I have just finished reading Ari Shavit's tour de force "My Promised Land." It left me deeply disappointed and angry.
Shavit is one of
Israel's most talented and erudite columnists. He is a passionate
Zionist and proud Israeli whose patriotism cannot be challenged.
His superb portrayal of
history and life in Israel has received extraordinary acclaim which
even extended to the anti-Israel-orientated liberal media. His book was
selected as one of the Notable Books of 2013 by The New York Times Book
Review.
To qualify for this
endorsement he paid a regrettable price. He included one chapter which
is so far out of kilter with his otherwise laudable book that one
suspects it was deliberately written to achieve endorsement from the
liberal glitterati for whom debasement of the Jewish state has become a
key component of their liberal DNA.
As the Yiddish
expression puts it, Shavit attempted to dance simultaneously at two
weddings in order to ingratiate himself with all parties. To achieve his
aim, he compiled this dark chapter which implies that the Jewish state
was born of the sin of military victory and inflicted needless brutal
suffering on the indigenous Arab population.
Titled "Lydda 1948,"
the chapter effectively endorses the core of the Palestinian narrative
of dispossession. It describes, inaccurately, the battle of the Arab
town in central Palestine that would become the city of Lod and the
expulsion of the Arabs from that town. In summary, it argues that the
events that transpired during and following the battle prove that the
Jewish state was born in sin. Shavit alleges that we are now obliged to
come to terms with the misdeeds ("the black box of Zionism"), that our
forebears inflicted on the indigenous Arab inhabitants in the course of
our birth.
This chapter has been
utterly demolished by Ruth Wisse, Alan Gerson, Alex Safian, Seth
Frantzman and others who have documented that Shavit's depiction of the
Lydda battle is a perverse distortion of historical facts. Shavit fails
to place the battle within the context of the larger military objective
and does not mention the town's strategic geographical importance as a
link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa. His view of events is also
jaundiced due to his reliance on one questionable Arab witness who
depicts Israelis behaving like barbarians. He fails to even make
reference to the prior Arab killing and mutilation of Israeli fighters.
The entire chapter is
shoddy journalism, totally out of synch with Shavit's reputation and the
rest of his otherwise admirable book.
Not surprisingly, the
"Lydda" chapter resulted in Shavit being hailed by the politically
correct liberal establishment as its new poster child. Liberal critics
gushed over him for his "courage" in exposing the "dark secret of
Zionism." The New Yorker, renowned for its savage criticism of Israel,
even republished the "Lydda 1948" chapter as a full length essay.
Unfortunately, numerous
independent reviewers, including even devoted Zionists like Jewish
Agency Director Alan Hoffman, seem dazzled by Shavit and blind
themselves to the damage he is causing. They "praise" him for
"balancing" Israel's spectacular achievements with the negative aspects
of the Zionist enterprise.
This perversion of our
narrative is neither "balance" nor a legitimate critical review of
events. The chapter is like a rotten apple. It is succumbing to the
postmodernist approach that seeks to downplay and even besmirch national
epics like the War of Independence. It is based on false and distorted
historical data which creates a narrative in which Israel was born sin.
It represents an assault on the morality of our genesis which is being
consumed like manna from heaven by all who wish us ill.
Even if Shavit's
depiction of transgressions in the course of a battle in one town was
correct -- which, I emphasize, it is not -- would that justify the
allegation that Israel was born in sin? Was Israel primarily responsible
for creating the Arab refugee crisis? If so, why did such a large Arab
minority remain in Israel? Does the "Lydda" battle warrant Shavit
granting credence to the distorted Palestinian narrative and the "Nakba"
which suppresses the fact that Israel was being invaded by Arab armies
bent on its annihilation?
The War of
Independence, like all wars throughout history, included fierce battles
with painful consequences for those defeated. But we can take pride at
the restraint displayed during Israel's War of Independence by the
victorious Israelis towards the Arabs who had repeatedly proclaimed
their intention to massacre every Jew after destroying the newly born
state.
No other country has a
better record of ethical military practices than Israel which trains its
soldiers to abide to a strict moral code and punishes those who violate
it. Despite being the only country in the world whose existence is
under continuous threat and subject to unending siege and terrorism
since its inception, Israel remains committed to defending itself in a
manner that least harms innocent civilians. And notwithstanding that, it
has retained a robust democracy in which a substantial Israeli Arab
minority enjoys more rights than any of their kinsmen in the region.
That is not to say that
we are infallible. As in any society, there are aberrations. We make
errors and individuals commit crimes. In most cases a vigilant media and
highly critical public demand transparency and rectification of
mistakes or misdeeds. Our hyper self-criticism, at times even masochism,
underlines the highly developed sense of morality to which the Jewish
state holds itself.
That is why "My
Promised Land" angered me far more than the numerous hate-filled
anti-Israel books being pumped out. As a Zionist, Shavit's false
implication that the State of Israel was born in sin is simply
preposterous.
As an Israeli patriot,
Ari Shavit may one day question himself whether there is not something
remiss when the worst critics of Israel hail his book as a long-overdue
example of soul searching by an honest Israeli with the courage to
expose the evil at the core of the Zionist enterprise.
Like all of us, he
should be sensitive to the reality that there is a huge difference
between self-criticism such as exposing unacceptable behavior or crimes
and undermining or besmirching the moral foundations of a nation whose
overall record of moral behavior and concern for the sanctity of human
life is superior to that of most Western democracies. Far from
self-criticism, this is simply self-debasement.
And surely in these
alarming times, when we are under such fierce global attack from
venomous adversaries, there is a special responsibility on committed
Jews and Zionists to hesitate before publishing historically inaccurate,
distorted or even ambiguous messages relating to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict which provide ammunition to those seeking
our destruction.
Alas, Shavit's chapter
questioning the morality of Israel's birth will have a far greater
impact and will continue being exploited against us by those seeking to
delegitimize us, long after the positive depictions of the Jewish state
which comprise the bulk of his book have been forgotten.
Isi Leibler's website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com. He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com.
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