Gideon Levy - "I was brainwashed"

Gideon Levy is a Haaretz columnist, a journalist who, like most Israelis, spent his youth with the firm conviction that Israel is exactly as it portrays itself to the world, exactly the way it presents itself in the classrooms in Israeli schools.

In later life he saw the truth of the occupied territories and he began his long standing policy of telling Israelis the truth, whether or not they want to hear it.

He says he would love to live in a country where everyone has equal rights, the one-state solution, but he sees no chance of this happening. He also sees no chance for the two-state solution since Israel has, with its settlers, made this impossible.

Listen to this 30 minute interview of Levy by Alison Weir of the Council for the National Interest and If Americans Knew, another in the series Jerusalem Calling that if have edited for CNI.

Dear American Jews

Gideon Levy has an excellent opinion piece in Haaretz today, on the occasion of the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America meeting in New Orleans. I encourage you to read it all. Some excerpts:

Your beloved Israel is addicted. It is addicted to occupation and aggression, and someone has to wean it from these addictions. Like any other junkie, it is incapable of helping itself. Thus the job falls to you.

You live in a black-and-white country. But Israel is neither black nor white. It's not as terrible as it is often painted abroad, but neither is it as righteous as it will be presented to you. Above all, it is a country whose arrogant behavior is making it despised.

You, dear brothers and sisters, have enormous political power. Sometimes, I think it is too enormous: One day, it will blow up in your faces. But it is possible to use this power for something more than a despicable witch-hunt after every congressman who dares to criticize Israel.

The town is burning, Jews. Israeli democracy is being torn apart; soon, it will no longer be possible to talk about "the only democracy in the Middle East," as you so love to do. The occupation is also growing both more entrenched and more crushing; already, it is almost impossible to talk abut a two-state solution.

And Yossi Sarid, in another Haaretz opinion piece, has a few words for conference delegates as well:

If you really care about Israel, delegates, you should remember when you stand and cheer that Netanyahu freely chose an extreme, nationalist, xenophobic, clerical coalition. He could have an alternative coalition at any time, but he rejects it for reasons of convenience and political survival.

His coalition also ignores you. Most of you belong to the Conservative or Reform movements, and his natural partners despise you. As long as you are there, sending money and applauding, fine. But if you want to become more involved, or send your children or grandchildren, be warned, they will be thoroughly investigated.

Israel today, as expressed by the Netanyahu-Yishai-Lieberman coalition, recognizes only support for settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, only people who fund their provocations have the right to speak.

a mouse with a lion's power

Suppose a single mouse had the power of a lion.

Would the mouse, knowing he had such power, be content to remain living as just another mouse among his fellows?

I believe the power of the United States has been more of a liability than an asset, a view supported in the case of Vietnam by Gareth Porter's Perils of Dominance. Those who reach the top of the political ladder are proven lovers of power. It can be expected that such people will itch to use the greatest power on the planet, particularly since they are convinced it is for the good. The so-called Bush Doctrine of unilateral pre-emptive action was proof to me that the end of the USSR had unleashed a threat simply from lack of restraint. The Iraq and Afghanistan adventures have proven this out.

Now consider Israel, the mouse. It, like any other country, has power-seekers at the top. But what makes Israel unique in the world of international relations is that the power it wields is that of the United States - the lion's power is held by the mouse - while surrounding states are only other mice. How much more seductive could this be to the power hungry? To such people it is a pure win - all the power with little of the expense of wielding it.

That's why it is essential that we Americans take back our Congress from the Israel lobby.

Listen to the words of Gideon Levy, an Israeli and columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, from a recent interview by Jamie Stern-Weiner...

If activists in the US succeeded in changing American foreign policy significantly, could Israel continue the occupation without US support?

No way. Israel cannot carry on anything, including its existence, without the support of the United States. Israel was never so isolated and never so dependent on the United States as now. So the key is in Washington, no doubt. The problem is that I don’t see… I see a change in Washington, but a very minor one.

Do you see much change in how the Obama administration has approached the conflict, compared to its predecessors?

I’d be more than happy to hear any sign of change. There’s been nothing. When he was elected and gave that speech in Chicago, I had tears in my eyes. I really hoped and believed that it was going to be a new atmosphere, a new world and a new Middle East. Nothing, but nothing, out of this. It’s a deep, deep disappointment.

President Obama does so little because he is afraid of the power of Congress to undercut him. Congress can undercut him only because you and I and many other Americans stand by. But what about those in Israel? Where is the opposition? Again, from the interview...

Over the past decade Israeli public opinion seems to have gone over the cliff – the last elections produced the most right-wing and possibly, as your recent columns have suggested, the most racist Knesset in Israel’s history. What is behind this trend?

There were two things happening. One was the failure of the Camp David conference in 2000, when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak comes back and claims there is no ‘Palestinian partner’. This lie was well spread and convinced Israelis from across the political spectrum. And then came the Second Intifada – the exploding buses, the suicide bombers – and the entire so-called ‘Israeli Left’ totally crashed—which makes me think, ‘how solid was it in the first place?’ Because if it was so easy to crash it, then I’m not sure it was very solid before. But in any case, nothing was left of the Israeli Left, except for some small, devoted, courageous groups which are still very active. Unfortunately, they are not very influential.

What this means is the settlers, a group of just over 300,000 people, living in a land not their own, have the power of the U.S. at their disposal. Why do we let them have it and how crazy is it to endanger the security of the United States by allowing this to continue?