Bragg, Bibi and pressing the pause button
'Pause to remember all that unites us. Am echad im lev echad. One people with one heart.'
As a child of the ’80s, news that Billy Bragg would be performing at the Forum last month was protest music to my ears.
But it wasn’t just a sense of nostalgia that grabbed me. There was also a sense of poignancy.
Bragg’s songs were fuelled by the social discord of Thatcherite Britain – an era of mass demonstrations and strikes against a government driven by dogma and a prime minister whose personal brand rejected compromise.
While that was 40 years ago, similar scenes were being played out very recently in a country far closer to my heart, Israel.
Thatcher, however, ploughed on for 11 years, while in Israel, it was a little more than 11 weeks. As Bragg played at rallies for the disillusioned, disenfranchised and dispossessed, the Iron Lady, who insisted she wasn’t for turning, was eventually toppled.
Rather than allowing Israel to descend completely into a version of the turmoil and riots that unseated Thatcher, Benjamin Netanyahu indicated he might be for turning after all, opting to engage in dialogue. Some form of compromise, it seemed, could be on the cards.
In his address to the nation last week announcing a pause in his push for a judicial overhaul, Netanyahu used the term “civil war”. He wasn’t the first.
During the increasingly hostile and antagonistic unrest that made headlines around the globe and sent shockwaves through Diaspora Jewish communities, other senior politicians including President Isaac Herzog employed the same expression, warning that Israel was hurtling towards an abyss. Interjections from senior IDF personnel also ratcheted up the temperature created by the mooted legislative program and the mass-protests it ignited.
There have always been schisms in Israeli society and political decisions have caused deep divisions. One recalls the reaction of huge swathes of the population when Ariel Sharon pursued disengagement from Gaza.
In the excellent Unholy podcast co-hosted by Yonit Levy from Israel’s Channel 12 and Jonathan Freedland from The Guardian, acclaimed Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari exceptionalised the current tension as an attempt to “gain unlimited power”, while constructing dire and terrifying scenarios that could emerge if the implementation of messianic politics continue.
With Pesach looming though, Harari also thinks Israelis have held the line. “You will not enslave us” is his take on the populace’s voice, and perhaps this sentiment is what persuaded the normally cautious and considered Netanyahu to revert to type and pause the focus on judicial reform.
Let’s follow Netanyahu’s lead and pause. Just pause. Take a moment away from the polemics and the protests, from the tension and the trauma, to reflect on the shared commitment to the Jewish state and our pride in its achievements.
Let’s hope the PM’s pause allows Israel to replace discord and disharmony with optimism and gentle hope – particularly as Israel marks its 75th anniversary.
Let’s pause to reflect on why Israel exists, pause to remember those who fought and gave their lives so that we could have a Jewish homeland. Pause to reflect on all its amazing achievements, innovations, and contributions to the worlds of science, medicine, agriculture and technology.
First on the scene when disaster strikes overseas, search and rescue teams saving lives, the first field hospital set up in Ukraine.
Pause to reflect on the sanctuary Israel offers our brothers and sisters fleeing devastating persecution.
Pause to reflect on the unbelievable progress towards peace in the past three years with Israel’s erstwhile enemies.
The story of Israel and its accomplishments is simply amazing, and as it turns 75, there is so much to commemorate and indeed celebrate.
And in three weeks’ time, we invite you to do just that. Whatever your views on the current situation, whatever your views on the government, whatever your views on Billy Bragg (and I struggle with his singing voice as much as I did with his position on Jeremy Corbyn), Zionism Victoria invites you to press the pause button.
Pause to commemorate on Yom Hazikaron and honour those who gave their lives in service of the Jewish state and those lives lost to the state through decades of terror.
Pause to celebrate on Yom Ha’atzmaut the incredible achievement that is the modern-day State of Israel – the realisation of Herzl’s dream for our people.
And crucially, pause to remember all that unites us. Am echad im lev echad. One people with one heart. While of course remembering that Zionism was always a movement that could only be realised with both activity and community.
In the words of Billy Bragg, “You can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers, while you’re waiting for the great leap forwards.”
In three weeks’ time, let us be activists and come together to stand up in hope and unity for our Jewish state. That’s what Jews do. That’s what Zionists do.
Yossi Goldfarb is president of Zionism Victoria.
For full details on the Yom Hazikaron commemoration and Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations, visit yoms.com.au
comments