Soccer Dad

Leading the fight against the extreme right

Sobering Thoughts links to a short but thought provoking post at Alarming Thoughts:

Is it just me or does the fact that Ariel Sharon got 'the warmest applause in decades for an Israeli leader addressing the UN General Assembly' worry you?

Well, yes, it does.
Of course it may not so surprising because PM Sharon and the NY Times are teamed up against the extreme or far right in Israel.
PM Sharon in an interview with Lally Weymouth of the Washington Post/Newsweek:

Benjamin Netanyahu is challenging you inside your own party, the Likud. Will you stay and fight or form another party?
I think the former minister of Finance wants very much to be prime minister, so he decided to make every effort to have early elections and early primaries. I don't think that's the right way. Netanyahu became the leader of the most extreme-right group here, and that of course will affect the possibility to continue negotiations.

A New York Times editorial on the occasion of Bibi's resignation from the cabinet, "Disengaging Mr. Netanyahu":

In resigning from his post, Netanyahu is making the political calculation that he can cordon off the far-right wing of Likud from Sharon, and then manage to look prescient if the Gaza pullout is a disaster.

Of course, it wasn't so long ago that Mr. Sharon was considered a member of Israel's right wing. As this news story from from the New York Times in January 1997 tells us about the efforts to pass the Hebron accords:

But while right-wing deputies were expected to continue their bitter denunciations of the deal, its passage was not in doubt, since the opposition Labor Party was expected to join most of Netanyahu's coalition in supporting it.

Later the cabinet members opposed to the accord were listed:

Others who voted against the agreement were Ariel Sharon, a veteran opponent of land transfer; Rafael Eitan, a former military chief of staff and head of the nationalist Tsomet Party; Yuli Edelstein, a Russian immigrant and member of Natan Sharansky's Yisrael B'Aliya Party; Zevulun Hammer of the National Religious Party; and Limor Livnat, a Likud member with strong ideological roots.

What we have in common is that anyone who questions the need for Israel to withdraw from any territory is a nationalist, someone with "strong ideological roots" or a member of the far or extreme right. Someone who believes that these withdrawals are a good thing is apparently a moderate. Experience has shown these labels of moderate vs. right wing and pragmatist vs. ideologue are so misused when characterizing Israel politics. As I wrote last week:

... given the Palestinian behavior over the past several years only someone ideologically blinded could not have expected the worst.

Technorati tag: Israel.

Posted by SoccerDad at September 19, 2005 4:10 AM | TrackBack