The Movement for Reform Judaism

I have close friends in Jerusalem whom I regard as a pretty accurate litmus test of Israeli public opinion. That sounds insulting – Mr and Mrs Average or, even worse, Mr and Mrs Ordinary – and they are the last people I would want to insult. Let me explain. Ephraim is a hard working dentist from a large North African family. Ann is from Highgate and made aliyah more than thirty years ago. They have four children, two boys and two girls, aged from 29 to 21 who have all been through the army. They live in Jerusalem but they are neither dati nor hiloni, neither orthodox nor secular. Their politics tend to be centrist.

I spoke to Ann a few days ago and I have never heard her more depressed about the situation. She no longer enjoys living in Israel. She worries endlessly about what the future holds for her four children who are absolutely committed Zionists. All she wants is for them to live their lives in peace and security. That seems to her to be further away than ever before.

“We’ve got no leadership”, she says. “There’s no one you can trust. There’s no one with any vision. I can’t see any hope”.

I’ve known Ann for thirty-five years and I’ve never heard that before.

Many of the people I talked to when the war in the north came to a halt were pretty cynical. But there were those and they included myself, who saw a glimmer of hope. Perhaps the population of South Lebanon would now distance themselves from Hezbollah. After all, Hezbollah had not exactly brought them safety and prosperity. Perhaps the Lebanese government would take full control of their own country. Perhaps the United Nations Force would prevent Hezbollah rearming. Perhaps those horrified by the war would pressurise Ehud Olmert into talking to his enemies. Perhaps we would get a significant withdrawal from the West Bank and one that is not unilateral. After all, we had come closer to the abyss than ever and the rule of thumb is that people will do the sensible thing after they have exhausted all other possibilities.

But there has not been a shred of good news and, as so often with me, optimism triumphed over realism and good sense. Things would appear to be temporarily quiet in South Lebanon but we have not seen a single sign of the Lebanese government asserting its independent authority or of Iran and Syria changing their policies of seeking power in the Arab world through using terrorist organisations to destroy Israel.

Israel has continued both its policy of refusing to talk to its enemies and its relentless pursuit of those resorting to violence in Gaza. The situation in Gaza has continued to deteriorate with deprivation and hatred increasing. Israel has continued to fall into the traps carefully and cynically laid by Hamas.

Nor has anything happened with regard to the West Bank.

The Israeli government is paralysed. Its only ‘activity’ appears to be a continuing battle with the army over where blame for the various catastrophic failures lies. Prime Minister Olmert is unable to win backing for his policy of unilateral withdrawal and there is no sign of any other policy. Shimon Peres visited London recently and spoke of twin initiatives – the development of new weapons and techniques for fighting asymmetric warfare and the reversal of the policy of separation to create a zone of prosperity stretching from Israel’s Mediterranean coast right across to Jordon’s eastern border. But for whom did he speak?

We went on to witness one of the most extraordinary publishing events in the history of British Jewry – a Jewish Chronicle front page devoted entirely to Israeli political leaders caught up in sleaze.

Thoroughly depressed by Ann’s depression I wondered whether it could possibly get any worse.

It could.

Prime Minister Olmert brought into his government Avigdor Lieberman as Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Lieberman and his party Yisrael Beiteinu advocate the forcible relocation of Israeli Arabs and the re-drawing of Israel’s borders to make Israel a Palestinian-free zone. They call in aid the model of Cyprus in which people were expelled from homes that were rightfully theirs. They acknowledge the illegality and violence but declare that the means justify the ends.

When a fresh round of publicity drew attention to the already widely publicised views of Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu, Prime Minister Olmert dissociated himself. But he had just signed a coalition agreement and appointed Lieberman Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs. Why? Because without him, he could well lose his Knesset majority and the ensuing general election. Which reveals a preparedness to use any means possible to cling to power including going to bed with people who ought to have absolutely no place whatsoever in the government of any democratic State, let alone the State of Israel. Even though the Olmert government has no vision, no policies, no sense of a way forward and cannot provide the country with the leadership it desperately needs.

No vision, no leadership, no hope. No wonder Ann and Ephraim and their four children feel depressed.

Is there any hint of light? I can’t see one. Unless the Western powers, despite their record of colonial incompetence and disastrous Middle East strategies, together with the United Nations which brought the State of Israel into being, actually recognise their responsibilities and facilitate – if necessary, impose – a solution. I never thought I would see that as a way forward and never dreamed that would be the only ray of light. But never before have I doubted the ability of the leadership of the State of Israel to display the vision and courage necessary to secure a just and peaceful settlement for all the people of Israel.

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