Then there are two orthodox systems, one Ashkenazi and one Oriental. In some of these, only religious subjects are taught -- no languages, no mathematics, no non-Jewish history. This makes alumni unfit for any employment. They remain dependent on their religious community's handouts forever.
Before the state came into being, there was also a leftist system with socialist values, especially in the kibbutzim. This was abolished by David Ben-Gurion in the name of "statism."
The last government tried in a timid way to compel the orthodox to introduce "core studies" into their schools, such as arithmetic and English. This has been abandoned now, since the orthodox have become members of the government coalition.
The real battle, which is starting now, is about the "general" state schools, which have been free to some extent. My late wife, Rachel, was a teacher in such a school for almost 30 years, and did what she wanted, trying to instill in her pupils' minds humanist and liberal values.
Not any more. Israel's most extreme nationalist-religious leader, Naftali Bennett, has now been installed as Minister of Education. He has already announced that his main objective is to imbue the young with a nationalist-Zionist spirit, raising a generation of real Israeli patriots. No mention of humanism, liberalism, human rights, social values or any other such nonsense.
Netanyahu has also retained the Foreign Ministry in his own hands. Many of its functions have been dispersed between six other ministries. The pretext is that Netanyahu is keeping the prestigious ministry open for Labor Party leader Yitzhak Herzog, who he is pretending to invite into the government. Herzog has already loudly refused. (I suppose that the real owner of the government, Sheldon Adelson, would not allow him in anyway.)
Netanyahu's real aim is to prevent any potential competitor from gaining international and national prestige in this position. He does conduct foreign policy alone anyhow.
ALTOGETHER, A deeply troubling picture for anyone who loves Israel.
It is not so much that the balance of power in Israel has changed (it has not) but that the worst elements of the Right have taken over, pushing out almost all right-wing moderates. Until now, these extreme elements had been subdued, talking loudly but carrying a small stick. This has now changed. The extreme right has found its self-assurance, and is determined to use its power.
The Israeli Left (timidly calling itself "center-left") has lost its spirit. Its only hope is "foreign pressure." Especially from the White House. Barack Obama hates Netanyahu. Any time now, American pressure will be applied and save Israel from itself.
That's a comfortable thought. We don't have to do anything. Salvation will come from the outside, deus ex machina. Halleluja.
Unfortunately, I am a non-believer. What I see is the US increasing its support of the Netanyahu regime, offering huge new arms deliveries as "compensation" for the budding Iran nuclear deal. John Kerry, humiliated by Netanyahu and treated with open contempt, is groveling somewhere at our feet. Obama boasts that he has done more for "Israel" (meaning the Israeli Right) than any other president.
Salvation will not come from that direction. God will remain in the machine.
THERE IS only one kind of salvation: the one we carry inside us.
Some hope for a catastrophe that will cause people to open their eyes. I don't wish for catastrophes.
I don't want Israel to become a replica of al-Sisi's Egypt, Erdogan's Turkey or Putin's Russia.
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