Netanyahu: Lead, follow or get out of the way

The right of the Jews “to be a free people in our own land” should no longer be subject to debate. No effort should be spared in rendering challenges to Jewish nationhood and sovereignty entirely taboo. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed bill to enshrine Israel’s Jewish status in Israel’s Basic Laws does nothing to further that goal, however. Indeed, it may undermine it. 

The bill proposed by Netanyahu comes on the heels of a long string of failures. Hamas, having paralyzed Tel Aviv and emptied the northern Negev with its rockets during the summer, is still able to attack at a moment’s notice, assured that Western nations will fall over one another to pay for its war tab and/or recognize an as-yet nonexistent Palestine. Netanyahu’s deal to free Gilad Shalit has created an incentive for Palestinians to commit further kidnappings, including those that triggered this most recent war. Jerusalem, which Netanyahu routinely assures us is Israel’s “eternal and undivided capital,” is more fractured and unsafe for Jews than at any point in recent memory. Meanwhile, the Israeli economy continues to pamper the very few while suffocating the many. The ultra-Orthodox are being enfranchised in word only, sectarian demagogy (on all sides) is now mainstream politics, and Israeli Arabs who could mend ties with the majority — including the heroic Druze community — are being largely neglected.

Closer to home, those of us fighting for Israel’s good name against a fast-succeeding propaganda jihad are left to the wolves, and the meager funds that could help turn the tides on campuses have been deemed by Netanyahu better spent on coalition bribes. And, having utterly squandered Israel’s bluff card, Netanyahu looks on, powerless and ignored, as Iran leaps toward nuclear status. Gone is the day that Israel’s leaders did much while talking little. 

If the purpose of Netanyahu’s proposed “Jewish state” law is to deflect attention from his failures, then it is already a blinding success. If its purpose is to oust Netanyahu’s recalcitrant coalition partners (and replace them with ultra-Orthodox yes-men), the bill may yet succeed. But if the goal of the proposed law is instead to force Palestinians and others to de facto recognize the legitimacy of Israel as the nation-state of the Jews, it will fail. It will fail unless it is accompanied by a concerted diplomatic push — one that Netanyahu has shown no evidence of being fit to lead. And if Netanyahu were to finally dedicate the effort necessary to communicate Israel’s story — including the underlying justice of Jewish self-determination in the land of Israel — this proposed law would be redundant. 

Redundant, but not without cost. The proposed law is a gratuitous boon to anti-Israel activists and their smear campaign to isolate Israel. Still in its infancy, the bill is being misconstrued by even Zionist politicians within Israel as a threat to equality (it is not). Imagine what Israel’s enemies will do. Worst of all, the bill signals acute insecurity to Israel’s friends and enemies alike, causing them to smell blood where there is none. Using laws to guard identity, not unlike criminalizing indigenous languages or blasphemy, is precisely what Israel’s neighbors do; only weak societies clamor hysterically for words as substitutes for confidence and for headlines as stand-ins for action.

And yet, Israeli society is everything but weak. In fact, it has rarely been so united, capable and self-assured. Any open-eyed encounter with Israelis reveals a Jewish identity more healthy and robust than it has been in decades and a Zionism that is both strong and mature. Israeli Jews are having babies at the highest rate in the Western world, and, despite the many problems they face, emigration is at an all-time nadir. An increasing numbers of Israeli Arabs are finding their place within the Jewish state. The Israeli public, Israeli law and the Israeli Declaration of Independence are more than enough to buttress both Israel’s Jewish and democratic characters, including in its courts. They have done so for years. It is Israel’s leadership that leaves one wanting.

A strong nation knows what it is and what it stands for, and need not remind itself. To the cheer of demagogues on all sides, Netanyahu’s initiative is fueling a superfluous constitutional crisis in the face of the most consistent success of Zionism: 66 years of balancing Israel’s Jewish character and its democratic diversity, despite war and woe. Israel is not undergoing a crisis of identity, it is undergoing a crisis in leadership.

If Netanyahu wants to protect and strengthen Israel’s Jewish character, let him further Israel’s interests in tangible ways, and make an inspiring case to the world as well as to the Israeli electorate. Let him restore romance and passion to Zionism, if he can, and reclaim the world’s admiration. If he is not up to the task, let him step aside and clear the way for new talent — thankfully, an abundant and renewable resource in Israel.

Israel needs new leaders with vision, not demagogic laws to divert our gaze.

Philippe Assouline is an Israeli-Canadian attorney, writer and political analyst currently pursing a doctorate in political science at UCLA.