Israel's Flag
This was not a good year for Israeliness. Never before has this fragile and delicate identity, comprised of an entire mosaic of beliefs, opinions and tastes and built with great toil over the last 68 years, been forced to face such a fierce internal assault.
Whether it was relations between Jews and Arabs, between religious and secular, between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim or between leftists and rightists, every element that comprises what is ultimately supposed to be known as “Israeli” seemed to be trying to tear itself away from its fellows and go off on its own.
Precisely because Israeli identity isn’t uniform, and its various components are embroiled in constant conflict, it’s necessary to defend it against efforts to foment strife and tear it apart. But, with the exception of President Reuven Rivlin, all other state powers – especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government he heads – were to a large degree responsible for destroying the delicate fabric created by the different groups that comprise the State of Israel.
Netanyahu’s inflammatory speech before the elections – “the Arabs are going to the polls in droves” – became the motto by which his government operates. And it gave birth to a plethora of bills that ostensibly sought to bolster Israeliness, but whose real goal was to alienate and isolate minorities and ideological opponents.
A bill allowing a super-majority of Knesset members to suspend or even oust their colleagues was meant to remove Arab MKs from parliament, and also to intimidate them; bills that would require NGOs funded by foreign governments to register as foreign agents were meant to stigmatize “leftists” and present them as traitors; the “cultural loyalty bill” sought to link government funding for the arts to right-wing political views; and a bill to penalize insulting the flag threatened anyone who deviated from the nationalist choir.
The poisonous vapors emanating from the windows of government ministries found their way into social media, television and radio studios and newspapers, and from there to the street. The fine stitching of the Israeli flag has been systematically ripped apart, and this symbol of constructive, inclusive Israeliness has become a weapon in the hands of racist, nationalist militias.
This Independence Day underscores the need to repair the rents in the blue-and-white flag and to bring under its protection all the groups that make up Israeliness – including those minorities that have trouble identifying with the Star of David in the flag’s center or the “yearning Jewish soul” of the national anthem. Instead of continuing to foment strife, the time has come to once again create an Israeli nation that is proud of its country and its flag.
Haaretz Editorial
Whether it was relations between Jews and Arabs, between religious and secular, between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim or between leftists and rightists, every element that comprises what is ultimately supposed to be known as “Israeli” seemed to be trying to tear itself away from its fellows and go off on its own.
Precisely because Israeli identity isn’t uniform, and its various components are embroiled in constant conflict, it’s necessary to defend it against efforts to foment strife and tear it apart. But, with the exception of President Reuven Rivlin, all other state powers – especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government he heads – were to a large degree responsible for destroying the delicate fabric created by the different groups that comprise the State of Israel.
Netanyahu’s inflammatory speech before the elections – “the Arabs are going to the polls in droves” – became the motto by which his government operates. And it gave birth to a plethora of bills that ostensibly sought to bolster Israeliness, but whose real goal was to alienate and isolate minorities and ideological opponents.
A bill allowing a super-majority of Knesset members to suspend or even oust their colleagues was meant to remove Arab MKs from parliament, and also to intimidate them; bills that would require NGOs funded by foreign governments to register as foreign agents were meant to stigmatize “leftists” and present them as traitors; the “cultural loyalty bill” sought to link government funding for the arts to right-wing political views; and a bill to penalize insulting the flag threatened anyone who deviated from the nationalist choir.
The poisonous vapors emanating from the windows of government ministries found their way into social media, television and radio studios and newspapers, and from there to the street. The fine stitching of the Israeli flag has been systematically ripped apart, and this symbol of constructive, inclusive Israeliness has become a weapon in the hands of racist, nationalist militias.
This Independence Day underscores the need to repair the rents in the blue-and-white flag and to bring under its protection all the groups that make up Israeliness – including those minorities that have trouble identifying with the Star of David in the flag’s center or the “yearning Jewish soul” of the national anthem. Instead of continuing to foment strife, the time has come to once again create an Israeli nation that is proud of its country and its flag.
Haaretz Editorial