By Jonathan Kuttab
When the current right-wing Israeli government was formed, I wrote that this was predictable, inevitable, and irreversible. I wish I was wrong.
What I meant by this is that the current crisis within Zionism and the Israeli state is merely the logical extension of long-held policies and that it is impossible for the result to have been other than what we are witnessing today. I also predicted that Israel had embarked on a path that necessarily resulted in it being more openly racist, discriminatory, fascist, and brutal, and that there is no way for that not to have happened. The current situation is not an aberration but simply a logical extension, and there is no way to return somehow to a gentler, kinder Israel that is both “Jewish and democratic.” There has never been such an Israel in the experience of Palestinians. All that happened is that the mask has been removed. The current government no longer feels the need or even has the ability to hide reality. In fact, every week brings us new actions and legislation that both reveal and openly promote such bigotry and fascism. Once the mask has been removed, it can no longer be worn again.
The latest legislation to be proposed speaks clearly of the desire to permit larger and larger communities the ability to openly exclude Arabs, including Israeli citizens, from living in Jewish communities. The law speaks openly of “judaizing the Galilee, the Negev, and Judea and Samaria,” making it abundantly clear that apartheid is practiced not only within the Occupied Territories, where different systems and laws apply to Arabs and Jewish settlers, but also within the boundaries of “Israel proper.” One minister in the new government linked this to the need to appoint new judges “who know that Jews do not want Arabs to live next to them and in their communities.”
Gone forever are the days when the Israeli government could pretend to be interested in a two-state solution, claim equality for Arabs and Jews, or maintain a liberal façade. There are even reports that in the weekly demonstrations against “judicial reforms,” a majority of demonstrators and organizers are becoming even more hostile to those demanding an end to the occupation and are cooperating with police to crush the small minority that insists on raising the Palestinian flag or introducing concepts of equality to the protesters’ demands for democracy.
The real losers in this are those liberal Zionists who find the ground cutting away from under their feet. They are forced to make the choice between a bigoted Zionism that is blatantly fascist, and which can only result in an open and unapologetic system of apartheid, or a disquieting rejection of such Zionism and the pursuit of equality. They can no longer have their cake and eat it too, whereby they can speak of liberalism and democracy while simultaneously benefiting from Jewish supremacy and dominance in an unjust apartheid reality. The choice is truly wrenching for those with a moral conscience yet who still want to keep their state Jewish.
To be sure, one reason why this is no longer a choice is Palestinian resilience and resistance, and the insistence, against all odds, on their rights, their identity, their flag, their nationalism, and their humanity. They are doing this all without proper leadership and with no help from the wider Arab world, a world willing to normalize relations with Israel without requiring justice first for the Palestinians and that is indifferent to the international community.
The right wing has no such dilemma. In a frank and detailed article, appearing in Hebrew, Bezalel Smotrich describes his vision for the end result he seeks. Labeling it a “peace plan,” he contrasted it with what he considers to be those pathetic plans which sought to make peace with Palestinians. He correctly recognizes the death of a two-state solution, claiming that there is no room for two nationalisms or two states between the river and the sea and that only one group can win. All other plans lead to ongoing struggle and are doomed to fail. His plan, therefore, is to seek the total victory of Zionism over Palestinians, to insist that they have no national rights whatsoever and that the entire land belongs to the Jewish people. Non-Jews will be allowed to stay, with no civil rights or voting, but only if they accept this reality. Those who do not will be “encouraged” to leave and seek their fortunes elsewhere. If they choose to resist, they will be crushed. Initially, the international community may not like this and view it as blatant apartheid and ethnic cleansing, but that does not bother him. The world will learn to accept this reality, as it has done with so much else. After all, Israel has the power and the means to carry out this plan, and “ …it does not matter what the gentiles say, but what the Jews do.” Thus, and only thus, can peace be reached. He believes his views will eventually be accepted by the vast majority of Israeli Jews. He despises those liberals who still speak of accommodation with Palestinians as being weak, hypocritical, and unrealistic. He seeks an open declaration and acknowledgement that this land, river to sea, is only for Jews, and he advocates for specific laws and actions that make this abundantly clear.
While presenting his plan in secular terms, he also admits that he believes God himself is behind this plan and was the driving force in both the creation of and the victories of the state of Israel. He states that the plan will succeed if only Jewish people had the faith and the will to make it happen.
People of faith, both Jewish and Christian, have a real challenge in dealing with Smotrich and the vision he espouses. In theological terms, we must reject his notion of a racist and exclusivist God who cares only for the Jewish People and who expresses His will in terms of their earthly power (much like Jesus’ contemporaries who wanted to see a restored earthly Kingdom to the Jews). We also must reject his vision of racial and ethnic supremacy. Even as we reject racism and anti-jewish bigotry, we must also reject ideologies and practices that impose Jewish domination over others and racism towards Palestinians and Arabs. We must hold forth a vision of equality and universal justice.
8 June 2022
Source: www.fosna.org