“The debate we’re having right now is a century in the making... It’s time for Israel to choose”
Israel’s 75th Independence Day last week should have been a cause for celebration. It wasn’t.
Israel’s Jews now are at war with each other. Even on Remembrance Day for Israel’s war dead, which immediately precedes Independence Day, scuffles broke out between families at a number of cemeteries. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pulled out of a scheduled speech to the World Zionist Organization, after it became clear that hecklers would make it impossible for him to be heard.
All the societal red lines have been crossed. Refusals to obey orders in the IDF and a deliberate (and successful) attempt to lower Israel’s credit rating have become legitimate tools of politics. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, an El Al pilot lectured a captive audience of passengers that dictatorships, like Israel is in danger of becoming, are responsible for events like the Holocaust.
In an excellent article in Tablet, Liel Leibowitz summarized how the months of demonstrations have long since passed from “the realm of the political to the metaphysical,” and “soft appeals to brotherhood and shared destiny aren’t likely to resolve [the conflict]. The debate we’re having right now is a century in the making, and the only way out is to go through it. It’s time for Israel to choose.”
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