icon on the right side to subscribe to my blog.
If you want to know the populist sentiment in Israelis about the country’s politics, talk to cab drivers. Since the mid 1990s,
when I traveled in Israel with a Fulbright scholarship working on my post
doctorate, my conversations with taxi drivers have been a useful tool in determining
the prevailing attitude about the “situation,” a key term Israelis use to
refer to the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.
I have just returned from a
two-week stay in Israel. I had arrived there only hours before two Palestinian terrorists
murdered four Israelis in a popular Tel Aviv café. I learned about the vicious
attack while sitting in an outdoor beach restaurant, enjoying a crisp, sweet
watermelon when concerned relatives called to ask where I was. Naturally, there
was sadness and anger in the city that never sleeps, but not fear. Life went on
and cab drivers continued to echo the country’s mood.
So when a day or two later, one of the
drivers expressed to me his dissatisfaction with the country’s leadership, I
wondered whether he preferred a far-right government, more extreme than the one
currently headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is the most right
wing government Israel has ever had in its history, reflecting the
radicalization the country has been undergoing. But when the driver told me
that the recent designating of Avigdor Lieberman as Defense Minister was a too
dangerous threshold, and that he did not want his son in the army under the
leadership of the new defense minister, I sensed that the political atmosphere of
the State may be shifting. Incrementally perhaps, but a change may be possible.
Soon after, when I entered a taxi in
which the radio was tuned to a talk show about the danger Israel’s democracy is
facing when the freedom of the State’s civil society is curbed and the Supreme
Court is unreasonably under attack, I smiled with satisfaction. No because I
knew the driver agreed with what he heard, but because he was listening
intensely.
Yet again, when another driver told
me that the time for a two state solution with the Palestinians is now, I felt
a sliver of hope, even though I didn’t get into a discussion with him about
what kind of a Palestinian state he had in mind. Was it a state with a
meaningful sovereign status, or a mini dependent state that can hardly exist on
its own, the one PM Netanyahu has had in mind since his first round in office
in 1996.
Then, on June 17, Ehud Barak,
former prime minster and defense minster, and Moshe Yaalon, the defense
minister who Netanyahu had just replaced with Libernman, attacked the sitting
prime minster in a way no other politicians has had. And the buzz began.
“There’s change in the air,” you
hear people saying wherever you go. Most sound hopeful.
1. To comment, type your remarks in the
comment box below (if the box is not visible, left click on "comment"
or "no comment" bellow. It will open).
2. Select from the menu under the box how you
want to sign. If you have an account with one of the
names on the list use it, or use name/URL to just sign your name, with or
without your website address in the URL. Use anonymous if you want anonymity.
3. Click “publish.”
4. You may sign into your account if
you have one.
2. Select from the menu under the box how you
want to sign. If you have an account with one of the
names on the list use it, or use name/URL to just sign your name, with or
without your website address in the URL. Use anonymous if you want anonymity.
3. Click “publish.”
4. You may sign into your account if
you have one.
