Lieberman, ethnicity and Israeli politics + commentaren

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Posted: January 13, 2010

Lieberman, ethnicity and Israeli politics: an open letter to Yossi Sarid
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/strengerBlog.jhtml

Dear Yossi Sarid,

In an opinion piece about Avigdor Lieberman you have tacked one of the
most sensitive questions in Israeli society and Israeli politics: ethnic
tensions and their impact on our lives and politics. There is not just
the tension between Jews and Arabs, but there are the tensions between
Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, and the question of the impact of the third
largest group in Israel: immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

In your piece, you chose to tackle the latter question, but you don't
speak the words - and that is dishonest. You don't say something along
the lines of "Lieberman is Russian, and hence he has totalitarian
leanings." Instead you write, "He came from a large country and saw a
country that was too small."

These sectarian tensions are the unspoken secret of Israeli politics.
Political correctness demands that we do not speak too much about the
leadership struggle in Kadima as involving a blond Ashkenazi woman and a
dark-haired former General originating from Iran. And we are certainly
not to speak too much about the fact that Lieberman, one of the dominant
figures of Israeli politics, is of Russian (more precisely Moldavian)
origin.

Your piece connects this to another source of great tension in Israel.
In no time after its inception Israel evolved a caste system: there is
the aristocracy which built this country, and there are second-class
citizens who came later, who received this country ready-made, and now
think that they have the right to "meddle" in its politics.

The op-ed's punch line is: "We came to this country to work, the early
settlers thought; but Lieberman has come here to preserve the state's
honor - and precisely at a time when the proud Arab nation is less
inclined to wallow in respectful ceremonies, and is bequeathing these
customs to the Jews."

Yossi, what you write can easily be taken to mean that the wing of
Israeli policy that is enamored with power is of recent origin and
connected to recent immigrants; that the Sabras who are the offspring of
the early settlers were all decent, hardworking and diplomatic, and that
new immigrants who came later are responsible for the sorry spectacle of
Israeli politics.

But let's go back a bit and examine the history. Remember Rehavam
Ze'evi, aka Gandhi? Born in Jerusalem (a real Sabra!), he brought us the
party of Moledet. Its platform, as you certainly remember, was to
transfer all Palestinians from the West Bank to neighboring Arab
countries. It brought us Raful, who spoke of Palestinians as "drugged
cockroaches." The list of Israeli-born and Israeli bred politicians who
were enamored with power and with speaking the honor language of the
Middle East is long, and it didn't start with Lieberman.

Israel's intoxication with Jewish power, the belief that chutzpah is
better than ingratiating ourselves to the gentiles was part of Israeli
culture before Mr. Lieberman was even born, let alone arrived in Israel.
Thus he is, unfortunately, connecting to a well-entrenched tradition in
Israeli political culture; he didn't invent it.

The problem is not with Mr. Lieberman who, in a democracy, is entitled
to have his views, appalling and totalitarian as they are. It is with a
political system that allows somebody completely unsuited for the job to
be foreign minister - or, for that matter, allowed Amir Peretz to be
minister of defense. The latter choice was partially responsible for the
debacle of the Lebanon war of 2006.

Alas, we are paying a steep price for Lieberman's presence at the helm
of the Foreign Ministry. Its professionals are desperate, because their
boss, who is strenuously avoided by most Western diplomats or ministers,
is making anything remotely resembling a reasonable foreign policy
impossible. His rather outlandish theories about Israel's desirable
foreign policy, show subtlety of understanding of international politics
about analogous to a proverbial bull's ability to run a china shop.

The problem is that Israel's mainstream politicians have not had the
courage and political will to change a system in which ministries have
become means to appease and buy off potential coalition partners. They
have not stopped the dreadful tendency to make Israeli politics look
more like haggling in a souk than a parliamentary democracy. Lest I be
misunderstood, I do not connect this to politicians who are Mizrahi Jews.

Neither Sharon, nor Olmert or Bibi (all Ashkenazi Sabras) had the guts
to say "enough with a system that wastes money, that has obscene numbers
of ministers, many of whom have no competence whatsoever in the topic of
their ministries!"

My sympathies for Lieberman are zero. Like many others, I think that
this skillful tactician is a danger for Israeli democracy. But we can't
blame him for a political system that sucks. Lieberman didn't invent the
system, he just makes skilful use of it.

I am all in favor of trying to tackle the explosive subtext of ethnicity
in Israeli politics. But if you want to do so, it needs to be done
without insinuations and innuendos, but openly and clearly.

Comments ------------------------
But in the end you veered away from it and chose the word enthnicity.

The myth still prevails that if you are born in Israel - a sabra - you
are born in freedom and clean of diaspora habits like trying to please,
absolved of things like apologising for treading on someone`s toe. If
you are a sabra it is the world that owes you something, not vice versa.
It owes you for what it did to your family and your ancestors, for
instance, and gives you more right to hutzpa than they ever had. This is
educated into sabras by their parents and into the people of Israel by
national TV and radio and at school.

Below the sabra is a whole hierarchy of second, third, fourth and fifth
class citizen. The sabra whether Ashkenazi, Sefardi or Mizrahi is king
so what do genes have to do with it?

Ah yes, Mr Strenger, you do need to be Jewish... but that`s not what you
were talking about, was it?
Comments ------------------------
Lieberman grew up under the russian/ultra corrupt regime,where the
"aparatchnicks" had it all and everybody else could barely survive.It
was a facist communist dictatorship.
The Jews that survived the "workers paradise" learned a bitter
lesson.Nowadays they are mostly CAPITALISTS,AND WHEN IN ISRAEL,ISRAELI
PATRIOTS.UNLIKE THE ISRAELI LEFT WING "INTELLECTUALS"DREAMING OF A
SOCIALIST ISRAEL,WHILE DRESSING IN CUSTOM MADE SUITS AND DRIVING
BMW`S...HYPOCRITES OF THE WORLD KIND!!!
Comments ------------------------
the "system" needs to be reformed, representative democracy so the bums
can be held responsible and voted out of office. Political corruption
and cynical "dealmaking" went on all the way back to ben-gurion`s deal
with the "religious". Sabras, the "elites" and "newer"- comers to ISrael.
The results are on view for all, hundreds of thousands of ISraelis
CHOOSE TO LEAVE;[serious brain drain included] living abroad, corruption
at the highest [and lowest levels of society /government]and utter
contempt for anyone suggsting a sense of RESPONSIBLITY and Accountability !
Comments ------------------------
Everybody wants an adjective for their country.

Many Israelis want Israel`s adjective to be "Jewish".
[As in "Israel is a Jewish country"]

Unfortunately, a countries `adjective` cannot be assigned through
military might (unless the adjective is `brutal`), nor by politicians
(unless the adjective is `clever`).

The current Israel will never be a "Jewish state".

Israelis should, though, decide whether they want to be a "Brutal state"
or a "Clever state".
Comments ------------------------
Carlo`s observations are correct, but there is more to it. Lieberman
worldview is fascist- he is an ex-bouncer and a lout that was eable to
thrive in the Israeli political milieu which still rewards party hecks
rather people of quality who are accountable to an electorate.
But beyond that I must say somthing that I tried to get through to this
website previously but was censored because no one wants to admit nor
think about it. Judaism- not necessarily Jews, is tribal,racist and
xenophobic. The Judaism of the Second Temple priests and of Yavneh`s
rabbis most definitely was. The Bible and the talmud clearly attest to
it. That strand of Judaism still lives and is promoted in Israel. Wedded
to nationalism it makes a toxic brew. Land, like language, religion and
cult is a clear expression of the tribal boundaries and self definition.
Foreigners are not allowed to cross these boundaries. Lieberman is one
of the Gurdians that sees to it.
Comments ------------------------
What extreme leftist disinformation. Unless all totalitarians emigrated
to Israel, whereas we "sane" ones opted for the US.

The VAST majority of Russians who emigrated to the US are anti-Obama,
anti-Arab, anti-government entitlements. They are PRO free will &
individual initiative. The practical Mr.Lieberman does not attempt to
"reason" & "make nice" to those who plan our destruction. That is the
style of the Germanic "Jews" who have historically defined themselves as
"Germans of Mosaic origin". That phrase never fails to (literally)
sicken me.
Comments ------------------------
He walks as KGB, he kwacks as KGB, he thinks as KGB, he speaks with a
KGB accent, he is definitely a KGB.
Please, send`im back to Kishinev, and please don`t call him russian-just
a man from Kishinev, Moldova. Calling him russian-is an insult to great
Russian people.
Comments ------------------------
Good Sir, Kindly spell check your articles prior to submission. This is
read throughout the world, and if something as mundane as spell check is
not used it beckons the question, is the same amount of detail being
taking into researching what is stated in your piece? I am a Jewish New
Yorker who reads haaretz to gain as much insight into Israeli and Jewish
daily news as possible and it would be more reassuring to know that the
editing done is comparable with the papers available in NY. I hope no
offense is taken by my request and I can`t express my appreciation for
having haaretz in English so that I can be abreast with the daily
situation going on in Israel.

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