"What is all this work to You?"
Ami Isseroff
A part of Israeli society seems bent on self-destruction and isolation. Some do it from obscure 'principles,' or contorted 'strategy,' others from apathy. I am talking about those who do not care for the policies of the present government, but who will not vote in the elections or will cast blank ballots. They are more interested in cursing the darkness then lighting a candle.
Last month Jews around the world celebrated the feast of Passover, a holiday marked by extensive preparations and frenetic activity. In the traditional observance of the feast, four sons, each of different characters, ask the head of the house questions about the holiday and its significance. The evil child asks ‘What is all this work to you?’ - as though he has no part of Israel, and no share in the holiday.
Next month, all Israeli citizens of all creeds will have a chance to celebrate the feast of democracy. It is a critical election. The meaning of a victory for Nethanyahu is obvious. The government has made it quite clear what line they intend to follow after the elections, - the one they are following now, in the fields of economics, the peace process, rights for Israeli Arabs and preferential treatment of their ultra-orthodox partners. Unemployment will continue to rise. More money will be paid out to Bibi’s right-wing religious coalition partners in the form of grants for yeshiva students, housing subsidies and other goodies. The status of Arab Israelis will continue to decline toward third class citizenship. Last week, Bibi ordered closing of the Orient house, and was furious over the possibility that it might not be implemented in time for the elections. Next week, the government will call for bids for building 1,400 apartments in the disputed Har Homa area. We can expect more of the same.
After the elections, the PNA, which has temporarily postponed declaration of a state, will have to decide what course to take. What course can they take if Bibi is re-elected? As a result of Nethanyahu’s total disregard of European and American pressure to honor our commitments regarding the peace process, I believe Israel will find itself at best, fighting an isolated diplomatic battle, and at worst, yet another unnecessary war.
Four more years of Likud government will mean four more years of Likud and right-wing religious control of the education ministry, ensuring more voters for the right in the next election. The spectre of Yvette Liberman and his mysterious millions hangs over the next government as well.
By all estimates it will be a close election. Though Ehud Barak leads by 8% in recent polls, the results are volatile, and about two-thirds of the 10-12% undecided vote will probably go to Nethanyahu as it did in the last elections.
Personally, I do not think these are good policies. Others may think otherwise. The elections give us all a chance to express our opinion, and there is every indication that the supporters of Bibi will do so. However, as in the Passover ritual, there are those who stand aside and say "What is all this work to you?" The last elections, the ones that brought Bibi to power, were decided by about 30,000 votes. The decisive votes, the ones that should have gone to Shimon Peres, were cast, not by right-wing fanatics, nor by Ultra-orthodox settlers, nor by Orthodox Jews who flew in from abroad to vote, nor even by the dead, who voted decisively for Bibi in precincts controlled by the Shas party, and no doubt will do so again. These people would not vote for Labor in any event. The decisive factor was that over 80,000 blank ballots were cast by Jewish and Arab radicals who believed there would be no difference between Nethanyahu and Peres. Those were the votes that should have saved the peace process. There were many more votes lost to simple apathy - people who would rather have a picninc on that day.
In the municipal elections in Jerusalem, orthodox and right-wing factions got an exceptionally high voter turn-out, while secular groups were apathetic. The result, not surprisingly, was an overwhelmingly orthodox city council. Here too, the non-voters decided the results. The victors got the spoils, and others could only look on and blame their own apathy.
The lesson was not lost on Chadash party MK Tamar Gozhansky. Ms Gozhansky, an astute and active parliamentarian, warned against blank ballots on Israeli television, expounding the obvious maxim that democracy always provides a choice between better and worse, and that you cannot make things better by making them worse.
Unbelievably, it seems there are still those who have not learned the lesson. Pollsters estimate there will be about 100,000 blank ballots in this election, certainly enough to decide a close result. The blank ballot casters include people who should know better, intellectuals and university professors. By some absurd turn of logic, they think that by resigning from the democratic process, they will force Barak and the mainstream of Israeli politics to pay more attention to them in the next elections, and to follow their programs. They will be disappointed. If Nethanyahu is ousted, the blank-ballot casters will be ignored, because they have given up their political power. Like the child in the Passover ritual, they will have excluded themselves from the community.
Rehovot
Israel
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