Netanyahu Picks the Right Topic -Michael Bar-Zohar
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at this year’s Herzliya Conference surprised Israelis by choosing to devote the bulk of his February 3 address not to Iran or to relations with the Palestinians — but rather to education.
Specifically, he spoke at length about “educating children about the values connected to our identity and heritage, teaching children to know our people’s history, educating young people and adults to deepen our ties to one another and to this place [Israel].”
Netanyahu discussed the urgency of connecting Israelis to Jewish and Zionist history, of studying the Bible, of encouraging visits to sites of national importance and of enabling Israelis to hike and explore their country. “A people must know its past in order to ensure its future,” he said.
The response from the pundits was predictable:
Ridiculous! Irrelevant! Lame! Covering the conference for Tablet, Judith Miller described reactions to Netanyahu’s speech as “angry” and “furious.” According to journalist Lisa Goldman, one conference organizer remarked, “That was embarrassing.”
But if Netanyahu’s speech is cause for “embarrassment,” it only shows how far some of his critics have fallen from the ideals of those who founded and built the state.
Israel’s founders realized the importance of education in the forging of the new nation. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion [pictured at right], hosted a weekly Bible study group and often met with academics, philosophers and writers to discuss the contributions of the Jewish people to the world.
Ben-Gurion is gone, and his successors didn’t carry on his efforts to instill Jewish and Zionist values in the younger generations. Some believed that Zionism naturally flowed in the veins of every young Israeli, and that such efforts were thus superfluous. Others were of the opinion that education in Jewish values was too nationalistic, and that it would be better to concentrate on universal rights.
The Israeli media, cynical, nihilistic and often vicious, contributed to the fading of the idealistic — and often endearingly naïve — beliefs of the state’s founding generations.
The results are clear: We have seen a drop in Zionist motivation and a legitimization of emigration from Israel, with 35% of Israeli youths saying in a 2007 poll that they would consider moving abroad. Growing numbers of Israelis — including popular actors, singers and sports figures — evade military service. Worst of all, there has been an erosion in our certitude in the righteousness of our cause and a diminishing of the feeling that we can be proud of our state, of our army, of our national institutions.
In the last poem he wrote before his death, Israel’s national poet, Nathan Alterman, described Satan’s efforts to destroy the people of Israel:
“Then Satan said: I will not take his strength/Nor fetter nor restrain him/I will not weaken his will/Nor dampen his spirit/This will I do: Dull his brain — until he forgets that justice is his.”
A return to strong Zionist motivation is possible only through education.
The Iranian menace is real and ominous; Syria’s threats are distressing; the Palestinians’ reluctance on peace talks is disturbing; the Goldstone Report is revolting. But in order to face these dangers we need to have a highly motivated nation, aware of the miraculous nature of her revival in her land, dedicated to the goals of Zionism and to eternal Jewish values.
Michael Bar-Zohar is the official biographer of David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres and a former member of the Knesset
[The Forward]
*
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at this year’s Herzliya Conference surprised Israelis by choosing to devote the bulk of his February 3 address not to Iran or to relations with the Palestinians — but rather to education.
Specifically, he spoke at length about “educating children about the values connected to our identity and heritage, teaching children to know our people’s history, educating young people and adults to deepen our ties to one another and to this place [Israel].”
Netanyahu discussed the urgency of connecting Israelis to Jewish and Zionist history, of studying the Bible, of encouraging visits to sites of national importance and of enabling Israelis to hike and explore their country. “A people must know its past in order to ensure its future,” he said.
The response from the pundits was predictable:
Ridiculous! Irrelevant! Lame! Covering the conference for Tablet, Judith Miller described reactions to Netanyahu’s speech as “angry” and “furious.” According to journalist Lisa Goldman, one conference organizer remarked, “That was embarrassing.”
But if Netanyahu’s speech is cause for “embarrassment,” it only shows how far some of his critics have fallen from the ideals of those who founded and built the state.
Israel’s founders realized the importance of education in the forging of the new nation. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion [pictured at right], hosted a weekly Bible study group and often met with academics, philosophers and writers to discuss the contributions of the Jewish people to the world.
Ben-Gurion is gone, and his successors didn’t carry on his efforts to instill Jewish and Zionist values in the younger generations. Some believed that Zionism naturally flowed in the veins of every young Israeli, and that such efforts were thus superfluous. Others were of the opinion that education in Jewish values was too nationalistic, and that it would be better to concentrate on universal rights.
The Israeli media, cynical, nihilistic and often vicious, contributed to the fading of the idealistic — and often endearingly naïve — beliefs of the state’s founding generations.
The results are clear: We have seen a drop in Zionist motivation and a legitimization of emigration from Israel, with 35% of Israeli youths saying in a 2007 poll that they would consider moving abroad. Growing numbers of Israelis — including popular actors, singers and sports figures — evade military service. Worst of all, there has been an erosion in our certitude in the righteousness of our cause and a diminishing of the feeling that we can be proud of our state, of our army, of our national institutions.
In the last poem he wrote before his death, Israel’s national poet, Nathan Alterman, described Satan’s efforts to destroy the people of Israel:
“Then Satan said: I will not take his strength/Nor fetter nor restrain him/I will not weaken his will/Nor dampen his spirit/This will I do: Dull his brain — until he forgets that justice is his.”
A return to strong Zionist motivation is possible only through education.
The Iranian menace is real and ominous; Syria’s threats are distressing; the Palestinians’ reluctance on peace talks is disturbing; the Goldstone Report is revolting. But in order to face these dangers we need to have a highly motivated nation, aware of the miraculous nature of her revival in her land, dedicated to the goals of Zionism and to eternal Jewish values.
Michael Bar-Zohar is the official biographer of David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres and a former member of the Knesset
[The Forward]
*
No comments:
Post a Comment