A voice from Boston, on the Israeli elections

By Greg Margolin, Guest Columnist

On February 10th, Israelis voted for a new Knesset. The most remarkable fact about these elections is that elections took place at all. Democratic elections are unheard of in this corner of the planet.

East of Israel you will find the kingdom of Jordan. The northern border is shared by the national-socialist regime of Syria, where president Hafez Assad passed his presidency to his son Bashir, and Lebanon that is controlled by Hizballa, an organization on the US foreign terrorist organizations list. The Southern neighbor, Egypt has been run since 1981 by Hosni Mubarak who is planning on passing the country on to his son Gamal. So while Israeli democracy is not perfect, it is functioning and fairly robust.

The elections of 2009 signified a few major shifts in Israeli politics – the demise of Labor, a convincing win for the Israeli Right, and the emergence of Soviet-born Avigdor Lieberman as a political king-maker. How did this happen?

I had a chance to talk to friends and acquaintances when I visited Israel this past January, just a couple of weeks before elections. The Boston Russian-Jewish community, including many Newton residents, is involved in philanthropic projects in the city of Sderot.

At Ben-Gurion airport a custom officer asked me about the purpose of my visit to Israel. My answer -- “charitable projects” was satisfactory for her. “Any specific place that you are planning to visit?”, -- was her next question. I said that I'm planing to go to Sderot. “Sderot?” She asked with surprise in her voice? “Yes, Sderot,” I confirmed. She looked at me attentively one more time, and then said “good luck”.

I went to Sderot for the second year in a row to check on the progress of community projects there. This time, I got a little bit lost on my way there and had to stop at a gas station to ask for directions. “How do I go to Sderot from here?” -- I asked a gas station attendant. “Why in the world do you need to go to Sderot?” -- he asked incredulously. I answered that I had business there.

So, what was my community's business in Sderot? Why did I go during one of the heaviest Kassam attacks last year and during the ongoing war this year? I went because of my American belief that “All men are created equal”. We, Russian Jews, newcomers to America take our newly acquired freedom very seriously. We believe that the children of Sderot on whom Hamas dropped more than 10,000 rockets over the past eight years deserve a childhood just like our children. They deserve a chance to learn English, math, art, dance, sports, and simply hang around with friends. This is not possible in Sderot. Day after day, Sderot has been shelled by fire, that targets schools, bus stops, and is timed exactly at the hour when children commute to and from school. As a result, the whole city is suffering from a post-traumatic disorder.

You would not know this from the regular coverage that usually lists the number of Kassams and the number of lightly wounded people. For example, Larissa is a girl whose house was hit directly by a Kassam. Larissa visited Boston and Newton in 2007. As a result of this hit, she lost her hearing for about a month. Her hearing is back. She was listed as lightly wounded and as somebody who was treated for shock. Thirteen year old Chanan came to Boston and Newton twice in 2007, and 2008. He lost his father during a Kassam attack in 2006. His father was part of “just thirteen people” who were killed during these years. Till this year, many Israelis were equally ignorant about the situation. But this year, things suddenly changed – places like Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beer-Sheva came within range of enemy rockets.

An old friend of mine told me in Israel: “We suddenly realized that we are all in the same situation, and there is no longer an issue of giving peace a chance. It is about our survival”. The elections of 2009 showed that Israel has moved to the right. Labor, the party that founded the state and promoted the Oslo process, came in at a very distant fourth place. The combined center-right parties gained 65 seats. They received 80% of the Sderot vote, 75% of Ashkelon, and 70% of Beer-Sheva.

And of course, the hero of this election is Avigdor Lieberman. You could see Lieberman on billboards with the slogan : “Lieberman, you can trust him!” I discussed Avigdor Lieberman's candidacy with fellow Russian Jews in Israel. They told me that “Liber” talks about issues that nobody else wants to talk about; security, crime (which is growing in Israel and affects poor neigborhoods), and the fact that the problem of integration (or lack of it) of Israeli Arabs in society is a time bomb demanding a solution. The media in the West and in Israel called Liberman names such as “ultra-right-winger” and “fascist” for daring to bring up issues. Israel's neighbors,see above, sounded concerned and worried. This did not seem to matter to people in slums, crime-ridden neigborhoods, or to those whose Israeli Arab neigbors were calling for support of Hamas and more suicide bombings.

There is a joke in Israel – when you are invited to a party in the Middle East you need to check which list you are on – on the list of guests or on the menu. It looks like the majority of Israelis this time decided to make sure that they are not on the menu.

Greg Margolin is Editor and Publisher of the Jewish Russian Telegraph