Public support
In several polls over the past few weeks it has been found that ca. 90% of Israelis support the Government in this war. It has been noted that in 1982 when Israel attacked Lebanon under very similar circumstances there was tremendous opposition to that war. It is worthwhile analyzing why there are these differences 24 years later.
First and foremost, in 1982 Ariel Sharon was the Defense Minister, and Menachem Begin was PM. These two men were anathema to the left and the Labor Party. Both men were considered to be warmongers, and when Sharon made the decision to invade Beirut he disrupted a supposedly national consensus, that the IDF must be used only for defensive purposes, and this move was considered to be offensive. As such it was denounced by the left as "imperialist" and "colonialist" and huge demonstrations against the war were organized, with ca. 500,000 people at a rally in Tel Aviv. The question is why are there no such rallies today?
The obvious reason is that the Government this time is all-but leftist itself. It's true that Kadima is a centrist party, although PM Olmert comes originally from the right wing Likud Party. But, the Government is an alliance of individuals including some from the left, especially Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Head of the Labor Party. Two more politically opposite individuals it would be hard to find than Sharon and Peretz. While Sharon was an internationally recognized general, Peretz was mayor of a small town in the south (Sderot) and then head of the Labor Union, Histadrut. He was also known as a supporter of Peace Now, the leftist movement that opposes all IDF actions, on the grounds that if we don't fight back and give them what they want the Arabs will recognise the futility of war and stop attacking us. Not a very sensible position and not one that Peretz has adopted in the current situation. On the contrary, he has reigned over a Defense Ministry that is thoroughly engaged in the defensive war that the IDF is fighting in Lebanon. Also, Shimon Peres, that constant factor in Labor Party politics, is now our Kadima Deputy PM, and is actively supporting the war and actively engaging in international diplomacy, just what he loves to do.
Also, last time it was the PLO that had a "state-within-a-state" in south Lebanon while this time it is Hizbollah. And not only is Hizbollah a nasty Islamist fundamentalist terrorist movement, that wants to destroy Israel and kill all Jews (sympathetic leftists too), but it is indiscriminantly bombarding the entire north of the country, and Haifa is known as a left-wing stronghold. Even leftists recognise that Hizbollah deliberately started this conflict by attacking across the international border and killing IDF soldiers and taking hostages.
So the left have a problem, their best man is in the driver's seat, their reasons for opposing the war in 1982 don't apply now and so they are distracted and rendered impotent, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.
It doesn't take much for the right to support the war, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the opposition, has gone on TV and given excellent interviews with cogent explanations of the Government's actions. But, although there was a pathetic tiny demonstration of about 2 dozen leftist extremists in Tel Aviv two weeks ago against the war, so far the left has been quiescent. It may stay that way for the remainder of the war, but eventually the approaching car will hit them, and then they will find something to shout about.
There are many potential criticisms of the conduct of the war. Why did they wait so long, nearly 3 weeks, before initiating a ground invasion of S. Lebanon? It may have been the need for a long period of "softening up" of the Hizbollah fortified villages. It may have been political caution on the part of inexperienced politicians. It may have been an erroneous assumption by the Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who was formerly the Air Force Chief, that air power could do it all, the "shock and awe" factor used by the US in Iraq. It may have been reluctance to call up large numbers of inductees and rather let the professional forces take the brunt of the initial fighting and casualties. It may have been in order to signal to Syria that the call up of reserves was not directed against them, but at consolidation of the IDF position in S. Lebanon. There are many possible reasons and factors, some of which we may be unaware. At this point it is futile to guess.
But, as the toll of casualties mounts on both sides, some leftist are no doubt getting fidgety, they are unusually quiet. Maybe they have glimpsed the truth articulated so effectively by PM Blair in his speech in Los Angeles last night. There are those in the West who simply "don't get it," who haven't realised that the "arc of hostility" that stretches from Iran thru Iraq and Syria to Lebanon is aimed at well-meaning leftists too. Perhaps the left in Israel are not that stupid after all. Nah!
First and foremost, in 1982 Ariel Sharon was the Defense Minister, and Menachem Begin was PM. These two men were anathema to the left and the Labor Party. Both men were considered to be warmongers, and when Sharon made the decision to invade Beirut he disrupted a supposedly national consensus, that the IDF must be used only for defensive purposes, and this move was considered to be offensive. As such it was denounced by the left as "imperialist" and "colonialist" and huge demonstrations against the war were organized, with ca. 500,000 people at a rally in Tel Aviv. The question is why are there no such rallies today?
The obvious reason is that the Government this time is all-but leftist itself. It's true that Kadima is a centrist party, although PM Olmert comes originally from the right wing Likud Party. But, the Government is an alliance of individuals including some from the left, especially Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Head of the Labor Party. Two more politically opposite individuals it would be hard to find than Sharon and Peretz. While Sharon was an internationally recognized general, Peretz was mayor of a small town in the south (Sderot) and then head of the Labor Union, Histadrut. He was also known as a supporter of Peace Now, the leftist movement that opposes all IDF actions, on the grounds that if we don't fight back and give them what they want the Arabs will recognise the futility of war and stop attacking us. Not a very sensible position and not one that Peretz has adopted in the current situation. On the contrary, he has reigned over a Defense Ministry that is thoroughly engaged in the defensive war that the IDF is fighting in Lebanon. Also, Shimon Peres, that constant factor in Labor Party politics, is now our Kadima Deputy PM, and is actively supporting the war and actively engaging in international diplomacy, just what he loves to do.
Also, last time it was the PLO that had a "state-within-a-state" in south Lebanon while this time it is Hizbollah. And not only is Hizbollah a nasty Islamist fundamentalist terrorist movement, that wants to destroy Israel and kill all Jews (sympathetic leftists too), but it is indiscriminantly bombarding the entire north of the country, and Haifa is known as a left-wing stronghold. Even leftists recognise that Hizbollah deliberately started this conflict by attacking across the international border and killing IDF soldiers and taking hostages.
So the left have a problem, their best man is in the driver's seat, their reasons for opposing the war in 1982 don't apply now and so they are distracted and rendered impotent, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.
It doesn't take much for the right to support the war, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the opposition, has gone on TV and given excellent interviews with cogent explanations of the Government's actions. But, although there was a pathetic tiny demonstration of about 2 dozen leftist extremists in Tel Aviv two weeks ago against the war, so far the left has been quiescent. It may stay that way for the remainder of the war, but eventually the approaching car will hit them, and then they will find something to shout about.
There are many potential criticisms of the conduct of the war. Why did they wait so long, nearly 3 weeks, before initiating a ground invasion of S. Lebanon? It may have been the need for a long period of "softening up" of the Hizbollah fortified villages. It may have been political caution on the part of inexperienced politicians. It may have been an erroneous assumption by the Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who was formerly the Air Force Chief, that air power could do it all, the "shock and awe" factor used by the US in Iraq. It may have been reluctance to call up large numbers of inductees and rather let the professional forces take the brunt of the initial fighting and casualties. It may have been in order to signal to Syria that the call up of reserves was not directed against them, but at consolidation of the IDF position in S. Lebanon. There are many possible reasons and factors, some of which we may be unaware. At this point it is futile to guess.
But, as the toll of casualties mounts on both sides, some leftist are no doubt getting fidgety, they are unusually quiet. Maybe they have glimpsed the truth articulated so effectively by PM Blair in his speech in Los Angeles last night. There are those in the West who simply "don't get it," who haven't realised that the "arc of hostility" that stretches from Iran thru Iraq and Syria to Lebanon is aimed at well-meaning leftists too. Perhaps the left in Israel are not that stupid after all. Nah!
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:12 PM
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