In a country accustomed to crises, the Corona Virus crisis took Israel by complete surprise.
In the first few months of 2020, one could sympathize with the nation’s leaders as they sailed into unknown waters. Nobody knew just how things would transpire. People were under lockdown. Businesses were closed. Schools began to think the unthinkable – that a modern generation of children would grow up without being able to study.
In fact, the entire world woke up to a situation where almost every aspect of our lives had to be re-thought and re-examined and we all had to reevaluate many aspects of our daily lives.
We are now close to having lived with Corona for two years. We have gone through waves of ups and downs. Countries like Thailand which went through the first year almost untouched and now seeing numbers they never imagined. Israel, which just months ago had been called a “breakthrough” country to emulate is now seeing a large new wave of Coronavirus “variants” and seniors are being asked to take a third vaccination shot.
Even so, there is a general feeling of our ability to “know” this virus and to be able, if not to “beat” it – at least to learn how to live with it – but even saying that may still turn out be a terrible error. The truth is – we just do not know.
It is now time to understand, that even should we be able to make our societies “livable” ie with regular service of business, travel, schooling, there is no assurance that something else will not come down the line which will be even worse, and we must prepare ourselves for that scenario.
Israel is used to preparing for the worst. The fragility of its security has forced it to do so. As a country that exists to safeguard the Jewish people who make up under 15 million, it cannot take chances.
This brings us to the issues of Israel’s agriculture sector. It is not sure if the new Israeli Minister of Finance, Avigdor Liberman is thinking about this, but if he isn’t, he should be. He is busy now “opening” up the agricultural market at a time when Israel should be safeguarding its ability to feed itself.
If there were to come a day where nations cannot ship produce across borders – it is plain to understand that the ability to feed your civilians will be paramount. A scenario like this might have been ridiculed had it been written about just two years ago – but today this must be taken seriously.
While all of us citizens would love to be able to buy food cheaper than the perceived high prices in our markets, we can also today understand better why the ability of Israel to be able to feed itself is not just a good thing, but a question of existence.
It seems clear that we should be doing all we can to encourage Israeli farmers and so, we find it quite curious that Liberman is doing the exact opposite. This is not an issue for farmers only. This is an issue for every one of us.