Beauty from Mossad

Israel's new prime minister begins his political career with a scandal

The new leader of the Israeli ruling Kadima party, “the beauty from Mossad,” as Tzipi Livni is loosely called by some Israeli and foreign media, unexpectedly aroused hostility among the Orthodox press in Israel, which refuses to publish photographs of the future prime minister. Religious modesty is cited as the main reason. The very influential ultra-Orthodox newspaper Hamodi even stated that it was impossible to use Livni's name on its pages - "Tzipi", a derivative of "Tziporah", which is translated from Hebrew as "bird". According to the publication's senior editor, addressing a woman by name (and even more so by a pseudonym) is unacceptable. However, most likely this is just nitpicking, and the real reason for the Orthodox rejection of the future leader of the country (in Israel, it is the prime minister who determines the policy of the state) is that Orthodox Jews perceive women to a greater extent as keepers of the home, mothers of numerous offspring (the Orthodox do not recognize abortion and contraception) and order them to be modest in all matters, writes the Daily Mail. Only about 600,000 of Israel's seven million people are Orthodox, but they hold powerful positions in the Jewish state, where religion plays a huge role. Haredim (as Orthodox Jews are called) live exclusively according to the Torah and adhere to strict restrictions in clothing, food, books and education, especially respecting modesty, and even more so not allowing displays of immodesty in their wives and daughters.

But modesty and politics are incompatible in many countries, and even more so in Israel with its constant political battles in the heated Knesset (Israeli parliament), which is completely different from either the Russian State Duma or the decorous British parliament. Since its appearance on the world map, the country has been surrounded by enemies, and its prime ministers, as a rule, are military generals. However, the future Mrs. Prime Minister, a 50-year-old mother of two children, also came to power, having also served in the Israel Defense Forces, from where she retired with the rank of lieutenant, and after graduating from the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University was recruited into the famous Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service that brings terror to its enemies. Livni worked in intelligence for four years.

However, the intelligence services in Israel do not at all cause fear among their fellow citizens, as in some states that are less democratic than Israel, and Israelis have high hopes for Tzipi Livni, already nicknamed the “Iron Lady” in advance. And feminists, of whom there are many in the Promised Land, called the orthodox attacks on the future prime minister simply “ridiculous.”

But the future prime minister is taken quite seriously in nearby, not very friendly, foreign countries. “The nest of this “bird” is the terrorist Jewish-Polish underground,” writes the Syrian newspaper Tishrin, hinting that Tzipi’s father, Eitan Livni, was a prominent figure in ETZEL (National Military Organization).

Alexander LIBERMAN