Today’s Haaretz carries a very significant op-ed from Yehuda Ben Meir, a former MK from the National Religious Party who, looking at the results of two recent polls asks,
- Who would have believed that we would reach a situation where more than 40 percent of the public supports a construction freeze in East Jerusalem and only half say building should continue? The significance of these surprising numbers is that the Jewish consensus on united Jerusalem has been cracked, if not shattered.
The polls he cited were:
- a Haaretz-Dialog poll, [in which] 48 percent of the respondents said Israel should continue building in all parts of Jerusalem, even if the price is a rift with the United States, while 41 percent said Israel should stop building in East Jerusalem until the end of negotiations with the Palestinians, [and] a Mina Tzemach poll, where 46 percent said building in East Jerusalem should be frozen and only 51 percent opposed such a move.
The present significance of these findings lies in the argument, very frequently made by Israel’s defenders here in the U.S., that “the administration shouldn’t put any pressure at all on the Israeli government because it will only cause Israeli voters to dig in their heels and become more hard-line, and the attempt to use pressure will therefore backfire.”
In fact, the last time a U.S. president attempted to use some (though not many) elements of real pressure on an Israeli government, which occurred under Pres. Bush I and Secretary of State James Baker in 1991-92, the attempt proved notably effective in Israeli terms. In the Israeli elections of June 1992 the Israeli public, seeing the pressure from Washington and assigning an appropriate value to the maintenance of strong relations with the U.S., voted out the inflexible, Likud Party government of Yitzhak Shamir and voted in Labour’s Yitzhak Rabin, who was perceived– quite rightly– as being a much more successful manager of Israel’s always vital relationship with the U.S. administration.
(The Bush-Baker campaign of calling Israel to some degree of account for its performance on the perennial issue of settlement building also did not, contrary to what the AIPAC types and neocons claimed, prove to lead to Bush I’s failure in his elections in 1992. What had the most effect then was, as we should all remember, “the economy, stupid!”)
Yehuda Ben Meir migrated from the U.S. to Israel in 1962. His current views place him at the leftward end of the spectrum of “nationalist-religious” thinking in Israel. I certainly hope he has a wide following there.
He writes,
- The Israeli public knows the difference between historical Jerusalem and those Arab neighborhoods that have never been part of the city. Therefore, the entire Jewish people, and the U.S. government as well, fully supported the restoration of the Hurva Synagogue in the Old City because this was justified. It embodies the revival of the Jewish people in their land, as well as their connection to the sites of their heritage and their right to possess them. Dispossessing Arabs of their homes and attempts to take over clearly Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem are not accepted by the world, including most American Jews, and according to the poll results, not even by a large part of Israel’s Jewish population.
I find the claim about the U.S. government “supporting” the restoration of a Jewish synagogue in the Israeli-occupied portion of the city interesting. Let’s hope the U.S. government gives equal support to the restoration of the hundreds of Christian and Muslim holy places and cemeteries in the area of 1948 Israel, eh?
But that’s a side-issue. The main issue is that, according to the poll figures Ben Meir refers to, the recent apparent sparks of a possible U.S. campaign to start once again holding Israel to account for its (actually illegal) program of settlement building in the occupied areas have not caused the claimed “backlash” in Israel… Indeed, they may well even have spurred more Jewish Israeli voters to think deeply and sensibly about the value of the vast amounts of support they get from Washington (and from my tax-dollars.)
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One last note: Many opinion polls in Israel report only the views of Jewish Israelis, ignoring the views of the 21% of the country’s citizenry who are ethnic Palestinians– or, they report the views of the two groups separately. It is not clear whether the two polls Ben Meir cited asked their questions of all Israelis, or only of Jewish Israelis. But the way he interpreted the results makes it seem as if he was referring only to the reported views of Jewish Israelis. The views of Palestinian Israelis should, of course, in any society claiming to be democratic, be given proportional weight to those of Jewish Israelis.
As a loyal and appreciative reader of Just News, I would like to call the attention of users of this website to what I regard as a serious problem for all people who are concerned with the failure of Zionists (many of whom just happen to be Jews) to do everything (or anything)that we tell them to do, and, in particular, to do what Helena is telling them to do. Just now, I checked Amazon’s ranking of Helena’s book sales, and, to my utter shock and horror, I found out that nobody is buying them, and, not only that, some people are even selling them new for around two bucks, which means they think they are not even worth the paper they are printed on.
Check Helena’s rankings for yourself at this website:
http://www.salesrankexpress.com.
Here’s just one example: The Palestinian Liberation Organization: People, Power and Politics. Now at 1,869,584 and apparently sinking fast, if you can believe it! The sales rankings appear in dark black. Please note: These are the U.S. rankings and don’t include sales in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Gaza and Dafur, where sales are probably a lot better because these are open and tolerant societies where (unlike Israel) courageous dissenters like Helena can always get a fair shake. I don’t know about you,
but I think these U.S. figures are insulting, embarrassing and intolerable. Sure, I know most of you are gonna say this is all the fault of the Zionist book publishers (many of whom just happen to be Jews). But I think the greater fault is ours, for not supporting Helena. So, how about we all buy some or all of her books! CONSUMER WARNING: Helena’s last book was a paperback consisting of 128 pages. So those of you who are in the market for sturdy doorstops should buy at least 10 copies.
Does anyone have an article about destroyed Christian and Muslim holy places in Israel proper?
Michael, this may not be exactly what you are looking for, but hopefully it will help. I know that it added a lot to my understanding of the Israelis.
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_holysites.php
QED, thank you for the link. I learned a little bit more about the Hurva synagogue.
I’m still waiting for some reader, or Helena, to educate me about the destruction of churches and mosques (and holy places) in Israel proper – 1948.
Meron Benvenisti’s _Sacred Landscapes_ is a very good overview work on the destruction of Muslim holy sites, mosques, pilgrimage shrines (in populist honor of local ‘ulema), and cemetaries. The Hurva synagogue, because of its size, centrality, and position on the Jerusalem skyline, has a local symbolic importance within the Jewish Quarter that should not be underestimated. It is totally predictable that Helena, not being familiar with the microhistory of Jewish Jerusalem, should discount it. As no one on the Muslim side really recognizes Israeli control of Israel, perhaps Israel should leave the issue of Muslim sites anywhere totally in the hands of the Awaqaf. Preservation seems to be partially a local issue (better in Be’ersheva/Bir al-Saba, for example) and part of that is Israeli state support. Tu quoque is a miserable way to run one’s local preservation policy.
The lair Tony Blair and today milliner (Report telling his wealth today is 50Mil after he left the PM position!!) made it from his lies seven years of the war crime against Iraq.
Iraq was threaten to destroy Europe in 45min according to Blair, Iran also have the ability to destroy Israel and Europe…..
let read this carefully and thing who is most dangerous Terrorist State?
Israeli Professor – ‘We Could Destroy All European Capitals’
I find myself obliged to express my sadness and sorrow on this blog ( thank you Helena ) about the death of the great woman named Zohra Salami. She was barried just yesterday and left our symbolic ex-President Ahmed Ben Bella alone , whom I ‘ve been a militant under his leadership, the ( Algerian Movement for Dimocracy, MDA ). She took the risk and married him in the early 1970’s when he was in prison and shared with him the bitterness during their life in prison an exile for about twenty years. They made a perfect family by adopting two beautiful girls now they are young women.
Allah bless you Madame the President .
Hafid
Obviously, the hasbaristas are very worried about the current issue over Jerusalem and are seeking to hijack this blog to try to prevent discussion (or is it just our usual one playing games with names and computers?)
This does appear to be a moment of truth for Obama. Will he stand firm this time or fold again? While in Israel, I got the impression that many Israelis are not terribly concerned about settlements and undivided Jerusalem. They preferred to ignore such issues and ignore the Palestinians and focus on their day to day lives. The settlers, on the other hand were very concerned, even though for many of them it was simply an economic issue – they got such great government subsidies for living in the occupied territories.
I think that Netanyahu is in trouble at home. Many people remember that it was his rift with Washington that cost him the PM position last time, and here he goes again. Either he is playing a dangerous game by deliberately taunting the US with the settlement announcements, including during his White House meeting, then feigning surprise, or he really has no control over his government. Either way he is in trouble, as the Israeli newspapers are pointing out.
Jack, Netanyahu strikes me as being anxious to be seen in the USA as a leader of the American right. He loves challenging politicians like Obama and bullying them.
Jack, Netanyahu strikes me as being anxious to be seen in the USA as a leader of the American right. He loves challenging politicians like Obama and bullying them.
Helena’s public doesn’t read, they already know everything and are too busy preaching their hatred. Helena doesn’t need to show a profit on the books, she is commissioned to write them, so she couldn’t care less.
Once you realize it is a gig and her livelihood is on the line you stop taking her one sided positions personally. Actors on stage, thats all.