By Rabbi Dow Marmur
All official comments that I’ve seen here seem to be politically motivated. The prime minister’s rage is probably genuine but it’s also a way of keeping Bennett & Co – the settler lobby in the cabinet that seems to set much of the agenda- satisfied. The tacit approval of the US action by the opposition in Israel, including former prime minister Ehud Barak, may be little more than yet another attempt to embarrass the current prime minister.
A lot of Israelis, probably the majority, agree that the settlements are a huge problem, but fewer believe that it’s the main obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian leaders’ apparent intransigence and implied fantasies about throwing the Jews into the sea one day soon may inhibit them from making peace under any conditions.
For many of us, the settlements are indeed a problem because of what they do to Israelis, not least the soldiers serving in the territories. It turns them into reluctant yet at times harsh occupiers. The organization “Breaking the Silence” seeks to expose this. That’s why Bennett, who is also the minister of education, tries to ban them from speaking to high school students.
Alan Dershowitz may be right when he states, as I heard him say a few days ago, that Obama’s foreign policy has been consistently bad. Latching on to the settlements and ignoring everything else in the Middle East is a manifestation of it. Dershowitz told us that he told Obama to beware of imitating Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who turned Munich into the nightmare of the 20th century. Dershowitz has now issued a statement telling the American public that Obama’s final shot at Netanyahu is outrageous.
Obama may believe that jaw-jaw is better than war-war, but Putin seems to think otherwise and is thus outflanking the American president, He has even turned the US expulsion of Russian diplomas into little more than a manifestation of Obama’s powerless petulance.
Israelis are now awaiting Trump’s ascendance to power with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Those opposed to Obama and Kerry eagerly anticipate the take-over, especially as Trump seems to have promised the Israeli government to see things its way. Those opposed to Netanyahu fear the Trump administration: if it keeps its promises, things may be bad; if it doesn’t (which is very much on the cards) it may be worse.
The way most of us deal with the confusion is by keeping to ourselves what we read in the papers and talking to each other about mundane and non-controversial matters. Politics seems to have become too toxic for polite living room conversation.
I don’t presume to speak for others, but that’s how I perceive the mood in many of the circles in which I mix. As a result, I don’t need the official rabbinate’s silly attempts to prevent New Year celebrations. We’re just not in the mood not knowing whether to fear or hope the incoming year.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Now residing in Israel, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com.