This is the Israel warned of by Yitzhak Rabin, an Israel that chooses to define itself by war rather than peace. Bibi’s Israel would be a bitter state, not unlike the America painted by the Tea Party.,, filled by religious fanatics, gun totin settlers and a permanent military cadre resembling the SS. Today Jerusalem, the city of “peace” is ready for a new intifada. Perpetual war, even if such a thing could be done in the 21st century, will destroy Israel as a home for the Jewish tradition we are proud of.
Why would the entrepreneurs who Bibi wants to power his Israel remain in such a place? Why wouldn’t they leave for the more fertile environments in the US, Europe, South Africa, or Australia where Jews can be Jews? Who would invest there?
Like many Jews I have considered Aliyah, the immigration to Israel that is open to all Jews. I have urged my children to make this choice .. a choice to live in a land where even the craziest beaver hat wearing settler, is OUR crazy. Now, I can not feel that way. I do not want my grandchildren to live in a country that celebrates perpetual war and acts as the inheritor of apartheid.
I am sure I am not the only Jew who feels this way. Jews like me, academics and intellectuals, still make up about a third or all Israelis .. and that does not count the 20% of Israelis who are Arab. Jewish emigration FROM Israel will be the new threat. Imagine an Israel filled with orthodox Jews and militant settlers competing to bear more children than the Arabs!
Then there is Israel’s oldest threat .. Israel as yet another Jewish ghetto destroyed by the larger community. Can this Sparta lose the war? It seems now certain that Iran will soon be freed of its sanctions, able to compete as a 21st century regional hegemon … not by lobbing missiles but by becoming a economic superpower. Iran has the potential of emulating China, using economic power to build military power (something the US has done very well too). Add in a likely boycott of Israeli products by Europe, and Iran’s future looks bright. Add in Iran’s influence in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria and Israel’s existential fate is pretty grim.
As a proud AMERICAN Jew, I would welcome a few million Jews home to the US.
Alternatively, since Messers Cruz, McCane, Cotton and Pailin want to be loved by Israel, perhaps Israel should make our Tea Party friends Israeli citizens and the US can just offer American citizenship to an equal number of Israelis.