A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Sharon, the Jewish Press and Right-Wing Fanatics

An editorial in this week's Jewish Press states:

Prime Minister Sharon went way over the top the other day in playing the "incitement" card to delegitimize those who oppose the plan. It is one thing to be concerned about a "clear and present danger" to the public weal. It is quite another to reprise Shimon Peres` shameful effort of years back to stifle anti-Oslo Accord dissent by holding public action to some vague, elastic standard of acceptability.

I agree that opponents of the Sharon plan should be free to express their opinions, and that too many in the Israeli media, the Israeli left and Sharon's own circles have acted to stifle dissent.

Still, while the Jewish Press recognizes that "there was, to be sure, some beyond the pale nonsense expressed in some opposition quarters," I think it underestimates the danger of the extreme zealots. The paper alludes to the Oslo era and the allusion to a time when Prime Minister Rabin was murdered by a Jewish fanatic is quite apt.

Sadly, similar fanaticism on the extreme right remains. Haaretz reports that today Rabbi Yosef Dayan, from the West Bank settlement of Psagot, told Israel's Channel 2 that "if asked to hold a Pulsa Denura, a Kabbalah ceremony aimed at leading to the death of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he would do so." Dayan held a similar "ceremony" against Prime Minister Rabin.

Crazies like Dayan have to be condemned without any equivocation. The failure of the mainstream right-wing to do so will inevitably result in its free speech being limited.

In an op-ed column in this week's Jewish Press, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky calls on the Sharon government to be brought down. Rabbi Pruzansky correctly points out that Sharon has betrayed historical Likud positions. His blaming of Sharon for Israel's current security situation seems to me to be wildly off base, as Sharon has of late fought terror quite aggressively, killing off much of the Hamas and Fatah terror leadership.

Of more interest is Rabbi Pruzansky's having forgotten the result of the last two collapses of Likud governments. After the far-right brought down the Shamir and Netanyahu governments, it got the Rabin and Barak governments in exchange. Instead of peace talks in Madrid and the Wye Agreement's conditional withdrawal from 13 percent of Judea and Samaria, it got Oslo, Camp David and the Clinton Plan.

This doesn't necessarily mean that from a right-wing perspective the idea of bringing down Sharon and forcing new elections is a bad one under all circumstances. But it does require some thought and analysis as to the likely consequences of such a move, something Rabbi Pruzansky's column fails to offer.
posted on 9/14/2004