ByALAN SHATTER

It is the over the top inflammatory abusive rhetoric that contaminates debate in the Knesset. It is the mindless and sometimes incoherent derision directed at political opponents. It is the attention seeking false statements and sound bites used to wrongly attack others which do international damage. It is the apocalyptic hate fueled pronouncements by Israel’s extremist Orthodox rabbis who denigrate all Jews who do not share their fundamentalist religious perspective. It is the contempt and denial of the Jewish identity of those who view Judaism as a living, breathing religion and not as something set in concrete in the shtetls of the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe in bygone centuries.

It is all of that and so much more that troubles many of Israel’s most ardent supporters. It is the failure to provide a state recognized egalitarian safe space at the Western Wall for members of the Reform and Masorti movements. It is the failure to enact egalitarian laws that comprehensively address marital and family difficulties and the Israeli state’s abdication of its civil responsibilities to the ultra-religious. It is the tolerance shown to the disruption of Reform services at the site and attacks by rabbinic students on Women of the Wall. It is the frightening damage done to these misled students by the incitement of rabbinic teachers who should know better and the violence they inflame by proclaiming a distorted devotion to Torah. It is the lack of respect and learning deficit displayed in the tearing up of prayer books at the Western Wall, an act if perpetrated by others that would be rightly condemned as an antisemitic outrage. It is the lack of humanity and incapacity to tolerate difference, a phenomena that should be banished from Judaism as when it has afflicted others it has devastatingly impacted on Jewish communities throughout millennia, resulted in the Holocaust and, with the growth of antisemitism, to this day results in death, injury and persecution. It is the failure to treat others as we believe we should be treated which troubles most.

None of this is a full picture of Israeli society. Israel is a great country full of generous, caring people who reject intolerance and extremism. It also has some outstanding brilliant politicians who display real insight and understanding. Most of the time Israeli political rhetoric and theater is not all that different to states elsewhere but when at its extremity it repels.

Israel’s Jewish religious fundamentalists may not realize it but they are not all that different to Christian and Muslim fundamentalists. It is noticeable how frequently they meet at the religious crossroads, such as in their attitudes to the gay community, to women and in their intolerant condemnation of those who perceive their own religion differently.

Catholics and Protestant fought centuries of wars. Northern Ireland was the most recent stage for such religious based Christian conflict and there is a continuing risk of it reigniting. Sunnis and Shi’ites have been in conflict for centuries and their conflict continues in Israel’s Middle East neighborhood to this day. For Jews worldwide that does not excuse or justify growing religious division in Israel and the seeds being planted for a possible disastrous internal Israeli conflict between the secular and ultra religious in a future decade, replicating the divisions that occurred prior to the Romans destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its resolution occupies the attention of the outside world, it is the fissures in Israeli society that are of growing concern, together with Israel’s failure to introduce reforms that reflect the values of many Israelis and Israel’s Diaspora Jewish supporters. These fissures are not confined to the Jewish-Arab divide but deeply divide Jewish Israelis and Israel from increasing numbers in the Jewish Diaspora.

Many hope that the rainbow government of disparate political colors and backgrounds will mark a period of calm, reflection, change and good governance. As the dust settles and the 2021 election result fades in memory, the hope is also that the new Knesset opposition will calm down, recover from political defeat, evolve, positively look to the future and end the perceived self serving vitriol.

THERE IS much hope that the government of many parties will address the many issues that have been for too long ignored and pull Israeli domestic politics and social policy into the 21st century. A good start has been made. But much remains to be done. This includes legislation for civil marriage ceremonies and civil divorce; ending Orthodox control of conversions; enacting comprehensive surrogacy legislation; applying incitement to hatred legislation without fear or favor; major healthcare reform and greater investment in healthcare services, schools in Arab communities, towns and in east Jerusalem; and ensuring yeshiva students receive a broader education. When it comes to political rhetoric and the thoughtless intolerant pronouncements of some Israeli politicians, maybe an anger management initiative is required for some to gain new insight into the extent of the damage they do to Israel internationally and of it’s alienating impact within the Diaspora.

Let’s hope that urgent domestic political issues get finally addressed. Let’s also hope for a new era of positive engagement and trust building between Israelis and Palestinians. Unfortunately, the continuing international denigration of Israel by members of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the PA’s rejection under pressure of Israel’s COVID vaccine offer that South Korea had no difficulty in accepting, PA renewed calls for “popular resistance,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s celebration of Ben & Jerry’s ridiculous ice cream stunt and Unilever’s pathetic hypocrisy and the disgraceful call by the PA Olympic chief Jibril Rajoub’s on athletes in Tokyo to boycott Israeli competitors affords little grounds for optimism.
The writer is a former Irish minister for justice, equality and  reform. As a leading Irish lawyer he authored four seminal books on Irish Family law and pioneered major legislative reform. He is currently chairperson of Magen David Adom Ireland.