Mar 31 2009
Israel’s New Government
The New Face of Israel to the World: Avigdor Lieberman as Foreign Minister, the new Prime Minister looks on with admiration? Fear?
Here is the new government linuep, and here is Avnery’s analysis of Israel’s new government. Quotable quotes by Lieberman proposing nuking Gaza and drowning Palestinian prisoners in the Dead Sea, here, and here. Records on Lieberman’s conviction for beating up a boy who fought with his son can be found here.
This will be interesting. Everything has consequences, and the scientific laws of causality, the literary insight of poetic justice, and the religious ideas of karma, or poked avon avot, the sins of one generation visited on the next, all have their place here. The sins of suicide bombing in Jerusalem gave rise to Netanyahu the first time, which in turn destroyed the peace process and caused the Intifada of 2000, which in turn gave rise to the Wall and the imprisonment of the West Bank and Gaza, which in turn gave us the rocket age in which almost every Israeli family feels threatened and in the mood to vote right wing, which has in turn given us Avigdor Lieberman. Everything has consequences in the causal connections of violence and injustice going back to the very beginning of the Arab/Jewish relationship in Palestine. And everyone is responsible.
The ancient rabbinc idea of kol yisrael areivim zeh lo’zeh, that every Jew is responsible for the behavior and fate of every other Jew, really should be extended to the family of man. We are all as human beings responsible for each other, in every one of our interpersonal, economic and political choices, every day. Because everything we do affects changes that impel others to do what they do, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. And I say, what many of us increasingly feel, that Israel and the Arab world, are driving each other off a cliff. And the car they are driving in is called ‘irresponsibility’. Let’s see how the cycle continues. It certainly will be interesting.
3 Responses to “Israel’s New Government”
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Fear has driven Israel to the right and injustice & lost rights drove Palestinians to the right. Now we became dealing with people having one vision with low to zero possibilities of changes in their agendas.
The game has became about showing the world, the other side, and eachothers who can record more scores to fool the others and enjoy glory that is built on big slogans and speeches.
Dear Hiba, your comments are always wise and heartfelt. I share your frustration, and it proves once again that no matter how much leaders pretend to be leaders they merely follow the mob, for the most part, and it is up to us to try to lead people away from injustice and violence, one relationship at a time, and only then expect the leaders to follow.
Marc,
We can see the car of ‘irresponsibility’ and feel the fear inside us, as Hiba says “The game has became about showing the world, the other side, and each other who can record more scores to fool the others and enjoy glory that is built on big slogans and speeches.” which is where we all trapped.
The media of how it promotes and analyzes ideas can have an impact as to what you see see. If you see it as a zero-sum game, then you expect one side to be victorious and the other side to be proved as evil driven. this is a dangerous game.
So how can we see Liberman and Netanyahu beyond their “Evil” image of a grown man who hit a child or a person who pushed the button for El-Aqza intifada?
your comment about leaders who are falling to be manifestations of mob desire for revenge happened to any so will Liberman and Netanyahu. As “elected”, they are trapped now in the public forces and the international forces.
So some of their acts may be harmful, and cause death and instability but they also build up the next swing of the “right/left” propaganda in Israel and Palestine societies.
so as activists of change, we may find it hard to just sit and watch, there many things we can and should do in our societies (Hiba in Palestine, us in Israel and you in the American society) to make the next swing the final one, that will enable a breakthrough actions.
so We can see that Netanyahu’s “economical peace” ideas are not final solutions but they can play in the development of the moderate Palestinians to build their political system hopefully integrate the “Hamas” and “Fatah” and enable the young to be more influential. this is something US and Europe can support.
I can also see positive side with Liberman “stiffness” and pro- settelmets voice. he will serve us for breaking the current government because his extreme ideas about Arabs and jewish-”ethno-centric” interpretation of Israeli citizenship will easily bring this government to conflicts.
for activist it is important to protect themselves for ideas that such people can bring end to the conflict, we need to create new metaphors and new language for dealing with temporary/surface events as this government and other “conflict support” events.