Chazal, our Sages, tell us that the Second Temple was destroyed because of "sinat chinam," baseless hatred. I find it so hard to believe that despite the pictures which clearly show unarmed youth and adults trying to "passively resist" the police and soldiers, most Israelis blame the "settlers" for the violence in Amona.
And the Kadima party is doing better than ever in the polls, not only despite the destruction of Jewish homes, but becasue of it.
Shabbat Shalom
4 comments:
It has been very heartbreaking. It's very difficult to not lose hope amidst such insanity.
Shabbat Shalom.
I think that Kadima supporters will be unpleasantly surprised come the end of March.
The best way is to build political support by trying and reaching agreement with as much of the electorate as possible.
Olmert instead chooses to right Sharon's coattails. He figures that by bashing the Jews of Yesh he will get lots of free advertising in the media. But I think his cynicism will do him in as he hasn't enunciated a clear vision and instead lets his actions speak for him.
The situation here is very bad. Many Israelis hate us.
David,
it is not so easy. The media is very heavily weighted against us. The nation, brought up on tabloid journalism, has been deeply brainwashed into believing very shallow thoughts. The media (print and broadcast) is concentrated into a very small group of people with ties to politicians in power. The only way to alternatively build power is a logistical nightmare to get directly to Israeli homes dwarfs the effort made before the expulsion. It is called 'panim el panim' and involves teams of volunteers going door to door, trying to get in the door in order to present our 'lucid' ideas. Most people do not open the door or let the volunteers inside. Though getting in the door is a major first step, and allowing the volunteers at least a few minutes to present 'new ideas', many volunteers, acting in good faith, simply are not articulate enough to take advantage of this small window of opportunity effectively. It is a great tool in order to build long term relationships, but in less than two months, it will be hard to get to even a few hundred thousand voters.
No despair, but the deck is already loaded.
If anything, we are guilty of not forging relationships with similarly persecuted minorities like the haredim, the real socialist left-wingers and far-left wingers who've been protesting against the fence. Believe it or not, many 'religious' people are sick of us as well. The ones with TVs often cannot seperate the fiction they see on tv with the fact their comrades are living.
The real-left saw it coming. A relative quiet post-expulsion period would place the 'social' issues front and centre.
Our big problem is that 'our' side does not present any alternative at all. The parties all just want to join a coalition and deal with education and settlements. People are tired of single issue parties, that's why Kadima is attractive. Big party to deal with big problems.
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