The falsity of the “enlightened”
By Dr. Ron Breiman, Haaretz
[Breiman also wrote two articles which Israpundit posted in support of the nationalist party.]
The psychologist Professor Carlo Strenger (Haaretz, August 12) tried to show sympathy to the distress experienced by the religious right who, according to Strenger, live “in the Bible.” The arguments presented in his article are characterized by false and distorted analysis of the Israeli reality, using terms as if taken from “1984,” George Orwell’s novel in which truth and falsity were used interchangeably, and brain-washing was a major tool in the hands of a dangerous government.
Strenger divides the Israelis roughly into two groups: The first – henceforth, the “enlightened” in their own view – “follows the liberal-modern tradition. Its worldview is guided by concepts including universal human rights and the rule of law. It considers human life, not the state or the land, a universal value.” The second group – henceforth, the religious right – is one whose “world is dominated by sacred values from ancient texts.”
Strenger forgets that the liberal-modern tradition he admires is based on exactly those ancient texts, the Bible. He disregards a huge section of the public – henceforth, the secular “orange” citizens – that follows the liberal-modern tradition, but does not renounce the sources of Jewish heritage. Strenger thinks only about the religious right when he claims “that many Israelis feel that the foundation of their existence is in danger.”
Only he who cannot observe the mendacity of the “peace process” – that inevitably led to the loss of about 1,500 Jewish lives as well as thousand of Arab lives – does not realize that hundreds of thousands of secular “orange” citizens see an existential threat in the continued rolling down along the leftist slant. Strenger uses words regarding human life as a universal value, but disregards the enormous loss of lives as a result of the Orwellian “peace process.”
Strenger suggests the “initiation of a humane, compassionate dialogue with the religious right,” but with his lack of tendency to compromise (where Jews are concerned, not Arabs), pre-dictates the outcome of the dialogue: “It must be unequivocally clear that this cannot end in compromise.” Even his compassion is aggressive.
The division of Israeli citizens into “enlightened” and those who are not is the outcome of continuous brainwashing that was exercised on the Israeli public by unilateral, biased and recruited media without real discussion for the Oslo “peace,” for the Geneva “initiative,” for the “security” fence, for the eviction of Jews from their homes, for the past “citron” (Sharon) and the present one (Olmert), and for ignoring their corruption, provided that they follow the Orwellian “peace” track.
It is time to establish the party of the secular “orange” citizens, who will serve as a political home and electoral address for hundreds of thousands of Israelis being disregarded by the media and by the Strengers. It is time to establish the party for those who cannot vote either for Likud or the National Union-National Religious Party.
It is time to show that he who talks a true Zionist language can attract the majority of Israeli electorate, both secular and religious, which is sick and tired of the lies and dangers of the last 14 years, since the Oslo disaster. The Israeli public is fed up with falsity of the “enlightened” and prefers hearing the truth, even if it means blood, sweat and tears. The Israeli public does not need the thought police of “peace,” but truth and hope.
The author is a former chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel.
