Israel on its way to becoming an international pariah
Ed-note (Sabba) – In summary: the jewish Left failed in
saving the jewish state’s image and status; the jewish left must do all
it can to change this because ‘the jews future hangs in the balance’
Source: Ynet
Op-ed: Israelis went to the polls with their eyes wide shut,
thinking the status quo is sustainable. It isn’t. Israel is on its way
to becoming an international pariah, and the people – who once again
chose might over right – have only themselves to blame.
As conventional wisdom has it, the people have had their say and the
people are never wrong. The leaders who lost are being magnanimous in
their defeat, praising the democratic process and calling for
introspection to identify where they went wrong.
True, the election results represent the will of the people
exercised democratically, and that does give the outcome legitimacy;
however, it does not make it right.
Simply put, the people were wrong. They were wrong in not
recognizing that the fastest road to affordable housing and a lower cost
of living is an end to the occupation. They were wrong in choosing the
path of isolation over acceptance of the Arab Peace Initiative, with its
promise of normalization with the member states of the Arab League.
They were wrong in not calculating the boost to the economy that would
come from a reduced defense budget and from an end to the funds
squandered on building and maintaining settlements.
They were wrong in thinking that there can be any advancement in the
education of the next generation as long as our children are being
desensitized to the suffering of others. They were wrong in buying into
the fear-mongering around the consolidation of the Arab vote instead of
welcoming the Arabs’ readiness to join the establishment and seek
reforms by working within the system. They were wrong in reelecting a
leader who took a huge bite out of the hand that feeds us, and they
matched his arrogance with their belief that there will be no day of
reckoning for the affront to the president of the United States.
The signs of a downturn in relations with the United States were
visible in the delay of the traditional congratulatory phone call, and
on Sunday the public statements coming from the Oval Office left no
doubt that Bibi’s days as a verbal acrobat are over. If we are lucky,
the price will be paid only at the United Nations and the International
Criminal Court, but the demand for accountability is unlikely to end
there. Calls for economic sanctions are gaining popularity, and the
European countries may well give in to the pressure.
But the biggest concern is the sense of despair among the
Palestinians. Netanyahu’s “no” to a Palestinian state took peace talks
off the table, extinguishing all hope for a negotiated settlement.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas still speaks of nonviolent
resistance, but he isn’t going to live forever and the pressure cooker
that is the Palestinian territories may well boil over into violent
conflict.
The Israeli people went to the polls with their eyes wide shut,
thinking that the status quo is sustainable. It isn’t. Israel is on its
way to becoming an international pariah, and the people – who once again
chose might over right – have only themselves to blame.
This is not the time for the left to beat its breast and temper its
message. On the contrary, it must raise the alarm louder and clearer and
focus all its efforts on the root of all evil: The occupation. Any
progress made in any other area will be short-lived unless this
fundamental issue is resolved.
Netanyahu won the election by convincing the public that disaster
will befall us if the left were to win. It now falls to the left to
convince them that the true disaster awaits us if it doesn’t. A prophet
is never welcome in his own land, but it falls to the left to assume
this unpopular role because our future hangs in the balance.”
No comments:
Post a Comment