Israel’s “magnificent democracy”, according to Im Tirzu

According to Ronen Shoval, the chairman of Im Tirzu, there’s nothing wrong with Israeli democracy

Ronen Shoval is the chairman of Im Tirzu, an organization which proclaims itself to be a centrist Zionist movement. In practice, the bulk of its activity seems to be attacking the “extreme left”, which it apparently defines as anyone who criticizes the policy of the Israeli government.

Their attacks on human rights NGOs’ supposed lack of transparency are ridiculous and hypocritical. You do not have to take my word for it. These charges have been dismissed even by many on the Israeli hard right, and by the most mainstream Jewish American organization, the American Jewish Committee.

But what is truly alarming about Im Tirzu and its ilk is their chilling effect on Israel’s ability to learn and grow, which hinges on a capacity for self-reflection and self-criticism. Shoval’s op-ed in Ha’aretz today is a case in point. It is a mixture of absurd and easily falsified statements, and truly menacing rhetoric.

This is how the article begins:

In the past year, a vigorous public debate has been waged in Israel between dozens of heavily funded organizations that call themselves human rights groups and several other organizations…

Interestingly, Shoval does not mention that these “several other organizations” (mainly, Im Tirzu itself) have been endorsed by the Education Minister, and vested with the authority to run Knesset committees. This omission clearly undermines the op-ed’s entire premise, that this is a debate within civil society. Instead, it is a debate between the state, on the one hand, and non-governmental organizations which criticize it, on the other hand. There is one side here that is standing against power, and there is another side which supports those in power.

Shoval, of course, does not see it that way. According to him

A revolution took place in Israel this year, after many years in which only those attacking Israel (a small percentage of the population) were represented in the public discourse…

This amazing claim only makes sense if we define “attacking Israel” as “disagreeing with Ronen Shoval”. Either way, it is false. Even in what Shoval calls the “intelligentsia” and in the media, critical coverage of Israel’s policy is quite scarce.

Shoval would like to make it even scarcer. He views Israel as a “magnificent democracy” and as a “democratic, moral and tolerant society”. This tolerance, of course, quickly ends when anyone dares to suggest that it is somehow imperfect. Those who criticize government policy are running a “campaign of hatred against us” and represent scary foreigners. They are “mendacious” and spread “lies”; but Shoval is not interested in presenting his version of the truth. He is interested in silencing and intimidating all those who challenge his one-dimensional idealization of Israel.

As Shoval repeatedly states, the majority of Israeli agrees with him. This is just about the only truthful claim in the entire op-ed. And that is precisely what makes it so scary.