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5763: Articles posted from September 2002-September 2003 Get the real situation in Israel every day.
The Wise Man and the Fool The errors of a wise man make your rule, In an era characterized by the boastfulness of Fuad, the bluster of Yvette and the mumbling incoherence of Omri, the poet Robert Blake may seem an odd choice of expert on political behavior. There’s no denying that, on the face of things, he’s a lot less apposite than the baleful Eyal Arad, say. But, on the assumption that the culture that gave us Shakespeare, Milton and Dickens still has something of value to tell us (an assumption that will have little support in Limor Livnat’s circle, I suspect, let alone that of Eli Yishai) let’s give Blake a little leeway. Our torrid political climate could do with a little 18th Century clarity. Few would argue that either Arik Sharon or Amram Mitzna is a fool in the idiot sense of the word. Far from it. But that is not the sense that Blake intended. Blake’s reference was to a Shakespearian fool, a canny clown, a calculating buffoon. Think of Falstaff, fat, loud, bullying, devious and dissembling. Now, think of stomping, bellowing and microphone-grabbing at a Likud convention. Who does that remind you of? True, Falstaff was a drinker and Sharon, to the best of my knowledge, is not. And the Falstaff of Henry IV was a coward, which certainly cannot be said of Sharon. But in most other respects, Sharon is typecast. He has made bumptiousness, mendacity and gross insensitivity his personal hallmarks. Sharon’s career has been a long litany of petulance, willfulness, deception, intimidation, brutality and disrespect for authority. He would have been kicked out of any decent high school where I came from. But in the Israeli army of the Fifties onwards and the Israeli political underworld that muscled in on the simple decency of people like Moshe Sharett and, yes, Menachem Begin, Sharon thrived. He embodied the run-amok-now-think-later (if at all) attitude that is as Israeli as Jaffa oranges and homicidal driving. We should not be fooled by his new-found gravitas, the avuncular, grandfatherly image of the New Sharon. That is merely the actor perfecting his art or, as Blake would have it, the perfections of a fool. And why shouldn’t Sharon’s act be perfect by now? He’s had a lifetime to work on it. Which brings us to the wise man. I believe that Amram Mitzna is a wise man and that he has made errors. His political opponents, both within and without his party, and the superficial Israeli media won’t let him forget his errors. They pounce on them with relish and will undoubtedly use them in their attempts to bring him down. As if announcing that Sharon is no partner for government really made the difference between victory and defeat in the recent elections. As if denouncing the Likud’s corruption in mafia terms really swayed hundreds of thousands of voters from voting Labor. If only that were true. Mitzna is a wise man because he was the only senior officer in an emasculated and browbeaten military command who was prepared to put his career on the line and publicly criticize Sharon’s depredations in Lebanon. He is a wise man because he was virtually the only politician who was prepared to speak honestly and directly to the voting public, whatever the consequences. He is a wise man because his proposed solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is essentially moral, just and realistic. His errors are those of an honest man, a politician uncomfortable with the duplicity of politics. That is a minefield he will need to negotiate. As a rule, the dishonest and immoral do a lot better in politics than the honest and the moral. But there is room for decency in politics and, heaven knows, we need it now. Better Mitzna’s errors than the practiced perfections of Sharon. We are in for a torrid time. Israel’s bewildered, frightened and boxed-in electorate opted for the solution to which it has become habituated. We are bleeding from the suicide bombers and the only response we know is Sharon’s mailed fist, the knee-jerk response. That is the legacy bequeathed us by decades of single-minded reliance on power and force. We would be well advised to heed William Blake. The irony is that it will take a wise man to help us kick the habit of electing leaders who only know how to wield force. But first we are going to have to elect that wise man. Contact Roy at risacowitz@yahoo.co.uk
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© Ariga 1995-2003. For republishing rights please contact the author of the specific article on this page. Permission is granted to link to this page.