July 2, 2012
Mourning Shamir
By Marc H. Ellis
Distinguished Visiting Professor,
University for Peace, Costa Rica
How
shall Jews mourn the death of Yitzhak Shamir? Born of a generation scarred by
the Holocaust, a pioneer of the state of Israel, as well as the state's longest
serving prime minister, Shamir expanded the Jewish settlements in the West Bank
and cruelly suppressed the Palestinian intifada of the late 1980s. How should
such a person be remembered in the broader arc of Jewish history?
Our decision on how to mourn Shamir depends on which side of the Jewish empire
divide we find ourselves on. In terms of Jewish empire, Shamir should be mourned.
He should also be lauded. Rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, his operating
motif was "by any means necessary." As a leader in Jewish terrorist
cells that formed the basis for the state of Israel, Shamir then used state
violence in his role as prime minister.
Shamir had few if any qualms about using violence to achieve Israel's goals
- at least as he saw them. Indeed, though sometimes differing in tactics or,
better, explaining those tactics which were essentially similar in content,
few of Israel's pioneers had qualms about what Jews did to Palestinians. That
would come later, much later.
Many of the founders of the state have died. Others will follow soon. What are
Jews to make of their efforts in building a Jewish state? Is it for us to judge
them? Do we have enough historical distance to make these judgments? After the
Holocaust, what can Jews say about Jewish empowerment? After what Israel has
done to Palestinians, what is the price of our silence?
Jewish dissent regarding the state of Israel is longstanding. Today we have
reached a crossroads. If our judgments about Israel's policies are negative,
perhaps they should they remain within the framework of the necessity of a Jewish
state. We can parse policy decisions as to whether they are good for Israel.
Or has the time come to question the very existence of Israel since as it turns
out, the imperatives of a state are the same for Israel as for any other state?
Israel's state "imperative" reality is one that Jews have long denied.
With the death of Shamir, a broader critique of Jewish leadership in the post-Holocaust/Israel
era is necessary. Where it will take us is unknown.
Shamir's policies, as well as the policies of other of Israel's prime ministers
- and indeed those of Jewish leadership in America who have functioned as enablers
of these polices - raise the issue of Jewish history and destiny to a new, unprecedented
level. We have reached the point of no return. The choice is before us. Are
we to be permanent conquerors of another people? Or we are to begin again, searching
for an interdependent empowerment with Palestinians and with other communities
around the globe?
If an interdependent empowerment is our goal, we need to seriously ask ourselves
whether that goal can be reached with a Jewish state or if such a state permanently
impedes that possibility. Today Israel and Jews in general are further away
from an interdependent empowerment than at any time in the post-Holocaust era.
Moreover, without a deep and material Jewish solidarity with a Palestinian future
there is little chance for a collective or even individual ethical life as Jews.
Yitzhak Shamir should be remembered for impeding a Jewish ethical future. The
first Palestinian intifada, which Shamir ordered crushed, may have represented
the last chance for reaching across the Israel/Palestinian divide. Or was it
the very formation of the state of Israel which Shamir helped birth?
The abyss of Jewish ethical life has arrived. It is us. Mourning Shamir must
face this abyss squarely. As well, we must connect the Israel's dots. Does Israel
have the desire or the ability to cross back over the Jewish empire divide?
Mourning Shamir. Mourning what Jewish life has become. Hope for a future beyond
being oppressed and oppressing others. The time is now. Is it too late?