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On Wednesday morning, images were circulated of a new statue set up in Habima Square in Tel Aviv. Not just a statue – a statue of protest. The kind of statue that stars Netanyahu that appear from time to time in Habima Square or Rabin Square. The latest twist: Netanyahu is not portrayed as a fascist tyrant or a gluttonous hedonist, but simply as a man in the fullest human form, kneeling, naked, relieving himself.
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The debate that ensued on social media, particularly among leading left-wing thinkers, had to do with an instrumental question – why now, just before the election, as it was "exactly, but exactly, the way to wake up the Likud." Yes, that was written by a respected journalist, and he wasn't the only one. And the prejudice returns: for the Pavlovian Likudniks, humiliating Netanyahu is classic conditioning. The bell rings, and they will come running, salivating, foaming at the mouth.
The content of the statue – its bodily contempt for Netanyahu, the humiliation, the loathing and the aggression that waft off of it – wasn't discussed at all. It's no wonder – after worshipping nudity atop the national menorah symbol during anti-Netanyahu protests, which also featured inflatable penises, it's clear that the problem isn't the content or the style, but merely the timing, which could hurt the goal of the collective. And to hell with freedom of expression.
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This is no surprise to anyone who follows the gradual process by which hatred for Netanyahu has become routine on the Left. Sentiments of hate toward him have become routine, accepted, standard. This past year, there has been a psycho-political operation that anchored the hate and gave it the status of a legitimate, and largely desired, political position. One need not be an expert on Jewish literature to understand the meaning of calling Netanyahu a "dybbuk" and portraying the demonstrations against him as ceremonies to "cast out demons."
This didn't happen in some dark corner of the Internet, it happened in the words of a respected author, in a mainstream newspaper, who brought up Jewish folklore to portray Netanyahu as a demon who forces himself on an innocent bride. Netanyahu is the demon; Israel is ravaged. This is not abstract demonization, it is direct. There is no longer any need to hide behind cumbersome analogies (themselves pathetic) between Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, to Louis XIIII, to Benito Mussolini – and, of course, Hitler. One can simply say he is "brutal," "evil and despicable," "indifferent to human suffering," that he is "evil." His is a movie arch-villain. And along with the loathing for the pure evil that is Netanyahu, disgust at him is also being gradually engineered. Starting now, we may be revolted by him. A senior candidate in one of the left-wing parties uses the expression "sewage ditch" to discuss Netanyahu's inner circle. The statue in Habima Square just completes the image.
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These aren't the fringes – it's the center. These aren't far-out commenters, they are the political and journalistic elite brought up by the Left. Things have gotten so infantile that any reader who expects the minimum of himself rubs his eyes in disbelief at the sight of these lines: "The entire crowd is divided into two parts: the good and the evil. Enlightened and primitive. Head vs. gut. Homo sapiens vs. Homo 'kishkes.' Is it possible that this was actually printed in a newspaper for adults, and not in a youth newsletter? The astonishing answer is yes – in Haaretz.
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A week before the election, who can be bothered with long words and provocative statues? Everyone wants simple columns, two-chord columns. Good and bad. So we can know what side we're on, and especially so we can feel good about the hatred we've developed and the choice can be an easy one. It's not surprising that the same newspaper is running a prelude by Uri Misgav in which he declared that "it's time to acknowledge this hatred, to take pride in it … hating Netanyahu is loving Israel." This is how the discourse has been made shallow in order to fit into "good" and "bad" boxes, which also solves the cognitive dissonance: Even though we are "the good" and "the enlightened" – we are allowed to hate. Our hatred is not their hatred. It's a healthy hatred – "the Anyone but Bibi camp is an impressive, inspiring political and social project," he says.
But the hatred initiative doesn't only serve a deep-seated psychological need to feel good and righteous despite the cult of loathing; it also serves a deeper function that compensates for the "civil and political project's" lack of ability to do the most elementary thing and present an agreed-upon path and an alternative candidate.
A mistaken perception, and possibly a manipulative one, exists that the "Yes Bibi-No Bibi" debate is dragging down political discussion into pointless mudslinging and that rather than talking about issues, we are talking about personalities. This is a serious mistake, and it's no wonder that the "Anyone but Bibi" acolytes are trying to side-step this landmine. The yes-or-no-to-Netanyahu question is by definition a meaningful one, because agreeing on another candidate would mean agreeing on another path and presenting a thesis about our lives here.
The fact that the "Anyone but Bibi" faction can't offer up a consensus candidate says it all – they don't have the basic ability to say anything or present a position. Drum-banging at protests, shouts at demonstrations, hysterics by studio pundits, stinging newspaper columns – how much written and media noise goes to hide the simple, naked truth: that we know how to shout about what we don't want, but not say what we do. This is the reason why no decision has been made about an alternative candidate, despite the endless talk about "replacing the government" and "a different leadership." Well, there is no alternate leadership at hand, in the best case there is hope for a successful spin of the roulette wheel on March 23. Perhaps by dawn, the stars will align.
We need to call it like it is: the "Anyone but Bibi" position and the desperate attempts to present that as a valid ideological line is nothing more than political escapism. The political and media elite is encourage a huge sector of the public to avoid making a choice, to prevent a decision. Never have so many people screamed so little. It's as negligent as it sounds. And in the face of all this, every supporter of Netanyahu should stand tall and respond to the daily psychological pummeling with the simple answer: Before you call me "primitive," show me who your guy is, and explain his path. Or at least admit that you're gambling with the future of us all.
