David Ben-Gurion planted the roots of a secular state but at the same time sowed the seeds of its destruction, the seeds of religious-messianic evil.
Ben-Gurion was a pragmatic politician and to realize his life’s ambition, the establishment of the state, he enlisted religious messianism because nationalism alone is an empty shell that needs something juicy inside to arouse enthusiasm. He no doubt thought he would be able to control the wild weeds that would grow in his garden.
Moreover, I believe that contrary to his secular image, Ben-Gurion, deep down, was captivated by religious, even messianic ideas. It wasn’t just his saying that the Bible is “our deed of ownership,” which justified the wholesale seizure of Arab lands inside Israel and the occupied territories. In the 1956 war and in a letter to the Army’s Order of Victory, he wrote: “Yodefet, known as Tiran, will once again be part of the Third Kingdom of Israel.”
Ben-Gurion rejected the national-religious and ultra-Orthodox streams probably because he thought that they were too moderate (and indeed the religious worldview in those days was moderate), and that they would water down the militancy of the secular Zionist movement. He assumed, it seems, that the religious would continue to champion that wise policy of avoiding “upsetting the gentiles.” It was an approach that helped the Jews survive in difficult times; the problem was that while it was a strategy suitable for a persecuted minority, it was not appropriate for a majority that holds power.
What can you do? History disappoints. When Ben-Gurion thought the time had come to curb the appetite for occupation, Moshe Dayan thought otherwise and didn’t even take the time to update him on his plans on the eve of the 1967 war.
Ben-Gurion was resolutely against the war and when it was over urged Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, apart from East Jerusalem and Hebron. He realized the destructive potential inherent in controlling masses of disenfranchised people under the bayonets of the army.
Today the wild weeds – that is, religious extremism combined with nationalist extremism – are thriving. The messianic and ultranationalist fanatics have united and are operating on two fronts. On one, they are striving to “liberate” the land of their forefathers, and on the other they are working to “liberate” the people from their secularism. They dream of a modesty police like in Iran and promote intense hatred for the 20 percent of Israel’s citizens who are part of the Palestinian people, whom these racists see as an enemy and whose leaders they see as terrorists.
The good news arising from all this is that sane Israelis, along with Palestinians in the West Bank, share an understanding that the occupation is against their interests. The Palestinians in the West Bank are fighting the occupation, and the sane Israelis are fighting the fruits of that occupation, namely the growth of anti-democratic forces inside Israel.
But against that, there is another conflict involving relations with Arab society in Israel. Are the Arabs in Israel citizens with equal rights and full partners in the life of the state? Their status remains uncertain, and they themselves haven’t managed to clarify it either.
And while in principle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is, in spite of everything, solvable, the status of Israeli Arabs and the relationship they will have with the Jewish majority remains shrouded in fog. It’s easy to understand why: While the path of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is one of separation from Israel, the path for the Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel is one of living together. Can we do it?
It’s not an easy question. But with the realization that the alternative will be disastrous for both sides, we should be able with a little optimism and determination to succeed in finding a happy medium.
Today, when the country is an uproar, the question is how to turn the struggle for democracy – a struggle that is supposed to be about the face of Israeli society – into a joint struggle of the two peoples. This is a question that is no less important than the fight for democracy. In fact, it is an inseparable part of it.
Secular Zionist David Ben-Gurion, the Messianic Jew
20
22
25.04.2023
David Ben-Gurion planted the roots of a secular state but at the same time sowed the seeds of its destruction, the seeds of religious-messianic evil.
Ben-Gurion was a pragmatic politician and to realize his life’s ambition, the establishment of the state, he enlisted religious messianism because nationalism alone is an empty shell that needs something juicy inside to arouse enthusiasm. He no doubt thought he would be able to control the wild weeds that would grow in his garden.
Moreover, I believe that contrary to his secular image, Ben-Gurion, deep down, was captivated by religious, even messianic ideas. It wasn’t just his saying that the Bible is “our deed of ownership,” which justified the wholesale seizure of Arab lands inside Israel and the occupied territories. In the 1956 war and in a letter to the Army’s Order of Victory, he wrote: “Yodefet, known as Tiran, will once again be part of the Third Kingdom of Israel.”
Ben-Gurion rejected the national-religious and ultra-Orthodox streams probably because he thought that........
© Haaretz
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Andrew Mitrovica
Belen Fernandez
Marwan Bishara
Timotej Milanov
Tafi Mhaka
Grant Arthur Gochin
Ahmadi Ali
