Almost three years ago, I suggested in a column that what is at the core of the anti-judicial reform protests and the so-called Kaplan Camp, which had developed on the basis of “anything-but-Bibi,” is not so much a fight for democracy but a struggle for cultural dominance. I opined that, under all the rhetoric and justifications, we are witnessing a form of a class conflict over national and cultural identity.
On March 12, I wrote in this newspaper that the fight among competing parties and the various civic societies is not one on behalf of democracy per se as much as it is a struggle over cultural dominance. I insisted that regime hegemony is at the root of the protests. However, that “regime” is what Israeli sociologists had defined as our own local WASP elite. And they’re not talking about the standard White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
First popularized by Amos Elon as “White Ashkenazi Socialists with Protektsia,” I favored updating it, in recognition of the new wealthy class of Israelis that has developed, to “White Ashkenazi Secular Privileged.” I saw in the street occurrences a last gasp of the once-hegemonic Mapai WASP.
One of the most prominent of its helmsmen, both intellectually, investment-wise, and on the streets, is undoubtedly former prime minister Ehud Barak. He founded the “Black Flags” group before their fascist-uniformed-in-black appearance caused their quick exit, to be replaced by Shikma Bressler, she of the recognizable “Liberty Leading the People” pose a la Eugène Delacroix.
It was Barak, at his 2023 Chatham House interview in London, who laid out a plan taken from the “common denominator” of protest, conceived by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan of Columbia University, which requires only 8% of the adult population to succeed, if they are persistent. Barak, kibbutz-born and raised, military hero, short-term former prime minister, and an almost-oligarch, was and remains at the core of the anti-Netanyahu campaigns.
He is one of the figureheads of the century-old clash between the Zionist Left, that of the Histadrut labor union and its elements, and the Zionist Right, that of the followers of Ze’ev Jabotinsky and the legacy of the pre-state undergrounds. The struggle is over who can more effectively influence the country’s social and cultural makeup, its political atmosphere and values, and its economy and strategic policies. It is over who controls the institutions of power, then and now. It is a conflict over issues of tradition, identity norms, and social order values.
The Israeli Left is no longer socialist. But the idea of being secular, of mimicking Western progressivism behavior, and achieving financial success from global markets in computer-related fields, all mark their identity. As such, the country’s institutional order – elections, political representation, the character of judicial decisions and, of course, religion in the public square – becomes paramount.
Barak, again at that March 2023 Chatham House interview, spoke of a certain type of people who would oppose the Netanyahu government. For him, “solidity” was their defining characteristic and they would almost all be from the military.
From theory to evidence
I was, of course, observing and theorizing then. Yet, thanks to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, we have been provided with a unique opportunity of insight into Barak’s actual machinations.
As revealed here in Israel by The Jerusalem Post’s Shir Perets and broadcast by Yishai Friedman of Channel 14, during a working meeting in 2015 between Epstein, then-defense minister Barak, and former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers, Barak informed Epstein of conversations he had conducted with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One central item that Barak pushed was his desire for a million Russians to convert to Judaism. Once “Jewish,” he would be aided by Putin to have them immigrate to Israel and conclusively transform the nation’s social, ethnic, and religious character.
Not forgetting to entice Epstein to adopt the plan by assuring him that “There are many young, handsome girls [who] will come,” Barak insisted that what he wanted to do was achieve selective and quality control over the future demographics of Israel’s population. He told Putin that “what we need is just one more million to change Israel in a dramatic manner: the million Russians.”
For a moment, let us ignore the authoritarian aspect of this social and political engineering, as well as the racist aspect, and pay attention to the elitist nature that I think is the linchpin of our social and political disruptions.
Barak related to Epstein that unlike the elitist founding fathers of Israel, who had to accept people from North Africa and the Arab world, Barak’s new elite class can now genetically alter the nature of Israelis. Instead of the darker-skinned Jews, there will be more whiteness; in place of religious traditionalism, there’ll be a secular society – a variety of the Hanukkah menorah/ Christmas tree version.
A new population will be created; election victories will be sealed. Instead of those despised “baboon” Bibi enthusiasts, the new Israeli people will vote for the centrist Left.
Finally, the vision of another Barak – Aharon Barak, Israel’s former Supreme Court president – can be achieved: the creation of the ultimate Israeli WASP vision – the liberal “enlightened community.”
That such a goal would be accomplished in not quite a democratic, moral manner never bothered any elite anywhere. Certainly not the WASP elite here in Israel.
The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.