Will The Right (In Israel And Here) Destroy Israel?

Back in the 1970's, there was a cool book about Wisconsin in the 1890's. It was called "Wisconsin Death Trip." It was not about suicidal political decisions made by the progressive folk of the Badger State. It consisted of photographs of, I recall, dead and depressed Wisconsinites, often in their coffins. It was creepy.

The term "death trip" jumped into my head today when I read Fareed Zakaria's Washington Post column on the Israeli election.

He writes of Avigdor Lieberman's triumph: "His Yisrael Beytenu party won 15 seats, placing third but gaining enormous swing power in the Israeli system. Whether or not the new government includes him, Lieberman and his issues have moved to center stage. As fiercely as he denounces the Palestinian militants of Hamas and Hizbullah, his No. 1 target is Israel's Arab minority, which he has called a worse threat than Hamas. He has proposed the effective expulsion of several hundred thousand Arab citizens by unilaterally redesignating some northern Israeli towns as parts of the Palestinian West Bank. Another group of several hundred thousand could expect to be stripped of citizenship for failing to meet requirements such as loyalty oaths or mandatory military service (from which Israel's Arabs are currently exempt). The New Republic's Martin Peretz, a passionate Zionist and critic of the peace movement, calls Lieberman a 'neo-fascist ... a certified gangster ... the Israeli equivalent of [Austria's] Jörg Haider'' No liberal democracy I know of since World War II has disenfranchised or expelled its own citizens."

Lieberman will not be Prime Minister (this time) but he will probably choose who will be (by swinging his 15 seats behind the eventual winner).

In any case, likely winner Binyamin Netanyahu has few differences with Lieberman on Arabs and their rights. Neither Netanyahu nor Tzipi Livni has distanced themselves from him, let alone strongly repudiated his views. In fact, both have been engaged in a love fest with him and his supporters.

In American terms, this is as if David Duke or the early George Wallace (no, not Rush Limbaugh) was choosing the nest President.

Why is it a death trip? Because if Israel tried to implement Lieberman's policies, Israel would be in the same position as apartheid South Africa and the world's response would be the same.

It wouldn't just be Hampshire College that would divest. So would Harvard, every state university, and every labor union in this country. Israel would survive but its fate would be decided. The one-state solution (no more Jewish state but rather a predominantly Muslim state with a huge Jewish minority) would become reality. There would be no genocidal war. Just the dismantling of the Zionist enterprise due to domestic uprising and international intervention.

For me, that is a horrific eventuality: the end of Jewish statehood. . But the handwriting is on the wall unless Lieberman and his fellow travelers are stopped.

I don't believe this scenario will occur. I think Israel will come to its senses. It is, after all, a liberal society in general (check out Tel Aviv, its largest and greatest city). But if Lieberman prevails, if the Arabs are robbed of their rights or expelled, and if Israel ultimately unravels, it will have been done in by the Israeli right and its "mainstream" supporters (enablers) here in the United States.

It's like the old slogan of Israel's right. "Rak Likud Yachol." It means: "Only The Likud Can." It meant "can preserve Israel." I have a different spin. Only the Israeli and Jewish right can destroy Israel, not Hamas, not Hezbollah, not even Iran -- which Israel will defang if it has to.

Does the right care? They sure don't act like it.

They stopped caring about Israel years ago. Now their mantra is "bomb Iran" and "one Jerusalem, indivisible." "Settlements Forever."

They are well beyond caring about Israel itself, and it is Israel that will pay the price. The only good news is that when even Martin Peretz is sounding the alarm, it could just be that some of the death trip's key drivers are finally getting sober.

I have a message to my fellow Israel supporters. It is the slogan of the movement to combat AIDS back in the 80's. It said it all. "Silence = Death."