So-called “liberal Zionists” like author Peter Beinart have been mounting an all-out campaign to undermine any notion that the proper attitude of American Jews toward Israel is support of its current government. Beinart and others on the left don’t like Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and believe their sensibilities rather than his judgment ought to be regarded as the proper path for the Jewish state. Though Beinart and other foreign liberals tend to regard the realities of the conflict with the Palestinians as mere details that only serve as an impediment to the implementation of their vision of peace, they are entitled to their opinions. But should it take precedence over that of the Israeli people?
Beinart and others who think Zionism is in “crisis” are about to get another lesson in Zionist democracy. With it becoming increasingly clear that Netanyahu will agree to move up the date for the next parliamentary elections to perhaps as early as September 4, those carping about the direction Israel has taken on the peace process, settlements, the Iranian threat, the religious-secular divide or any other issue will have an opportunity to watch Israeli democracy in action. The voters will have the opportunity to throw out Netanyahu and elect a government more in line with the views of Beinart and J Street. But, if as widely expected, they return Netanyahu to power with an even larger majority, shouldn’t there be some expectation these “liberal Zionists” will respect the will of the people?
The problem for these left-wing critics is that although they think Israel is in need of being saved from itself, most Israelis disagree. The majority there appears ready to vote for the parties that make up the current coalition because they believe there is no viable alternative on either security or domestic issues. Netanyahu is far from perfect, but his positions reflect the broad consensus of the Israeli public on the key issues of the day.
That puts people like Beinart in something of a bind. You can’t preach about preserving Israeli democracy while at the same time claim elections there mean nothing. Friends of Israel, even those who style themselves critics of its government’s policies, are not obligated to become Netanyahu cheerleaders. But once the voters have decided, there is some obligation to respect the democratic process.
Many on the Jewish left have spent the last three years since Netanyahu’s election in 2009 acting as if his win was an accident that can be set aside by President Obama with their support. The problem with Beinart and those who agree with him is not so much that they would like Netanyahu replaced, but that they believe Washington should override the verdict of the Israeli electorate on the peace process. While Israelis take the views of its only superpower ally seriously, the notion that they should be dictated to on matters of war and peace is intolerable. So, too, is the idea that American Jews like Beinart, whose grasp of the nuances of Israeli society and politics is minimal, have a unique understanding of how to reform the country so as to have it conform to their own liberal vision of Zionism. As much as world Jewry has a vital stake in the preservation of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, policy decisions must be left in the hands of the people who live there.
It can be argued that the current consensus renders early elections an unnecessary distraction. But they do serve the purpose of reminding Beinart and other American Jews that Israel’s people will be presented with a clear set of choices and will then make their decisions. Liberals who would prefer a different outcome than a Netanyahu victory can go on preaching that Israel would be better served by his defeat. But once he is re-elected, they are also obligated to recognize that in a democracy, the losing side accepts the outcome. No one can claim to be a Zionist, even someone of the liberal or progressive persuasion, and claim he can reject not just the government but the Israeli people who elected it.
Israel is not perfect, and the peculiar compromises on the religious/secular divide may grate on the sensibilities of Americans. But contrary to the gloom and doom scenarios envisioned by Beinart and others who think it is heading for destruction, it is a vibrant, successful and thriving democracy. Most Israelis don’t think they need to be saved by the likes of Beinart. After the next election, he should take the hint.
"But once he is re-elected, they are also obligated to recognize that in a democracy, the losing side accepts the outcome." But will they? After all, these critics are the same types who did not want to accept the results of the 2000 and 2004 elections in the US, and who think that when the American voters (or their representatives in Congress) disagree with their supreme wisdom, it's proof that the American political system is broken.
I agree with the analysis, but you give far too much credit to Beinart by continuously "debunking" his flawed critique. I know in the Washington/NY echo chamber Beinart's book and J Street are all the rage, but in the rest of the world, and especially in Israel, no one really cares what a whiny American journalist thinks Israel should do. The critique of his book and his general perspective has been ably made, here and elsewhere, and at this point the constant articles just fuel his perceived importance.
I agree with ahadhaamoratism on this one. They will blame the results on "settlers", religious fanatics, Russian immigrants, Mizrachi Jews, etc. Not "their" kind of people.
Definitely, attempts will be made to place the blame on some "retrograde" group in the Israeli electorate. But the reality is that the Israeli left is moribund and bankrupt. The Jewish left in the US cannot process this fact. The fact that American politics resembles a subadult playpen reinforces this incomprehension. n nandog222 is right: outside the Washington-New York-Harvard corridor, Beinart and JStreet are barely noticeable. Such people keep pushing failed policies from another era as if nothing has happened. n nLiberal Jews in the US live in a fantastic cocoon of heavily filtered news media and general lack of awareness of the outside world. They're out of touch with world Jewry and with reality. Israelis live in a more open, competitive political culture than America's, with a freer press, and they know the score on the Middle East. For them, lectures from the likes of JStreet and Beinart are pompous distractions.
Perhaps Beinart thinks he gets a vote? Because unless and until he's an Israeli citizen, I don't believe he does. Of course he's free to follow that path if he's so inclined. But that would mean he'd never go to another cocktail party again.
Whoa, Bibi doesn't command some overwhelming support for Herut ideology, history, or culture. What he has been adept at, and extraordinarily adept as he has matured as a politician is to position the some 30-35 mandates the Likud commands at the center of the Israeli political spectrum of the day. Israel is a multi-party government and the contest there is not 'for" or "against" Bibi. Framed in those terms: who votes for the LIkud and who against, who votes "for" Bibi and who "against" he loses in every election cycle he participates in.
"No one can claim to be a Zionist, even someone of the liberal or progressive persuasion, and claim he can reject not just the government but the Israeli people who elected it." n nNonsense! Just say after Humpty Dumpty, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” Then feel free to define a "Zionist" so as to include those who have no objection to a Jewish presence in the Holy Land, but cannot abide by the notion of a Jewish sovereignty there, and you can call yourself a progressive Zionist. Then feel free to calumniate, as some do, against those who believe that the state of Israel is the apotheosis of Zionism, calling them "nationalists," "ultranationalists," "right-wingers," "hasbarists", etc. And in your spare time write letters to the New York Times that start, "As a Jew…," imagining that you are a moral exemplar who rises above Jewish "particularism." (Examples upon request.)
dcdoc – As you say. And as part of the "etc.", let's not forget "Likudnik", "the AIPAC Crowd", and the "Jewish Establishment".