Us and Not Us

I would like to commend Prime Minister Netanyahu for taking a strong stand against the discrimination which Ethiopian Jews have experienced in Israel. I can't say I have always been his fan. He certainly can speak like a boor at times. But in this matter he has been right on.
When I was a young man I once asked my mother just out of curiosity, "would you rather I marry a girl who is Black and Jewish or one who is White and Gentile?" Her answer was "Black and Jewish because she would be one of us." It was not just a matter of religion. It was a matter of usness (identity). Although today most Jews live in North America where we are free of the worst excesses of anti-Semitism and in Israel where Jews are the majority, this feeling of Jewish identity was hammered into us by 2 millennia of being an outcast minority of us to a surrounding majority which did not accept us as part of their us.
I am sure that the time will come when all Jews in Israel will assimilate as one Jewish people. It is also important for the security of Israel that the feeling of usness will extend to all the citizens of Israel, Jewish or not.

The Question and the Answer

The results of the recent elections in Israel indicate that the Right knew the question but had the wrong answer while the Center and Left had the right answer but didn't know the question. What I mean is the Right knew that the major issue facing Israel is security. The internal issues pale in comparison. However they offered the wrong answer. Security is not served by alienating the very people you need to bring over to your side. On the other hand, the Center and Left are better prepared to do what needs to be done to make the compromises needed to maximize Israel's allies and therefore its security, but instead they tangled themselves up in a number of less important internal issues.

Netanyahu is the Jewish Arafat

Yasser Arafat screwed up when he was offered an opportunity for an independent Palestine by Ehud Barak, and he rejected it without even negotiating. He did it because he did not have the courage to go against his hardliners. In the last Israeli election, Netanyahu said he would not allow a Palestinian state under his watch and maligned the Israeli Arabs who make up 1/5 of his citizens to appease his hardliners and play on the fears of undecided Israeli Jewish voters. After the election, he said that he just meant that a non-militarized Palestinian state would be OK to appease the international community and sane American Jews who support Israel but not the new fanatics who have a brand of Zionism that differs from the democratic one that Theodore Herzl envisioned. Mr. Netanyahu's cowardice (and the sheep who follow him) put Israel at risk just as Arafat's cowardice destroyed Palestinian independence.
The fact is that the second Netanyahu (the one who allowed for a non-militarized Palestine) put forth an idea that is in sync with that of the USA under President Obama and probably with the international community if they could trust that Bibi is serious and not just blowing gas out of his mouth that should be coming from the other end. Although they would not openly admit it out of their own cowardice, I suspect that many in the Fatah leadership secretly think the same way. Palestine really needs economic development, and militarization would only be an unnecessary expense. But how can you expect courage from the Palestinian leadership when Israel elects leaders who are too chicken to oppose the settlers.