Israel's Orthodox Riots and the Fate of the State

The New York Times has not reported on it because, alas, these violent riots have not taken place in an exclusively Arab city by Arabs for the Times to then defame as barbarians. Instead, the multi-faith and ethnic city of Jerusalem saw riots in its Western section this week between the Israeli security forces and Ultra-Orthodox Jews.

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Photo Credit: Dan Balilty/AP Photo

After it was discovered that an Ultra-Orthodox mother was starving her third-year-old son, whose weight had fallen to 15 pounds; police arrested her and put the child in protective hospital care where he has fortunately gained back a 1/3 of his weight.

The Ultra-Orthodox community, of which a great deal is anti-Zionist; rioted in angry at the government's arrest of a mother and separation from her son. Fires were started and clashed ensued.

This recent clash raises questions about whether Israel can remain a united society.

For these events to make any sense, one must put them into broader context. Tensions between ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews in Jerusalem have been mounting for months. . . .

No one holds a heroic view of Israel anymore, not abroad and not here. Today’s kibbutzim are not a source of national pride. In the past decade, dozens of them have “privatized,” dividing up what was common property (it took a Supreme Court ruling to stop kibbutzim from selling to developers valuable government-owned lands that had been lent to them for agriculture). Israel’s social gap is now considered among the greatest in the developed world. The most recent wave of immigrants, from the former Soviet Union, are largely disgruntled, and surveys suggest that a large percentage of them are not even Jews. Several of Israel’s large development projects have caused great harm to the local environment. Israelis are unwelcome in African capitals. They are mostly unwelcome anywhere. And most important of all, Israel’s military excellence has been tested in a 20-year misadventure occupying southern Lebanon, and in laboriously maintaining the peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The disastrous last war in Lebanon, and the wrenching recent war in Gaza, won support by most Israelis, and censure by some, but together they have left little doubt that the country’s army is not heroic in the sense that it once was.

For all these reasons, to be a secular Israeli in 2009 is a demoralizing and demoralized affair. We are tired: tired of the Palestinians, tired of the bombs, tired of U.N. and EU condemnations, tired of having so much of our daily wages taxed to buy guns and missiles, tired of the army reserves, tired of being hated, tired of going to bed and waking up to reports of kids -- Jewish kids, Palestinian kids -- watching their parents die or dying in their parents’ arms. We are tired of our lives and tired of ourselves.

It is striking, but not at all surprising how weak the Zionist project is in 2009. Its best days are behind it and the its fate is getting closer.