More than a few fringe extremists threaten Israeli democracy
It is no longer just marginal acts by crazed extremists, but the heads of important Knesset committees - and even ministers - who formulate anti-democratic laws.
By Avirama Golan"Fascism?" Incredulously, Prof. Shlomo Avineri scolded the many writers who use this term, saying "Don't make me laugh" (Haaretz, November 15 ). The problem is that the joke isn't funny.
Avineri is an admired icon who has attained impressive academic and public status built for himself. It is precisely that which makes his decision to dig in his heels with his position so regrettable: With one hand he conducts all-out war against the "post-Zionists," while with the other he tries to damp down what he perceives as needless, damaging hysteria.
With regard to post-Zionism, Avineri is chasing a train that has already left the station. The fiery argument led by members of Im Tirtzu and others proves that Zionism is alive and kicking, and in no need of defenders. The intimidation campaign being waged by these new nationalist Zionist partisans in the school system and in institutions of higher learning is getting the job done: Anyone who dares to differ is silenced by shouts of "leftist!," and his name appears in reports submitted to the Knesset and the cabinet. Yet Avineri's all-clear siren is worrisome. What is happening in Israel, he writes, offering his readers a political science lesson, is not fascism. People here are not being whisked away in the dead of night. Newspapers are not being shut down. The secret police does not keep tabs on citizens. There are no restrictions on trips abroad, and draft resisters are not executed. True, "bad things" happen, but that's all. There is no need to resort to extreme descriptions.
It can be assumed that Avineri grasps that the persons who warned recently about fascism can distinguish between a regime and a trend. Yet one suspects that Avineri himself does not acknowledge the importance of delivering unpopular warnings at a time when distinctions are blurring. No one is saying that a fascist regime now rules Israel; but it has been claimed, justifiably, that there is a worrisome trend.
It is no longer just marginal acts by crazed extremists or "groups ... with representatives in the Knesset and the government," as Avineri puts it, but the heads of important Knesset committees (interior and environment; education, culture and sports; constitution, law and justice ) as well as to cabinet ministers, who formulate anti-democratic laws. What is the foundation of Avineri's arrogant premise that these laws will not be passed? Some already have. Has the High Court of Justice overturned them? In any event, there are ways to bypass the High Court.
The citizenship revocation bill, which has not stirred a public outcry because it is directed against Arabs (even Avineri fell into the incitement trap that set the stage for the law: Azmi Bishara did not "flee the country after being accused of espionage while continuing to draw a pension"; he was suspected of espionage ); McCarthyist reports on university teachers, with the support of the education minister; the silencing of opinions; racist violence; the delegitimization of leftists and the stigmatization of political activists as traitors who "slander the country"; threats against people who rent to Arabs and a foreign minister who declares that there will be no peace and that in the Middle East only the strong survive (and we haven't mentioned what goes on in the country of settlers and in East Jerusalem ) - all of these "bad things" with a clear fascist flavor.
As in the parable of the six blind men, each of whom declares after feeling one part of an elephant that the beast is not so terrible, Avineri refuses to look at the entire creature. Instead, he reassures his readers, while grasping the trunk or the tail. He is not alone. All of these calmers, who belong to an elite that has lost its political influence, sound like people who are mostly trying to calm themselves. Though they sound like calls for public responsibility, these reassurances actually project detachment from responsibility. We do not need to look to comparisons or historical examples; it is enough to realize that the fascist regimes rose gradually and their goose steps were drowned out in a flood of reassurances. Even if the fears of the Cassandras seem hyperbolic, no intellectual who lives here these days can calm or be calm.
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And it is not the first time that I have disagreed with my Prof. Avineri.
IF ISRAEL'S SECURITY IS IN DANGER THE LAWS ARE NECESSARY. NOBODY WANTS TO KILL BUT IF HIS LIFE IS THREATENED ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF
IS IT ACTUALLY POSSIBLE TO CRITICIZE ISRAEL WITHOUT BEING LABELED ANTI-SEMITIC ??? TIME TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR ... YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE WHAT YOU SEE ...
Fascists are totalitarian corporatists. They seek the regimentation of society to achieve unity of purpose and exclude all beliefs and actions contrary to those goals. Fascism need not utilize overt police state tactics. For example those deemed political deviants may be arrested for drugs, or hospitalized as insane instead of being put in political prisons. Those who need to be purged, may not be sent to a gulag, but merely find themselves unemployable. The key to Fascism is the concept of totalitarian regimentation.
Good for Ms. Golan. From my side of the world, it sure looks like fascism.
Let us call a spade a spade and stop beating around the bush.
This is just a bunch of meaningless verbiage.
but the marching is clearly all in one direction.
ie Unelected Leftist Judges who control and blackmail the politcians into following Meretz -like policies. This Fringe is the most dangerous.
Madam is irritated:Zionism is still kiking"!
[People] Jews here are [generally] not being whisked away in the dead of night. Newspapers are not [yet] being shut down. The secret police does not keep tabs on citizens. [believe that and I'll sell you a bridge to Brooklyn to the extremists...]
She is a Zionist. She's afraid that the secular approach to Zionism (the one Ben Gurion founded with the establishment of Israel) is disappearing to be replaced by this hard-right religious ideology that looks a lot like Iran's regime. The difference is that no Jews or Christians are seeing their churches destroyed for the sake of a thousand Shia settlers when we speak of Iran...
Let us begin with "democracy". Remember the DDR? The Deutesche Democratic Republic or East Germany before its collapse.Or The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea otherwise infamously known as North Korea. "republic"Remember the Republic of China? More commonly known as Taiwan. Another contender for the Republic of China is the Peoples Republic of China (mainland China)Neither of which is a true republic. If the motto of Nazi Germany was "One People, one Reich One Leader" and clearly it was fascist by anyone's definition, it could be applied to Libya, Iran,Syria and a host of other countries but then that would be impolite, as they are bona fide members of the UN. New definitions are needed and the old ones should be dumped.
It is the casual misuse of words that destroy their meaning. Democracy, the rule of the people has devolved to representative democracy of many sorts. Then to the rule of a certain class of people, eventually rule FOR the people, and finally nothing.
Something most Israelis have missed, is that the times have changed, and the reality of today has nothing to do with the reality of past generations; this is primarily due to TECHNOLOGY. This is to say that the types of hitlerian or stalinian facist regimes of the past are actually no longer a possibility in the 21st century. Back in those days, the people did not even have TV's, the vast majority of people passed their days actually doing physical activity all day long all the time, ... if they disagreed with something, they would either act (physically) upon it, or not, but there was no easy communication, and intellectuality was not a mode of action. But now, everything has changed, communication has revolutionized the world, and the most important aspect of this facet of life, is that there cannot be anymore secrets ( at least on a macro level ), everyone has state of the art communication devices at their fingertips and information travels at the speed of light. Even if you block the information by force, it will be known that the information was blocked, and people will be able to deduce the truth. One absolutely MAJOR DIFFERENCE between today and 20 years ago ( i am talking about america and europe ) is that 20 years ago, violence was omnipresent in people's everyday life; from conjugal violence, to criminality, to mr. Average Joe, just "settling his problems" thru violence. This is no longer today's reality; if mr. Average Joe uses violence either to "settle his problems", or to impose his will on his "loved one", he will go to jail, and with communication media at everyone's fingertip, chance are that person will be caught instantly. Even if the person doesn't have face the justice system, no one will want to be their friends anymore anyways. Anyways I havn't gone thru all the aspects of this issue, but I think that those who don't "get it " should look at the young jews of the diaspora, and ask yourself what is so different about them; why is it that most of them feel completely alien to those issues that are so deer to other peoples hearts. What does this have to do with the article? 21st century fascism is very different that 20th century fascism, but that is just due to the different nature of the actual reality; in relative terms the new fascism is not less horrible even if it is less "physical".
by the Knesset passing a law that makes a felony of "uttering and/or writing--including the contemplation of same--the word 'fascism' (including, but not limited to, any of its derivatives) within the borders of Israel proper--plus a five-to-seven kilometer swath beyond...and hereinafter punishable by whatever punishment any and/or all duly elected or appointed authorities deem appropriate at any time." (There, problem solved...and I ask you: could anything be SIMPLER?)
Outlaw the word Fascism, what a brilliant solution Arthur. Exactly what Fascists would do.
assuming, of course, that you recognize satire.
I do satire and sarcasm.
If not for such Extremists Israel would not have successfully resisted British Colonial policy and Israel would not be. Israel was born out of necessity and desperation and the grace of the Almighty. Just getting there was practically an insurmountable problem. There were few liberal fair weather Jews then. There was a lot of work and self sacrifice and danger was everywhere. The hears of most Jewish people today are still strong and brave. It is the leaders with weak backbones and fainting hearts. Settlers are the soul and the hope of Israel. They are of the stuff the nation was founded.
How about Jewish terrorists? Begin,Shamir, Stern,Gruner, the two Eliahus. Murderers, kidnappers,assassins, bomb makers.The scumbag settlers are cut from the same ultra-nationalist cloth. If they are the hope of Israel, the country is doomed.
when will the religious zeolots understand that arguments like 'that state was born with the grace of the allmighty' renders teh weight of the argument completely nihil ?
when will the religious zeolots understand that arguments like 'that state was born with the grace of the allmighty' renders teh weight of the argument completely nihil ?
people who right "teh" instead of "the" are invariably barking mad anti-Israeli leftists. Now why should that be?
How dare you call the finest citizens and people "scumbags" when it is you and your kind that aptly fit that description. The Settlers are heroes that confront the daily terror that the thugs inflict. I know several of these heroes who have paid with their lives for the ultimate sacrifice, the love of the Land and the People. Low slime who defend the murderers of innocent, pregnant women, those who blow up buses and discos, are the true scumbags. Mitch, please don't look in the mirror. You may not like what looks back at you.
to leave occupied land. The world waits.
Land cannot be Occupied when the Arabs started Four Wars, and lost. Otherwise, countries would start wars every days, knowing there's no downside to their actions. Go to war must have a penalty. Had there been no war in '67, there would be no discussion. Besides, the World has not deluded themselves that, once the Land is reutrned (hopefully never), that Peace will bloom. The unsatiable Arab appetite never is satisfied. Again, the advent of Four Wars deem the "Occupation" a hollow, concocted term. Much like the term "Palestinian" concocted by evil Arafat.
Is fascitization of society and a fascist regime the same? Are the encating of certain discriminatory laws in the frame of a bitter national conflict racism? European countries are enacting discriminatory laws and are leaning to the right. Those are ugly discriminatory laws , however, that is far away from fascism and from a racist regime. IN Israel and Europe the populations are shifting to the right because they are fed out of multiculturalism and of group rights to minorities. Neither Israel nor European countries will go through fascist revolutions that will drop away the liberal state. The minimum preconditions for fascism do not exist. The whole fascist elephant is simply non existent. Golan and the likes will be free to protest and claim whatever they want, here and Europe. However, they indeed have a problem and that is that the great majority of the population are fed up with their discourse.
because if he has even the slightest inkling of what "fascism" entails, and how it begins and grows sequentially, there's no way he can be oblivious to the telltale signs of its advent in Israel.
Let us look at the composition of Israeli Jews today: 1. The former Soviets constitute about 20%. They grew up under a totalitarian regime and tend to prefer strong leaders and a brute-force approach. 2. The Sephardim (from Islamic states), constitute about 1/3 of the Jews. They tend to hate Arabs, their former oppressors, tend to be more emotional people, and their grounding in democracy is still weak. Shasniks are of course worse in this respect. 3. Religious Ashkenazis, including Haredim, about 10% of the Jews (as estimated by Knesset representation, which minimizes their numbers because they have many children). Haredim and the religious are messianists and believe in Divine Law as superior to state law.// Altogether we have about 2/3 of the Jews with hardline tendencies, based on cultural and religious background. To them one could add the secular Ashkenazi right-wingers like Netanyahu, and you see that Israel is facing a democratic crisis. The big question is: How did the State manage to be formed as a Democracy in the first place. The simple answer is the main non-democratic forces were not yet citizens: The Russians, Sephardim, Haredim, and even moderate religious, had a small and negligible representation in the 1948 Yishuv. They are now ready to destroy what their more democratic brothers have established.
For someone who comments so frequently on issues as if you have a great grasp on the realities here, you should really know the difference between Sephardim and Mizrachim ... and also shouldn't be generalizing entire communities ...
"They are now ready to destroy what their more democratic brothers have established. " Yes, Ben Gurion and co really started a 'great democracy' and Rabin and co really 'believed' in democracy too ... Yes, right. Dreaming dude ... tze mi ha'seret. You write like some of the elitists who built this country ... I'm rather positive their take on the world mirrors yours.
They all want a jewish democratic majority to wield control over the country. All over the western world majorities are beginning to say their word. Liberal multicultural democracy is in retreat., majoritarian democracy that preserves individual rights is advancing,
finally an accurate analysis of how and why Israel is drifting away its early egalitarian principles.
Unless you reside in Israel, why would any of this concern you ?? You probably sit in your basement, thousands of miles away, and pontificate on things that have no bearing on you. Why not really take up a cause, the burka ban in Europe. That could be an issue that leads to fascism. And, what could be said in a couple of lines, turns into a novel, with each post droning on and on. None of this really concerns you, or me. We aren't Israeli residents.
I'll gladly be proven wrong.... http://wp.me/pDB7k-D6
Avram, you probably know that statistics is commonly used to understand a large number of people. Polls preceding elections are very influential, at least on leaders who adjust their positions accordingly. In the case of right wing attitudes, I used the phrase "tend to". This is a code word for a statistical truth, which means that not every individual member of the group has such an attitude, but a significant majority does. As far as Mizrahim and Sephardim, I DEFINED what I meant. Why did I use Sephardim? Because most Jews abroad are used to the term Sephardim. They may not even know what Mizrahim means.
I don't know what 'JEws abroad' you're talking to, but I've lived in quite a few Jewish communities in Europe and North America and everyone knows the difference between Sfradim and Mizrachim. "but a significant majority does." So a 'significant majority' of Mizrachim hate Arabs? I've heard far far worse racism against Arabs coming from Left Wingers. Maybe you should just say that all Jews (and then we can include you too despite your BEn Gurion type posting) hate Arabs. Glad you had no 'sophisticated come back' for the "They are now ready to destroy what their more democratic brothers have established" comment. You may or may not live in Israel, but you seem to be a Ben Gurion like elitist.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle states that it is impossible to determine precisely the exact position and momentum of a particle; the product of the "uncertainty values" of both is greater than some universal (Planck's) constant. The more precisely you determine the position, the more uncertain you are about the precise momentum, and vice versa. In the case of Avineri, he should know that "trend towards" something is the "momentum". Israel is far from being exactly fascist, but the TREND is towards fascism. And the stronger the trend (i.e., the better the momentum is known), the less precise can the exact position be stated.
Israel is most ruthless country in world. That includes army, government and police.
from a creature that hasn't been within 1000 miles of Israel, yet shares his expertise with us.
but it can not be called worst fascist country in the world. Just look at Iran with their morality police and their complete subjugation of their part of Kurdistan.
Iran, Sudan, N.Korea, Myanmar... be wary if you find yourself playing on the same league.