The Crisis of the Zionist Left Oz Aruch Just Wars? Israeli Society through the War Lens Ami Ayalon What Happened to the Israeli Peace Camp? | PEACEMISM 1/9 Just Wars? Israeli Society through the War Lens Ami Ayalon Since the birth of Zionism in the 19th century, Defense is something that can be measured. and from the moment this ideology first took You can check yourself against your effect, Israel has been at war. War is an all- goals every day. You can outline plans for consuming experience for any society, and defending against specific threats. You it is what shapes our identity as Israelis. War can create a system for dealing with such is the lens through which we see the world, threats and test its success. Security, on and through which we frame our past and the other hand, is an abstract notion. It is present realities. War is the measure by tied to the anxieties formed by individual which leaders are elected, children raised, and collective experiences, in Israel’s case and national priorities decided. throughout Jewish history. An allegory may illustrate this point. Tradition tells of a Jewish town in 17th-century Europe that Security & Defense was ravaged by a pogrom. As the assailants swept through the town, an elderly Jewish The constant state of war also drives the man stood at the doorway to his empty most painful conflicts within Israeli society. store, inviting passersby to come in and Pressing questions such as what is morally make a purchase. When asked what he was acceptable in war, who bears the burden of selling, he replied: “Security”.[1] Indeed, the fighting, how various parts of society should Yiddish word for security (bitokhen) also conduct themselves in wartime, and what means faith. are the economic repercussions To understand the political״ of war are topmost in the national debate. That is why to understand views of Israelis, it is necessary Israel from the outside, one must look at reality through our eyes. to consider the history of Jews ״.First, it is important to understand throughout the past centuries that Israeli discourse does not make the crucial distinction between To understand the political views of Israelis, security and defense. Unlike other countries, it is necessary to consider the history of which mostly have a Ministry of Defense to Jews throughout the past centuries. The past deal with international threats, Israel has is very much present and still shapes our a Ministry of Security (Misrad HaBitahon worldview. Hundreds of years of persecution, in Hebrew). the Holocaust, and the wars and acts of Heinrich Böll Stiftung Tel Aviv 2/9 Just Wars? Ami Ayalon terrorism that have plagued the Zionist That is why it is an unjust war. project from the outset, have all shaped Israelis’ current sense of security. Israel is The truth is that the first war is over. Israel one of the most fortified countries in the won. The Arab world has accepted Israel’s world, by objective standards – a scientific, existence in the Middle East, thanks to technological and military titan. Yet its a series of military victories and several citizens never feel safe. That is because our diplomatic measures: the peace treaty with worldview is not shaped by how strong our Egypt; the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of defenses are, but by how unsafe we feel. Independence, which recognized Israel’s This insight is crucial to understanding the right to exist as a Jewish state within 1967 gap between how Israelis see their wars and borders (based on UN Resolution 181 and how the rest of the world perceives them. UNSC Resolution 242, which are included in the declaration); and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. After decades of fighting, The Just War Israel has triumphed. The member states of the Arab League have abandoned their Israel’s history reveals that we have been traditional rejection of Israel’s existence. fighting two separate wars. The first war [2] In a decision announced in Beirut in relates to the establishment and defense March 2002, they declared themselves of a Jewish and democratic state within willing to establish diplomatic ties with the pre-1967 borders and in the spirit of Israel and define the conflict over, the Declaration of Independence. It is a war contingent on the fulfillment of said Look through ״ .against countries and terrorist groups that international resolutions do not recognize the right of the Jewish the Israeli lens people to self-determination in their nation- Since its existence is an established and you will see state. This is a just war according to the fact, Israel is now only fighting the only one war: principles of international law and the second, unjust war. Trying to expand the ongoing standards of the international community. the eastern border at the expense fight for the The right of the Jewish people to self- of national security and democratic existence of the determination has been internationally principles is undermining the Jewish people in recognized – in the 1947 Partition Plan and legitimacy that the world originally ״ later in UN Security Council Resolutions accorded Israel – a legitimacy their homeland 242 and 338, issued after the 1967 and reinforced during the first war, 1973 wars, respectively. which Israel fought for its independence. Yet look through the Israeli lens, and you The Unjust War will see only one war: the ongoing fight for the existence of the Jewish people in their Yet Israel is also fighting a second war. homeland, against enemies who deny their This one is aimed at expanding Israel’s right to self-determination. The image of eastern border until the Jordan River by Jewish-Israelis as “a small nation surrounded means of settlements facilitated by military by enemies” or a “villa in the jungle” is occupation. This war is fought beyond Israel’s proliferated by politicians across the board. national borders and violates the right of the All Israelis see is a justified war of defense. Palestinian people to self-determination, That is because our lens is colored by a which the world has also recognized in history of persecution, extermination, and various UN and Security Council resolutions. distrust of the international community. PEACEMISM | What Happened to the Israeli Peace Camp? 3/9 Just Wars? Ami Ayalon The common wisdom that “when push the military wing of some terrorist group, comes to shove, no one will have our back” a more extreme version is likely to take its lies at the heart of Israel’s philosophy of place if the overarching political framework, security. This is not surprising, given the in which these terrorist organizations are violent clash of civilizations playing out operating, will not have changed. In this war, in the Middle East as Samuel Huntington occupying territory and controlling a civilian predicted. Forty years of fighting between population for decades only begets more superpowers, countries, organizations and violence and terrorism. No one can pinpoint tribes have seen some two million people when it began and certainly cannot predict killed and more than eight million displaced. how and when it will end. The resilience of Israeli society will determine whether we Notwithstanding the common Israeli view, win or lose it. This war is also dangerous for the second, unjust war, which Israel is democracy, as it casts Palestinian citizens fighting despite having won the first war, of Israel as a fifth column in the eyes of the is not a war of self-defense fought against Jewish majority, thereby broadening the rift an existential threat. It is fought between between the two groups and undermining Israel and the Palestinian people, who are the principles laid out in the Declaration of struggling to achieve self-determination Independence. Allowing the second war to through organized and individual acts of continue tearing away Israel’s democratic terrorism. Being waged in the 21st century, foundations. this war, which has been shaped by the rise of digital social media, public opinion and globalization, is not fought on the battlefield Consequences for Israeli and its transformative effects reach far Society beyond the numbers of casualties and physical damage on both sides. Possessing Our political response to this constant threat a central cognitive component, the second of terror has created a “double fear effect”. war does not bring forward an end to the By succumbing to our fear of terrorists, we conflict, but only encourages terrorism, are letting them win. In this atmosphere, undermines Israel’s international status the public prefers security to human and and threatens its identity as a Jewish and civil rights and the courts are quick to deny democratic state. the rights of individuals and minorities seen as a potential enemy. Political leaders That is why the second war is different from and candidates use fearmongering to get the first one in its very essence; it cannot be elected, and then find themselves adopting won and its effects are detrimental to Israeli increasingly extreme positions to curry society; it is waged against the ongoing favor with an ever more violent and fearful threat of terrorist attacks, a threat that in populace. itself does not pose an imminent danger to the physical existence of the state; instead, The second war is tearing Israel apart.[3] it is the never-ending war on terror that Most Jewish Israelis believe that a Jewish poses an imminent threat to the country’s and democratic state strikes the right democratic institutions and values. The balance between a national home for Jews fight against terrorism in the 21st century and protecting the rights of individuals and is different from historical wars between minorities.