21 May 2023
When Internal Security Minister Ben Gvir goes up to the Temple Mount, most of us cringe. We cringe not primarily because he is angering the Jordanian government, with whom Israel has a fragile peace, but because he is provoking fury among devout Muslims, distancing any hope of reconciliation with the Palestinians, and undoubtedly inciting more young people to engage in terrorism.
Glory be to the hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators who line the streets of Tel Aviv every week. And what will happen if they have an all-out win – the judicial overhaul is abandoned, the disproportionate allocations to the ultra-Orthodox are halted, the cost of living has been reduced. Then what? Have we achieved democracy? Will all those living under Israeli rule now enjoy equal rights, equal opportunities, fair representation? Have we lowered the bloody toll of death and destruction that are intrinsic to a violently enforced rule over an unwilling population?
No, hardly. Even if the current demonstration goals are fully realized, some 3 million Palestinians will still be living under a brutal military regime. In the West Bank, killing and wounding are the norm – sometimes us and sometimes them (though we all know whose children die in greater numbers). And they will have no semblance of democracy in their lives. They do not have a vote; they live in fear of nighttime raids; their power is the gun and the bomb.
There is no possible way that the Palestinians will agree to ongoing Israeli rule over their lives. They will not consent to tyranny just as other nations have fought it off for centuries. Not all have succeeded in throwing off oppressive majorities, but all have made the ruling regimes miserable, whether through terrorism or systems sabotage or simply blackening the ruler’s reputation internationally – a tactic that has negative consequences of its own, economically and otherwise.
These are dire consequences. But are we doing anything to prevent them? The elephant in the room is the occupation, and the vast majority of demonstrators are ignoring it. Yes, several thousand fewer demonstrators will show up if you carry the message of ending the occupation. But you will finally be getting to the heart of what democracy should be all about: Ending oppression. Ensuring equality. And you will finally be opening a door to a possible peace with the Palestinians, our in-house neighbors.
What do mass demonstrations accomplish? They have a profound impact on public opinion. Even when they do not catalyze immediate change, they set the stage for the coming election. And until mass demonstrations acknowledge the self-defeating and anti-democratic character of a brutal occupation regime, we will never get to democracy, let alone to peace.