Israel's Democracy Triumphs

Israel’s Democracy Triumphs

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Yesterday Israel’s democracy actually functioned the way it is supposed to and all of us living here should be proud of that.

You will recall that recently the Central Elections Committee made a decision to disqualify Balad Party MK Hanan Zoabi from running in the January 22^nd election for the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.   Their decision was based on the claim that her participation in the Mavi Marmara incident in May 2010 among other things indicated her support for terrorism and, therefore, she should not be allowed to run for the Knesset.

Now let me clear about my position here.  As far as this writer is concerned Hanan Zoabi is a traitor to Israel and she should have been tried for treason for participating in an illegal attempt by foreign forces to break what was and is a legal naval blockade of Gaza by Israel.  But the powers that be here in Israel chose not to do so, for whatever reasons of their own.  I believe that was a mistake as when a member of the legislature who swears to uphold the laws of the State of Israel and later participates in an event that is against the laws of the country and is a clear violation of that person’s allegiance to the sovereign state he or she is sworn to defend (i.e. the definition of treason) that person should be properly prosecuted for a treasonous act.

But Israel chose not to do so and, instead, the Central Elections Committee tried to achieve what the state decided not to pursue.  In a democratic society with free elections no such body has the authority to bar a person from running for election as this is one of the mainstays of a free and democratic society unless they are in violation of the rules and regulations governing such candidacy.  To be fair, I also believe it was wrong to bar Rabbi Meir Kahane from running as well when Israel did so some years ago.

The supreme court on Sunday, in a unanimous decision, supported the challenge of Zoabi to the decision of the Central Elections Committee as well they should have.  There is a process to preventing her from running in an election and the process, in this case, would have been to try her for treason.  Failing that, the state cannot then try to use alternate means to achieve that same goal. 

So this really was a victory for democracy even though the papers today talk about those who “lost” the battle now being intent on passing legislation that would allow the Knesset to act differently in such cases.  Such legislation, if passed, would be yet another nail in the coffin of Israeli democracy.

Once again, Zoabi is bad news and acts in a treasonous manner against the interests of the State of Israel under the guise of defending the rights of minorities.  She deserves to be punished but she also deserves the protection of the democratic system.

John Adams once said “Democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.  There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”  Well, at least this time, happily the suicide attempt failed.  

Options for Peace….Are There Any?

Options for Peace….Are There Any?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Those of us living in Israel will be going to the polls in 24 days to elect new members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.  Well, not exactly, of course.  We will vote for the party of our choice and, based on how many votes each party gets, that will determine what percentage of the seats in the Knesset each will have.  As for the Prime Minister, the President of the country usually then invites the party with the most votes to form a government which, as in the past, will be a coalition of parties who’s “horse-trading” is successful.  What a way to run a country eh?

But the polls here show that a record number of eligible voters will stay away from the polls this election because (a) the options are pretty depressing, (b) it’s not clear which party has the real solutions to our political and economic issues and/or (c) we just don’t trust any of them to do what they say they will do given past history.

For this writer, I am convinced that if we were to be able to achieve peace in our small portion of the world somehow or other we would be able to address the social and economic problems that face us as well.  But what is the face of the peace we should pursue?  Does anyone know?  I certainly don’t. 

But here are the options that seem be on people’s minds:

Two States for Two Peoples Side by Side in Peace and Security

Many people here on what remains of the political left as well as a broad spectrum of people overseas believe that the solution is two states for two people living side by side in peace and security.  I used to believe that as well and still want to think that this is a realistic goal.  But history has proven that this is not a goal that can actually be achieved.  Consider Gaza where Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005.  We here thought that would be a test case where the Palestinians would then take that land and become a peaceful neighbor.  But, instead, what happened was the emergence of Hamas, the most radical element of the Palestinian leadership and seven years of rockets fired into Israel. 

In the West Bank area, what we call Judea and Samaria, recent polls show that if elections were held today Hamas would take over there as well.  What scares us, of course, is that the Hamas charter continues to call for the destruction of Israel and making this area Judenrein, a position underscored strongly by the Hamas leadership just days after the recent cease fire was declared.   So no one can blame us for being wary of this two state solution which puts a force sworn to our destruction within a five minute walk of downtown Jerusalem.

Annex Judea and Samaria (i.e. the West Bank) and create one State for all people

Then there are those who say that peace really means our annexing Judea and Samaria and controlling all of that area as part of Israel.  An event supporting that situation scheduled for later this week here in Jerusalem was recently moved to a larger venue given the sizable outpouring of people who subscribe to that approach.  But we also know that is not a realistic alternative.  In addition to causing the world’s anger to be unleashed against Israel as a result and having us become even more isolated that we seem to be today, it would also put us in the position of trying to govern a resident population of over 4 million Arabs with our 5 million plus Jews and a demographic that could quickly swing the other way.  As such, even if such a framework was acceptable to all parties, and I doubt if it would be, it would definitely mark the end of Israel as a Jewish state and shatter the entire Zionist enterprise.

Annex Area “C” of Judea and Samaria with the Balance being Palestine

One of the new “comers’ on the political scene here is Naftali Bennett, Israeli-born son of American immigrants who seems to be rising every day in the polls.  His vision of peace is to annex all of what is called Area C of the West Bank, which is the area in which the fewest number of Palestinians reside and in which most of the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are to be found.  He would then give the Palestinians living in Area C full citizen’s’ rights, even though we know that after 64 years what are called full citizens’ rights even in Israel proper is hardly what one would consider equality of opportunity and lifestyle.

While that appears to be a demographically sensible answer to the population distribution issue, the fact is that we know neither the Palestinian leadership nor the word in general would accept this as it would reduce the new State of Palestine to a series of disconnected cantons which, for all practical purposes, would be totally ungovernable.  In effect, it would setup a tribal system which some believe is what exists anyway but would be politically unacceptable.

Confederation with Jordan

Finally, there are others who contend that the real answer is a West Bank confederation with Jordan which would then put Jordan on our border rather than Palestine.  Of course, given the uprisings throughout the Arab world, there is no guarantee that the present leadership in Jordan will sustain itself over the long haul and we could then end up with Hamastan on our eastern border in any event.

Finally, of course, none of these options talks about the issue of refugees although if the Palestinians would accept the logic that the only refugees are those who were actually living here in 1948, Israel could probably agree to the right of return without altering the nature of the country.  Bet we know that the refugee issue has become the raison-d’étre of the Palestinian cause so that too seems like a dead end.

At the end of the day nothing works

So nothing seems to work.  As depressing as it may be to admit the only option available to us right now is to continue as we have been for the last 64 years, living in this state of suspended animation, dealing with a new intifada every so many years, engaging in a military action on a regular basis and always worried about how the world will try to punish us the next time for the simple act of trying to live as Jews in the land bequeathed to us by God according to biblical tradition.   That last line may make some of my friends living abroad uncomfortable, but it is what observant Jews believe and why many of us have chosen to live here.

Thus, in the face of seeing no viable solution on the horizon the election becomes quite a boring exercise and one in which large elements of the population will choose not to participate taking the national holiday that occurs that day as, weather permitting, a good day to go to the beach. 

What the country needs is a visionary leader who, like former US Admiral David Farragut, is willing to say “Damn the Torpedoes….Full Speed Ahead” without worrying about his/her coalition partners or world opinion, but only the future successful existence of this country as the manifestation of 2000 years of prayer, sacrifice and waiting.   Sadly, none of the present part heads fit that description.  Would that it were otherwise. 

Israel and its Priorities

The World Turned Upside Down

By Sherwin Pomerantz

The world has reacted swiftly and obnoxiously to Israel’s announcement that to accommodate its growing population it is going to build more housing in places like Ramat Shlomo, Maale Adumim and Gilo which, although over that arbitrary thing called the Green Line, are nothing more than extensions of existing neighborhoods which everyone acknowledges will be part of Israel after any peace agreement is reached, if it is reached.

Of course there was no outcry at all from the world about the blatantly anti-Israel vitriolic that came from the mouth of PA Chairman Abbas as he pleaded his case at the UN General Assembly last month nor about the call to liberate all of Palestine from the sea to the river by Hamas leader Mashaal when he visited Gaza just days after the UN vote.

To make matters worse, on Tuesday, Hamas’ Director of its Jerusalem Department has called for Palestinians to take action against Israel’s attempt to Judaize Jerusalem, by starting a third intifada and to resume homicide bombings against Israel.  He also accuses Israel of working to undermine the foundations of the Aksa Mosque to bring about its collapse so we can replace the structure with the Third Temple.  And then he closes with calling our decision to withhold PA tax and customs revenues given the large debt the PA owes Israel for electricity which we supply as a “criminal and aggressive act.”  And, of course, no comment at all on this from the world’s leaders either.

But in Israel, in the face of these threats to our stability, what are our leaders worrying about?  Well the rabbinate this week warned hotels in certain parts of the country that if they ran New Year’s Eve parties for their guests they risked losing their kashrut licenses.  How so?  The logic of the rabbinate is that because many of these hotels have Christmas trees in their lobby to make their Christian guests feel welcome, the existence of a Christmas tree makes it impossible for the kashrut supervisors to enter the premises because Jews are not permitted to be in places where there is “idol worship” as evidenced by the tree.

So one wonders.  If this is indeed what Judaism teaches, does that mean that religious Jews living in New York cannot go into Manhattan where Christmas trees abound this time of the year, because they will be guilty of idol worship?  Is the rabbinate saying that such people should stay out of Manhattan from November 1^st until January 15^th, from the time the trees go up until they come down?  Are they serious?  And is this our most pressing issue?  Or are we witnessing just another flexing of muscles by the so called religious leaders of our community? 

And what about the recent decision by the Central Elections Committee to bar Balad MK Haneen Zoabi from running for Knesset in next month’s election?  Is this the action of a free and democratic society?  To prevent anyone from running for a seat in the country’s parliament?  Frankly, I think what she did by participating in the Mavi Marmara affair was treasonous and she should have been put on trial for that.  Then the courts could have decided if she was guilty or not, that’s how a free and democratic society operates.  But not to bar anyone from running for election.  That’s just stupidity.  And, of course, now the Attorney General says he won’t defend the Committee’s decision because he knows if it goes to the Supreme Court it will be overturned, as well it should be.

From the perspective of this writer, our opponents are on the field taking batting practice and hitting line drives our way while we are still in the locker room worrying about why the water in the shower is not hot enough. 

Does anyone remember Woody Hayes?  He was the football coach at Ohio State University for 28 years compiling a record of 238 wins, 72 losses and 10 ties. I met him briefly in 1962 when he made a visit to Parma, Ohio near where I was living at the time.  When he walked into a room the walls shook and no one spoke until he spoke.  He knew what winning was all about.  I remember him standing there in the auditorium of Parma Senior High School and bellowing out “Success – It’s what you do with what you’ve got.  You need to paralyze resistance with persistence.”  238 wins, 72 losses and 10 ties…one of the best records in US college football history.

We here could learn a lot of lessons from Woody Hayes.  We need to paralyze resistance with persistence and we know how to do that.  The question is are we up to the task and can we reorder our priorities in time to ensure our long term survival in this land we call home? 

Native North American Indians…..They Also Hate Us?

Native North American Indians…..They Also Hate Us?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

As if we don’t have enough people critical of Israel these days it now seems as if the North American native Indian population is also categorizing Israel as an apartheid state worthy of isolation.

From all we can tell there has been an upsurge of anti-Israel sentiment by a very small but very vocal contingent in "Indian country" within the last two weeks, most notably in opposition both (a) to the visit to Israel this month by Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, and (b) because of Muscogee Creek scholar Joy Harjo's visit to Tel Aviv University.

The response has included very negative, vitriolic letters to The Navajo Times (http://www.navajotimes.com/) against President Shelly's visit  and a similarly negative and vitriolic op-ed piece in Indian Country Today, the largest circulation weekly in "Indian Country" (http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/) opposing Joy Harjo's visit, sponsored by supporters of the BDS movement.  

Janene Yazzie, CEO of Sixth World Solutions in Lupton, Arizona writes in the Navajo Times:

It should not shock or surprise us that our Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly has taken an unexpected trip to visit Israel, a government that has committed itself to carrying out genocidal practices against its population of indigenous Palestinian peoples.  To hear that our president believes the apartheid government of Israel has more to offer than the Diné people in his homeland fighting against his policies is hurtful and unbelievably ignorant.  I stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and those indigenous nations and non-indigenous peoples fighting against continued corporate, religious, and political exploitation.

Or this piece by Dina Gilio-Whitaker in the largest circulation weekly, “Indian Country:”

This week Muscogee Creek scholar and literary diva Joy Harjo ignited a firestorm of controversy when she announced on Facebook that she was leaving for a trip to Israel where she was scheduled to perform on Monday, December 10 At Tel Aviv University. The controversy came when friends and fans challenged her decision to go in light of the US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) and the Palestine Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), as part of a larger boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.  Critics contend that her actions are equivalent to crossing a picket line and are tantamount to tacit support of the Israeli apartheid state.  It is hard to know what Harjo is thinking and where her loyalties lie in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. It is also hard to know how President Shelley would justify his alliance with Israel in light of its ongoing genocide and theft of Palestinian lands.  The problem with someone as high profile as Joy Harjo collaborating with an institution like Tel Aviv University (which is built on top of an ethnically cleansed Palestinian village) is that it sends a message that she as a Native American represents all Native Americans in support of apartheid Israel’s domination of Palestinians. I, for one, don’t want to be associated with that.

Dr Harjo received so much vile commentary on her Facebook page that she considered shutting it down.  However, she did take the opposition into account, writing both an eloquent response to her critics and taking an overnight visit to Ramallah.  As a result, she now opposes the security fence.

It seems sometimes that the whole world is against us and one of my readers of yesterday’s blog told me that the core problem of maintaining such a perspective is that it often becomes an excuse for eschewing self-evaluation and introspection. 

Yet I maintain that when it comes to self-evaluation and introspection, there is probably no nation on earth that engages in these two activities more than Israel as these traits are ingrained in us with our mother’s milk.  After all, most of us grew up being constantly evaluated by our parents, encouraged to achieve more, to do better, to be a mensch and to remember who we are and where we came from.

Internalizing those traits have made us question everything we do, both individually and communally and, in my opinion, is actually one major reason this society is as dynamic as it is, in spite of the continuous threats to our survival.  So while there is, of course, always a risk that thinking that the whole world is against us will cause us to act a bit irrationally, given the facts as we know them, who could blame us?

As far as American Indians are concerned, that nation certainly knows the risks of yielding land for peace.  It has itself been discriminated against and confined to “reservations” to the eternal shame of both the United States and Canada, and, as such, should be the last ones to accuse Israel of being an apartheid state.  But then again, why let facts get in the way of emotions?  To insure against that one also has to think.  

Israel ad the Goshen of the Modern World

Israel as the Goshen of the Modern World

By Sherwin Pomerantz

The drive to Tel Aviv on Route 443 this morning was made longer by a 25 minute backup to get through the checkpoint just west of Modi’in.  While waiting in the queue I reached into the receptacle for my CDs and found a lecture by Rabbi Berel Wein, whose Destiny Foundation has provided Jewish learning to tens of thousands of people over the years.

The CD that was in my car dealt with the story of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt, covering the first 130 good years that were spent in Goshen under the protection of the Pharaoh and his viceroy, Joseph, followed by the 80 years of slavery before the Exodus itself.

The lecture was appropriate not only for the fact that this is exactly the story we are reading these weeks in the Torah portion but also for the insights of Rabbi Wein in the application of that story to our lives today.

The essence of his message was a simple one, albeit explained with many historical examples from that time until today.  Specifically, that ethnic minorities, when they represent a small percentage of the population and are relatively weak and faceless, generally are tolerated by the majority ethnic population.  But when those same minorities grow in number, when they reach a significant percentage of the population, and when that growth is coupled with professional success, money and power as well, oftentimes the majority population finds them annoying and even troublesome.  When this annoyance is coupled with economic stress the majority population then seeks a scapegoat and, of course, the minority population fills that role well.

Many examples were given in the lecture.  Rabbi Wein referred to the Dreyfus Affair in France which would never have occurred had Capt. Dreyfus been just an anonymous artillery officer in the French army.  But as a Jew with increasing power in the military, he became an irritant to those who were in the majority, and he was primed to be framed. 

A similar situation exists in Europe today with its Muslim population.  When Muslims made up 1-2% of the population of a country and were doing tasks nobody else wanted to do, the majority population looked the other way.  But once that population rose to 10%, and in some countries 20% of the population, and the children of the immigrants began to take jobs as lawyers, doctors and other professionals, all of a sudden there was concern and resentment built up among the majority population.

Sadly, Israel finds itself today as our ancestors found themselves in Goshen during the bad 80 years.  No, we are not slaves, but we have become to the rest of the world, that annoying minority living in a world with a majority population that finds us problematic.  When, prior to 1990, we were the underdogs, with a struggling economy and constantly battered by homicide bombers intent on destroying us, the western world was, more or less, with us.   But 30 years later we are a regional economic power with a GDP greater than all of our neighbors combined.  Militarily, we have the best equipped and best trained personnel in the region. 

Politically, our brethren world-wide are in positions of power whether it be in England (Jewish leader of the opposition party), New York & Chicago (both with Jewish mayors), the US Congress (with 11 Jewish senators and 22 Jewish representatives), US Government (holding both Secretary of the Treasury & Head of the Federal Reserve Board), as well as parliamentary officials in France, Brazil and the Ukraine.       

So we find ourselves, as a result of our success, on the cusp of the bad years in Goshen.  To some we are the cause of all the world’s problems while to others we are simply too powerful.  We know and recognize the subtleties in language when we hear them and know that the next comments will not be so subtle.

After all the great hero of American Jewry Franklin Roosevelt, said in a remark to Winston Churchill and other world leaders meeting in Casablanca in 1943, “It is understandable that Hitler persecuted the Jews, as there were too many Jewish doctors, lawyers and professors in Germany.”

Even former president Harry Truman, who was the first to recognize Israel on that fateful May day in 1948, was later interviewed for a biography by David Susskind who went to Independence, Missouri and spent a week meeting with the former president.   Each day he would go to Truman’s house and wait on the porch until the president came out and they would then go to a local coffee shop to talk.  On the last day of their meetings Susskind asked Truman why the maid never asked him in but always made him wait on the porch in the cold?  Truman responded “The house is owned by my wife Bess, and neither she nor her mother ever permits a Jew to cross the threshold.”  Even Truman’s former business partner, Eddie Jacobson, never visited the Trumans in their home.

But I do not accept the fact that this is our lot, to always remain beyond the pale, to constantly worry about what they will think and to be constantly concerned about a downward spiral of our status.   Not at all.  Our political leadership needs to understand that we need make no excuses for our success, no apologies for our influence and no compromise with our security.  Those are our three “no’s” and let’s hope that the people in whose hands our future rests are up to the task.  We dare not let Israel become the Goshen of the modern world.   

Israel’s Reaction to UN Recognition of Palestine

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Over the past weeks both via e mail and during my travels to the US, Europe and Hong Kong, many people have raised the question as to why Israel has reacted “so strongly” (to use their words) to the November 29^th decision by the UN General Assembly decision to upgrade the status of Palestine in that body.

Frankly, from the perspective of someone living in Israel my question is why has the world not reacted strongly to the negative diatribes that emanated from the Palestinian leadership both before and after this decision?

It is important to recall that PA Chairman Abbas, before he went to the UN and in order to get their support, assured every country with which he spoke that if the UN approves the status upgrade, he will be ready to sit down and talk peace with Israel “the very next day.”  But in his speech before the UN General Assembly, he made no mention of that.  Rather he blasted Israel once again with half-truths and un-truths, as in the following:

We have not heard one word from any Israeli official expressing any sincere concern to save the peace process. On the contrary, our people have witnessed, and continue to witness, an unprecedented intensification of military assaults, the blockade, settlement activities and ethnic cleansing, particularly in Occupied East Jerusalem, and mass arrests, attacks by settlers and other practices by which this Israeli occupation is becoming synonymous with an apartheid system of colonial occupation, which institutionalizes the plague of racism and entrenches hatred and incitement….. We will accept no less than the independence of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on all the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, to live in peace and security alongside the State of Israel, and a solution for the refugee issue on the basis of resolution 194 (III), as per the operative part of the Arab Peace Initiative.

Those are hardly words of reconciliation.  And, of course, immediately after the vote he went back to his earlier “conditions” that unless building in the settlements stops, he is not prepared to talk peace.  This, of course, in the face of an earlier 10 month freeze self-imposed by Israel during which time he was never prepared to sit down and talk peace.  It is important to recall that at the very end of that period in September, 2010, Abbas, with the support of US President Obama, said if the freeze would just be extended he would be ready to sit down with Israel.  Really?  Where was he during those ten months?

But that is not all.  Immediately after the UN vote and in accordance with the cease fire after Operation Defensive Shield, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal visited the Gaza Strip for the first time since 1997.  As part of the agreement Israel promised not to assassinate any of Hamas’ leaders so Mashaal was safe from attack.  And what did he say during his speech there?

In his speech, Mashaal reiterated the classic positions that are clearly set out in the movement's charter. "Palestine from the river to the sea, from the north to the south, is our land and we will never give up one inch or any part of it," he said, "and we will not recognize Israel. What applies to Gaza applies to Beersheva, Jaffa, and Haifa - they are all of a piece.”

As far as Mashaal is concerned, it is possible, and desirable, to conduct a liberation struggle in various arenas. To throw stones, to use international law, to recruit the entire word's support for the Palestinian cause but the main driver is the armed struggle.

Mashaal addressed himself to Abu Mazen (Abbas), just a week after the latter returned from the UN flushed with his victory in the vote in the United Nations General Assembly, and preached at him as though he were a lax schoolboy, telling him, "A real state is not achieved through negotiation. First comes liberation of the land, then a state."

The words of Abbas and Mashaal are not the words of people seeking peace through accommodation.  Rather they are the words of people about whom we in Israel need to be very cautious given that the stakes (i.e. our very survival) are so high.

So, put in this context, announcing an expansion of construction in existing neighborhoods, moving forward with plans to build in areas that we have been discussing for some years, and withholding the payment of taxes collected to the Palestinian Authority to take care of large debts they have accrued to Israel over the years for utility payments, do not seem like such draconian measures.

This writer cannot tell how serious the present Israel leadership is about either peace or a Palestinian state.  But in the face of the deafening silence of a world that listens to the diatribes of our cousins and not only says nothing but threatens Israel with economic isolation, one can better understand the reactions of our government.