No, Israel today is in no way whatsoever a ghetto. But some politicians threaten to turn it into one. The doctrinaire nature of right-wing politics has used the legitimate concerns for the country’s security – “this is a marvelous country in a lousy neighborhood” – to promulgate ideas and engage in actions that somehow imply that the whole world is against the Jews in general and Israel in particular, and that the only way to respond is to close ranks, fight back and suspect all peace initiatives.
That’s not only paranoia, for there’re still many who’re out to get Israel. Peace has been elusive so far, and it’s not only, perhaps not even primarily, Israel’s fault. But some political coalition parties to the right of Netanyahu’s traditionally right-wing Likud have greatly exacerbated the situation. Because of the proportional representation by which parliament (the Knesset) is elected, the country is difficult to govern.
Jewish leaders abroad who may be more in the grip of the ghetto mentality, even when aware of the good news listed above, tend to be blind to the implications and thus concur with the scare mongers. It seems to fit their own, often imagined sense of isolation in the Diaspora. But most of us, mercifully, totally reject this mentality. Some, alas, react by distancing themselves from organized Jewish life. It’s a great loss to the community and to Israel. Branding them as “self-hating Jews” is cheap and counterproductive.
The current demonization of the New Israel Fund is a case in point. The assumption that any Jew who shares the opinion of serious analysts of Israeli politics that the government should establish an independent commission to examine what happened in Gaza a year ago and to offer a responsible response to the – by all accounts greatly flawed – Goldstone Report is another example of the right-wing doctrine of defiance that seems to threaten the very nature of Israel. This wouldn’t be the first instance in Jewish history when excessive zeal produces the opposite to what has been intended.
A more centrist government in Israel (e.g., by Kadima joining it), could develop policies and initiate actions that would celebrate the miracle of Israel and provide security without exaggerating the threat of isolation in the guise of Jewish pride and self-defense. Such an attitude would make the prospect of peace with the Palestinians more real, even at a time when the latter are burdened by internal conflicts of their own making.
