Ariel Center for
Policy Research

A JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND THE ARTS

 

NATIV  Volume Seventeen   Number 1 (96)  ■  January 2004 ■ Shvat 5764 ■ Ariel Center for Policy Research

 

SYNOPSIS

 

 

The Love That Dares Not to Call Itself by Name

Amnon Lord

Over the last two years, with the war against Palestinian terrorism raging in the background, incidents of ideological delinquency have reappeared in Israel. It began two years ago with the letter of the dissenters, and beginning last summer the phenomenon has accelerated. The pilots’ letter, the letter of the General Staff Reconnaissance Force reservists have been incorporated into the Palestinian propaganda campaign against the State of Israel. At the same time, Ami Ayalon’s mass signature campaign and Yossi Beilin’s Geneva document have also been incorporated.

All these exposed the anti-democratic tendency extant today among the Israeli Left. This tendency has deep roots in Israeli politics dating back to the establishment of the state. The dissent phenomenon is connected to what can be called Isra-communism. The IDF, from its inception, has been afflicted by deep-rooted politicization. After the dissolution of the Palmah and after the end of the War of Independence, Mapam officers in the IDF organized themselves in underground cells. Mapam then constituted a solid Stalinist bloc; which represented a dominant segment of the Israeli public. Its members were, first and foremost, loyal to the Soviet Union. Thoughts of seizing power in Israel by means of a revolution existed, especially among officers affiliated with Hashomer Hazair. These intentions manifested themselves in assemblies of Mapam officers and party leaders, where they were explicitly articulated. Ben-Gurion attacked Mapam in a series of articles published in 1953, and charged that Mapam was on the verge of treason. His basic question: If a socialist Arab country attacked Israel – whose side would the Mapam members in the IDF take – the side of the Jewish State or that of the revolution’s liberation forces? The revolutionary fervor waned over the years; however it was institutionalized by means of a body called the “officers’ circle”. These officers continued to maintain ties with the Mapam for many subsequent years. Outstanding members of the “officers’ circle” included Yizhak Rabin, Haim Bar-Lev and David Elazar.

Then, the members of Mapam sought positions of influence in the army. The political hacks among them opposed the paratroopers under the command of Ariel Sharon, because of the retaliatory actions, which they opposed. Apparently, the Palmah alumni identified the General Staff Reconnaissance Force as an army unit in which they could gain influence. According to the testimonies of Dovik Tamari and Ehud Barak, the thought of continuity of the Palmah spirit was the motivating factor behind the unit’s founder, Avraham Ornan. These instances of politicization led, in times of crisis, to the creation of organizations like “Yesh Gvul”, (the name is a play on the Hebrew words meaning “There is a Border”, i.e. “There is a Limit”) the Peace Now officers’ letter and many other phenomena of ideological delinquency, which endanger Israeli democracy.

 

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