Change in Israeli priorities

Apparently many Israelis are revisiting the view expressed by David Ben Gurion, one of Israel’s founding fathers, that Arab countries are artificially created out of the Ottoman Empire and that sooner or later ethnic, sectarian and religious divisions would escalate creating new realities in the region.
As political divisions along ethnic and religious lines hit a number of countries, the region now seems closer to that view than at any time in its modern history. And Israel, though could be disturbed by the social and political upheaval in the neighborhood, feels far safer from conventional threat following the Arab Spring than before.
This prevailing confidence in Israel seems to have changed its priorities. Topping the list of its priorities is the Orthodox Jews and their claims for autonomy, which may result in further undermining of the Palestinians. Another issue high on the agenda is the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state in any peace deal, not merely land swapping for peace and normalization of relations with the Arabs. And finally the issue of Iran and whether it is time for Tel Aviv to take the initiative and bomb Iran before it creates its own bomb.
The issue of the recognizing Israel as a Jewish state has started to climb the priority ladder following a push by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies. Interestingly enough, all this is taking place at a time when some serious studies, even by some Jewish scholars, are questioning the very issue of the Jewish people and their homeland.
Shlomo Sand, a professor of history at Tel Aviv University came out late last year with his second controversial book The Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homeland. The book is part of a trilogy that started in 2009 with his first book The Invention of the Jewish People and his third book which is yet to be published is The Invention of the Secular Jews.
His main thesis is that Jews have very little in common to claim a nation as their homeland. There is no common ethnic lineage, no common language as Hebrew was only used for prayers only. Yaddish, is the language of the Ashkenaz Jews and that Zionism, which bounds many is a political position. More importantly many Jews don’t have the desire to go back to the Holy Land and thus Jewish people are political invention.
Sand raised questions about the land of Israel, which he said was barely mentioned in the Old Testament and that the commonly mentioned was the land of Canaan. Even when there was some mention, it did not include Jerusalem, Hebron and Bethlehem. What is known as biblical Israel was never a united kingdom including both ancient Judea and Samaria and was only confined to northern Israel.
In Sand’s view, the Western countries that were reluctant to take responsibility of the Holocaust and provide a refuge for its survivors basically pushed the creation of Israel.
Being the victims of the Holocaust gave the Jews the moral high ground, but with the establishment of the state of Israel and its adoption of expansionist trends — grabbing lands and controlling its population — it has become an occupying force, adopting apartheid policies against the Palestinians. Sand’s findings contributed to the start of a move challenging Israel’s moral authority where academic boycott called by Palestinians began to gain some momentum.
It is interesting that the famous British physicist Stephen Hawkings has joined the boycott call. He recently announced that he is not going to participate in the Israeli conference scheduled for next month. The event brings together statesmen and leading experts in various disciplines to discuss ways to address the world’s problems. The goal of the conference is to identify challenges and propose solutions, according to the organizers. The boycott campaign is led by Palestinians, Israeli leftists and other supporters who oppose Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.
It is one of the typical ironies of history that at the time of what seems to be complete domination, small moves start to work to undermine the Israeli domination. To what extent such views circulating in specialized academic circles will have impact on the main geopolitical scene remains to be seen.