If one reviews the events of the past year and monitors opinion polls, it becomes abundantly clear that despite the mantras chanted by the far left insisting that most Israelis and Jews are opposed to the policies of the current Israeli government, the evidence on the ground suggests the very contrary.
There is neither a groundswell of resentment against the foreign policy and security policies of the Israeli government nor are there indications suggesting that committed diaspora Jews are becoming alienated from the Jewish state.
In fact, it is undeniable that a far stronger consensus prevails amongst Israelis in relation to the government’s approach towards the Palestinians than at any time since the national schism was created in the wake of the adoption of the Oslo Accords.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has effectively charted a centrist course which is endorsed by most of the nation. This amounts to an end of further radical concessions to the Palestinians in the absence of genuine reciprocity and no additional unilateral territorial withdrawals that could lead to a repetition of Sharon’s Gaza disengagement which merely emboldened the jihadists and provided them with additional staging grounds from which to launch rockets and intensify terrorism.
At the same time Netanyahu has repeatedly reiterated that in the event of a Palestinian leadership committing to peaceful coexistence, willing to compromise and recognize Israel’s security requirements, he would make every endeavor to achieve an accommodation which would provide the Palestinians with an independent state. Israelis recognize that this will necessitate a change in the current duplicitous Palestinian leadership which is more committed to terminating Jewish sovereignty than achieving statehood.
Despite the appalling Israeli electoral system with its multiple parties and the excessive leverage by small one-dimensional parties, setting aside the extreme left and right and radical Arab parties, there are no basic ideological differences on issues of foreign policy or security between the leading political parties.
The histrionic media opposition from the far-left is neither reflected in voting patterns nor in opinion polls. The circulation and standing of its flagship newspaper, Ha'aretz, has plunged to an all-time low. The reality is that although the trendy “progressive” politicians and far left academicians continue making headlines, in reality they have been effectively marginalized.
........ Indeed if one observes developments in the diaspora and monitors Jewish public opinion polls especially in the US, it is clear that there is a solid sense of loyalty for Israel amongst Jews who understand the realities on the ground. They display support for the current Israeli efforts to achieve security in a region in which it is the intransigent Palestinians who undermine prospects for peace and make a short-term realization of a two state policy virtually impossible.
This was reaffirmed in the results of a recent poll conducted by supporters of President Obama designed to understate the role of Israel as a factor determining how American Jews vote. But even this poll recognized that 73% of all Jews – not merely the committed ones - considered that Netanyahu, the bête noir of left liberals, represented ‘true Jewish values’.
We should not fall prey to propaganda repeating false assertions that today Jews are less supportive of the Jewish state. The reality is the opposite and that the overwhelming majority of committed Jews continue to fervently support Israel. The only major change is that they are no longer deluded by visions of a non-existent Arab peace partner.
Read here whole article by Isi Leibler
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