“Out of the mouths of babes,” so the old saying goes. Children, in their naivete, are often more familiar with the truth than those jaded grown-ups talking in “grown-up” speak all around them.
But sometimes speaking the truth can also help the cynical prime minister of Israel jockeying for position in his upcoming, national elections.
Bibi is trying to woo the right. He has always been a right-winger, but he is desperately working to polish his ethnocratic-Jewish-nationalist credentials.
So, baby Bibi (aka Benjamin) Netanyahu dared to speak the truth about Israel’s institutionalized, state-run racism — Israeli democracy is not for everyone, but only for its Jewish citizens.
That’s what he said. Netanyahu was prompted to lay bare the ugly truth about life in Israel by a
posting on social media from the Israeli actress Rotem Sela. (You can read the complete story about this racial broo-haha in Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post newspapers.)
In response to a televised political interview promoting Israel’s Jewish exclusiveness, Ms. Sela wrote a social media posting saying that:
“Israel is a country for all its citizens. And every person was born equal. Arabs, too, God help us, are human beings. And so are the Druze. And so are gays, by the way, and lesbians, and…shock…leftists.”
In reply, Netanyahu uploaded a picture of himself against the backdrop of an Israeli flag, and said:
“Dear Rotem, an important correction: Israel is not a state of all its citizens.
According to the Nation-State Law that we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish People – and them alone.” (emphasis mine)
You can read about the other Israeli celebrities, including the actress who played Wonder Woman, jumping into the debate here. The article is entitled “Wonder Woman vs. Bibi.”
What I find amazing about this Israeli conversation is not the prime minister’s willingness to openly admit that Israel is NOT a nation for all its citizens. Nor am I surprised to read about celebrities giving voice to their humanitarian instincts, desiring justice and equality for all of Israel’s citizens.
What amazes me the most is the utter lack of self-understanding, the absence of any cultural or historical awareness on the part of these Israeli “liberals” who can say things as:
“Israel is a country for all its citizens. And every person was born equal. Arabs, too, God help us, are human beings.”
Really? Since when?, I wonder.
I wonder, has Ms. Sela ever lived in an Arab (read Palestinian) neighborhood, either in Israel or the Occupied Territories?
Has she seen the gross inequality for herself?
Has she ever witnessed the daily experience of Israeli Palestinians whose
schools, hospitals, trash collectors (and every other sector of public services) are dramatically under-funded in comparison to the wealthy, well-subsidized Jewish neighborhoods nearby?
Has she watched the weekly slaughter of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, innocent men, women and young people being gunned down by the beloved Israeli army?
Has she ever watched the daily dehumanization suffered by Palestinians in the West Bank as Israeli soldiers abuse them for doing nothing more than walking to school or driving to a neighbor’s house?
Sure, many resident Palestinians are technically “citizens of Israel.” But they are always second-class citizens. Just as African-Americans were second-class citizens in this country long after they had received the right to vote.
I once asked a member of an Israeli leftist organization working to end Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, how it was possible for an entire society to exist where the vast majority of the people refuse to see, or cannot see, the gross injustices daily inflicted upon its Palestinian population.
After a pause, she shook her head and said:
“Zionism has done an amazing job at branding an illusion. It’s a collective psychosis.”
So, while I admire these celebrity instincts, we also need to challenge Rotem Sela and her friends to shake off their Zionist psychosis.
To raise a ruckus, challenge, confront and overthrow the entire, elaborate, dehumanizing affair known as political Zionism, from top to bottom.
Dig down to the roots and pull it all out. It has always been rotten to the core.
