TALI FEINBERG
Looking to explore this further, new South African organisation the Jewish Democratic Initiative (JDI) hosted a live link-up with Professor Gideon Shimoni, an expert on South African Jewry and Israeli history.
“One thing’s for sure, the majority will still go to the ‘conservative hawks’,” said Professor Shimoni, speaking to the audience from his office in Israel. “Once again, Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party holds the balance. If he again refuses to join a coalition with majority party Likud, we may find ourselves in the same situation of going to another election.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition after the April elections when Lieberman refused to join him, citing an ideological dispute with ultra-orthodox parties over the ultra-orthodox draft law.
Shimoni said that opposition party Kahol Lavan had sworn not to go into a coalition with Likud if Netanyahu remained at the helm. Thus, it might put pressure on him to step down. If he doesn’t, the party might have to go back on this demand to save the country from a third election.
Shimoni is of the opinion that Israeli parties are slaves to the polls. If the polls say that the electorate is concerned about a certain issue, then that is what the party champions in its campaign. Thus, none of the parties are addressing the larger issue at hand: resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“There is an evasion of the fundamental issues, and there is no sign this election will bring change,” he said. “Israelis live an intense life with many everyday concerns like the cost of living. Furthermore, the average person is not exposed to the conflict on a daily basis.” Political parties align themselves with these concerns.
So, if Likud wins the election in September, what will change? “Bibi will continue to ‘control’ the conflict, and sustain the status quo”, or even annex parts of the West Bank, which will make the conflict harder to resolve, Shimoni said.
He said it was difficult to remain optimistic about the future of the country, and he feels alienated by the direction Zionism has taken in Israeli politics. However, there is still hope. Civil society, the supreme court, and public opinion all stand in the way of annexation and extreme politics.
Regarding the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) lobby group in South Africa, Shimoni said it had aligned itself with extremists on the Arab side, which is “a zero-sum game with no compromise” that aims to annihilate Israel. For this reason, he believes BDS has no role to play in resolving the conflict, which needs compromise from both Israel and the Palestinians.
Shimoni said the South African Jewish community had become more religious, and almost all of our leadership aligns itself with the national religious camp in Israel. South African Jews must hold these leaders to account. If they applauded President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call at the SA Jewish Board of Deputies’ conference for South Africa to play a role in mediating the two-state solution in Israel, then they must push for a two-state solution.
“Israel is not a hopeless case. Hope comes from the bottom up – people who are open to dialogue and engagement in Israel and the diaspora,” he said.
