The fight for the soul of a nation

The isolation of Israel isn’t the ultimate prize that its enemies seek but it will be a substantial consolation as they continue working towards Israel’s demise. Israelis are beginning to feel the discomfort of growing efforts pushing the country towards isolation, and in the diaspora, we feel the fallout.

For the past eighteen months Israel has experienced internal turmoil perhaps like no time before. Israel has been in a bloody and complex war with the Palestinian terror organisation and rulers of Gaza, Hamas, that is already eleven months old. Prior to this war, protests against the policies of the hard right and religious government of Benjamin Netanyahu became large and widely supported by Israelis and carried on for most of the year. Israelis were determined to protect their democracy. They were determined to stand up for the vision of Israel outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

The symbiotic relationship between Israel and the Jewish diaspora is at the very core of Israel’s existence. The ingathering of exiles continues. Last year during the protests, President Isaac Herzog commenced an initiative to reach out from Israel to the Jewish world seeking new meaning in the relationship and a refreshed dialogue, he named it; Voice of the People: A Worldwide Jewish Dialogue. President Herzog asked Jews around the world to speak up. He has recently reinvigorated that initiative and dialogue. I’m not sure if many have taken notice.

I recall the late great Indigenous Australian leader Yunupingu’s brilliant and impassioned essay entitled Tradition, Truth and Tomorrow. I still think about this piece and Yunupingu’s battle to confront the challenges faced by a traditional people when their world has been torn asunder and their future as a people and a community is continually under threat. How to remain intact in the face of constant change and overwhelming odds.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Jewish people have had their world torn asunder numerous times and in numerous places throughout history. The Jewish world is again today on the verge of being torn asunder. Israel’s enemies have lined up to destroy it for the past 75 years, most of us are under no illusions about this. Israel’s enemies both new and old and they are hard at work. Unable to overwhelm Israel militarily they have been using other more sophisticated, patient and insidious approaches.

Just a few generations ago my family were religious people of a most serious nature. Their abiding commitments were Torah, family and community. Traditional peoples, ancient peoples, minority peoples, such as the Jews confront enormous challenges in the face of cataclysmic events, destruction of their holy sites, expulsions, persecution, pogroms, the Holocaust. They also face challenges within a contemporary society and within its ever-changing paradigms whilst trying to keep their own traditions alive and relevant to the future generations. They face judgement and derision for being themselves rather than being what others think that they should be. The theoretically emancipating force of liberalism and the profound impact of the Haskalah and modern Zionism changed the Jewish world rapidly, it is still coming to terms with it. Israel and the Jewish people are bound together, not always united, facing future.

When the philosopher Judah Halevi wrote the Sefer Kuzari a thousand years ago, he asserted that in effect Israel occupies the position among the nations which the heart occupies among the organs of the human body, for the heart is most exposed to the ailments of the flesh, and most sensitive to all changes of temperament such as sadness, anxiety, wrath, envy, enmity, love, hate, and fear. The passion and divine promise surrounding the holy lands is arcane.

“Al Khazari: Indeed, I see myself compelled to ask the Jews, because they are the relic of the Children of Israel. For I see that they constitute in themselves the evidence for the divine law on earth. He then invited a Jewish Rabbi, and asked him about his belief. 

The Rabbi replied: I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt with signs and miracles; who fed them in the desert and gave them the land, after having made them traverse the sea and the Jordan in a miraculous way; who sent Moses with His law, and subsequently thousands of prophets, who confirmed His law by promises to the observant, and threats to the disobedient. Our belief is comprised in the Torah–a very large domain.” 

Sefer Kuzari – Hisrchfeld translation 1905.

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s in Australia there appeared to be no great complexity to being a Zionist. This was simply how we were brought up and I was surrounded by lively political debates with people on both the political left and right. On the international stage there were the good guy’s being Israel and America, and the bad guys, which included most Arab nations, the Soviet Union and to a significant extent the Palestinians.

On the main Israeli political stage, in our camp we viewed that there were the good guys, HaAvoda – the Israel Labor Party and the bad guys, the Likud. It was passionate but it was also functional, normal, guided by significant elements of common purpose and the world seemed to make some sense. I remember a photo of Yitzchak Rabin handing the Prime minister’s office to Menachem Begin after the 1977 election. The two obviously had great differences, nevertheless the transition was respectful, and the smiles at least seemed genuine from two men not exactly noted for smiling.
A bit has changed since those days, Israel Labor has almost ceased to exist as a political force, much to the detriment of Israel’s body politic. But some things have stayed the same. In the view of many Likud are still the bad guys and have lost their way in some very fundamental ways. Likud PM Yitzchak Shamir famously walked Likud out of the Knesset in protest when the extremist MK Meir Kahane spoke whereas today’s Likud leader Netanyahu has chosen to go into coalition with the successors to Kahane.
Governments are judged by results. Israel Labor was frequently judged harshly especially in matters of security. How should Likud and the current Prime Minister Netanyahu be judged after controlling the government of Israel for most of the past 15 years? Netanyahu and Likud have not delivered peace and security to Israel. They have failed at diplomacy, opting for piecemeal deals whilst trying to ignore or manipulate the elephant in the room. When the elephant in the room is rogue and dangerous, this isn’t wise. Whilst the Palestinians never had much of a vision for meaningful diplomacy, Israel’s vision has gradually been undone.

Successive Netanyahu governments failed to bring about any advance in the situation with the Palestinians. October 7 proved that both their policies and their understanding of the situation, and of the Palestinians, especially Hamas was completely flawed and wrong. Egregiously so. Inexcusably so. As supporters of Israel, we must work to strengthen Israel’s standing. There is a problem in the current state of Israeli political leadership and where it is headed.

A current problem is not exclusively but is critically Netanyahu and Likud together with the perpetually sinecured Haredim, and probably worse, their hard right-wing extremist messianic nationalist coalition partners. These are people who aim to rebuild the Temple, destroy the Supreme Court and reintroduce the Sanhedrin and if necessary, burnish the sword of Israel’s nuclear arsenal. This is not rational, it takes on the negative characteristics of wrath, envy and hate. A dangerous and unsustainable vision of Israel that is deeply problematic and divisive and will entrench Israel’s increasing isolation.

The problem isn’t with the democracy advocates or civil society organisations, or the maligned Israeli left or the kibbutzniks, or the intellectuals or the judiciary or the writers and the artists of Israel. These people and organisations are amongst Israel’s greatest assets. They were amongst the major forces behind the building of modern Israel and represent so much more than a romanticised ideal. Whilst much of their work has been undermined, their profound legacy remains, and they bring great credit upon Israel and the Jewish people.

Israel being at war amplifies the political problems. Militarily Israel will win the war with Hamas in some form, and it will win a war with Hezbollah if that group dares start one. It will defeat Iran though it is questionable whether Iran will risk their nuclear ambitions being destroyed at this time by provoking full blown Israeli reprisals. Israel will win these wars militarily irrespective of the government. The cost of such wars though is severe and immensely damaging to society. It is damaging both within Israel and to Jewish communities around the world. Politically and diplomatically the current war has no properly defined or achievable goal, the current government lacks respect and a credible vision. What is the value of a pyrrhic victory that does not lead to peace or deliver genuine security.

Israel and the Jewish world were sold a big untruth, that Rabin and Peres and their people were wrong, and that Netanyahu and his people were right. They were sold the politics of cynicism and of peace being a hopeless ambition. Arafat was a liar and a criminal and ultimately still a terrorist and that was the end of it. So, they were sold an ongoing situation of walls and fences and settlements and blockades. What sort of concept of peace and future was this and how long could such a situation continue. Let’s compare the world view of Netanyahu to that of Rabin. Incomparable. Let’s also compare the world’s view of Netanyahu to that of Rabin. Also, incomparable.

The ICJ has given a damning opinion against Israel on the legal status of the West Bank. Many will say it is antisemitic and wrong, it ignores historical issues and ignores security issues. Many people in Israel and its supporters around the world will repeat this view, but it is the world court, they have given their opinion and much of the world agrees with them, a significant percentage of Israelis and world Jewry including many strong Zionists are not shocked by the opinion. Israel needs to confront the reality of an untenable situation in the West Bank. This ICJ opinion was inevitable and even if largely wrong it further boxes Israel into a corner. Earlier, South Africa and its partners taking Israel to the ICJ under the Genocide Convention was a wickedly smart play conjured by Israel’s enemies. Immeasurable damage has been done to Israel’s standing; an indelible slur now being used ad infinitum. If we believe that objective concepts of justice will win the day, then get ready for disappointment. If we believe that historical truths will win the day get ready for more disappointment.

Governments around the world are under pressure to sanction rogue violent settlers in the Palestinian territories, this won’t stop at the settlers, it is a warning shot towards possible sanctions on Israel. Diplomatically and politically, Israel is struggling on the international stage and unable to arrest this movement. Today Israel has no Yitzchak Rabin or Shimon Peres and few talented diplomatic figures. Gradually a problematic enmity has been built with much of the world. Israeli hasbara and perceived hubris are often predictable and dated. It is not only tone deaf, but it fails to read the room, to the point that it is not even in the room. Much of Israel is bechutz, on the outside and doesn’t believe that it has any friendships that extend beyond today’s news cycle and sees no horizon beyond tomorrow. At this point in time that might be correct, but this was not the purpose of building a modern Israel.

The sun rises, and the sun sets—
And glides back to where it rises. 
Southward blowing,
Turning northward,
Ever turning blows the wind;
On its rounds the wind returns.
All streams flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is never full;
To the place [from] which they flow
The streams flow back again.
Ecclesiastes 1 .

Despite the Hamas atrocities and crimes of October 7, despite decades of Palestinian corruption and terror, despite the Palestinians making no serious effort towards peace over the years, the Palestinian cause is winning much of the world over and in considerable frustration many ask why.

The Palestinian story has become seemingly more credible and simply more critical as a raw human issue compared with an Israel led by Netanyahu and his government. Is this hypocrisy? How can so many liberals and progressives in the west appear to support Hamas and other Palestinian groups whose politics are so far from their own ideals and who engage in violent atrocities not only against a liberal democracy in Israel but against their own people.

Largely because Israel is increasingly viewed as the cynical overlord who claims to be a liberal democracy but has for many years elected increasingly illiberal governments and engaged in settlement expansion and seemingly oppressive security tactics. The damage being inflicted on Gaza only entrenches that view. The Palestinians, even Hamas get forgiven for their actions as an exasperated group who make no claim of western liberalism but of a maligned traditional cultural people who are forced to act in enraged frustration. The wounded rogue is a sympathetic figure. Many people love romanticised myths and what they see as poetic justice, and we would do well to sometimes study literature, not politics.

The Palestinians and their supporters have also successfully worked to publicly dehumanise Zionism. Over a long period of time but most critically in the past year Netanyahu and his team, have proven largely incapable of selling Israel’s case to the world. When the likes of Ben Gvir and Smotrich et al who call themselves Zionists but who are in fact fanatics hold senior Government Ministries, to a great many, especially to young people, this is their picture of Zionism today. It’s proving to be more than just a black eye for Israel.

Israel has a right to defend itself, quite so. When an enemy is as brutal and hateful as Hamas that use human shields, that oppress its own people, that Israeli spokespeople describe as a death cult why would Israel keep giving them what they want, why feed a cult. A death cult admires those who die for their cause. Sinwar has made that plain. Hamas does not want peace, it wants war. Their support will not end at the borders of Gaza. Each time Israel attacks a target in Gaza, each time another Palestinian civilian is killed, a hospital damaged, each time the world views pictures of horribly injured children and what looks like wanton destruction, Hamas has a victory. Israel’s enemies build more ammunition in their propaganda arsenal. On October 7 Israel’s pride was severely wounded and perhaps it is overcome by the danger of being blinded by pride, this can lead Israel astray.

“Pride goes before ruin,
Arrogance, before failure.”
Proverbs 16:18.

Many western progressives and many others now promote the legitimacy of Palestinian violent resistance and condone hostility and conspiracy theories against Israel and against Israel’s Jewish supporters around the world. They promote hatred of the Jewish State and Zionism yet doggedly defend the rights of nations with little if any cultural or historic legitimacy and essentially pay lip service to mass murder, torture and political oppression that has been occurring and continues to be conducted by multiple regimes around the world including in the Middle East. Condescendingly and ignorantly telling the overwhelming majority of Jews around the world that their national aspiration which is connected to thousands of years of profound history is wrong, criminal, evil, manipulative, dishonest and even anti-Jewish is an outrageous racist smear and parallels the most appalling historical antisemitic tropes. In most cases with some rare exceptions, anti-Zionism can be characterised as pure racism.

Israel is not like other nations. Israel is the cradle of the three Abrahamic faiths. The Holy of Holies stood in Jerusalem and those faiths will always be in a measure of conflict with each other and therefore conflict will always surround Jewish people and Israel as the nation State of the Jewish people. It is inescapable. There is no world, no future in which Israel will be simply left alone. Antisemitism is intrinsic to this religious conflict. How Israel and Jews negotiate this complex and often dangerous situation throughout time remains our challenge. We survive not through destroying our enemies who are too great and numerous but rather despite them and against overwhelming odds.

“And it is this that has stood for our ancestors and for us, since it is not [only] one [person or nation] that has stood [against] us to destroy us, but rather in each generation, they stand [against] us to destroy us, but the Holy One, blessed be He, rescues us from their hand. 

In each and every generation, a person is obligated to see himself as if he left Egypt, as it is stated (Exodus 13:8); “For the sake of this, did the Lord do [this] for me in my going out of Egypt.” Not only our ancestors did the Holy One, blessed be He, redeem, but rather also us [together] with them did he redeem, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 6:23); “And He took us out from there, in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He swore unto our fathers”

Pesach Haggadah, Magid .

The President of Israel wants to know what the diaspora thinks, and we should tell him. Israel and the Jewish people are presented with a difficult opportunity for change. We don’t vote for the government of Israel, but our futures are interwoven. We need to support Israel by speaking up for Israeli democracy, rational sound government, the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and importantly a renewed effort towards a viable peace process that faces up to the issues of today and sees a viable future.

At times war is a necessary part of defending a nation, but war will never resolve the ongoing situation in either Gaza or in the West Bank or across other borders, it plays into the hands of the numerous enemies and extremists who crave it. Hamas will not disappear because of this war in Gaza, they exist outside Gaza, not just in the West Bank or the Middle East but around the world, including Australia. Their support has numbers, they are building both political campaigns and arsenals of sophisticated weaponry to wear Israel down. The idea of the establishment of a modern Israeli state wasn’t to move out of exile into a self-imposed exile. It will be victory for Israel’s enemies, if they can’t beat Israel, they will try to cut off, exhaust and torment its citizens and supporters.

Our hearts are filled with sadness, anxiety, wrath, envy, enmity, love, hate, and fear. Israel stands at a crossroads. This is where perhaps Zionism, even our approach to Judaism has hit not so much a brick wall but is caught in a landscape evolving too rapidly for considered and natural cultural responses. We deal hastily and reactively with the modern world, changing political forces and fortunes, our powerful historical experience, our cultural heritage and our axiomatic Torah all in collision. The fight for the soul of a nation and the future of a people. A peculiar place in time, trapped somewhere between, Tradition, Truth & Tomorrow.

In writing this I take heed of the words of the great teacher and master of many of my ancestors the Noda B’Yehuda:

“I have much to say about this, but just as it is a mitzvah to say what will be hearkened to, so too is it a mitzvah to refrain from saying what will not be hearkened to. May Hashem have mercy upon us.”

Melburnian Robert Lehrer sponsors a number of Israeli organisations and worked on the Mabo case.

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