Where is Israel going? Two items from the Israeli Press Review, a daily email service with translations from the Israeli press, say–more right wing and more intolerant. The items: Young Israelis hold ‘extremely rightwing’ positions, per poll; and women are tossed from artillery unit to make way for Orthodox men. (Where’s Yerushalmi, with his investigations of Sharia law?)
Item 1: Girls tossed from artillery battery because Yeshiva students join the battalion:
The Yeshiva Students are Coming, so the Girls Have To Leave?
Israel Hayom (p. 21) by Lilach Shoval —
The commander of an artillery battery in Battalion 55 of the Artillery Corps informed four women combatants serving in the battalion that they had to leave the battery because yeshiva students now completing their training would be assigned to the battalion. This was revealed yesterday by Israel Radio.
At issue are three women commanders and one woman combatant, all of whom volunteered to do three years of service instead of the usual two years that girls do. They were trained as combatants and have been serving for two years along with 80 men.
Recently the battery commander summoned each of the girls separately in order to put an end to the rumor mill of the last few days, and informed them that they had to leave the battery because yeshiva student soldiers who had enlisted in March would be assigned to the battalion. The battery commander offered the girls other positions, but they said they would prefer remaining as combatants in the battalion.
Item 2: Poll Finds Teenagers Hold Right Wing Positions
Walla.co.il (online service) by Boaz Wolinitz —
Lift the blockade on Gaza ? A withdrawal from East Jerusalem ? Concede the Golan Heights ? A comprehensive poll that was conducted among 12th grade students found that Israeli teenagers have clear right wing tendencies.
A new poll whose findings were published yesterday found that young Israeli men and women on the eve of their enlistment into the IDF hold extremely right wing positions. A poll that was conducted for the sixth annual City Education Conference in Haifa questioned 1,000 teenaged boys and girls who either are about to begin the 12th grade or who graduated at the end of the last school year. The poll was conducted among the participants of an i-panel, and its results were analyzed by Professor Camil Fuchs from Tel Aviv University ’s Statistics Department.
Q: If elections were held today, for whom would you vote? Avigdor Lieberman: 17% Yair Lapid: 13% Binyamin Netanyahu: 8% Tzippi Livni: 8% Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and other rabbis: 6% Shimon Peres: 5% Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: 5% Eli Yishai: 3% Kahane, Marzel, Michael Ben-Ari: 3% Gabi Ashkenazi: 3% Moshe Kahlon: 3% Aryeh Deri: 3% Others: 24%
*** The poll found that if elections were held today, 17% of the respondents would vote for Avigdor Lieberman as prime minister. The journalist Yair Lapid came in second place with 13% of the vote, whereas Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received only 8%. …
Q: If you were to vote for a party, which party would it be? Likud: 26% Kadima: 23% Yisrael Beiteinu: 22% Jewish Home and National Union Party: 14% Shas: 12% Labor Party: 5% Meretz: 4% United Torah Judaism: 3% Independence under Ehud Barak: 0% A new party headed by Aryeh Deri: 0% Don’t know/ refused to answer: 38% **** The poll also found that a majority of teenagers hold political positions that are clearly right wing in nature. Seventy-five percent said they were opposed to lifting the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, and 60% said they believed Israel ought to pass on a peace agreement with the Palestinians if it included a return of Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem…
Professor Fuchs discussed the results of the poll with Walla and said: “It is important to underscore that the poll was conducted before the current wave of protest, but even after taking that fact into account, the right wing trend is surprising. The findings of the poll prove that the positions maintained by teenagers are far more right wing and extremist than those maintained by Yisrael Beiteinu, for example.”
Professor Fuchs also said that “it is surprising to see that the political opinions held by teenagers are leaning only in one clear direction, to the right. The findings with respect to Netanyahu’s public standing among teens resemble those among the general public, and they don’t come as much of a surprise. Teenagers’ political positions tend to become more moderate with the passage of time.”
Update: On reflection I realize my original headline, which included the line (Or Why Larry Derfner is probably glad he has an American passport) was too flippant. Apologies, but we are talking about a society, and ideology, approaching crisis. It is time American Jews wake up and try to help Israel discover democracy.
