NYT Editorial: Israel’s Move to the Right Challenges Diaspora Jews

[ellenrr]

LONDON — Liberal Zionists are at a crossroads. The original tradition of combining Zionism and liberalism — which meant ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, supporting a Palestinian state as well as a Jewish state with a permanent Jewish majority, and standing behind Israel when it was threatened — was well intentioned. But everything liberal Zionists stand for is now in doubt.

The decision of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to launch a military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has cost the lives, to date, of 64 soldiers and three civilians on the Israeli side, and nearly 2,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians.

“Never do liberal Zionists feel more torn than when Israel is at war,” wrote Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian’s opinion editor and a leading British liberal Zionist, for The New York Review of Books last month. He’s not alone. Columnists like Jonathan Chait, Roger Cohen and Thomas L. Friedman have all riffed in recent weeks on the theme that what Israel is doing can’t be reconciled with their humanism.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/opinion/sunday/israels-move-to-the-right-challenges-diaspora-jews.html?_r=2

[malaise]

1. what Israel is doing can’t be reconciled with their humanism.

And so say most of us. You cannot condemn war crimes, defend human rights and international law and support Israel

[Fred Sanders]

2. The NYT writes today of what anyone watching the collapse of the Israeli political centre has been

shouting for years...only now can respectable folks say it quietly.

Liberal Jews like Sanders and liberal Liberals like Warren seemed to have no problem making their choice.

[malaise]

4. Good point

It won't be long before folks realize their position will not be tolerated.

[ellenrr]

7. I agree. There is a wide divergance between ordinary Jews who are becoming much more outspoken and

and Liberals in govt who remain as timid as ever.

[JI7]

3. why has israel turned so right ? it's not just gaza but immigration also

there are a lot of attacks against minorities.

i wouldn't be surprised if netanyahu is a racist considering the way he treats obama.

it almost seems like the moderates have given up or feel powerless.

[starroute]

5. Partly it was the arrival of so many Russian Jews

They were anti-Soviet and thus generally opposed to Israel's socialist traditions and also tended to be culturally conservative.

Partly it was that the Middle Eastern Jews in Israel was treated as second-class citizens by the original settlers of European origins -- and that led to them resenting the liberal, Enlightenment traditions of European Judaism.

The settlers are a third constituency who are naturally reliably hawkish.

I believe those three groups in combination can explain much of Israel's rightward slide. But why the younger generation seems so heavily conservative -- except in a few liberal strongholds like Tel Aviv -- I don't know. Probably it's just that they've grown up with the Intifadas and the shelling and accept the right-wing narrative of those events.

[ellenrr]

8. Propaganda and education explain the rightwing storm.

Israel may be the only so-called democracy that has military people as teachers, in uniform.
I saw this on TV.
Israel's educational system ensures that from an early age Israelis are beset with propaganda.
There are many books which discuss this. See for ex: "She analyzes the presentation of images, maps, layouts and use of language in History, Geography and Civic Studies textbooks, and reveals how the books might be seen to marginalize Palestinians, legitimize Israeli military action and reinforce Jewish-Israeli territorial identity."
http://www.amazon.com/Palestine-Israeli-School-Books-Propaganda/dp/1845118138

[ellenrr]

9. found another even more blatant example

The Israeli education system and Israeli textbooks are in fact filled with incitement and racist discourse. The latest example of this was a leaked civics preparatory examination question approved by the Israeli ministry of education. The text can be viewed on The Alternative Information Centre (AIC) news website.

The text of the question reads (translation used from AIC):

“The wives of rabbis published a letter calling on daughters of Israel not to hang around with Arabs. There are those who support this letter and those who think it’s not appropriate. Express your opinion about the letter. In your answer, present two reasons and explain using concepts you learned in civics.”

The most disturbing part of this story is that the sample answer provided takes the side of “the wives of rabbis” and provides racist arguments in support of that stance.

The sample answer reads as follows: “I support the letter of the wives of rabbis.

If the daughters of Israel will hang around with Arabs, they are liable to have relationships and marry them. This would harm the Jewish majority of the state.
If the daughters of Israel will hang around with Arabs, they are liable to fall victims of violence for nationalistic reasons. This would harm their right to life and security.”
The fact that the Education Ministry promotes openly racist stereotyping and discourse, particularly in a civics class, is indicative of the normalisation and prevalence of such forms of discourse within Israeli society at large and the education system in particular. This type of language and use of racist tropes is not uncommon in Israel. It is however, remarkable that it would be considered acceptable to use in an educational setting.

//
http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/israelis-teach-children-hate/

[ellenrr]

6. CORRECTION

sorry - this piece was a signed opinion, not NYTimes Op-Ed. Big difference!
I thot for it to be an Op-Ed was too good to be true!

Still... I think what he says is elucidating and needs saying.