Sorry for the prolonged silence - the jet lag got to me today. I arrived back in Israel shortly after 5:00 am and have been struggling to remain awake....
For years now, Israel's bar association - membership in which is mandatory if you want to practice law here - has been struggling with lawyers like me who complain about the level of bar dues. My bar dues in Israel are more than double what the dues are in New York - the other jurisdiction in which I am admitted to practice.
I just got an email from the chair of the Jerusalem District Bar Association informing me of the wonderful news that the bar has 'solved' my problem. If I move my bank account to Bank Leumi and meet certain unspecified criteria, the bank will give me a 'grant' that is equivalent to my bar dues. If I were a big firm lawyer whose bar dues are paid by the firm, that money would go to my pocket; since I'm not, the money will go to the bar.
But let's get real: If I'm not paying the bar dues, and the bank sure isn't going to really pay the bar dues, who is? You guessed it: The ordinary people who are customers of Bank Leumi. In other words, the people subsisting on NIS 7,000 per month and less are going to subsidize a bunch of lawyers - many of whom make an awful lot of money - so that they won't complain about the bar's spending.
What's worse is that the organized bar is probably one of (if not THE) most wasteful organizations in the country. A big chunk of our bar dues goes to pay for 'social and cultural events' that are attended by a relatively small number of lawyers - mostly from the elites.
Yet another reason for all of you to hate lawyers.
For those who read Hebrew, you can find the district bar's letter here. Disgraceful.
Welcome to Animal Farm, where all the animals are equal except for the ones who are more equal.
I've written about Nof Zion a couple of times, most recently here. On Tuesday, Bank Leumi reached an arrangement to sell the Digal company's interest in the project to supermarket magnate Rami Levy and an Australian partner. That means Nof Zion will remain in Jewish hands.
For the past few months, residents of the Jewish complex in the Jebl Mukaber neighborhood have fought against a business takeover by Palestinian- American businessman Basher Al-Masri, who has said he wants to sell the 300 apartments yet to be built to Arab families.
Digal Investments, whose primary project is Nof Zion, is more than NIS 100 million in debt, of which at least NIS 80 million is to Bank Leumi.
Masri, the businessman behind the planned Palestinian city of Rawabi, had made the highest offer to bail out the company, but in January the bondholders rejected it in favor of a significantly lower offer from Rami Levy and his Australian Jewish partner, Kevin Bermeister, the inventor of Kazaa music downloads.
On Sunday, Bank Leumi informed Digal that their debt repayment plan was not sufficient and it would take the company to court if Digal didn’t find a higher bid that would enable them to repay more of the debt. This opened the door for Masri to resubmit his offer for the company’s debt.
In response, Nof Zion residents, assisted by the Israel Land Fund’s Aryeh King, began to organize protests outside of Bank Leumi branches and threatened that all of the settlers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem would withdraw their funds from Bank Leumi.
Late on Monday, Bank Leumi announced that it had accepted a higher offer from Levy and Bermeister and was no longer considering court action.
“Now everything is an oral agreement, only when it’s done and signed will it be finished,” said King. “It’s not over till it’s over, as they say. We’re waiting until the negotiations are finished.”
I think you just heard a collectively sigh of relief from southeastern Jerusalem.
Bank Leumi may yet find itself the subject of a boycott by the religious Zionist community, after it turned down an offer by supermarket magnate Rami Levy to buy the interest of a bankrupt developer in a Jerusalem housing project. The project is only one third complete, and Bank Leumi's action may put two thirds of the project in the hands of a 'Palestinian' businessman. The other third of the project has been sold to religious Jews.
In light of the Bank Leumi rejection, Palestinian Authority semi-resident Bashir Al-Masri, represented by the same lawyer who advised Ariel Sharon during the Disengagement, Dov Weisglass, has redoubled his efforts to buy the lands of Nof Tzion.
Located to the east of Talpiyot and south of the Old City, the neighborhood was originally planned as a luxury project for wealthy apartment-seekers from abroad. When this did not pan out, the project was saved by the religious-Zionist public, for which its strategic spot, in terms of both Jewish-Arab demographics and a panoramic view of the Temple Mount and the Old City, increased its attractiveness. Thus, a new religious-Zionist neighborhood arose in eastern Jerusalem.
The first phase of the project was completed several years ago, and much has been written about the 90 families' satisfaction with their new neighbors and surroundings. However, they are now greatly apprehensive that if the project falls into Arab hands, the 180 planned units of Stages II and III of the project will not only not be built, but also that their own homes will become an unsafe and unviable Jewish enclave surrounded by Arab homes.
They have therefore threatened to take Bank Leumi – the guarantor of the project – and the Digal development company to court for backing down on their much-touted plans to ensure that the project is for the national-religious public.
Bank Leumi has rejected Levy’s offer, saying that it prefers to break up Digal altogether and sell its assets – including the land of Nof Tzion – to the highest bidder. This once again leaves the field open to Al-Masri. Al-Masri has also taken another step, seeking to buy out the shares of Digal.
A letter of intent to boycott Bank Leumi has already been signed by top rabbis in the religious-Zionist camp.
If Bank Leumi is boycotted over this project, it could find itself boycotted in the US as well.
I have previously written about the Nof Zion project here.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
