Shine - An existential battle

Dr. Chaim Shine
Israel Hayom
02 December '11

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=943

Kadima chairwoman and opposition head Ms. Tzipi Livni met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan on Wednesday, along with several of her fellow party members. These two figures wield no real influence in their position as chairman and chairwoman. It is also quite clear that they lack any real capacity to set in motion real initiatives on their home turf. Their meeting bears no significance whatsoever as it was nothing more than a nostalgic class reunion.

They probably reminisced about those good old days during Olmert's term in office, back when Israel was willing to undertake far-reaching concessions. Were it not for determined state prosecutors [whose corruption inquiries forced Olmert to resign] and Palestinian rejectionism, these concessions would have materialized. But, thankfully, Israel was spared existential threats when they were nipped in the bud.

In any event, Mahmoud Abbas' willingness to meet with the Israeli opposition rather than with representatives of the Israeli government - who actually have the authority to engage in negotiations - proves the claim that Abbas prefers a partnership with Hamas to a partnership with the state of Israel.

Israel is one of the few democracies in the world where the government lacks an opposition. For all intents and purposes, the nominal opposition party, Kadima, has evaporated and disappeared into oblivion. Ms. Tzipi Livni, the great white hope of the Israeli Left during the 2009 elections, is struggling at the helm of a party where every second MK is a loose canon with his own set agenda. For a party that won 28 Knesset seats in the last elections, it is run like a shadow puppet show. Having failed to articulate a vision or offer a national agenda, even the media finds it hard to continue with the positive press it has traditionally afforded the party.



Anyone in their right mind understands that the only thing that has kept Kadima intact is its members' grip on power, not a shared ideology. Now, out of power, they are in need of a way forward; they are in search of a vision and need a healthy dose of political dexterity to lead a vibrant, active opposition.

To get a sense of Kadima's alternative path, perhaps you should recall Likud's productive tenure in the opposition when it was half its current size. Rather than offering alternative values or promoting a different ideology, along with diplomatic initiatives and a new socioeconomic agenda, the back-benchers in Kadima are trying to enter the media spotlight by championing marginal issues that lack any real significance.

Thus passes the glory of the world, goes the Latin saying. Israeli political historians have yet to tell the tale of how the largest Knesset party failed to put forth an alternative agenda, when faced with a government grappling with existential and complex issues.

The moderate Israeli Left, a core element in any opposition to a right-wing government, is a silent spectator, and has opted to remain in its cozy cocoon. The 2005 disengagement from Gaza proved that the underlying premises guiding the Left since the Six-Day War, and particularly since the 1993 Oslo Accords, have been nothing more than a charade produced by a mirage of political stagecraft.

The Palestinians' refusal to accept the state of Israel's right to exist has no relation whatsoever to the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria. The Left's common refrain that the communities in those areas are an obstacle to peace has turned out to be a hoax which inadvertently serves the propaganda machine in a campaign orchestrated by Israel's worst enemies. The Left's spokespeople have now taken a vow of silence, in line with their moral integrity and sense of honesty. This silence is their way of admitting failure.

Without real opposition to the government, opposition to the state has emerged, which undermines the very foundations that allow Israel to exist as a Jewish democracy. It is a small and sophisticated group, with vast ties to radical left-wing organizations in Europe and Israel-bashers in the U.S. It has undisclosed sources of funding which are also used for data-gathering and political clout in other countries, in a way that runs counter to the interests of the state of Israel, and for distributing testimonials and documents designed to undermine Israel's ability to stand firm against terrorism and the enemies that threaten it.

The state opposition is led by post-Zionist intellectuals, lecturers whose employment is made possible through state-funded post-secondary institutions and media figures who have wrested control of propaganda mouthpieces and refuse to let them go.

What must be made clear is that assailing the ethics and values of the Israel Defence Forces is not an attack on the Israeli government. Rather, it targets Israel itself. Harming the settlement enterprise by informing on it is not a matter of opposition to the Right, rather it is an attack on the right of Israeli citizens to dwell in their homeland, including in the biggest "settlement" of them all - Tel Aviv. Demonstrations near the security fence and army checkpoints in Judea and Samaria are not an attack on the Israeli defense minister, but a challenge to the right of Israelis to live in security.

Loving one's country (patriotism) in most countries is a core value; attacking the state is tantamount to treason. In certain Israeli political circles the love of one's country is relegated to nothing more than a form of nostalgia that is now obsolete. By contrast, bashing one's homeland is viewed as a manifestation of progressive, modern ideas.

We must revert to the basic values on which Israel was established, which also serve as its raison d'être, in order to counter the state opposition. This should top our national agenda.

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