May 30, 2016: Netanyahu says hello Liberman, goodbye Ya’alon

By Michael Regenstreif

As I write – on May 20 just before we go to press – Israel’s governing coalition under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a state of flux. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon is on his way out with former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman his presumptive replacement.

This turn of events in Israeli politics – indications of which began to surface on May 18 – came as a surprise because there had been reports over the past several weeks that Netanyahu and Israel’s opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, chair of the centre-left Zionist Union (a joint electoral list bringing together Herzog’s Labor Party and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah Party), were close to an agreement that would have brought the Zionist Union into the coalition with Herzog becoming foreign minister (a post that Netanyahu has held onto himself since 2015).

Bringing Herzog into the coalition was seen as a move that would signal Netanyahu’s seriousness about his desire for direct negotiations with the Palestinians that would hopefully lead to a two-state solution. It would also have stabilized Netanyahu’s coalition whose razor-thin majority has stood at just 61 of the Knesset’s120 seats.

However, it appears that at the same time it was openly acknowledged he was negotiating with Herzog, he was also secretly talking with Liberman whose right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party – with its six Knesset seats – has sat on the opposition benches since the 2015 election.

Liberman brought several demands to the table. Among them was instituting capital punishment for convicted terrorists. In the State of Israel’s 68-year history there have only been two executions: army officer Meir Tobianski on June 30, 1948 by firing squad after he was convicted of treason by court-martial during the War of Independence, and Adolf Eichmann on May 31, 1962 by hanging after he was convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his central role in perpetrating the Holocaust.

Tobianski, it must be noted, was executed quickly with no right to appeal. A year later, evidence revealed he was not guilty and he was exonerated.

Liberman’s other main demand was that he replace Ya’alon as defense minister; a demand that Netanyahu accepted. With that acceptance, Ya’alon resigned from cabinet and from his seat in the Knesset.

Netanyahu said he regretted Ya’alon’s resignation and said he had offered to appoint him foreign minister.

In resigning, Ya’alon cited Netanyahu’s conduct during “recent developments” (presumably the negotiations that brought in Liberman), which demonstrated the prime minister’s “lack of trust” in him.

It would be hard – if not impossible – to make the case that Liberman is more qualified than Ya’alon to be defense minister. With rare exceptions, Israel’s defense ministers have enjoyed the confidence of Israel’s military because they have had distinguished military careers serving in the highest ranks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Ya’alon, for example, rose to be the IDF chief-of-staff. Liberman, in contrast, served briefly in the IDF, attaining the rank of corporal, and has often been highly critical of the restraint shown by Israel’s military in difficult circumstances.

While it’s still much too early to know what all of the consequences of these developments will be, a few questions are obvious.

Will Herzog’s tenure as chair of the Zionist Union come to an end? His move toward joining Netanyahu’s coalition was not supported by many of the Zionist Union Knesset members and the result could only have embarrassed him.

As defense minister, Liberman assumes tremendous power in the West Bank. While Ya’alon was pragmatic and somewhat conciliatory with the Palestinians, Liberman has been seen to be much more hardline. Will the Palestinian Authority be able to work with him, for example, on day-to-day security cooperation?

And will there be an impact on Israel’s current negotiations with the U.S. for long-term defense aid? Ya’alon enjoyed generally good relations with the U.S. while Liberman, as foreign minister, did not.

What about Ya’alon’s political future? Will he be a formidable challenger to Netanyahu’s leadership within Likud? Or to Likud as the leader of a new, more moderate centre-right party?

“I have no intention of [permanently] leaving public life, and in the future, I will return as a candidate for national leadership,” he said in his resignation speech.

May 16, 2016: In memory of my father, Al Regenstreif – 1926-2016

By Michael Regenstreif

My father, Albert Regenstreif – better known as Al, or, to some, as Boomie – passed away in Montreal on April 14, less than two months before he would have turned 90.

My father was a special guy – loving, supportive, funny, always there for me, my brothers, my mother, and for so many others.

I’m very grateful that my father lived such a long life, so full of vitality until the very end. I feel very lucky that he was in my life for such a long time. His own father, my grandfather, died in 1937 when my dad was just 11 years old. So, I got to spend more than 50 years longer with my father in my life than he had with his father.

I inherited some things from my father. My sense of humour, my love of reading, my appreciation of politics, and culture, especially Jewish culture, all came directly from my dad. What I didn’t really begin to understand, until these last few years, was that my love for music must have come through him, too.

In the last few years, he began to sing around the house, almost all the time, and I was astounded at how many different songs, and how many different kinds of songs, he knew and remembered from so long ago.

My father spent most of his working life in service to the Jewish community. He had a distinguished career working for such organizations as State of Israel Bonds, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Canadian Friends of Bar Ilan University, and, most particularly, the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, where he spent the last 19 years of his career as executive director of the hospital’s foundation before retiring in 1997 at age 71.

During his time at the Jewish General, he managed a capital campaign in 1984 and ’85 that raised $27 million – then the largest single capital campaign in the history of Canada’s Jewish community.

Partly because he was proud of anything I’ve done over the years, and partly because of his own history in service to the Jewish community, my father felt a great deal of pride to see me working in Jewish community journalism.

And I’ve felt so honoured over the years I’ve been editing the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin that he always proudly sent my columns around to so many friends and relatives.

My parents got married in 1948, when my mother was just 20 years old and my father 22. They started out in Montreal and moved to Calgary, where my brothers and I were born in the 1950s.

In the 1960s, we also lived in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary again, and Vancouver again, before the family moved back to Montreal in 1968. Through it all, my parents were always there for each other, and for me and my brothers, always so supportive of whatever endeavours we’ve pursued over the years.

The last few years have presented some very difficult health challenges for my parents.

My father lost a kidney about 10 years ago. Then, about four years ago, his other kidney failed, forcing him onto dialysis at the hospital for four or five hours at a time, three times a week. And, in the past couple of years, it became harder and harder for him to walk very much. But, still determined to get around, he got himself an electric scooter.

Also, about a year ago, my mother had a stroke, from which, thank God, she’s recovered remarkably well and with remarkable determination. But, with me and Sylvie in Ottawa and my brother Ian in Toronto, the day-to-day responsibility for helping my parents was taken up by my brother Arthur, the only one of us still in Montreal.

I can’t begin to express our appreciation for how wonderful Arthur has been and for everything he’s done for my parents – and continues to do for my mother.

We’re going to miss my father always, but we take great comfort in the love we shared and in the memories that will remain with us forever.