Indeed, the Matars are quite correct in their criticism of the right. But they miss the underlying point of the problem. Rather than a lack of presence on the streets, the problem is rooted in a lack of leadership across the entire nationalist camp. This lack of leadership is best expressed in a lack of political direction, a lack of practical policy, and a lack of anything concrete to offer the voters.
Israeli voters are becoming notorious for rejecting the incumbent. Of late, they have been doing so with increasing haste, hoping that a new Prime Minister or a new administration will bring more security, better economic prospects, and a cure for all ills that beset this country.
But Israeli voters have had their hopes dashed time and again by the political right, where no better alternatives exist, and by the left, which is the root cause of the ills in the first place. Thus, no government in the past six years has served out its term, no prime minister has been re-elected in 14 years, and there is little credibility attributed to any government or any minister.
The political right has it well within their power to rectify this problem. But in order to do so, it must take a number of steps that are of paramount importance in protecting the future of the Jewish nation.
First, the nationalist brain trust must figure out what its ultimate red lines are, beyond which it will not contemplate venturing. There is no coherent bottom line of nationalist policy in Israel. Where ten years ago the attempt to negotiate the Golan Heights drove nationalist Israel into the streets, the establishment of a terrorist state in Jerusalem today cannot get nationalist leaders out of their seats.
It is not that the Golan is more important to nationalist Israelis. Indeed, when Oslo was presented as a fait accompli, a political revolution took place in Israel, which resulted in the serious fracturing of Israeli society and the murder of Israel’s Prime Minister. Today, neither a Palestinian State nor the abandonment of the Golan will get much rise out of the Israeli right.
So what is it that will serve as a point where nationalist Israel will say “Enough!” The leaders do not know. The National Religious Party was a full member of Ehud Barak’s government, which not only did nothing to combat the Intifada (and the violence that preceded it) but made very plain its intention to abandon Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria long before Camp David. Yet when the nationalist Ariel Sharon took power and built a government of national unity to begin healing the wounds of the Intifadah, the NRP wanted no part of it.
The National Union Yisrael Beiteinu faction can’t decide from one week to the next whether to remain in the government. Their leaders in person vacillate between one position and the other. And, dare it be said, Palestinian terrorists are better at determining their presence in the government than their own leaders. Remember that the day before Rehavam Zeevi was assassinated, the party decided to leave the government. But the assassination led to a change of heart among the party members, and they remain in their places.
The nationalist academic elite has seen fit to respond to events rather than dictate their course, and has utterly failed to elucidate any form of theoretical nationalist program for the rehabilitation of Zionism. They are very good at pointing out what is wrong, but have not ventured any suggestions for how to make it right.
And through it all, the Likud flounders tossed by the waves of events, without a pilot or navigator to chart a proper course to Zionist rehabilitation or national awakening. Binyamin Netanyahu signed off on the Hevron and Wye River accords, the latter with Ariel Sharon as his foreign minister. The right wing, arguably justifiably, did a fine job of bringing him down as a result. Now, Ariel Sharon is prime minister, and while he is not about to sign any more accords along the Hevron and Wye models, Netanyahu sounds just a mite hypocritical claiming that Sharon is not leaning far enough to the right.
Neither man offers a clear picture of just what he will stand for, or even against.
This, then, is the first order of business for nationalist Israel. What are its concrete positions, clearly pronounced and adhered to, that the voter can be asked to support?
It is little wonder that the Israeli political climate is so badly fractured. The Likud does not offer any clear positions, and has not for many years. And Labor, when it does offer a policy alternative, offers one that disgusts most voters. To the Likud’s right, credibility is no better, while to Labor’s left, the anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism of Meretz and the Arab parties finds support only within Israel’s internal fifth column. The ascendant parties, Shas, Shinui, and possibly Yisrael Ba’Aliya, hit a glass ceiling in the form of an electoral process that all but guarantees Labor and Likud the Prime Ministry.
Someone must take the initiative and present a clear, unambiguous, and coherent policy, complete with red lines and hard objectives, in a credible manner that voters can accept. That policy must then be adhered to despite coalition or external pressures, so that voters can have the option of returning to office the policies in question.
In light of the new worldwide emphasis on anti-terror activities, and the serious leadership void in Labor, the entire Israeli left has been deprived of their ace policy element. But they have not managed to renew their offensive in the battle of ideas. The ideological receivership the left is experiencing with the collapse of Oslo and the rise of global terrorism as the newest world evil, is quickly turning into bankruptcy.
But where the Israeli nationalist camp has a glorious opportunity to deliver a knockout blow in the field of ideas, they continue to suffer from a lack of political and ideological leadership and creativity that makes the left’s leadership problems look like child’s play.
Only once a sound ideological leadership and framework are established can the Israeli right hope to once again effect a major change in Israeli public opinion. Ruth and Nadia Matar are in a prime position to lead the formation of such a programme. But it will take more than just their immense talents to get it done.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
