RIVKA BAR-YOSEF
539
Since Rivka Bar-Yosef talked, she has sent us the following letter
about recent events in Israel:
September
4,
1990
I am sure you are interested in some of what is happening in
Israel since I spoke at your meeting. First, the Russians are coming in
increasing numbers, and we still don't knowjust how they
will
be integrated.
In the meantime they are in Hebrew Ulpanim, but soon they
will
be part of
the regular markets - in housing and labor. In general there is favorable
feeling, but the arrival oflarge groups ofpeople who claim special attention
reactivates the consciousness ofweaker groups which then vie for attention
and demand permanent solutions for their problems - mainly ofhousing and
income. It is amazing that there are relatively few "tent dwellers," which
shows the considerable success of the Labor regime'S housing policy. Nearly
all the current problems result from the antiwelfare policy and the neglect in
recent years. The government is moving too slowly in view of the
seriousness of the difficulties arising from the mass influx ofpeople - mainly
from Russia, and possibly soon smaller numbers from Ethiopia.
The other topic is the Gulf crisis.
It
is interesting that this time there is
much less popular anxiety than before the Six-Day War. There has been
relatively little hoarding of food, so that there is no observable shortage of
anything. Anyway, the holidays are coming, and Israelis always buy
unbelievable quantities of food for the holidays. There was also private
buying of gas masks, some political (mostly demagogic) discussion ofwhether
or not there should be immediate distribution to households. But in the last
ltfew weeks, Israelis, with their remarkable resilience, have been busy dis–
cussing such local issues as whether the kindergartens should be open five or
six days, whether the shekel will be devalued shortly, and the Israeli
Watergate - the illegal tapping of the telephone conversation of the Chief of
Police and of a journalist who wrote a series of articles on the presumably
illegal distribution offunds by the Interior Minister to various charities headed
by family and friends. For the last two days, the main topic is not whether
Saddam Hussein or the Americans will attack, but whether the Solicitor
General will or will not read the illegally-produced cassette which was sent
anonymously to the police. The police are investigating charges against the
Interior Minister who is Sephardi and Orthodox and the government
representative of a relatively new Sephardi-Orthodox political party. The
partisans of the minister, who presumably are the initiators of the tapping,
try
to discredit the police, and to insert a little flavor by hinting ofa possible anti–
Sephardi conspiracy. This in a nutshell is the best show in town, and how can
Saddam imagine that he can compete with it? The Intifada is not finished, but
for the moment it is much weaker. There is no sense in expending much
