Yesterday I posted an article about how some Jews (mis-)perceive the current rise of attacks on Jews. Roman Bronfman gives a different perspective:
“The rhetoric of the perpetual victim is not a sufficient answer for the question of the timing. Why all of a sudden have all the anti-Semites, or haters of Israel, raised their heads and begun chanting hate slogans? Enough of our whining, ‘The whole world is against us.’”
“After all, every country first takes care of its national interests and no other country has to be included among the fans of the Zionist effort. The time has come to look at the facts and admit the simple but bitter truth – Israel has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of the world and we are guilty for what has happened. This generalization is a bit harsh for me, so I will be more precise – not all of us, but our government. Even though I am absolutely certain that each one of its ministers really wants what is best for the country, the government is mistaken and is bringing calamity upon us.”
Roman Bronfman is an interesting man. Bronfman was one of the leaders of the Soviet Refusinik movement – i.e. the Russian Jews who stood up against Soviet totalitarianism and its attempt to repress Jewish cultural expression. The right to come live in Israel was a prime pillar of the struggle of these courageous men and women.
Many of them did end up in Israel. Sadly, instead of continuing the fight for justice, many of these became radical Jewish nationalists, espousing the most extreme right wing views in the Israeli political spectrum.
Nathan Sharansky, one of the best known of the refusenicks and a man who wrote an inspiring autobiography, presented a more moderate face. He founded a party called “Israel B’Aliyah” (which means Israel Rising – but Aliyah is also the word used for immigration, since moving to Israel is seen as a spritual step up). Bronfman was Sharansky’s left hand man in the party. Over the years the two men diverged. Sharansky moving ever rightward, becoming more nationalistic and forgetting his past as a fighter for freedom and justice. Bronfman moved in the opposite direction, become more and more outspoken on a broad range of issues regarding human rights and social justice in Israel. After a while the bridge between these two men became too great and Bronfman broke off and founded his own party.
I never paid much attention to Bronfman until the following chain of events occurred. With the beginning of the second intifada, the traditional left in Israel – Meretz, Labor, Peace Now seemed to disappear. Perhaps it was because the intifada began during a Labor led government (with Meretz in the coalition) so they felt they had to show they were “tough on terror” as well. The protest came from what is called the “extreme left” – Uri Avnery’s Gush Shalom, Hadash (the Arab-Jewish communist party) and many small groups of activists.
After a year and a half of silence, and after a year of rule under Sharon’s terror, Peace Now and Meretz decided to organize a rally in February of 2002. Gush Shalom and the other groups had called for one a week before but Meretz and Peace Now, afraid to offend Israel’s “mainstream” by associating with such “radical” groups, decided to hold a separate rally.
The Gush Shalom/Hadash rally was a big success – 10,000 people showed up. I was there with my sons and there was this electric feeling in the air. The leaders of the first rally urged everyone to also attend the Peace Now rally, and about twice as many people showed up for that one, just one week later. I did not attend. But what I read in the paper the next day was quite astonishing.
This rally was held not long after Ometz had come out with its letter, and their public act of refusal was still a topic of great discussion. People outside of Israel might find this hard to understand, but because militarism is so ingrained in the Israeli mentality, both Meretz and Peace Now refused to publicly support Ometz. In fact many Meretz MKs actively oppossed their actions. So the topic of refusers weas taboo at the Peace Now rally.
Roman Bronfman was invited to speak at that rally. Given the generally right-wing bent of the Russian community, it is seen as good politics to show the diversity of the peace movement including all sectors of Israeli society. As he recounted later, Bronfman himself did not consciously decide to do what he did. But when he got up to the podium, he put aside his prepared remarks, and in an act of spontaneous moral courage, talked about his admiration for the refusers. The rest of the faces on the podium were stone cold, but many in the audience, especially young Meretz and Peace Now activists (who tend to me more to the left than their elders), gave Bronfman a rousing cheer.
That was a defining and liberating moment in his political career, says Bronfman. Like many others on the left, the intifada and Israel’s continued repression, radicalized him (and continues to do so). Since that time he has spoken out even more boldly, and is probably one of the most outspoken and intelligent politicians in any of the mainstream Jewish parties in Israel.
Fortunately, the reality of the situation and limited resources has forced Peace Now to abandon its strict isolationism from the rest of the left. In July of 2002, just a few months later (and the last rally I attended before leaving Israel), all the various groups got together and 100,000 people took to the streets.
In the last election, Bronfman joined Meretz in the hope of eventually forming a broad new left party, that would include all elements of the left under one broad tent, including the Arab parties. So far this idea has not yet materialized. But Bronfman continues to speak out and speak the truth.