NIF's Naomi Chazan Speaks: "We Can't be Silent"

On Sunday, May 9, Toronto Reconstructionist synagogue Darchei Noam hosted the president of the New Israel Fund, Naomi Chazan, as part of a lecture series dealing with Israel, its domestic challenges and its relations with its neighbours and with the Diaspora.

Born In Jerusalem in 1946, Chazan, who described herself as the “mother of civil society in Israel,” ironically addressed the packed audience in flawless English on Mother’s Day a fact that she lamented by mentioning with a tinge of sadness that in Israel Mother’s Day has been replaced with Family Day.

Chazan, a professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she served as the chair of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, has a lengthy CV, including degrees from Columbia University and time spent at Harvard and MIT. She was also a Member of the Knesset for the Meretz party from 1992 to 2003, serving as deputy speaker and sitting on multiple committees.

Never one to shy away from debate or her mission to “fix” social woes, she spoke at length on the subject of the “Achievements and Challenges of Israel’s Democracy.”

Chazan began by saying that while she was initially concerned about how to get the Canadian community involved in the conversation that is taking place now inside Israel, a protest by the Jewish Defence League (JDL) outside the building made her immediately feel at home because “obviously people care. People’s concerns burn them up inside.”

Raised in Jerusalem, she recalled how her parents came to Palestine in late ‘30s from London – “a place from where very few Jews actually came voluntarily” ­– because they were “true Zionists in the full sense of the term.”

“They believed strongly that political self-determination was the root to individual self-determination and freedom and justice. In other words, they linked in their mind the creation of the state of Israel with the creation of a just society in Israel.”

At home, Chazan was brought up on one document: the Israeli Declaration of Independence. She noted how it talks not only about creation of Israel, but about essential values that the state should entrench equality for all citizens, regardless of race, nationality, gender, religion extending a hand of peace to your neighbours the creation of social justice.

“(My parents) taught me that if there were problems there was one obligation I had and that is to fix them. I’ve been fixing all my life.”

The dilemma Chazan believes Israel currently faces? Sixty-two years after Israel’s creation, one of its most important achievements is its “capacity to maintain its boisterous democracy.” She quoted a remarkable figure – of the over 150 countries created after WWII, Israel and India are only two that have survived as democracies. A “tremendous achievement,” she remarked.

However: “Democracies are like gardens. If you don’t water them, they whither. They begin to flounder. They can disappear. And today, more than any time in my memory, there are serious challenges to Israel’s democracy. It’s beyond boisterous and uncivilized. It may be going further.”

She then went on to examine the characteristics of the recent challenges, stating,“If you do not remember a word of what I said in next half hour, there is one sentence that is crucial. Anybody who is concerned about Israel’s existence must first and foremost protect Israel’s democracy.”

She continued, “If we lose our democratic character we will not survive. And I want to make it very clear that the protection of Israel’s democracy is the key to its future. Everything else is secondary.”

According to Chazan, we are at a stage where we are “fighting for the soul of Israel” and we need to combat “very pernicious” trends overtaking the country, which she said have roots in the past and in large part stem from disagreements over the future boundaries of the State of Israel.

“In the last five years, in a very concerted way, there have been attacks virtually on every aspect of Israel’s democracy,” she said.

It started with attacks on peace movements and leftist political parties, as these are “easy targets.” The process continued systematically to Arab citizens of Israel then to human rights and civil rights groups.

“Democracies are measured by how they treat their minorities,” she said.

In Chazan’s view, the New Israel Fund is a current target because she said it heavily funds Arab civil society in Israel (along with human rights, women’s rights, Ethiopian rights and other civil society causes).

For instance, NIF is under direct attack, accused of being disloyal to the state, she added.

“Behind all of this is the key target and that is the justice system of the state of Israel,” she said, explaining that the court system, the last resort of Israeli citizens, is “being attacked as being too leftists because it is protecting the human and civil rights of Israeli citizens. And this is very, very serious.”

The country is in the middle of a “process” that should worry everybody who cares about Israel, she said, adding that she is not sure who the next target is but “we can’t be silent.”

What are characteristics of this process?

One: An attempt to circumscribe democratic discourse, with watchdog groups attempting to silence others by saying there is only one truth about what is good for Israel.

“Civil rights dissenters love Israel otherwise they wouldn’t dissent. People who go to court to protect the rights of Mizrahi girls in Haredi schools love Israel but they don’t abide by the truth of the watchdogs and the monitors.”

Two: An attempt to undermine democratic values.

Three: An attempt to undermine democratic institutions, including the most democratic of all: civil society.

Four: The “scariest of them all.”

“There are now conversations in Israel that say, ‘Democracy, what do we need it for? If it’s a question of the Jewish existence of Israel or its democratic existence, let’s give up the democracy.’”

Chazan told the audience that she has been living with this battle “very intensively” for the last four months. In January and February of this year, Chazan was attacked by a group called Im Tirtzu in posters that depicted her with a horn jutting from her forehead as “Goldstone Chazan” (in Hebrew, the word for “fund” and the word for “horn” is the same). She said the accusation stemmed from the fact that “human rights organisations posted findings which were then used by the Goldstone commission.”

Since then, the self-described “middle aged, rather boring, professorial type” has been trying to understand why people are “troubled to write outrageous things against a fellow Jew. Why is this happening?”

She gave three reasons. One: We live in a time of great uncertainly, which scares people to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do. Two: We distrust ourselves due to fear and paranoia and a “very deep-seated sense of victimhood.” Three: “You cannot continue to be democratic when you rule over another people against their will.”

“The inability to end the occupation and to create a Palestinian state alongside Israel is not only deeply hurting the Palestinians and Israel’s relations with Arab states but it is now eating away at the core of Israeli society and therefore has to be resolved.”

Where do we go from here? She said the first thing needed is to protect civil society to fortify engines of changes, social justice, and decency in Israel.

She feels a personal obligation because of her stature. “Every time I see something that needs correction, there are organizations to do it and they have to be supported.”

Furthermore,democracy needs to be protected and improved: “If we don’t succeed, there won’t be an Israel.”

Lastly, the conflict has to be resolved. “There’s not much time and we know what the solution is. If we don’t do it now, that solution will dissipate.”

Chazan said that in the last few months since the posters, she has received thousands of messages from people saying “don’t get upset because this is all about you fighting for what is important for all of us.”

She said about half the letters began: “We don’t agree with your politics but we worry about the future of our country.”

“It’s all about Israel’s democracy. I think that’s the challenge of Israel today in the 21st Century. Undermine our democracy, undermine ourselves, and we will be totally isolated. But, respect our democracy, respect the other, we will be able to find respect worldwide,” she said. “Most Israelis and most Jews that I know understand that we cannot, we will not, and we should not, do to others or do to each other what was done to us in the past. That is our strength and that is our future.”

At the end of Chazan's lecture, questions and comments were taken from the audience. Hind Kabawat, a Syrian woman, made one of the most memorable comments of the evening. She told Chazan, "You are not an enemy. Because of you, I believe that peace will prevail." The comment was followed by much applause and an ovation. Kabawat is a member of the Jewish - Arab women group "Together in Hope". Chazan responded that her dream is to wake up in the morning in Jerusalem and eat lunch in Damascus.