Mussolini. Fascism alive in Israel?
Ideology not dead
Racism, Mussolini-style fascism still part of our society
The strange phenomenon of the Kadima party has caused many speakers – including senior journalists – to declare an end to ideology.
But while it is certainly true that this is a strange phenomenon, especially in the face of the absence of a party platform or any landmarks, and in light of the emotional outpouring for the party and for Ariel Sharon.
Yes, Ariel Sharon, the man who was described as Kadima's "strongman" when he founded the party in November and who brought about hope (or illusion) after the disengagement.
Ideology not dead
Even so, it is still tough to say this party is completely devoid of ideology. After all, "ideology" suggests the party presents some social, moral and political outlook. Racism, fascism and transfer are all ideologies.
Therefore, it is hard to say that the heads of Kadima have no ideas of their own. Ehud Olmert's public appearances point clearly to certain direction, and we can assume that path will be clearly defined in the future.
Can we claim that those following them are doing so out of sentiment alone, out of a desire to overcome frustration and despair, because they are looking for the right path, because they are fed up with existing parties and also because they want to be in the "Eenter," a comfortable position from which one has no need to fight like a minority looking for a breakthrough?
Not the only party
Remember that Kadima – with all its overwhelming power – is still not the only party in the country, and has yet to prove itself (remember Dash and Shinui?).
Netanyahu's Likud is certainly an ideological party, banding together the "Likud rebels" who fought the Gaza disengagement plan – Uzi Landau, Yisrael Katz, Danny Naveh – and is certainly ideological both economically and politically.
Jerusalem is not just the capital, it is the eternal capital, a holy city, complete, metropolitan and growing, with no room to even speak about Palestinian sovereignty – even in Palestinian neighborhoods.
The whole city is under Israeli sovereignty. True, no one speaks about "transfer", but they make things so hard for the Arabs that they are forced to transfer themselves – just like Benny Elon says.
Even the privatization of State assets – that is to say, public assets, the property of every citizen of this country, but who will have no say in their affairs, no input with regard to their use of these assets given over to opportunistic capitalist ownership about them by way of outsourced workers and minimum wage too low to actually live off – is all this not ideology?
Racist ideology
And what about the behavior of the Gush Emunim (Block of the Faithful) group and its rabbis who steal land that doesn't belong them, steal water from children, break the law, and rebel against the country, all in the name of God and His messiah.
They have internalized the Torah's words "you should utterly destroy them; you should make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them" (Deut. 7:2), and they act accordingly: The Palestinians have no rights to settle near Jews (despite the fact the verse in question refers to the seven nations of Canaan); therefore, Jews have the right to invade their land and to expel them.
What about these folks, and their rabbis who peddle open racism in the name of Judaism – do they, too, lack ideology?
Mussolini lives
If we are honest, we must admit that a significant number of Israel's political parties douse themselves in the sweet smell of fascism, reminiscent of Benito Mussolini.
As he said, "Fascism believes in holiness and strength – it rejects the possibility of equality, and happiness as a result of social welfare. For us fascists, the State is a spiritual and ethical fact in and of itself, it represents the consciousness embedded deep within the nation…the goal of expanding the nation is a basic expression of vitality, and the opposite – is a sign of atrophy."
Add to this the rabbis who lead their flocks in the name of God, Torah, and Jewish law (as they interpret them) and – voila! – you've got a great, patriotic, faith-based ideology.
Humanism, social-democracy
Still, we haven't addressed the world views of humanistic and social-democratic parties that combine being left-wing with enlightened liberalism. Israel is full of people who want to build a country in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, which promises freedom of opinion and religion, freedom from religion and equal rights for all citizens. Because in a democracy, the State belongs to all citizens living within its jurisdiction.
There are those amongst us who fight against the open discrimination against non-Jews. Take the Druze community, for example, who are considered Jews' "blood brothers."
But do they get a fraction of the money invested in ultra-Orthodox communities, settlements, or even just regular old Jewish towns? To say nothing of the right to education, water, land ownership, infrastructure development for them and the populace at large?
Separate but equal?
The whole enlightened world knows that "separate but equal" can never be equal. Here, we have divided the population into 12 religious sectors. Therefore, many people have declared Israel a "Jewish country," rather than a "state of all its citizens."
Some call it the state of the "Jewish people," meaning it is a state for Jews who live abroad, but not for the non-Jews who live here and are citizens of this country.
Is this not racist? Is the fact that nearly 400,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not halachically (according to Jewish law) Jewish are registered in the national population registry as "others" – is this not racist?
This, too, is ideology: Preserving the genome of the Jewish people, the purity of the nation.
And isn't the fight against terrible discrimination an ideological battle? Or perhaps all the geniuses, writers and TV news anchors who have declared the death of ideology just haven't heard about it?
Do they not know that there are six parties and movements fighting to erase discrimination, to recognize the Palestinian right for an independent state, to turn an aggressive strategy into one of reconciliation and peace?
And what about the fight against the de-humanization the IDF does to the civilian population of the occupied territories, the destruction, the killing, the abuse, turning every Palestinian city into a centralized jail, in the belief that these actions must be rejected, while believing Israel cannot be an enlightened democracy in any way as long as the terrible, oppressive, humiliating, starving, uprooting and destructive occupation continues without trial?
Journalistic responsibility
Enlightened journalism and journalists who recognize the power of ideological movements to influence changes in values and form a basis for the moral norms in that society – even if they are small and have only a few representatives in the Knesset or the channels of power – must give their opinions, and refrain from ignoring these parties and non-governmental and grass roots organizations working for a more just, enlightened society.
Opinion makers must not make life easy for themselves by conveniently writing off the age of ideology. As long as there is a society, there will continue to be voices dissatisfied with the status quo and who want change – sometimes for the good of the overall society, sometimes only for themselves and their allies.
Both are ideologies, and they always, always put for a facade of need or justice.
Shulamit Aloni is former education minister on behalf of Meretz
