By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM –We may be forgiven if we decide that it almost doesn’t matter which political party is in power because the policies of them all end up being uncannily similar. Thus the softly-softly approach of President Obama that characterized his first year in office is becoming almost as tough as that of his predecessors. We now hear of targeted killings of terrorists and massive military actions that put civilians at risk. By all accounts, there’s much more to come of that ilk.
On a much smaller scale, the situation is similar in Israel. Thus the leader of the Labor Party, Ehud Barak, clinging to power and enjoying his popularity as minister of defense, is virtually indistinguishable from a right-leaning politician, not because he has had a change of heart but because his office is said to demand actions that belie socialist principles. Those faithful to the original party platform have been marginalized or have left. Indeed, the Labor Party as a whole is on the verge of disintegration.
The conservative leader of the Likud Party Prime Minister Netanyahu is said to be of the same mind as his allegedly left-wing defense minister. In fact, Netanyahu seems to be in search of other centrists to join his coalition as a counterweight to the hawks in his own ranks. If the Kadima Party, currently led by Tzipi Livni, breaks up, which is likely, her chief opponent Shaul Mofaz and his crew may join Netanyahu and thus solidify the centre, to the chagrin of faithful Likud back-benchers (the counterpart to the faithful Labor back-benchers) and those even further to the right.
Like Obama in the United States, Barak and Netanyahu in Israel still make speeches that are reminiscent of their election campaigns, but that’s not how they conduct business once in power. I assume that they rationalize the dishonesty and the inconsistencies in the name of prudence, responsibility and statecraft.
There’re signs of similar trends in the Palestinian Authority, mainly thanks to its Prime Minister whose move toward the reasonable center is promising.
The only way you can govern according to one’s principles, I’m told, is if your aim is a form of dictatorship. It’s on this basis that Chavez and Ahmadinejad have remained consistent. But other members of that club – Putin in Russia, Lula in Brazil, Castro II in Cuba, the Chinese and many others – have mercifully modified their tone.
Judging by his ominously consistent public pronouncements, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is a potential member of the dictators’ club. So far, he has been relentless in his attacks on countries with whom he’s expected to engage in diplomacy, on Palestinians and their supporters and on the Arab citizens of Israel. Though still unlikely, it’s not quite impossible that his party could get more seats in the next Knesset elections than any other. That would make him a candidate for prime minister. Would he turn Israel into a nightmare, or would he be tamed like so many others have been?
Nobody seems to know. I hope we’ll never find out. Perhaps as Netanyahu is veering toward the center he wants Lieberman to “balance” the picture thus keeping the right-wing at bay. But having him as foreign minister is to gamble with Israel’s international standing. And with Lieberman as a loose canon things may go out of hand.
The above is an attempt to comment on the mixed messages from the politicians and thus articulate my own misgivings. Of course, as usual I hope that I’m very wrong.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He now divides his time between Canada and Israel