When Bibi Calls Jewish Rioters “a Handful,” Israel Has a Third World Problem
In choosing to describe Jewish rioters in the West Bank as a “handful,” prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu inadvertently exposes a painful truth: Israel is heading towards becoming a Third World country.
It is hardly surprising that he uses such a minimizing description. In doing so, he sends a message that, apart from what he describes as “some 70 children from broken homes,” or “150 teenagers, most of whom are not even from the area”, the entire settlement enterprise is law abiding. The riots against local residents are an aberration, as are their perpetrators – a marginal phenomenon that says nothing about Israel.
At the same time, he belittles those who insist on talking and writing about them: Come on, why do you busy yourself with a mere handful, when there are so many other important issues on the agenda?
But even someone who has built a career on slogans should understand what his words convey.
I will set aside the lies, like the claim that those driving the vehicles supplied by the state are a few unruly children. I will not get into the danger of escalation in the West Bank, the damage to the prospects of moving toward a political solution, or the harm to Israel’s international standing. I will leave aside Israel’s legal obligation to protect a civilian population under its authority. Nor will I dwell on the moral and ethical dimension, or draw historical comparisons. Instead, I will focus on the subtext of the prime minister’s words.
According to him, this is a troubling but minor matter – there is no reason to attach significance to the fact that Israel is unable to restrain a handful of juvenile lawbreakers. His response suggests that he accepts Israel’s adoption of at least one hallmark of the Third World: the weakening of the rule of law, to the point of rendering it meaningless.
In Third World countries, the police may be ineffective or corrupt; the courts may be overloaded or politically biased; and double standards are often apparent. Indeed, one need only compare the treatment of demonstrators protesting against the current government with the measures taken – or not – against that same “handful.”
Without proper rule of law, people cannot rely on the authorities either for protection or to punish those who harm them. That is reminiscent of the closing words of the Book of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
And now, in a baritone voice and with theatrical gestures, “Mr. Hasbara” effectively declares that Israel has descended into anarchy. One can only speculate about the consequences of this development for Israel’s future.
Who will invest their money in a country whose authorities cannot – or will not – control a “handful” of violent lawbreakers, and where private property and human lives are subject to the whims of “children from broken homes”?
What will happen to Israel’s credit rating if property rights and other basic rights cannot be guaranteed? Who will want to cooperate with institutions in a country subject to the dictates of people convinced that they have a direct line to the Almighty? What kind of immigrants will Israel attract? Which tourists will come here?
Israel is not yet a Third World country. There are, to be sure, areas in which it ranks near the bottom of the developed world, among them student achievement, traffic congestion, and inequality. But in areas such as life expectancy and per-capita income, Israel still ranks highly.
Nevertheless, the prime minister’s admission that the regional power he boasts of leading does not restrain a handful of lawbreakers sends a disturbing signal: that the unrestrained breaking of rules, ideological and otherwise, will only increase.
When there is no law and no reckoning, what will save Israel from further decline?
