The verdict against teaching evolution, in the Scopes trial, was delivered in
July 1925. The Levy Report concluding that Israel’s administration of occupied
lands in the West Bank is not an occupation was delivered in July 2012. Between
these two events, a certain symmetry may be found, according to Zeev Sternhell. [Haaretz: The Dream Has Vanished, With the Left’s Help]
By enlightened contemporaries, says Sternhell, “Levy’s learned conclusions will
be treated in the rest of the world just like those rulings once handed down by
village courts concerning evolution and the origin of man.”
These words come with authority and with disturbing force from Sternhell, who
is among the preeminent historians of mid-twentieth century Fascism and the
anti-Enlightenment ideologies of the nineteenth century. And the comparison may
run deeper than the parallel between two embarrassing judgments of law. The
Bible Belt in America, with its mystique of a chosen race on chosen land, bears
a close resemblance to the settler belt in Israel. Both evangelical orthodoxies
are driven by a profound hostility to the secular society that nourished them.
Both, by their unbending unity, have conquered major political parties. In the
case of Israel, Sternhell argues, the conquest of the state itself by the
settler movement is almost complete.
“the survey published on the front page of Haaretz earlier this week confirms what is already clear from our daily experience–that a majority of Israelis are not deterred by apartheid. In the wake of a continuous ideological effort of an entire generation, the right wing has ultimately succeeded in endowing society with its values: If it were to annex the territories, it would not annex the human beings living there. The Arabs would remain with the status of a population that is no longer occupied because the territories–according to what Levy stated–are not occupied territories, and they will merely be the dust of humanity, without identity or rights.”
We think of such a catastrophe as a sudden blow. On the contrary, Sternhell
implies, it can steal on a country unawares, like a thoughtless daily chore.
Before its meaning has quite emerged, it puts conscience to sleep and leaves
its traces everywhere in the common life.
“the nationalistic and messianic settlement ideology has spread like an oil
spill, until it reached the point that we are currently at: The dream of a
liberal and open society has vanished and the rug is fast being pulled from under the feet of sane Zionism. The only question now is whether we have already reached the point of no return, or whether there still remains one minute before midnight.”
How close are Americans to a similar collapse? In Israel, says Sternhell, acceptance of apartheid has become normal, as few persons a decade ago would have predicted.
In America, acceptance of a state at permanent war is now almost normal. We
have, perhaps, ten minutes before midnight–as, in the middle of one big war
and with one just ended and the aftershocks tingling from our last “kinetic
military action,” we are drawn insistently toward a next and a larger war with
another of Israel’s neighbors. And drawn, once again, by the same forces, in
Israel and America. Two bible belts and the people who know how to use them.
If the so-called liberal Zionists and their friends in the USA read this, their minds might be opened. The march of Fascism is not limited to Israel, and the USA’s anti-terrorism crusade (and attendant changes to laws and legal practice — see
Cert. Pet. in HolyLand Foundation case — show Fascism making an impressive march in the USA as well, and not just in the antediluvian south.
This all goes way back, of course. I had a look recently at Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World, written in connection with the Salem witch trials, where he says that the American colonies were lands reclaimed from the devil.
A good article by Mr. Bromwich. However, I would argue that he is mistaken in two significant ways.
First, demographics. The bible belt may have higher birthrates than secular whites, but they are still lower than for hispanics. And add to this continuous immigration.
Israel has a very high birthrate. Discounting Gaza, it can probably increase its chances substantially over the long run if it does ethnic cleansing by attrition, which seems to be the favoured plan as of now(on display in East Jerusalem).
Second, political potency. The Republican party has never quite acquiesced to the evangelicals. George Bush Jr courted them, and in symbolic decisions like stem cell research, he gave away minor crumbs off the table. In the larger scope of things, he, like most other Republican presidents, did not give them what they wanted.
And the Republican party is just one party. In Israel, you have across-the-board concensus. The Settlers don’t get the crumbs; they are represented at all levels of government. Bibi’s closest political ally is a settler, Lieberman.
And even those out of government tirelessly advocate on behalf of the settlements, like Labor’s Yachimovich spirited defence of Ariel, the Apartheid outpost.
Therefore, the comparison between the both is weak. In Israel, the settler belt is far stronger and supported by all parties. It isn’t a movement – it is a political center.
Liberal Zionists need to come to grips with this. And then confront their own support for Apartheid, without the rationalizations.
Irish broadcaster Vincent Browne called an antisemite by Israeli embassy for saying that
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/i-am-not-antisemitic-claims-vincent-browne-3276074.html
“Israel is the cancer in foreign affairs. It polarises the Islamic community of the world against the rest of the world,”
while Rahm Emanuel tells Israel that O has isolated Iran from the world
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/rahm-emanuel-to-haaretz-thanks-to-obama-iran-is-isolated-from-the-world.premium-1.472638
“Emanuel replies that President Obama has been “a very good friend of Israel” on each of the key issues concerning the two countries’ relationship: The peace process, Iran, the Arab spring, military cooperation and common values.
On Iran, Emanuel said that “there is an appreciation of Israel’s sense of threat of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon – and when he (Obama) went into the Oval office, when it came to Iran and the international community, America was isolated – in three and a half years, the tables have been turned, and Iran is isolated from the world. That’s because of the leadership of the President.””
The Israeli settler movement probably thinks that the settlement program is not a “legitimate rape” and that therefore the Palestinians (and the world) must accept the natural consequences of the program. Of course, with zealots, it is hard to persuade them that their zealous doings are “rape” at all.
The American Zionists probably take their lessons from ostriches.