1
It's not pleasant to watch writer David Grossman puff his feathers in indignation. But has he ever missed an opportunity to hurl public accusations against Israel? Grossman takes every crime by a police officer, soldier, or civilian – provided that it is perpetrated against a Palestinians – and makes it a universal issue to use in collectively blaming the State of Israel and the Israeli people. But this time it feels untruthful, like someone is standing behind him, holding a hair dryer to make sure that he puffs photogenically.
Again, we have the same torrents of words, backed up by demagogy, lies, and fictions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Grossman writes, "has made the decision not to end the occupation or the apartheid situation in the [Palestinian] territories. The opposite – [he has decided to] deepen them and bring them from the occupation into the State of Israel. In other words – this law [the nation-state law] effectively gives up on any chance of ever ending the conflict with the Palestinians."
2
A few weeks ago, I heard this argument from a friend. I was surprised. I didn't understand where he had gotten this, because it is well-known that one of the reasons for enacting the Basic Law: was so that when a peace deal with the Palestinians is made, there will be a law in place that curtails the Palestinians' right to self-determination.
Does Grossman oppose self-determination for the Palestinians? Of course not. He and his friends, intellectuals and writers – alive and dead – blindly support the Palestinians' right to self-determination, but are seized with fear when the Jews seek to ratify that right for themselves, in their own laws. Why are we asking the Palestinians to recognize us as the Jewish state if Grossman and his pals are so afraid of the law and making up stories that Israel is racists? The late Yehoshefat Harkabi, a former head of Military Intelligence, opined his entire life that Israel underestimates the power and influence of the enemy's guiding ideology. He was referring to the Muslim Arabs' hatred of Israel, but also to the lack of understanding on the Left – from Grossman to Yitzhak Rabin – that to the Palestinians, a right to self-determination means a right to the entire country, without recognizing any border. The nation-state law was designed, among other things, to limit the Palestinians' struggle for self-determination.
3
In using the "apartheid" formula, Grossman is throwing his hat in with Amal Assad. According to Daniel Pipes' website, the first person to accuse Israel of being an apartheid state was Ahmad Shukeiri, a U.N. diplomat, in 1961 in the context of the Eichmann trial. Grossman remembers that Shukeiri was the founder of the PLO, and served as head of the group prior to Yasser Arafat. Shukeiri was also a fervent supporter of the Nazis. Shukeiri is what links the Arabs' support for the Nazis and the use of the terms "Nazis" and "apartheid" against Jews, who were victims of the Nazis. Amal Assad, therefore, is in bad company. His rhetoric places him as a PLO nationalist, not as a proud Druze.
4
The late Maj. Gen. Israel Tal, who helped develop Israel's tank warfare capabilities, was considered a real leftist, although in contrast to what it acceptable today, he was also very nationalist. In one of his books, Maj. Gen. Emanuel Sakal quotes Tal on the role of the State of Israel: "The purpose of the state and the national purpose are as follows: [as] a sovereign haven and fortress for the entire Jewish people, a center of moral and physical power that is obligated to protect the Jewish people, no matter where, both directly and indirectly."
The attempts by Grossman, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, the Haaretz newspaper and left-wing organizations to do anything they can to undermine the Jews' "national purpose" hurts the Israeli public. One writer, who might be a little better than Grossman, said a few decades ago that "all the insults, all the stories, all the superstitions that were ever applied to the Jews are now applied to Israeliness. Jews and Israelis are actively working to apply these labels. People can no longer be convinced by facts. The labels and the stories are already ready, and they are being placed one on top of the other." For years, Grossman has been busy taking part in this work.
That same great writer once said that "all of Jewish history shows us that the Jewish elite always became morally bankrupt, whereas the 'simple folk' were the backbone of the Jewish people and tried to preserve it." What have Grossman and his friends done for this preservation effort? They joined the enlightened members of the Muslim world in waging a propaganda campaign against Jews in the tradition of totalitarian movements.
The nation-state law was designed for the "simple folk." It was intended to prevent the process that allows a frustrated military official to threaten the Jewish state. The Jewish state was founded so that intellectual and physical bullies won't show up to threaten the Jews.
