What are the Jewish people famous for? Is it high fashion and fine cuisine? Sorry, that would be the French and Italians. How about killer engineering? Nope, that would be the Germans and Japanese. Maybe falafel? Heck no, we stole that from the Arabs. Professional sports? Ummmmmmmmm …
No, if you had asked me that question a dozen years ago, when I still lived in the US, I would have answered, with a certain degree of pride and without blinking an eye, that the Jewish people are famous for their intelligence and morality. Really. Then, to illustrate Jewish smarts, I would have pointed to all the brilliant Jewish minds in science, the arts, government, academia, and other learned professions; and to prove Jewish morality, I would have cited Jewish monotheism, the prophets, and in our own day, the disproportionately great Jewish contribution to the struggles for civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, social democracy, and other just causes. Still with me?
How then did Jews, upon obtaining their very own state, the political embodiment of their peoplehood – that is to say, upon becoming Israelis – how did Israelis become so stupid and cruel? Forget about the Palestinians for a moment. Yes, I know, Mondoweiss is quite rightly dedicated to the never-ending story of how badly the State of Israel is screwing the Palestinians, and I’ll return to that subject forthwith. But for a moment, let’s talk about how Israelis treat each other. They treat each other like shit. They’re loud, rude and arrogant. They’ll pull any old dirty and infantile trick to jump the line at the supermarket, cut each other off in traffic, get ahead at the office, or screw the other guy when money changes hands. They’re a bully nation and a nation of bullies, led by a shamelessly corrupt political-military-economic elite that misses no chance to feather its own nest while shafting the poor and the weak. That’s Israel today.
And if that’s how Israelis treat each other, how do you expect them to treat Palestinians?
Now, before anyone accuses me of being an over-generalizing, self-hating, anti-Semitic Jewish prick, let me make a few things spellbindingly clear. One: I’m not saying that all Israelis act like assholes all of the time. However, the percentages are off the charts. Two: I’m talking about Israelis, not Jews. The previous paragraph is not meant to describe Jews in the US, but it does describe many non-Jewish Israelis who have sucked up the general Israeli culture. Three: I’m not ascribing inherent traits to any group. I imagine Israelis could be wonderful people under very different circumstances. Four: Within Israel, my characterization of Israeli society is not very controversial. Israelis who are old enough to remember what Israel was like twenty or thirty years ago generally agree that their country has been in a period of sustained moral rot and degeneration for many years now. The collective idealism that characterized the State in its early days has been replaced by the ethic of not being a “freier,” which in practice means taking advantage of the other guy before he can take advantage of you.
I’ll leave it to sociologists and psycho-historians to figure out how exactly the Israeli national character became so rank. They can argue over the relative importance of the story of the little kid who was kicked around until finally he found someone he could kick around; the story of the young buck whose character has been warped by the opportunity, indeed the imperative, to stand on somebody else’s neck; the story of the old man whose tribal myths prevent him from caring too much about anyone outside the tribe; and so on. Whatever the causes, the beast exists.
Which is why only a tiny percentage of Israelis lose much sleep over what their country is doing to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It’s depressing but unsurprising that right wingers and religious fanatics don’t care. However, what’s really scary are the attitudes expressed by self-described secular left-wing Zionists. I’ve met plenty of “left-wing Zionists” who enjoy living in the cheap houses they bought on stolen land on the other side of the Green Line; who think it’s obvious that under any peace agreement, Israel will get to keep Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel – even though that would make the new state of Palestine look like Emmentaler cheese – because after all, whatever we grabbed we should get to keep; and who are prepared to continue the Occupation for another 40 or 60 years if that’s what it takes for the Palestinians to “see reason” and accede to Israel’s demands. That’s what passes for the mainstream political left in Israel.
Nor do I see much reason to be hopeful that the political complexion of the Israeli public will change for the better. On the contrary, national-religious and haredi Jews, with their fascist and theocratic leanings, tend to marry young and have many children, all of whom remain in Israel; while the aforementioned secular left-wingers tend to have maybe two kids, one of whom deserts Israel for greener pastures abroad.
Now the Palestine Papers have proven conclusively, for anyone who still harbored a shadow of a doubt, that Israel is the non-partner for peace, unwilling and indeed psychologically unable to conclude a fair deal with the Palestinians. This is a moment to put aside speculation and dispute about long-term political solutions – one-state, two-state, seven states (one each for settlers, haredim, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Circassians, and Tel Aviv bon tons), whatever – and focus on punishing Israel for the Occupation. To Macy Gray and any others who might be listening, I say, speaking as a Jewish Israeli: Please boycott the f**k out of my country. Don’t perform here, don’t buy Israeli products, don’t sell goods or services in Israel or invest your money here, in fact don’t even visit Israel unless you’re coming here to do serious human rights work that’ll stick a finger in the eye of the authorities.
Then, pressure your government to recognize formally the State of Palestine that includes, at least, everything within the 1967 borders. Little by little, grow that recognition and its consequences until Israel’s position becomes untenable. Let the sanctions roll.
What’s the limit? Let’s see, I seem to remember that after Iraq invaded Kuwait, some pretty powerful nations made a pretty big fuss about the unacceptability of one nation invading and occupying another. That seems appropriate.
