David Remnick of The New Yorker “Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin, the new President of Israel told the Knesset recently, “I’ve been called a ‘lying little Jew’ by my critics,” ‘Damn your name, Arab agent,’ ‘Go be President in Gaza,’ ‘disgusting sycophant,’ ‘rotten filth,’ ‘lowest of the low,’ ‘traitor,’ ‘President of Hezbollah.’ I must say that I’ve been horrified by this thuggishness that has permeated the national dialogue.” President Revlin is ardently opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and a proponent of Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky-the most militant and militarist stream of Zionism and Greater Israel, one Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. And yet, Rivlin has become Israel’s most unlikely moralist. He despairs of hate speech by Israels politicians and prominent rabbis anti-Palestinian violent rhetoric. “I’m not asking if we’ve forgotten how to be Jewish,” he said, “but if we’ve forgotten how to be human. It is time to honestly admit that Israel is sick, and it is our duty to treat this illness. It’s not just Jews against Arabs. It’s the Orthodox versus those who don’t think they can keep all six hundred and thirteen commandments of the Bible. It’s rich people versus poor people.”
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 01:54:51 +0000
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