Israelis becoming more Jewish and hawkish, thus boosting our negotiating positions
Udi Lebel, YNET
A poll showing the strengthening of the “rightist-haredim” bloc was published here last weekend. According to the poll, under any circumstances we shall see the Likud leader elected for prime minister, and he would be able to choose a centrist or rightist coalition without having to contend with a hostile Leftist parliament. These figures are not unique or incidental.
Several processes are slowly making Israel’s Jewish society more conservative. This is not just a result of demography, which is working in favor of the haredim and traditionalist Jews and against the seculars. We are dealing with a plethora of cultural tendencies that have nothing to do with births.
The Jewish bookshelf is sweeping many groups and is turning into an element that holds ideological, not only cultural, influence on those joining the trend. The “Jewish new age era,” a sort of counter-reaction to the “candle era” of the peace children, is lifting geographical boundaries.
Samaria is suddenly turning into a site that belongs to “every Jew.” Workshops and trips there constitute the settlers’ “quiet revolution.” Even celebrities who “discovered” the synagogue at the heart of Tel Aviv are starting to arrive.
Meanwhile, the Russian and Ethiopian communities, as well as residents of the periphery, are mostly holding clear hawking views, despairing over the chance to see peace from the Palestinians, and are eager to see us using our power and producing deterrence. Territorial concessions are not perceived as a move that would affect the end of the conflict.
Message to Palestinians
Similar phenomena are taking place among some groups within Israel’s leftist camp; the moderate Left, known as “activist” in the past, which lives in “border areas.” The Gaza-region kibbutzim, which in the past granted the leftist Meretz party many Knesset seats, are showing ongoing support for Lieberman’s positions ever since the current government’s establishment. No less surprising: Even among these leftists, a majority characterizes the settlement enterprise as Zionism in every way.
Meanwhile, Meretz and Labor, which produced “Oslo,” are turning into niche parties. Kadima, which is led by people formerly associated with the Right, is the only dovish element with aspirations to take power.
Jewish perception and heritage are penetrating civics studies and the military and national service. The education minister is bringing awareness of Hebron to Tel Aviv. Moreover, members of the religious Zionist community are increasingly active in academia and in the film industry; they produce culture and convey their messages.
Israelis are becoming more spiritual. And no, this is not the spirituality associated with the flower children. It is the kind of spiritually associated with Rabbi Kook. It comes with love for the land and great belief in the ban on renouncing it.
These socio-political developments do not only bear domestic effects on Israel’s society. This process has strategic implications vis-à-vis the Palestinians. Until now, such trends in the Palestinian theater became a diplomatic consideration for Israelis: If you don’t sign a peace deal with the PLO, you’ll get Hamas. If you don’t secure an agreement with the Fayyad government, you’ll have to contend with Islamist radicals.
Well, we now have a parallel message we can start to convey to the Palestinian leadership: Israeli society is undergoing a process of “reinforcement.” – it has become more Jewish, more hawkish and more rightist. If you don’t sign an agreement with Israel today ,while recognizing it as the Jewish People’s state, you will have to deal with the future Israel: One that will only sign a deal with you if you recognize the gravesite of Rachel the Matriarch and mark the death of our holy mother every year.
Dr. Udi Label is a senior political science lecturer at the Ariel University Center of Samaria
By George, I think you’ve got it.
emmess Said:
Then I would refer to them as “periods”, “eras” or “ages”. They were not sects or flavors of Judaism.
There is no doubt, and it is not an antisemetic ploy to relate that Judaism was practiced differently in the desert under Moshe, then in the two temples and finally in the post-temple “Rabbinic” form. I am quite aware that anti-Jews use the term “rabbinic” as a pejorative but I am referring only to the metamorphosis of Judaism through the ages.
1. Sincerest apology for my insanity. Your reply has (mostly) cured me.
2. The terms “Temple Judaism” and “Rabbinic Judaism” are revisionist historical terms which have no foundations in actual history. They have been commonly used by christians (and thereafter by Torah-hating Jews) to justify their claims of the illegitimacy or internal fabrication of Judaism.
What in the world are you talking about? If you’re accusing me of being a yoshkeite, you’re out of your mind.
emmess Said:
Dear believer in the dead pagan mangod jesus,
There are only such “Judaisms” in the figment of your coreligionist’s imaginations.
Just what do you think democracy is. Democracy is not a proper noun or even a common noun. It’s a description, terribly abused, of a state that respects its citizens and provides good government. Just because you vote, doesn’t mean a democracy exists.
What’s un-Jewish about it? It can be said that Rabbinic Judaism is un-Jewish compared with Temple Judaism where the priests interceded for the people. Who cares? What matters is that Jews are the light unto the nations, eliminating darkness in our wake. The world evolves. Jewish history has evolved in stages, not linearly, and we are now in the process of a political evolution.
And no, Feiglin should not admit failure. Whether he wins or loses his personal fight with Likud, he is serving Israel and the Jewish people by representing a moderate, alternate viewpoint. Maybe you should listen to what he has to say instead of joining the quacking rabble of naysayers.
emmess says:
Democracy is un-Jewish. That said, so he wants to institute regional representation. Big deal, old idea that has never been implemented because it would dilute the established power bases. That change in itself won’t change most of our systemic problems. It might add to them as unforeseen consequences.
Don’t you think that after 13 years of fighting Likud windmills Feiglin should admit failure and try something else?
Ellen, are you wearing a burka in Ramat Bet Shemesh yet?
What’s that got to do with what I wrote about Feiglin. He wants to institute a constituency system. Nothing un-Jewish about that.
@Shy Guy –
I understood what he meant and using Occam’s razor, the premise is fundamentally flawed as is the whole concept of Manhigut or the concept is sound but the leadership flawed, whatever? After all this time it must be one or the other if not both. Rome burns, Nero fiddles!
Unterzog,
The Lez Get Real link was hillarious. A juicy tidbit:
yamit82 Said:
I think Emmess meant that Manhigut’s policies combine Judaism and democracy without contradicting one another.
Conflict is inevitable. The left will not go quietly into the night. Two opposing world views cannot be reconciled, only civil war will cleanse the nation of the modern day Hellenist.
The Precedent!: Chanukah
“The first act of rebellion, the first enemy who fell at the hands of the brave Jewish heroes was not a Greek. He was a Jew. When the enemy sent his troops into Modin to set up an idol and demand its worship, it was a Jew who decided to exercise his freedom of pagan worship and who approached the altar to worship Zeus (after all, what business was it of anyone what this fellow worshiped?) And it was this Jew, this apostate, this religious traitor who was struck down by the brave, glorious, courageous, Mattathias, as he shouted: “Whoever is for G-d, follow me!”
What kind of Jews were these who reacted to oppression with force? Surely we who so properly have deplored Jewish violence as fascistic, immoral and (above all) un-Jewish, stand in horror as we contemplate Jews who declined to picket the Syrian Greeks to death and who rejected quiet diplomacy for the sword, spear and arrow (had there been bombs in those days, who can tell what they might have done?)” 🙂
@Ted Belman – Mr. Belman, what is not to Peter Bienert’s credit is his falling for that Syrian lesbian bloggeer who actually turned out to be a middle age man, living in Scotland and despising Israel as Bienert and Freidman do.
The whole incident is funny really, because the Syrian Lesbian claimed she was arrested by Assad and Bienert even got the State Department to complain about the tyrannical treatment: Libz get real.
Peter Bienert’s fanatical support for this Israel bashing male pretending to be a lesbian should cancel him out as an analyst on Middle East affairs for all time. I am sure Mr. Belman would’ve recognized the fraud. I think I would’ve, too. And maybe 90% of the board would have as well.
Ted comment blocked. pls post.
There are only two covenant peoples in the Tanach. The seed of Ismael (Arabs) and the seed of Jacob (Jews)
Genesis Chapter 16
10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her: ‘I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her: ‘Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son; and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. 12 And he shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren.’ 13 And she called the name of the LORD that spoke unto her, Thou art a God of seeing; for she said: ‘Have I even here seen Him that seeth Me?’ 14 Wherefore the well was called ‘Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Genesis Chapter 17
1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him: ‘I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou wholehearted. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.’ 3 And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, saying: 4 ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ 9 And God said unto Abraham: ‘And as for thee, thou shalt keep My covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed. 13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.’ {S} 15 And God said unto Abraham: ‘As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16 And I will bless her, and moreover I will give thee a son of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her.’
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and
laughed, and said in his heart: ‘Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?’ 18 And Abraham said unto God: ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!’ 19 And God said: ‘Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.’ 22 And He left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. 23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. 24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
email rec’d from NY Jew
The question to ask leftists is ‘why are they here, in Israel?’ If they believe that Gd gave this land in promise to Abraham, then they must keep the conditions for remaining there, and not sabotaging and causing the death of other Jewish bretheren.
If they dont believe this, they should go live in Gaza with the Arabs.
Bert said,
Probably because it’s not very pleasant to be a Jew. God made the Jews his own people, through promises to Abraham. I wonder if Abraham realized what that meant. Being a Jew, is like having a parking space reserved across all the lanes of a freeway at rush hour. The Jews would like to park their car, and go into their home for dinner; but all those other cars are bearing down on them at 60+ mph.
Why didn’t God locate Israel on Mount Olympus? Or Katmandu? Or Shangra-La? Why did he locate them on the highway between Egypt and Assyria? or right between Europe’s oil supply and the Mediterranean? Why did He give them a land that everyone else wants a piece of, so that they’re not content even when Israel has been shredded up into 9-mile-wide strips? Why have God’s people never fit in with the rest of the world? Why are they forever exiles, even in their own land?
One would think that God puposely WANTED the Jews to stand out, to be a stumbling block for every nation. He does want this. That’s because the Jewish people represent HIM. They stand out in the world, and judge it; because the world is evil; and every day that a Jew continues to breath in the earth — having a relationship with God that the others do not have — is a day that the rest of the world feels inferior. They want to say that God is wrong; that He’s chosen the wrong people; or that there is no God; or that the gods of the goiim are better than the Jewish God; or that right is wrong and wrong is right; that the gentiles are really Jews and the Jews gentiles; that the Nazis and Germans didn’t really perpetrate horrors, but the Jews are Nazis. As long as one Jew lives and breathes, he judges the world, as Abel judged Cain; and Cain wants to kill him.
So who wants to be a Jew, real or otherwise, and be hated by the whole world? Why do young Jewish men go to Katmandu after military service, or Mount Olympus, and try to avoid Jerusalem and Hevron? Because it’s hard; it’s hard being a Jew, being forever on the front lines; and they want a break. But God won’t give them a break; He won’t give his darling over to be raped and defiled by the world; because He loves them, and they ARE chosen, and they are special…
…and yes, one of these days, the Jewish people will wake up and realize this, and become real Jews; and the world will go ballistic; and God and the Jews will overcome them; because God wins, thank God!
I have had an inkling of this for the past two years but thought it was only my imagination. I hope it’s true. By the way, there are countless “secular” Jews who believe in biblical Israel and stand by it as a political imperative. Not all seculars are leftists just as not all the religious are nationalists. Feiglin recognizes this which is why his policies combine Judaism and democratic reform without conflict.
I hope that this report is accurate. I can only question why is it taking so long for Jews to finally wake up and become real Jews?
Now if only Ynet will not spread those phony, antisemitic stories about the Orthodox at Mea Sherim allegedly planning to stone a dog because a lawyer from 20 years ago occupied the dog’s spirit.
That phony, Mariv generated fable fed antisemitism at the BBC and other places for weeks on end.
Now this is “Good News Israel!”
Where there’s hawk, there’s spit.