|
|
August 10, 2001/Av 21, 5761, Vol. 53, No.44
Toeing the right-wing line is risky
JOSEPH AARON
Chicago Jewish News
Dear Diary,
Here's something I never thought I would say.
I feel bad for Ariel Sharon.
Here's something else I never thought I would say.
Ariel Sharon is doing a pretty good job.
As you know, dear diary, I was not at all happy that Sharon was elected prime minister of Israel. And yet, irony of ironies, good old bead-wearing, peace process-loving leftist me is pretty happy with the job he's done.
Indeed, I find the restraint he has shown to not only be admirable, but downright statesmanlike. He truly has risen to the occasion and to the awesome job that he holds.
It hasn't been easy, but he's done it. And, indeed, his life as a daredevil soldier, which worried some of us before he took over, has proven to be exactly the background that has had him understand that war is not a word that should be tossed around lightly, as so many brave right-wingers in Brooklyn and in Jewish suburbs throughout America like to do.
Sharon knows what war is about, has seen war and its consequences and so knows its cost and devastation.
Which is why he has acted as he has.
For which I give him much credit. Especially considering his betraying backers.
When Sharon went up to the Temple Mount last September, they cheered, saw him as the Jewish hero, asserting our rights as that old softy Ehud Barak was ready to give away every last falafel stand in Jerusalem.
When Sharon was running for prime minister, they wanted more than anything that he win. They saw him as Israel's salvation, as the man who would rescue the Jewish state from destruction.
When Sharon was elected, they were beside themselves with joy. Their guy was in power, and they couldn't be happier. He saw things as they did, he was Mr. Tough, he was known for smashing first and asking questions later.
And yet, only months later, they have turned on him with viciousness previously reserved for Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
A right-wing minister in Sharon's own Cabinet compared the Sharon government to the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis. At a recent meeting of the Likud Central Committee, Sharon, party leader, was loudly booed and verbally attacked by his own people, right-wingers, those who thought his election was God's way of saving Israel.
That's the trouble with right-wingers. Everything with them is black and white. There are no grays, there are no other sides, there are no legitimate differences of opinion. Everything has to be done their way, no matter what, because they, and only they, are right and know everything, including the way God wants things. Everybody hates the Jews, everything is a reason to go to war.
And anybody who isn't as rigid and arrogant and self-righteous as they are, should be destroyed. Even if it's Ariel Sharon.
They should be ashamed of themselves. But if they were capable of shame, they wouldn't be who they are.
For reasons way beyond me, lots of right-wing Jews, right-wing both politically and religiously, like George W. Bush.
They were happy he won, since he's against abortion and for giving money to their schools.
They said this man won't push Israel, won't get all mushy about trying to bring peace like that obsessive Bill Clinton did. W., they said, is really a friend of Israel.
Well, guess again, right-wingers. Last month, the great friend of Israel, President W., sat there as his dad, Bush the first, called Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to assure him that his son knew which side his oil was buttered on.
Seems that Abdullah had expressed concern that "the administration was too close" to Israel. And so Bush's daddy called Abdullah to reassure him that W.'s "heart is in the right place" and that he is "going to do the right thing."
Meaning, relax Abdullah, my boy's not too pro-Israel. I raised him better than that.
Nice. I don't know what it's going to take for right-wingers to understand who is truly a friend of Israel.
Well, please note that not only did we have Bush Sr. make nice to the Saudis as W. sat there, but in his short time in office, W. has also reneged on his frequent and clear promises to move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; and has backed a move to have international monitors sent to Israel, something Israel has always strongly opposed.
That's the Jewish stuff. But his attempts to blur the line between church and state with his faith-based scheme should also be of much concern to Jews, since it is that line that has served us so well and since any blurring of it inevitably hurts us most.
Dear Diary, remember when I was telling you about how right-wing Jews believe they are always right? Well, two right-wing Jews brought that home to me in a way even beyond what I thought possible.
The first was the head of an outfit called Camera, which sees anti-Semitism in every paragraph of every article in every American newspaper. She recently wrote a scathing story about, get ready for this, Israeli journalists writing for Israeli newspapers.
I couldn't believe it. It's one thing not to agree with someone's political views, but it's another to accuse Jewish writers for Israeli newspapers of being Arab-loving anti-Semites. And yet, that's what she did. She labels several Jewish journalists living in Israel and working for Israeli newspapers as anti-Semites simply because they happen to support the peace process.
And, there's the right-wing rabbi who recently wrote a long editorial calling what is going on in Israel today "the Second Holocaust." You heard right, the Second Holocaust.
How dare he desecrate the memory of the six million by comparing what happened under the Nazis to what is going on today? And how sick is he to convey such an image, which would logically lead to the most extreme of Jewish responses?
Exactly the kind of response the right-wingers so want Sharon to make. Bomb the hell out of them. Kill Arafat. Destroy the Palestinian Authority. Send the tanks in and take the West Bank cities back.
Their assessment of reality is beyond bizarre, their solution beyond sick. And when Sharon, thank God, doesn't buy into it, they savage him, their own guy, their former hero.
Dear Diary, I love right-wingers as I do all Jews, and I respect their views as I do those of all Jews. But what I don't like and can't accept about right-wingers is that they don't extend those same basic Jewish courtesies to Jews with whom they disagree. Like me. And Ariel Sharon.
Joseph Aaron is editor/publisher of the Chicago Jewish News.
|
