails from a country that tightly controlled its citizens' consumption of information, particularly the Jews (who were egregiously persecuted). But then she arrived in Israel, became a journalist, and aligned with the Israeli Left, using her power to silence her rivals.
And take Livni, the daughter of Eitan Livni – the chief operations officer of the pre-state militia Irgun – who was consistently silenced by the Left along with her parents and their friends. What made her spearhead Zhdanovist legislation against Israel Hayom just because it "promotes a worldview that, in my view, contradicts the interests of the State of Israel," in her own words. That is precisely what so many claimed about her and her parents for so many years when they belonged to the Israeli Right.
So you see why this gang is so adamant about fighting against Netanyahu? Unlike Livni, Gabbay, Svetlova and so many others, Netanyahu has refused to bend his will to the dangerous doctrine of the old establishment. He could have easily gone along with the Left's suicidal peace policies and enjoyed eternal respect from those who say the current Israeli reality reminds them of the "1930s in Europe."
The war is not just about Netanyahu. It is about all of our freedom to decide and choose who leads us and how. We must not give up hope.
