Haaretz
Cheshvan 6, 2004
The prime minister's one and only political plan
is stuck - not because he doesn't want to carry it out, not because he
doesn't have a public majority, not because it isn't vital. The
disengagement plan is stuck because Israeli politics, in a drawn-out and
destructive process, is deteriorating rightward. A quarter of the Knesset
is extreme right. With the help of rabbis, self-appointed spokesmen for
the Holy One, the French Le Pen option is accelerating right under the
nose of a nation that thinks it can't happen here. Attempt to pass the
plan is therefore in itself a critical test case to find out if the
country has gone crazy.
If the plan is defeated, or its
implementation is shelved, nothing afterward will stop Israel collapsing
into the very worst condition. This would be a resounding victory for
extremism and nationalist demagoguery, for messianism and xenophobia,
which would destroy any chance of dealing with the war with the
Palestinians.
That quarter of the Knesset that wants the conflict
to last forever could swamp parliament, because outside the gates there
are more political barbarians. More rebels from the ruling party will join
the Likud rebels, the NRP, Yisrael B'Aliyah, and the National Union, as
will the pliant reeds of Shas and United Torah Judaism. They will be more
than a third of the parliament - and new elections might strengthen
them.
In the last elections many people refused to see the very
same thing the Europeans recognize among themselves as the rise of a
quasi-fascist, separatist process, one that hates everything it sees, from
damage to nationalist holy sites all the way to homosexuality. That
process is capturing positions even without elections. The meeting point
between Israeli fundamentalism, dressed up as sacrosanct patriotism, and
its Muslim twin is a great national threat that meets the strangest apathy
here.
The details of the ultimate disaster are well-known. More
blood. Lots of blood. Becoming an international pariah, as predicted in
the Foreign Ministry's own report. Don't let the false prophets of the
nationalist and religious Le Penism spread tall tales - it is not
disengagement that is threatening to destroy the Third Commonwealth. A
horrifying national crisis has already taken root because of the rising
influence of the Zealots and Siccari of our time.
Sharon woke up
and is doing something against this trend, almost as best as he can, and
with partial success. Those betraying his mission is the number two behind
him in the popularity race to lead the state after him. How long will
Benjamin Netanyahu play that despicable game of doing what he can to avoid
announcing loudly and clearly his unequivocal support for the
disengagement?
How long will he go on with his transparent trick
of putting an end to the disengagement with a referendum? His status as
the Likud's heir is surely guaranteed. But someone as ambitious as he must
understand that if he does not immediately and forcibly identify with the
disengagement, something he knows very well how to do, the country and the
economy will be swept - into a black hole along with his career.
He
has characteristics that could make him a worthy political leader - were
it not for some fundamental flaws. With neo-conservative pessimism he
likes to quote Kant about how impossible it is to get anything straight
out of "the crooked timber of humanity." And is it possible to get
anything straight out of himself in these days of national
danger?
Netanyahu's economic programs have made life difficult for
hundreds of thousands of families. He justifies the measures as necessary
to avoid disaster. For their sake, he is ready to break strikes, make tens
of thousands miserable, recycle nice explanations with tables and
hand-waving.
What makes the settler minority more worthy in his
eyes than all the Israelis who pay the heavy price of pressure from every
side? Is it only because Netanyahu wants to protect his political base in
his party, even if the settlers' passions, on their way to an historic
error, ruin the economy he is trying to rehabilitate?
It is in
such critical terms, and no less, that he and the witnesses to this
depressing national vision must view the heirs to Kamtza and Bar-Kamtza
now fighting their fateful battle in Jerusalem.