A German, Frenchman, Englishman and a Jew decided to write about elephants, the story goes.
The German went to Africa, returned after 10 years and composed a five-volume ”Foreword to a General Introduction to the Origins of the African Elephant”. The Frenchman came back after six months and wrote a slim, elegant volume: ”The Love Life of Elephants”. The Englishman returned after a week and produced a booklet on elephant hunting. The Jew stayed home and wrote an essay about ”the Elephant and the Jewish Question”.
Jews in America and Israel have been asking one question: is Barack Obama good for Jews?
One indication was American citizens in Israel who voted early. Most were Orthodox Jews who backed John McCain.
Official Israel has been hard put to hide its fear of Obama. A black man whose grandfather was a Muslim, whose middle name is Hussein, an unknown quantity.
Obama has gone out of his way to show he would support the Israeli government exactly like his predeÂcessors. He grovelled before the lobby group Aipac, surrounded himself with Bill Clinton’s Zionist aides and hinted they would enjoy the same status in his administration.
Official Israel is full of angst. Public television has openly spread pro-McCain propaganda. In a scandalous gesture, the right-wing Israeli ambassador in Washington, Salai Meridor, travelled to a remote town to meet Sarah Palin.
So, is he ”good for Israel”? In the old Jewish way, this question must be answered with another: ”for which Israel?”
George W Bush gave Ariel Sharon carte blanche to enlarge the settlement blocs, each a deadly landmine on the road to peace. He hindered Israel from making peace with Syria, adding it to the ”Axis of Evil”.
His invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq gave an immense push to Muslim fundamentalists, Hizbullah’s creeping domination of Lebanon and the strengthening of Hamas. No wonder Osama bin-laden prayed for a McCain victory.
After Camp David Bill Clinton helped Ehud Barak spread the lie that ”Yasser Arafat has rejected all my generous offers, we have no partner for peace”, dealing a blow to the Israeli peace camp from which it has not recovered. Meanwhile, the settlements were being enlarged at a frantic pace, with Clinton’s tacit approval.
Some reassure the Obama-fearers in Jerusalem that he cannot change things. Supporters of official Israel dominate the Democratic Party, which enjoyed the support and donations of Jewish voters even in these elections. They will continue dominating the next Congress. A politician who supports Israel only 100%, instead of 110%, will commit political harakiri.
This is true, but still I dare to hope Obama is revealed as a friend of the Other Israel, which seeks peace.
He promises change. I believe this is not an empty phrase, but something rooted in his character. He seemingly has the will to look at everything with new eyes.
That happens from time to time in the United States, which, in this respect, is superior to other democracies, and especially ours.
For the US the ”larger Middle East” is a key theatre, which the new administration will have to deal with at once. It is the theatre where Bush’s catastrophic failures are most obvious.
Hopefully Obama and his people will reach a self-evident conclusion: that the hatred for the US boiling from Morocco to Pakistan is inextricably bound up with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has poisoned all the wells. It is the Sunni bin-laden and the Shi’ite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s trump card.
It is in America’s interest to really work for an Israeli-Palestinian, Israeli-Syrian, Israeli-Arab and even Israeli-Iranian peace. This was apparent post-9/11. But Bush went in the opposite direction, making the situation 10 times worse.
I hope with all my heart that Obama will continue to support Israel, but not the Israel of the bullies and hypocrites who pretend to negotiate for peace while enlarging the settlements, tightening oppression in the occupied territories and blabbering about bombing Iran.
Where are the Israeli leaders who would respond to such an initiative? Where is the Israeli Obama?
No one in the Israeli political arena is ready to take on the task.
But yesterday we had no Obama either – he appeared because something happened deep in the US ”national psyche”. There was a longing for someone to speak the language of hope, audacity, change. The indifferent public rose and followed him enthusiastically.
That can happen here, too. Our Obama can appear suddenly when there is a demand for him. When people are finally fed up with all the politicians, devoid of vision and courage, who pack our stage today.
Uri Avnery is a leading light in the Israeli peace movement, Gush Shalom.