2023-11-25 04:20:13
Israel is in shock and its economy at half mast since the attacks of October 7, noted L’Echo during a report at the invitation of the Jewish Congress of Europe. Behind the scenes, the elite is calling for the departure of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The El Al Boeing 737-800 advances through the night towards Tel Aviv, all lights off. The pilot follows a wartime approach procedure. On board, the mines are serious. A child screams. An ultraorthodox man prays. My neighbor, a French woman, says that she is making alya, settling in Israel. “Since October 7, anti-Semitism has returned, I feel safer here, even though it is war,” she says.
The plane is touching down. In the vast marbled corridor leading to customs photos of dozens of Hamas hostages parade.
“Behind this war, there is the genius of Iran and Russia.”
Ben Gurion Airport is almost empty. At the checkpoint, there is no line. It’s unusual. At baggage reception, a woman wrapped in an Israeli flag is prostrate, in tears.
“A second Ukraine”
The taxi crosses Tel Aviv. The city “that never sleeps” has turned into a ghost city. Bars and restaurants are closed. There are no tourists. The stores are empty. Israel is in shock.
In a deserted hotel in the trendy Neve Tzedek district, we meet Ari Shavit, Haaretz star journalist and writer.
“Israel was created so that these massacres would never happen once more. October 7 is the worst day since the Holocaust. It’s…I don’t have words,” he said.
During this “Black Saturday”, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, were killed by terrorists, and 240 hostages were taken to Gaza. Israel responded. The region was set ablaze. According to Hamas, 13,000 people have been killed in Gaza.
“If the war continues, we are facing an economic crisis.”
“It’s a second Ukraine,” warns Shavit. “Behind this war, there is the genius of Iran and Russia, who transferred intelligence and technology to Hamas, thanks to which it crossed the border. These technologies can be used by other terrorists once morest the West. If Israel falls, Europe will fall too“.
©Vincent Georis
The stunned economy
For a month and a half, Israeli economy is slowing down. More than 360,000 reservists, a large part of the labor force, have been recalled, and 125,000 residents have been displaced to Israel’s north and south.
“We had a good year in 2023, we will manage,” continues Ari Shavit, “but if the war continues, we are facing an economic crisis. Not just for the tourism sector, but also for our technology companies.”
The tech capital, which alone has more startups and unicorns listed on the Nasdaq than Europe, is stunned. “We were blinded by our success for 10-15 years. Startup Nation. We forgot the elephant in the room: Hamas, without offering a solution to the Palestinians“, he adds.
Anger is growing once morest the authorities. “Netanyahu no longer has a future. Israel has experienced four wars, and no sitting prime minister has survived them,” he summarizes.
On the Gaza border
To get closer to the war, we surrender on the Gaza border, at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where the Hamas attack began. Arriving in the red zone, Gaby, our bodyguard, provides us with helmets and bulletproof vests.
“More than a hundred residents were killed, dismembered or burned.”
In the kibbutz, it is desolation. “More than a hundred residents were killed, dismembered or burned, according to Zaka, the NGO responsible for identifying the bodies.. She found several murdered children and babies in one room, some of whom had been dismembered,” said Arye Shalicar, an IDF spokesperson.
We walk, flown over by drones, hearing the sound of cannon fire. A pungent smell of blood arises. The gutted houses, charred vehicles, shell casings on the ground offer a glimpse of the worst.
©Vincent Georis
A fence on the Gaza border, broken down by terrorists, is still open. A few hundred meters away, in the landlocked town, clearly visible, another drama unfolds. The IDF has sworn to eradicate Hamas, and is waging a relentless offensive.
Three rockets fly from Gaza towards Israel. “Don’t stay near the barrier, they have snipers capable of hitting you,” says Arye Shalicar.
Angry businessmen
We return to Tel Aviv, to meet the businessman Jeremy Levin. At the end of October, he left the presidency and general management of Teva, the global pharmaceutical giant. He agrees to talk.
“Netanyahu thought he had control over Hamas allowing him to stay in power.”
Levin arrives from New York, to meet investors “concerned regarding the situation in the country”, he says. A renowned banker accompanies him. He requests anonymity. He says he is ready to do battle with the government.
“Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah have seen, for months, thata serious political crisis in Israel weakened the army and the economy“, says Levin. After the November 2022 elections, to return to power and avoid prison following corruption cases, Netanyahu made a pact with far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, offering them unprecedented concessions.
“Netanyahu wanted to reduce the powers of the Supreme Court, which provoked demonstrations joined by army reservists,” he explains. “It was also necessary to send more settlers to the West Bank, to satisfy the far-right parties. The settlers began to provoke the Palestinians. The IDF had to send its soldiers to protect them. They emptied the defenses on the Gaza border. Hamas saw that the way was clear and it attacked.”
Since then, the pressure has been growing. The street, the families of the hostages and the elite want push out the Prime Minister.
©AFP
“Netanyahu thought he had control over Hamas allowing him to stay in power,” he adds. “This has nothing to do with politics, it’s criminality. Netanyahu must go, as quickly as possible, even if it is war.”
“Once the operation in Gaza is over, there will be early elections.”
Levin predicts an overthrow of the government. “The army is furious. It is ready to throw Hamas into the sea. When this is over, the reservists will return to deal with Netanyahu“, he said. “This has already been seen. If Chamberlain had not been overthrown and replaced by Churchill, there would be no Jews left on earth.”
For the post-war period, he calls for “a security agreement and a Marshall Plan for Palestine supported by the Saudis and Qataris“.
Early elections
The scenario of a return to the polls is looming. “Once the operation in Gaza is over, there will be early elections,” predicts Dori Klagsbald, a lawyer who repeatedly defended Netanyahu. “As for telling you if Bibi will not be re-elected, I don’t know,” he specifies.
Clinging to power for more than 15 years, Netanyahu is a returner from politics, pursued by endless legal cases from which he seeks to escape. “He constantly doubts himself, gets agitated, slips and comes back to the surface“, says one of his former colleagues.
“Bibi declared war on Israel”
Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister of Israel, gives us an interview. This veteran politician held the helm of Israel through major crises, before being brought down in a corruption case.
“I want the government of Israel to go away now.”
The lively eye and the imposing voice, he harshly criticizes his successor.
“I want the government of Israel to leave now,” he insists. “Bibi declared war on the people of Israel by wanting to change the Supreme Court. And in recent days, he ended up spreading war once morest Israel“.
When asked regarding the ideal replacement, he hits the nail on the head. “Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid… Anyone would be preferable to Netanyahu. The next Prime Minister is already here. He doesn’t know it yet, and we don’t know it’s him,” he said. “I’m learning a lesson from this war, the same lesson that we should have learned fifty years ago during the war in Yom Kippur: we Israelis must be more modest“.
“You can say what you want regarding Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas, Editor’s note), but he has always cooperated with Israel on security issues.”
An international peace force
Any outcome of the war passes, for him, through a peace agreement with the Palestinians that realizes the two-state solution.
“It will be complicated, of course. I once proposed a peace agreement to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and he never responded,” he said. “We need to talk to Abbas. You can say what you want regarding Abou Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas, Editor’s note), but he has always cooperated with Israel on security issues. He is an enemy, but an enemy ready to negotiate.”
Olmert wants Israel to withdraw from Gaza, once Hamas was defeated. “No one wants Israel in Gaza. The only option is an international peace force made up of Europeans. I did it in 2006,” he says. A difficult scenario, given the weakening of the UN.
The time of peace
Whatever happens, the land offensive cannot be prolonged. “The active phase can only last a few weeks. The world will not let us do more, and our economy is not doing well,” summarizes Itmar Rabinovitch, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University.
Without peace that ensures Palestine’s prosperity, the cycle of hatred will not end. “Moshe Dayan once said, during a visit to Kibbutz Nahal Oz near Gaza: you must understand that the Palestinians, on the other side, look at this flourishing kibbutz and it offends them. It’s all there,” he concludes.
The summary
- Israeli society and economy are in shock since the bloody attack of October 7 and the return of war. The elite calls for the resignation of the government.
- For the former boss of Teva, Jeremy Levin, Prime Minister Netanyahu must leave, “even if it’s war”.
- Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel from 2003 to 2009, tells us that “everyone would be preferable to Netanyahu”. He calls for the sending of a international peace force in Gaza and negotiations with the Palestinian authority.
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