Opinion

August 2, 2011

David Suissa: Fair-weather Zionists

By David Suissa

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What do you do if an annoying and exasperating friend gets in trouble and really needs your help? And what do you do if that friend is also a blood relative, like Israel? I often ask myself that question about progressive, pro-Israel Jews who are furious at the direction in which their beloved Israel is going.

Is there a point when they will just decide to “dump” Israel?

I got a sobering answer last week when I read in Haaretz about a Jew whose “resume reads like a love poem to the world of Jewish activism.” According to the article by Adam Chandler, this Jew has been “an extremely visible advocate for progressive Israeli and Jewish causes as well as an outspoken watchdog against anti-Semitism.”

It turns out that a few weeks ago, this progressive, pro-Israel Jewish activist, Daniel Sieradski, announced to his 2,400 followers on Twitter that he had had enough.

“I’ve decided that after 10 years of fighting for a progressive Israeli course correction, that our efforts are futile,” he wrote in June. “I officially give up. As the Jewish nation proceeds to march off a cliff, I will now go back to caring about everything else I cared about before Israel.”

Sayonara, Israel. I’m done with you, and I will make sure all my followers know that I’m done with you.

As Chandler warns us: “Considering Sieradski’s large following and his pioneer status, one might expect his declaration to precipitate a similar wave of emotional and ideological disengagement from Israel by other young, like-minded American Jews.”

But in Chandler’s view, Israel had it coming: “It’s no surprise that progressives are disillusioned. The continuing expansion of settlements and the Boycott Law are manifestations of trends in Israel that make it increasingly difficult for many of us to speak in its favor in public forums abroad, on college campuses, even at kitchen tables.”

Well, what do you readers think? Does Israel really have it coming? Has it screwed up so badly that it deserves to be “dumped” by disappointed Jewish progressives?

I took that question to my friend Gerald Bubis’ house last week, where he was hosting a salon in honor of Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund.

After hearing Sokatch rattle off a long list of progressive projects that his organization supports in Israel — programs dealing with civil and human rights, social and economic justice, religious pluralism and tolerance, Israeli Arabs and Bedouin citizens, the environment and women’s rights — the only question on my mind was: Is Sieradski out of his mind? Has he not seen the progressive activity happening all over Israel?

Sokatch didn’t try to hide his dismay with some recent decisions by the Israeli government. But the extraordinary effect of his presentation was this: Government policy notwithstanding, there’s a whole lot of democratic action going on in Israel.

In fact, I think a great PR idea to engage young liberal Jews would be to have Sokatch go on college campuses and talk about how his group is helping advance progressive efforts in Israel: helping disadvantaged children of immigrants integrate into Israeli society; promoting empowerment activities for women and youth in Arab villages; providing legal help to establish and protect civil and human rights throughout the country; advancing the status of Jewish women whose rights have been violated by religious laws; helping protect the environment in the Galilee; and so on.

Sure, critics on the right have accused the New Israel Fund of supporting groups with anti-Israel views — but that kind of extreme liberalism is even more of a reason for progressives like Sieradski not to jump the Zionist ship.

Even a paper like the Los Angeles Times, while reporting on the Boycott Law, tried to keep things in perspective: “Examples of free speech in Israel are easy to find. Arab-Israeli lawmakers frequently attack the government as ‘racist’ on the Knesset floor … newspaper pundits don’t hesitate to launch character attacks against the prime minister.”

So, here’s my question. You’re a progressive supporter of Israel and you see the government doing things that really upset you. What do you look at — the government’s mistakes or the “corrective mechanism” that’s working on the ground to correct these mistakes? Do you get demoralized by the faults or rejuvenated by the freedom to fight these faults?

When you look at the thousands of people protesting right now throughout Israel, many of them sleeping in tents, do you think only of criticizing the government or do you also think of helping the protesters?

Someone like Sokatch looks at Israel’s faults and says, “What can I do to help?” Someone like Sieradski, after years of helping, now looks at Israel’s faults and says, “What can I do but bail?”

The truth is, Israel is a mess in progress. It is a country surrounded by enemies that has nevertheless created a civil society like no other in the Middle East. For all its many faults, there is a restless energy to make things better — what Sokatch calls “democracy in action.”

Progressive Zionists who don’t appreciate this duality, and who end up bailing on Israel, are like friends who only love you when you’re not around.

A version of this article appeared in print.

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No David ,these progressive Zionists who want their way or the highway are immature anti-democratic individuals. They are not willing to do the hard work of democracy. They believe that their wisdom is superior to everyone else’s experience. Those Progressive Zionists who don’t appreciate this duality, and who end up bailing on Israel, are the equivalent of any other totalitarians who believe that they are born to rule us lesser people.

Comment by HOWARD LAITIN on 8/02/11 at 9:57 pm

HELLO HOWARD LAITIN- my name is liron and I am a Zionist.
I believe that the Jewish people established itself in the Land of Israel, albeit somewhat late. Had it listened to the alarm clock, there would have been no Holocaust, and my dead grandfather – the one I was named after – would have been able to dance a last waltz with grandma on the shores of the Yarkon River.

Comment by lauren on 8/03/11 at 2:16 am

I am a zionist.
I was in Sderot when the Color Red anti-rocket alert system was activated, terrorists blew themselves up not too far from my parents’ house, and my children stayed in a bomb shelter before they even knew how to pronounce their own name, clinging to a grandmother who arrived here from Poland to escape death. Yet nonetheless, I always felt fortunate to be living here, and I don’t really feel good anywhere else.

Comment by lauren on 8/03/11 at 2:22 am

I am a zionst
I sometimes look around me and become filled with pride, because me and every citizen in Israel (including arabs) live better (and with more rights) than a billion Indians, 1.3 billion Chinese, the entire African continent, more than 250 million Indonesians, and also better than the Thais, the Filipinos, the Russians, the Ukrainians, and the entire Muslim world, with the exception of the Sultan of Brunei.
I live in a country under siege that has no natural resources, yet nonetheless the traffic lights always work and we have high-speed connection to the Internet.

Comment by lauren on 8/03/11 at 2:27 am

People who claim that they, and only they, represent the “real Zionism” are ridiculous in my view. My Zionism is not measured by the size of my kippa (most of us don’t have one), by the neighborhood where I live, or by the party I will be voting for (the majority hate liberman). It was born a long time before me, on a snowy street in the ghetto where my grandfather stood and attempted, in vain, to understand why the entire world is trying to kill him.

Comment by lauren on 8/03/11 at 2:32 am

I am a zionist.
Every time an innocent victim dies (no matter he’s a jew or not), I bow my head because once upon a time I was an innocent victim. I have no desire or intention to adopt the moral standards of my enemies. I do not want to be like them.
I believe everyone who live in israel should be equal, jews and non- jews, men and women, seculars and religious…  and 89% of the Zionist in Israel think like me!!!

Comment by lauren on 8/03/11 at 2:38 am

I AM AZIONIST!
The people who established this state lived and worked under much worse conditions than I have to face, yet nonetheless they did not make do with mere survival. They also attempted to establish a better, wiser, more humane, and more moral state here. They were willing to die for this cause, and we try to live for its sake.

Sometimes it’s hard. But we never abandon the attempt to give democratic, humane and equal life for everyone living in Israel.

thanx:)

Comment by lauren on 8/03/11 at 2:43 am

Out of curiosity, have you ever met or spoken with Dan Sieradski? And have you ever spoken with young American Jews who aren’t considered Jewish by the state of Israel? What about young Israeli Jews who gave up on Israel to move to the US or Europe in search of a place where they could get married or buried without having unwanted religious leadership imposed on them? This is not just a question of young Jews “rejecting” or “giving up on” Israel - Israel has been actively rejecting and giving up on young Jews as well, and it’s important to realize that.

Comment by Michal on 8/03/11 at 6:01 am

kol hakavod David with 200,000 israelis protesting on the streets here and 85% of israelis in surveys supporting their calls for “social justice” (tzedek chevrati) and medina revacha (welfare state) liberal american jews should be jumping with joy as israelis show they want a government right in line with what they call jewish values in the public sphere. But their silence is deafening. How about an ad in the nytimes from those liberals expressing support?

Comment by l wineman on 8/03/11 at 7:54 am

interesting to see what those that think republicans are more zionist have to say as the Israeli citizenry rallies around protests led by community organizers calling for social justice and a larger welfare state….hmmmmmm and please before telling me it isnt so,take a look at the israeli media

Comment by lwineman on 8/03/11 at 11:37 am

Lwineman, let me submit that the problems in Israel is SOCIALSM. The pain you see is the results of centralized economy controlled by a group of 20 oligarchs who have used the amazing powers of successively inept socialist governments who control every aspect of your life, to create a distorted economy. Israel today is more socialistic than the USA will ever be; it’s the wet dream of American progressives like you. I am one of many who left Israel because of the thing you adore so much. Many of us are Kibbutzniks who were suffocating under the weight of socialism to the point we could not take it any more.

Comment by Avi on 8/03/11 at 12:55 pm

The housing pain is real, created not by the free-market, but by the corrupt Israeli Land Authority, a governmental bureaucracy which own 93% of the land and puts citizens through administrative and financial hell. The cottage cheese – because of archaic centralized planning, which makes government-subsidized milk producers dump raw milk in order to maintain price level; and dairies who divide the market between themselves and conspire to stifle competition with the help of the government.

Comment by Avi on 8/03/11 at 12:56 pm

Yes, there is real pain. GDP/capita in Israel is $30k; so why are Israelis complaining? Answer: Big government and confiscatory policies which tax the hell out of them to the point that not enough is left to live on. They don’t get to enjoy the fruit of their work. This frustration has been exploited by progressives like you, funded by NIF to promote their socialistic utopia and get rid of Netanyahu. Read the protest signs Mr. lwineman. They are about removing Netanyahu, about providing FREE housing (in Tel Aviv, no less), FREE diapers, FREE childcare, cheap food, return of Gilad Shalit, against the occupation, FREE everything, AGAINST everything. Lwineman, you are clueless.

Comment by Avi on 8/03/11 at 12:59 pm

Here is the product of Israeli tax-the-rich socialism : AK was a successful Israeli entrepreneur who decided after many years in the USA to return to Israel. The plan was to start a new venture in the hospitality industry in the job-starved Galilee region. He managed to raise $25 million in capital to start. With the help of the JNF they secured the land, and the project was ready to go, and they moved to Israel. When Israeli Land Authority heard of this group and their raised capital, they decided to reach into their deep pockets. They levied heavy taxes on them. Shocked by this unexpected level of taxation, the American investors pulled out of the deal.

Comment by Ronen on 8/03/11 at 1:21 pm

[Cont] The project dies in its infancy. The Land Authority dod not get its pound of flesh. The Galilee area still suffers from unemplyment. AK tried other things, but lost everything he had. He declared bankruptcy, returned a few years ago to LA. He’s now rebuilding his life.

Comment by Ronen on 8/03/11 at 1:24 pm

How wonderful that Sieradski’s comments are already now out-dated.  I wonder what he has to say about the inspiring tent revolution now going on at Rothschild Blvd. in Tel Aviv and across the nation.

Comment by shani on 8/03/11 at 10:31 pm

Lwineman, let me submit that the problems in Israel is SOCIALSM.

those 20 family oliarchs are very rich “tycoonim” and very much capitalists the problem is not socialism its that bibi’s privatization created phony crony capitalism and the ILA has helped those same non socialist tycoonim.
everyone on the streets knows this israel is neither socialist nor free market it is crony capitalist with interlocking ownerships that would be illegal in the US
read the business press in israel it’s documented everyday

Comment by lwineman on 8/04/11 at 11:05 am

How is it possible not to look at Israel and not feel pride and sense of human accomplishment? 25% of Israelis are Arabs with freedom, liberty, economic and social benefits superior to anywhere in the world, not to mention the sad Arab world. Where is it in the world that Jews & Arabs live better than they are in Israel? What is the Jewish population in the Arab world? May be the unhappy Zionists should try to work with Arabs nations to improve “Jewish living” amongst them, that’s if Arabs are even willing to talk to any Zionist. Remember, Zionists are dogs & pigs that need to be exterminated. Progressives need to concentrate their energy on Arabs to “heal the world”.

Comment by Ed Angeels on 8/04/11 at 12:56 pm

Lwineman: You ignored all the facts I mentioned above. Def Capitalism: An economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit, usually in competitive markets. (1) You have just described all the ailments of Israel centralized economy and you call it “capitalism”. Do you understand the economic definition of “competitive market” at all? (2) When 93% of the land is government owned, is that your idea of “capitalism”?

Comment by Avi on 8/04/11 at 1:48 pm

(3) Socialism has brought Israel to its knees when then Finance Minister Netanyahu restored its economy from the abyss during the al-Aqsa Intifada by liberalizing it.  (4) So in your view, Israel needs more socialism. Hence, make the people, mostly middle class, pay even more taxes. You know my friend: The people now camping in the streets are those who the state has already decided not eligible for Gov. assistance.  Now you want them to pay even more taxes. You are unbelievable. This must be some progressive logic.

Comment by Avi on 8/04/11 at 1:49 pm

“I am convinced that the path to a new, better and possible world is not capitalism, the path is socialism.”—Hugo Chavez

Comment by Truth Teller on 8/04/11 at 5:17 pm

“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”—Alexis de Tocqueville

Comment by Truth Teller on 8/04/11 at 5:20 pm

once again the “experts” on israel writing from their living rooms in the US with minimal knowledge of israel or hebrew are opining. Here’s a reality check:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/netanyahu-s-anti-churchillian-policy-weakens-israeli-society-1.376869

I figure at least 400,000 will be on the streets here sat night, the protesters have an 85% support in every poll of Israelis but the tea partiers in america know better
one ? all that subsidized govt built housing in the territories….is that socialism ? over the same time there was no subsidized housing built in the tlv area=capitalism i guess

Comment by lwineman on 8/04/11 at 11:48 pm

I’m getting tired of those spoiled Americcan Jewish mllenials, gen x, y, z, whatever. Talk about whining children. Look, if Israel offends your tender senibilities then either convert to Islam or make aliya, grab a rifle, and stand a watch. Then you can say whatever you want. If not, give it a rest already. It’s boring.

Comment by Bill Pearlman on 8/05/11 at 6:25 am

Sigh. I am exhausted.
Pearlman, you win. Thanks

Comment by Avi on 8/05/11 at 9:33 am

No point arguing with sick minds.

Comment by Truth Teller on 8/05/11 at 9:35 am

All the out of power Israeli parties will use the issue to try to get into power. All the left media will try to use it to pressure Bebe.  It won’t work.  Bebe will figure out a solution.  This is what happens when a government spends all its time on the PA distraction.  Israel should take their stupid ball away by simply annex the whole territory, let the Arabs vote for governors and mayors and get back to running the country. It can be called the Arab Province. Let them go suck a bullet if they don’t like it. Who let them call it other than the Land of Israel anyway?

Comment by Abbushuki on 8/06/11 at 10:26 pm

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