Yair Golan, it’d be better if you’d take those uniforms off the clothesline
We already have a Right-wing (Actually, stacks of Rightists), we don’t need a Left that looks like a Right ordered online from AliExpress
By Yoana Gonen • Translated by Sol Salbe
The culture of lies and conspiracies, which is so thriving these days on the Right, has become so sophisticated that last week it turned the expression “go prove that you don’t have a sister” from a quip to a reality. It happened, naturally on [the Hard Right] Channel 14. During a discussion on the issue of the Democrats Leader Yair Golan, former Knesset member Esterina Tartman said, “His daughter, to the best of my knowledge, is a pacifist, she was not willing to enlist in the IDF.” Golan actually does have a sister, but he doesn’t have a daughter: he is the father of five sons.
Golan, for his part, recognised quickly that one person’s stuff-up is another person’s likes machine, so he shared Tartman’s words and responded with numbers: “5 sons. 4 in combat service. Two of them are officers. 1 Volunteered for the army even though he had an exemption. 0 daughters dodging service.” The Net was abuzz with admiration, and in light of the success, Golan came up with another post on Saturday with a picture of rows of uniforms hanging on clothesline next to the caption: “This is what a clothesline looks like when you’re traitor with a draft-dodging daughter.”
Certainly a great response, which deserves a score of 100 for social networks management skills, but 0 for promoting left-wing politics. As is customary among that political current’s leaders, Golan happily embraced the hollow militarism of the Right instead of offering an alternative. So joyful was his adaptation that he replaced what Tartman labelled as “pacifism” with “draft-dodging” — transforming his non-existent daughter from a conscientious activist into a contemptible social fallout.
Centrists and leftists of this ilk always enter the foray as to who is more belligerent, nationalistic and Right-wing — and not surprisingly, this is a contest that the Right will always win. As one commenter wrote to Golan: If the clothesline was in the settlement, there would be a few more rows of uniforms on it. Unintentionally, that commenter revealed that the debate, presented as a struggle between Right and Left, does not reflect ideological disagreement, but rather a dispute over who’s contributing more to the mass killing of Palestinians and to the renewal of the settlement of Gaza.
I don’t expect the former deputy chief of staff to become a pacifist. But between this and the Pavlovian response to quick show off the uniform and disavow any suspicion of pursuing peace, there is a wide range of possibilities.
Clearly, at this stage, it is already obvious to all of us that the goals of the ongoing war are unbridled vengeance, annexation of more land and the preservation of Netanyahu’s rule. The testimonies of reservists, as well as a long list of journalistic investigations, describe the horrific reality of ethnic cleansing and war crimes. The images transmitted all over the world show babies dying of hypothermia, amputated children, and entire neighbourhoods and hospitals reduced to rubble.
Those who refuse to commit these injustices are a source of greater pride than those who, despite their opposition to Netanyahu’s messianic government, continue to be obedient soldiers who make it possible to achieve its deranged goals.
As is customary among that political current’s leaders, Golan happily embraced the hollow militarism of the right instead of offering it an alternative
I don’t expect the former deputy chief of staff to become a pacifist, and for his five sons to declare themselves conscientious objectors (though it’s worth considering, boys). But between this and the Pavlovian response to quickly show off the uniform and disavow any suspicion of pursuing peace, there is a wide range of possibilities.
Instead of offering an alternative to the nationalist and militaristic discourse, which is gradually consuming Israeli society, the Centre-Left leaders replicate and intensify it, thus creating the very conditions that lead them to defeat at the ballot box.
We already have a Right-wing (Actually, stacks of Rightists), we don’t need a Left that looks like a Right ordered online from AliExpress. We need leaders who are brave enough to challenge the rotten paradigms of the Right, not imitators who take pride in returning Gaza to the Stone Age and pictures of uniforms on a clothesline.
