Time for Israelis to go?

I seem to keep saying how I got the current post in an email. Well it's happened again. I got an email from someone sending a two week old article they said was by a former "nasty zionist turned anti-zionist." Wouldn't it be nice if all zionists were pre-anti-zionist?

Anyway, what prompted me to post this was a comment from a chap (I think it was a chap) who raised the issue of the impact on global warming of keeping Sharon alive. Well that got me thinking about how Israel is probably the most ideologically mobilised society on earth and that that commitment to ideology often leads to neglect of practical issues. There is also the little problem of the sheer repugnance of the ideology in whose service Israeli (and some diaspora) Jews are mobilised. You see Israel is beset with corruption in the highest places. Surely ideological commitment negates corruption. Well that can be true and you would expect it but when the ideology is as repugnant as zionism its promoters tend to be dishonest people in the first place. That is, in order to climb the greasy pole of the zionist movement you have to be morally degenerate at the outset. Having ascended the greasy pole it's only a short quick step to abusing the power that one has amassed. That's my view anyway. So now take a look at a chunk of this Ynet article by Idan Ben-Barak:

Corruption? Road accidents? Pollution? Poverty? Who cares about this nonsense? Two Qassam rockets just landed in Sderot and Ahmadinejad again made some belligerent statements. We've got action. Who has the energy to deal with the small stuff? And meanwhile, the country is crumbling in our fingers. Slowly but surely.

We already got used to it: There's no minister who isn't facing a police investigation. Every police chief comes with a scandal and every IDF chief of staff is a failure.

This guy really thinks the end is nigh for Israel and for zionism, though he doesn't get that much into zionism:

Apparently, at the end they won't be taking over us with tanks. In two or three decades there will be no need for that apparently. And if they do attack, with ballistic missiles from Iran and Syrian Scud missiles, does anyone still believe that the IDF can handle it?

After all, this is the same IDF that was unable to organize decent backpacks for every reservist in a war that we initiated on our own. The exact same IDF that has been pulverizing Hamas and Hizbullah for 20 years now – and look how nicely pulverized they are.

The Palestinians are not playing ball either. We tried a nice approach? We got terror attacks. We hit them hard? We got terror attacks. We occupied? Terror attacks. Evacuated? Terror attacks. Once upon a time we thought we might be able to finalize some kind of a deal with them so that the buses stop exploding, but today we understand it will be like this forever.

So what does he suggest?

Move abroad, while it's still possible. True, for Israelis "abroad" equals "America," but you may be surprised to hear that it's not the only option. There are several countries in this world that would be very glad to get a second-hand Israeli in good condition. Canada is one of them. So is New Zealand. There are many others.

At the end of the day, gloomy prophecies and unflattering comparisons to other countries is not what will get you to board a plane. After you debate, look into it, consult, examine the details, and do the numbers, you'll be left with one question: Do I have the guts to do it?

Leaving Israel is a risky business. Not because of the departure itself, as after all we can always go back, and many people indeed to that – but rather, because it forces you to deal with yourself. It's a process of the most in-depth self-examination, whether you like it or not.

A bit of introspection on the part of Israelis might not go amiss.

Actually I'm sure most Israeli Jews would leave if they knew they could make new lives elsewhere. In fact anti-zionists should help facilitate the relocation of those Jews who no longer wanted to be cannon fodder for a repugnant racist ideology. Perhaps we could demand that the Israeli government should let our people go. And then we would find ourselves telling our own governments to let our people stay.