I couldn't stay at the program that evening. I was feeling sick to my heart, dismayed and downcast, that so many fine and upstanding Jewish people around the world could even think of celebrating. For what I see in my bleak vision of the future is that many more soldiers will be so remembered in future years as that dream which we celebrate slips more hurriedly through our wide open fingers.
I am beyond anger. I have now fallen into an abyss of hopelessness from which only a series of miracles can extract me. My last hope lies in the knowledge that Israel is the place where miracles happen daily. Indeed, it is this tendency which gave rise to the celebrations I could not this year attend.
It is now, as I write this, less than one month until Israel's elections. These will certainly be the most fateful elections in Israel's short history. It is these elections which will decide whether Israel survives or perishes, whether we can continue to celebrate, or only to remember. And a number of quite disturbing trends are developing on the Israeli electoral scene.
First, the Israeli right has shifted toward the centre in dramatic fashion. This shift has its roots in the singular problem that what is left of the Zionist political leaders in Israel have no power, no imagination, and no charisma with which to attract the Zionist voter. Instead, they must resort to a thinly disguised juvenile attempt to fool the voters by making themselves seem just as left-wing as the anti-Zionists who own the left.
Next, Prime Minister Peres felt his own need to fool the voters. He attacked Lebanon in a move with only one purpose: to make it seem as if he cared one iota about the security of Israel's citizens. As if the past four years could be erased by a few bombing runs and an attack against a United Nations facility. It remains to be seen whether his ploy worked, but it looks as if the Israeli voter is too intelligent to be taken in by it.
The third trend was revealed in the Israeli media today. Tourism Minister Uzi Baram, long reviled by this writer as a cop-out artist rather than a leader, has now shed some light on what Labour needs to do to win the election, and the reason for it. Baram called upon his party colleagues to make extra efforts to convince Arab citizens to participate in the upcoming elections and vote for Shimon Peres for Prime Minister. He explained that the Arab vote will be crucial in the coming elections. Baram said that the Labor government has found itself in a clash with portions of the Jewish public because of its policies, and "we therefore can't allow the Arabs to sit passively by."
Why does anyone think that Labour would find itself in such a clash with Jewish voters? Could it be because Labout is planning to sell all of Israel for the lasting ingratitude of a bunch of terrorists? Well, all one needs to do is look briefly at the new Labour platform. Gone from that document is any opposition to an Arab State in Israel. Gone also is any opposition to the Syrian demand that Israel relinquish the Golan Heights.
What Labour is clearly planning to do is to create such a State and give away the Golan, over the objections of its Jewish citizenry. And since that citizenry is objecting strenuously to these ideas, Baram says that Labour must turn to the Arabs so that it can retain power. After all, what has Labour to be afraid of? Its own platform now supports the creation of an Arab state in Israel. Why not just turn the existing state into one that is run bythe Arabs? It would be so much more convenient and easy than creating a whole new state with all the bureaucracy and infrastructure that that would take.
The real tragedy of this is that it appears that it will be successful. If the election results mirror the polls, Labour will win the election on the Arab vote. Once Labour wins, they will be able to truthfully say, for the first time, that they have a mandate from the people to give Israel away.
This does not surprise me in the least. I have been an observer of the Israeli scene for far too long to be surprised by Labour's deceit, by their increasingly strong stand against all that is Zionist, and by their steadfast ignorance of the truth or Arab hatred for Jews. In this, they have long been led by that band of left-wing anti-semitic extremists called Meretz. But now they are taking the lead for themselves.
None of this is surprising. But what is surprising, nay, tragic, is the apparent willingness of the Zionists among Israeli politicians, led by the revamped and enlarged Likud bloc to let this charade proceed unmolested. Instead of yelling from the rooftops and claiming Zionism solely as the realm of the right, these "leaders" remain passive contemplating where they went wrong.
In the same news briefing this afternoon, I read that Likud MK Michael Eitan is bemoaning the fact that there are not enough volunteers for the Likud's campaign. The reason is simple to understand. The Likud's campaign is nothing more than a weak reaction to the reality of Israel. There remains little for which to vote on May 29. The choice is between a mad rush to sell out all of Israel and a bunch of sightless politicians who can do little more than go bump in the dark.
One week before Independence Day was Holocaust Rememberance Day. The theme of that day, as always, was "Never Again". The timing of that day immediately prior to Independence Day is a stark reminder that Israel is the only guarantor of "Never Again". But as Independence Day celebrations began, I could not help but be convinced that "Never Again" will become "All too soon, again".
I am a firm believer that any democratic nation gets the government they deserve. There are many people in Israel who surely do not deserve the government they will likely get on May 29 -- people who are fighting tooth and nail for the retention of the country. People such as the Women in Green, the residents of Hevron, and Zu Artzeinu. But by and large, most Israelis are staying home until May 29, when they will go out and vote for none of the above. They will get the government they deserve, and "Never Again" will come crashing down around their ears.
And so, I could not celebrate on Independence Day. I could not bring myself to wave the flag from my car or attend any parties or festivals. Instead, I mourned for the fallen soldiers -- those that have fallen, and those that will fall unless I am proven wrong by the voter. And so I beg and plead of any Israeli voter that reads this article: Prove me wrong. Elect Zionists to the Knesset. This done, I will help lead the fight for these elected Zionists to reclaim their conscience from the evils of apathy and blindness that have afflicted them these last months.
The alternative, quite plainly, is Independence Day for the Arabs of Palestine, and Holocaust Day for the Jews of the Diaspora. Israel's survival hangs in the balance.
Copyright 1996. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
