Learn from the French? In Israel, even the Centre is Right-wing
In France, Left-wing parties would be embarrassed by any partnership with the racist Right, but in Israel it is the opposite. Here we have Fifty shades of Right. ■ From the age of zero, Jews in Israel learn that they are the crowning glory of creation, that God promised them land and real estate and exclusive rights over the land, and that all they have to do to gain them is to eliminate the inferior creatures called Arabs.
By Hanin Majadli • Translated by Sol Salbe
Yoana Gonen writes (Haaretz, 9 July ): “Learn from the French: the time has come to put the extreme right into a cordon sanitaire… The surprising loss of the extreme Right occurred due to the cooperation between the parties of the Left and the Centre, who, despite the differences between them, joined together to block a party that advocates nationalism, racism, and homophobia… Instead of feeling shameful about Jewish-Arab partnership, it’s time to start shaming the extreme right with all its hordes of racist, delusional and messianic representatives.”
“Despite the differences between them”? Is this referring to the differences between the Arab parties, which are ostensibly supposed to represent the Arab community, and the Jews and their representatives in the Knesset? The differences between those who enjoy self-determination, a state, nationality, resources, land and security, and us, the Arabs, who are supposed to help them preserve this distortion? Or is it referring to the [self-described] “Zionist” parties in general?
In France, Left-wing parties would be embarrassed by any partnership with the racist Right, but in Israel it is the opposite. The so-called Zionist Centre and Left hates the Arabs and is racist towards them. The Zionist Centre-Left wants to establish a broad national unity government with the Right-wing parties because its leaders would be ashamed that the Right (ie, most of the people of Israel) would suspect that they are Arab lovers. Because they really don’t like Arabs and don’t want to see them in the government. And why? Because what will happen next? Maybe the Arabs will demand equal rights? A fair distribution of resources perhaps? Self-determination? That really scares them.
In fact, there is no similarity between this faux Left in Israel and left-wing principles, or the left-wing parties in Europe. Only in the context of the fascist political map in Israel are the ultra-right Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett considered to be an alternative. These are Right-wing parties. Maybe they are the liberal Right, but they’re still Right-wing parties. And their refusal to view Arabs and Arab parties as legitimate partners is not a bug, but a feature. Part of the Jewish-Israeli worldview.
In general, if you want to compare it to France, then the “extreme Right” that was defeated there is more like Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman than anything else [ie a long way from what is regarded as the extreme Right in Israel -tr] .In other words, if you apply it to Israel, the equivalent suggestion is for the Right to join forces with the Right in order to keep out the Right. Fifty shades of Right.
France, despite being racist to a large degree, still has a lot to catch up to Israel. The latter is still in the colonialist phase, which France gave up more than 60 years ago. The State of Israel denies that the Occupation actually exist. France is a liberal democracy, with a separation of religion and state and a nation that accepts different groups of people. It also has a younger generation with healthy left-wing aspirations regarding human rights. This is in contrast to the ultra-right-wing young Israeli generation currently functioning in the Gaza Strip.
Israel-the-Occupier is an ethnocracy with certain democratic features. Its majority national groupings is brainwashed with melange of racism, xenophobia, militarism and [Jewish] supremacy. From the age of zero, Jews in Israel learn that they are the crowning glory of creation, that God promised them land and real estate and exclusive rights over the land, and that all they have to do to gain them is to eliminate the inferior creatures called Arabs.
Will the former be the partner of the latter?
