The New Israeli Government and Its “Right Wing” Supporters
by Bruce Walker (2/22/09)
The election in Israel did not produce a clear cut victory. The Kadima Party, led by Tzipi Livni, won slightly more seats in the Knesset than Bibi Netanyahu’s Likud Party, but the coalition of parties of the Right won a majority of the seats in the Knesset. The conventions of parliamentary government are not always clear.
Stephen Harper and Angela Merkel govern Canada and Germany, respectively, because their conservative parties are the largest parties in the principal national legislative chamber. Harper’s Conservatives are outnumbered on the Left by the Liberal Party, New Democrat Party, and Bloc Quebec. Merkel’s Christian Democrat Party / Christian Social Union group is outnumbered on the Left by the Social Democrats, the PDS, and the Greens. In both the Canadian Parliament and the Bundestag, the parties of the Left have most of the seats but the largest party, which is on the Right, governs.
In Israel, though, the decision by Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu Party to support Likud has led Israeli President Peres to ask Netanyahu to form the next government in Israel, which he will do, with a broad range of parties in the cabinet, within the next six weeks.
Lieberman is almost always described as on the “Far Right,” and some critics have called him a fascist. What, precisely, has he said to generate such strong reactions? Lieberman has let his frustration with murderous Palestinian criminals show. He has also suggested real retaliation for the random murder of Jews in Israel. The shock statements, though, are not serious policy suggestions. What has made Lieberman enemies has been a sort of “loyalty test” that he has argued that the State of Israel should require of its citizens.
Avigdor Lieberman wants citizens of Israel, if they want to continue to be citizens of Israel, to pledge loyalty to the flag of Israel and the national anthem of Israel. All civil and legal rights, all social benefits, all the other goodies that come from living in Israel would still be granted to people who live there, but unless an individual will agree to support those symbols of Israel, he could not vote or be elected to office. Is that unfair?
Israel, that tiny sliver of Mediterranean coastline between the giant continents of Asia and Africa, was founded as a homeland for Jews. The flag and national anthem of Israel reflect that reality. It was not founded to deny rights to non-Jews, and Lieberman is not proposing that. Muslims served in the Knesset now and they would continue to be part of the Israeli government provided that they simply agreed to support Israel as a refuge for Jews. Arabs who could not simply mouth these promises would not be granted citizenship, but Orthodox Jews, like Neturei Karta, who joined in the Holocaust denying conference in Iran, would also be denied citizenship. Loyalty to Israel and its founding principle, regardless of race or creed, would be the requisite to participate in the political life of Israel.
So is that…extreme? Were American patriots extreme in forcing Tories to leave the new nation? Was the British extreme in having a state religion in England and in Scotland or in routinely requiring subjects to sing “God Save the Queen”? British Jews never complained about this. They were happy to live in a nation which was tolerant, peaceful, and open.
The reality is that Israel, because of its devotion to Judeo-Christian values, is an island of civilization and humanity between two continents which are largely violent and intolerant. Once Lebanon was free, democratic, prosperous, and peaceful. Why? Largely because the Christian portion of the Lebanese population exercised a co-equal influence on Lebanese culture and policy with the Moslem portion of the Lebanese people. Everyone – the Lebanese people, Israel, and the whole region – profited from this arrangement.
Look outside of the borders of Israel now. Iran denies the Holocaust and is trying to build the means to incinerate Israel. Sudan engages in more or less open genocide, as it has for decades. Turkey, Syria, Iran – and to some extent even Iraq – oppress the non-Arabic Kurds. Sharia is the law on much of the Arabian Peninsula, with all its barbaric savagery. Egypt allows the systematic persecution of its large Coptic Christian population. Somalia is, perhaps, the nearest place to Hell on Earth. Israel is different precisely because Israel is based on the dream of a Jewish homeland. Judaism and the Jewish people, like Christianity and the Christian people, incorporate tolerance as a very part of their faith and cultural values. Muslims are much safer living in a Jewish or a Christian state than in a Moslem state.
Avigodor Lieberman “gets” the nature of the problem the remaining bits and pieces of the civilized world face. There is no Jewish-Moslem conflict or Arab-Israeli conflict. There is a conflict between all those nasty types who hate liberty, hate tolerance, hate peace, and hate democracy and the dwindling candles in our world which still light the world with hope. We in America are all too familiar with the tactic of smearing an opponent by calling him an “arch-conservative” or “fascist.” Lieberman is not definable but silly labels. He is just one of the good guys left who is not afraid to speak the truth.
Bruce Walker
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