They don’t stop. Even though the entire right-wing conservative camp unequivocally condemned the controversial “foreign agents” Im Tirtzu post last week (which depicted intellectuals and actors as subversive figures), the onslaught against the Right has continued. It is also worth noting that the Left does not lift a finger when its allies engage in much more provocative conduct.
Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg demonstrated leadership by suspending himself, paving the way for some serious introspection by his organization. The movement must now go beyond that and appoint a council of former activists to advise it on a regular basis. Now that the Right has clearly distanced itself from that post, we must look at the big picture. Im Tirtzu, unlike groups on the other side of the spectrum, has never slandered Israel on the world stage, never joined hands with members of the BDS movement, never tried to boycott artists or performers at certain venues, and never silenced anyone.
So why has this movement been subjected to such an onslaught? Why did this movement, run by young students, have to endure this ordeal after it exposed the political activities of the New Israel Fund and protested the politicization in social sciences departments and forced the media to grapple with the problematic conduct of the left-wing human rights organizations?
Im Tirtzu is just one of the extras in a script written by the Left. Not a calm week has gone by since the Left lost the election in 2015. The shock on the Left after the votes were cast matched the shock following the 1977 upset, which ended almost 30 years of left-wing dominance.
Then, as now, it is the Left that can’t quite accept the rules of the game in the Israeli democracy. How ironic.
“This is an end of an era in Zionist history; this feels like total destruction, we lost the state; the country is on its way to committing suicide,” wrote the poet Eli Alon following the 1977 defeat. His comments could have been written by a left-wing intellectual today.
Here is a list I compiled of the manufactured scandals that have been keeping us busy since the shock of the March 17 election: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that the “Arabs are voting in droves”; the insinuations by various Israeli artists and PR gurus that the right-wing voters who re-elected Netanyahu were unenlightened (taking a page from artist Yair Garbuz, who said similar things at an election rally); the high-profile campaign against the new natural gas regulation, that had the government portrayed as a plunderer of natural resources; the killings of three Palestinians from Duma, for which the Right as a whole was blamed; the stalled appointment of Dr. Ran Baratz as a media adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office; the controversy over the first “foreign agents” campaign against the anti-Israel Defense Forces group Breaking the Silence; the controversy over the new civics book and over a book left out of the high school curriculum; the new NGO transparency bill to reveal which organizations are primarily funded by foreign governments; the controversy of the Channel 2 report showing left-wing activists allegedly violating the law; the new rules set by Culture and Sport Minister for funding productions critical of the state; the controversy over Channel 20 and the ongoing attacks it has had to endure, including the claim that it must not have any news programming; and the most recent “foreign agents” campaign.
There are many more controversies to pick and choose from, and on top of that, there is the Left’s ongoing claim that Israel’s democracy is being eroded and the Jewish state is gradually becoming Iran, North Korea, Nazi Germany or Franco’s Spain.
The corroding influence of left-wing human rights groups, and their attacks on Israeli democracy, have only increased over the past year. Remember Orange CEO Stephane Richard’s attempt to boycott Israel in June? What about the fact that Breaking the Silence activists have been traveling all over the world and given heroes’ welcomes as part of their indirect efforts to bolster the BDS movement? What about the fact that former Foreign Ministry officials have tried to derail the appointment of Dani Dayan as Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, and are proud of it?
The new Israeli guard has finally caught up with the old Israeli establishment. For the Left, this feels as if the walls of its fortress are shaking, and the barbarians are scaling the walls. The Israeli majority has claimed its rightful place in what was the exclusive domain of the old guard: academia, cultural venues, the media, the judiciary, the State Attorney’s Office, the prize committees and the cultural bodies.
The Left forcibly kept its ideological rivals at bay and made these domains its exclusive turf until things began to change. With rare exceptions, only left-wing allies were awarded prizes, cultural budgets, mouthpieces in the media (just look at the exclusion of right-wing figures in Army Radio), and faculty positions in the social sciences and humanities. It also appointed like-minded judges and created rules for the public discourse to shape people’s perception. The government must now reap the fruit of the historic change of guards. It must muster wit and courage to do what is necessary and right a historic wrong.
The artificial controversies in the past and in the future are just part of the Left’s losing battle to put out this flame and make sure the old order stays intact. That is why Im Tirtzu and others like it have had to endure such an onslaught.
The Left would prefer to do away with in-your-face right-wing groups, let alone independent media outlets. This is what the battle is all about.
shaked wanted to reform th e leftist high court but BB stopped her.
I call them traitors even if others avoid that accurate moniker. they aid and abet traitors, hence they are traitors. Im tirtzu should retract the apology… Israelis need to know who are causing the daily stabbings of Jews.
this is the result of the foreign paid mole traitors libels on Israel and the jewish people:
the left wants jews to choose between the Jews lives and democracy for the killers. When the foreign paid moles talk….. Jews die.
Yes, it appears to be a sad story… except wasn’t it the Israeli leftist academia who started all this BDS tough love propaganda… wasnt it they who gave life to all the demon stories about Israel which has now resulted in hatred of israel and the Jews of the diaspora? If anyone should suffer from BDS shouldnt it be those academics and artists who contributed to the distorted narratives of Israel which now govern world behavior…. including that of Bam ki moon?
Let us hope that this academic who is complaining is NOT one of those who perpetrated the BDS narratives……..
Oooops, my bad…… it appears that he is one of those BDS folks who have contributed to the BDS narrative of a demon Israel, demon settlers, demon nationalists and demon right wing.
Somehow, I dont feel so bad anymore to hear of his suffering, it seems only fair that those academics and artists who contributed to the demonization of Israel and settlers deserve to suffer the fate they brought on others.
I hope that Im tirtzu returns to exposing the despicable behavior of the Israeli left who have almost single-handedly created the recent wave of global antis semitism which is killing and abusing Jews. By the time the Jews are chased out of the remaining nations to Israel the world will hate Israel and the Jews so much they will have them all in one ghetto to do what they want…. all as a result of the Israeli left.
I disagree, by apologizing and suspending himself he has allowed a distraction from the accurate substance of his message: YES, those artists and academics who sit on the boards or are members of orgs which libel and distort the image of Israel are INDEED the most despicable of traitors and should be indicted for contributing to the incitement of the revenge murders of Jews in Israel AND the diaspora. this uspension and apology has allowed these collaborators with the enemies of Israel to re emerge from their deserved caves of shame to once more show their despicable lying faces in the public arena when instead they should be incarcerated for murder.
Is it not the Israeli leftist artists and academics who have been presenting to the world the nation Israel as a horrible devil? Is it not these academics and artists who should be held responsible when Jews are murdered because muslims beleive their lying narratives…. lying narratives given special weight as an admission of guilt by the Jewish people? Sorry, but it is my view that those who utter lies and libels on the Jews deserve more than ostracism, they deserve the fate of murderers.
here is an example of these despicable creatures:
Here we can see clearly the typical Israeli Jewish leftist spreading and reinforcing the mantras of evil Jews that continue to murder Jews daily worldwide and create an atmosphere of fear for Jews in the Diaspora at their colleges. I beleive that Dotan should pay for his crimes, I believe that these despicable creatures should be exposed and brought to justice for what they have done and what they continue to do. I hope the leader of Im tirtzu retracts his apology and doubles down on bringing these leftist kapo liars to justice…. exposing how every day they cause damage to other Jews including death.
It is obvious that dotan is an opportununistic fraud capitalizing on his distortions of Israel and the Jewish people….. trying to sell his fraudulent wares to the BDS audience and Israels enemies. A member of artistry and academia who benefit materially from causing the murders of other Jews.
He should be happy, they are indeed listening…. every day Jews are stabbed or abused because someone listened to what dotan said and took his libels to be truth.
If I were a settler, and my child was murdered.. it would give me great pain to know that the Dotan’s, Hass’ and Eldars and their families were still alive and enjoying life after their words murdered my child.