Lack of diversity vs lack of human rights: Battle of Israeli blind spots - opinion

It’s the battling blind spots, Israel edition! Consider two riddles:

• What is blue and white, yet white all over? The overwhelmingly Ashkenazi protesters.
• Second, why did Netanyahu’s cabinet walk out of the Barbie movie early? Because they wanted the Kendom patriarchy to last.

Even those of us who abhor Benjamin Netanyahu’s bullheaded bulldozing government have to admit that the anti-government protests, while peaceful, have been as diverse as The Gefilte-Fish-Eaters Annual Ball or – ahem – the Supreme Court Alumni Association. I hate reducing politics to sociology. But, because so many others view it all through an ethnic lens, optics count.

It’s hard to lecture about “democratya” and “ha’am” – the people – wanting a new government, when suffering such a diversity deficit. A pro-democracy movement that looks so elitist loses credibility. Some prominent Mizrahim have addressed the rallies, but protests need people-power to win – meaning Israelis from all sectors of society.

When it’s tribal, we all lose. Alas, this government is so incompetent that shifting the conversation should be easy. Let’s try forming new alliances by focusing on the government’s failures – and demanding security, stability, and prosperity.

Broaden the story, confusing each side’s simplistic narrative. Let’s talk about Menachem “Meni” Mazuz, born in Tunisia, a Supreme Court justice from 2014 to 2021, who before that was appointed as attorney-general by that high Priest of Ashkenazi-dom, Tommy Lapid.

Let’s talk about Gila Kanfi-Steinitz, the first female Mizrahi justice. These super-qualified superstars weren’t token appointments. And challenge the haredi-Mizrahi alliance targeting the court by highlighting the 2009 ruling outlawing anti-Sephardi discrimination in Immanuel, a haredi ghetto.

Existentially, the problem is greater. Many Rightists run their politics of revenge because they feel dissed by the Israeli WASPs – the White Ashkenazi Sabras with Protektzia. It’s too easy to stereotype the protesters – as Channel 14 constantly does – as old-time insiders resisting today’s Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power appears inexplicable without seeing how effectively he and his stooges keep picking at this scab – although Israeli society has evolved away from the old-line prejudices that greeted too many immigrants expelled from Arab and Muslim countries decades ago.

I UNDERSTOOD why many felt compelled last month to march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But our country’s future depends on more Tel Avivis in the future marching with outstretched hands and open hearts to Sderot and Beit She’an – only to be greeted by those from the “periphery” marching toward them.

Alas, too many on the Right don’t seem to care about basic human rights for anyone but their partisans. The surge of incidents of women being harassed on buses since this coalition came to power is indicative, not coincidental.

I wish I could dismiss the protesters’ fears about preserving the expanded rights that women and gays and others have enjoyed – often under Likud rule, I add mischievously. But this government keeps signaling that, like Barbie’s frustrated male friend, it, too, yearns for a Kendom – especially one from the haredi Barbie collection.

Start grassroots conversations

While demanding a national unity government – now!!! – there is more that we, the Silenced Majority, can do from the bottom-up. It starts with something we Jews have long enjoyed… talking.

A hot new word of this justified anti-Bibi moment is “hedabrut,” from the root, ledaber, to talk. The word implies a consensus-building discussion. There has been much talk about the need for our politicians to negotiate their way out of the judicial reform mess. But we also must start talking to one another – and through our divisions.

Imagine how much better off Israel would be if all protesters – and their rivals – since January had invested 15 minutes of every hour spent yelling, in encountering fellow citizens from different backgrounds, who dare to vote the wrong way – yet are still good, proud, Israelis. We need more formal frameworks for this – and more informal efforts – not just at “hedabrut,” i.e. talking, but listening.

FORTUNATELY, many grassroots initiatives are jump-starting conversations.

One Hebrew University of Jerusalem student I know informally invited some students last spring to sit down and talk. Both the left-wingers and right-wingers were shocked to learn the other side’s hurts and fears. Another young friend works with Harivon Harivi’i – the fourth quarter – Q4Israel, pushing us to finish the last 25 years of Israel’s first hundred years by interacting across our divides rather than perpetuating them.

I would start such conversations by establishing a baseline Israeliness: asking about participants’ proudest and funniest and most moving non-partisan moments as Israelis. People could also discuss their roots, sharing their family of origin stories about how they ended up in this crazy country. Only then would I turn political, keeping it big picture. People could list their biggest worries about the country, their greatest personal and political frustrations, and their hopes.

You can’t just air kiss. People should detail their fears of the other side, their furies, and their different perceptions about what’s happening now. But if they begin by establishing points of agreement, navigating the disagreements becomes easier.

With his calm intelligence and patriotic Zionist vision, President Isaac Herzog should encourage more of these dialogues. Sadly, most politicians prefer exploiting our differences to overcoming them.

Every day our enemies remind us why we must be united. And every day our heroic soldiers show us how to bury differences for the greater good. Perhaps it’s time to start ignoring the headlines, the demagogues, the flailing politicians, and learn from the best of Israel – our president and our young people – and that’s no joke!

The writer is the editor of the new three-volume set Theodor Herzl: Zionist Writings, the inaugural publication of The Library of the Jewish People (www.theljp.org).