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Ellen W. Horowitz lives in the Golan Heights with her husband and six children. She is a painter, writer and political activist.
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By Ellen W. Horowitz
May 4, 2005
A good number of Israelis, as well as Diaspora Jews -- religious and secular alike -- share a common fantasy. Someday, when the world is a better place, we would like to see Natan Sharanksy become Israel's Prime Minister. It would be the ultimate in poetic justice if the former Soviet Prisoner of Zion -- who one-upped the KGB, made aliyah, and became a member of parliament -- would rise to the very top of Israel's political echelon. Heaven, not Hollywood, owns the exclusive intellectual property rights on scripts like that.
But it's not just the Romantic in me that craves such a scenario. It's also the simple fact that Sharansky is a good, honest, and humble man; the flipside of the archetypical political personality. And he has remained true to form despite his exposure to the wiles of politics, power and fame...well...almost...
While I am thrilled over Sharanskyıs moral stand against disengagement and his intentions to lobby on behalf of the endangered Jewish communities of Gaza and the Shomron, I am less than happy with the arguments and logic he used in his letter of resignation. The democratic double-speak didn't quite make the grade, and indeed both the international and local press were happily confused and used Sharanskyıs mixed messages to dilute the impact that his resignation should have had.
The international press didn't bother getting past the first half dozen paragraphs of a resignation letter. They never got to the heart of the matter. By and large the press summed up the primary cause of Mr. Sharansky's angst as being caused by the following dilemma: "He isn't against an eventual pullout from occupied Palestinian lands in Gaza and the West Bank, but he said he can't support a plan that asks nothing from the Palestinians." (Canada's Globe and Mail)
On the other extreme, Yahad MK Roman Bronfman (who more than lives up to his first name) was so brutal and hateful is his exposure of Sharansky's supposed "true intentions", that the following comments were rightfully dismissed in disgust: "A human rights activist who fought against the Soviets has become a warmonger for the occupation... He [Sharansky] only represented the interests of the settlers, and his resignation unmasks the face of his true priorities."
Sharanskyıs biggest concern that everyone seems to have missed, appeared more than halfway through his letter and reads as follows:
"Alongside my concerns, about the danger entailed in a unilateral disengagement from Gaza, I am even more concerned about how the government's approach to disengagement is dividing Israeli society. We are heading towards a terrible rift in the nation and to my great regret, I feel that the government is making no serious effort to prevent it."
He was even more forthcoming as to the real agenda in his heart when interviewed by Israel national radio. "We are speaking about three generations of Jews that were sent on an important mission by the Israeli government and made an empty desert into a blossoming garden. Now, we will just destroy all these beautiful communities, with their unique agriculture and incredible Judaism, for what?
"For nothing," he added, "as a reward for terrorism."
Sharanskyıs resignation was a moral decision from a man who stands for integrity.
His muddled presentation is indicative of a man who is grappling with the conflicting interests of both mind and heart. He should not feel obligated to fit his just stance into the outline of his best-selling book in order to please President Bush, or to remain true to the image he has fashioned for himself.
We Jews need to learn that it's perfectly correct to stand up for what we feel is right, and to step down or remove ourselves from something that we feel is wrong. We don't need to candy-coat our positions with politically correct, in-vogue or intellectual jargon. Nor do we need to soften our stance in an attempt to please the untenable demands of a world that rejects our legitimacy.
Why is Israel willing to sacrifice her security, ideology and founding principles for second-rate respect and a rather pitiful place among the nations? Plain and simple, disengagement from Gaza poses an existential threat to Israel. Our destruction of Jewish communities is morally wrong and biblically prohibited. Our sanctioning of the creation of a criminal, terrorist State is itself criminal.
I believe Mr. Sharansky is a little too beholden to the forces of democracy that were instrumental in his rescue from behind the iron bars of the Iron Curtain. He can't quite shake the image of the untarnished white knight of the "free world".
He does his best to polish any grimy build-up that clings to his glistening democratic model. But it seems that economics and a very harsh reality has put Sharansky's democratic idols in bed with the likes of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt, and caused them to turn a blind eye to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
And now, just this week, Reuters reported that the Bush administration has forged a close intelligence partnership with Sudan; the same Sudan that played host to Osama bin Laden and is now perpetrating something along the lines of genocide to a segment of their population.
With a very popular Hamas prepping for elections, the harsh lesson that a lot of us -- including Natan Sharansky -- are beginning to learn is that the creation of any democratic nation bereft of moral foundations will evolve into a populist-endorsed tyranny. And it is a lot harder to deal with populist-fueled evil than it is with dictatorial tyrants or isolated terrorist groups.
Force-fed democracy is a dangerous oxymoron.
It seems the time is not yet ripe for the likes of Sharansky. Perhaps he's just too good and naive while the times are just too bad. Or maybe this recent shedding of his parliamentary skin will allow him to emerge as a true leader.
Mr. Sharansky may be comfortable as Mr. Democracy, but the democratic world is currently in the midst of a morality crisis. Perhaps he could do himself and all of us a favor by exposing himself as the Mr. Morality that we know he is.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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