The Movement for Reform Judaism

The two Israeli politicians with most power are under heavy siege. Their main adversaries are members of their own parties and, until recently, their nominal supporters.

Amir Peretz, the Minister of Defense and Leader of the Labor Party, is facing an election next May for the leadership of his party. Of the five declared candidates to date, the polls place him last! An internal poll in the Kadima Party gave Ehud Olmert, its leader and Israel’s Prime Minister, 8% of the vote; Tsipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, got almost 50%.

Like so many under siege, the two display bizarre defense tactics. Peretz decided to impress his party, the nation, nay the whole world, by presenting a new peace plan. It’s neither original nor realizable. It’s not even worth discussing. But it suggests that final status negotiations with the Palestinians should begin just around the time that Labor Party elections are to be held. What a coincidence!

Olmert wants to show his irreplaceable role on the world stage by going to China on a state visit. He’s there now, almost alone, for he wouldn’t take any of his government colleagues with him, not even the Foreign Minister – who happens to be Tsipi Livni. It’s also customary nowadays to include a delegation of business people on a visit of this kind, especially as trade (already amounting to some four billion dollars a year) is said to be a major part of the agenda. Olmert didn’t.

He’s reported to have taken only a skeleton staff with him (plus some journalists). The term “skeleton” is appropriate in every sense of the word. The Head of his office had to stay at home, because, as a major player in the current corruption investigation linked to dirty business in the Tax Authority, she’s under house arrest. The scandal is likely to have far-reaching repercussions in the country and has overshadowed reports of the investigation of the President’s alleged rape of members of his staff. Money and privilege promises to be even more dramatic than sex and privilege.

All this doesn’t do the morale of the country much good, especially when a lot of people are wondering why, in view of the Lebanon debacle last summer, the Chief of Staff hasn’t been let go yet. Until now, Israelis felt secure, despite the threats from without, because they believed that the IDF knew how to protect us and that the politicians knew how to guide us. That’s no longer the case.

Which makes for a sense of mistrust. But not hopelessness! Many, perhaps most, Israelis believe that there are people in the land who could repair the damage that Peretz has done. They include two of the contenders for his post, Ami Ayalon and Ehud Barak. The former has been the Head of Israel’s navy and its security organization. The latter may have failed as Prime Minister, but nobody doubts his military competence.

All agree that as essential as the IDF is for Israel, peace needs not only defense but also diplomacy. Tsipi Livni has shown herself to be creative, original and effective and would be so much more if the Prime Minister let her. Though it’s difficult to see either Kadima (Olmert & Co) or Labor (Peretz & Co) surviving the next general election, different leaders in each could do much to restore confidence among the voters and thus even prevent the return of a right-wing government, elected not on its merits but on the failures of those currently in power.

Jerusalem 9.1.07

Dow Marmur

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