of Israel over the reality of Israel.
As confused as the Diaspora Left may appear, its vision of reforming Israel as a state is real. The Left retains an admirably optimistic desire to correct Israel’s deficits in accordance with the standards of a European-style, multicultural social democracy. Diaspora Jews may not agree completely on whether a one-or two-state deal solves the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, or whether a market-based or government-dominated public sector can adequately redress the country’s high levels of social inequality. But they all seem to assume that reform can indeed be created within—or perhaps despite— Israel’s highly overdetermined and confining historical context.
When the Jewish Right goes after people like Tony Judt or the less provocative peace organizations on the Left, it risks ruining the remaining basis for solidarity within the Diaspora—the belief that a better Israel can be made from the current one. That’s not to imply that the Right’s fears are groundless. The emergence of a new Jewish Left in the Diaspora warrants some of the sensational rhetoric meted out by conservatives in media and academic environments. When taken to their logical conclusion, the political concerns of progressives do indeed contradict every defining feature of the Israeli status quo: religious traditionalism, racism, social inequality, and colonialism. That’s why, as Occupied Minds author Arthur Neslen explained in a January 2007 interview in Tikkun, ending Israel’s occupation of its remaining Palestinian territorial assets is a much bigger deal than simply withdrawing from the land itself.
Advocating withdrawal from the Occupied Territories calls into question the character of the modern Israeli state and everything that comes along with it. You don’t change your character simply by taking a few steps backward. But it is crucial to remember that those features of the status quo, which have become more prominent in the four decades since the Six-Day War, are still not set in stone. The reality of contemporary Israel is more complex than that. And, while there is ample ground for despair, there’s also reason to hope. So much of the increasing polarization of debate is generational. Change is coming, no matter how fiercely some resist it.
The question is whether this change is able to successfully manifest itself in an Israeli context.
LOOKING OVER THE WALL
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