Tibi - My Personal Bibi

What causes a rabbi in Israel to support Tibi? First editorial in "The Degeneration of the Nation"

Ahmad Tibi speaks in Yiddish in the Knesset - watch: Source

At the launch of A.B. Yehoshua's latest book, during the writing of which his wife passed away, the author claimed that in Israel, Jews and Arabs have their deepest and most positive encounter around life and death - in the healthcare system. There, Arabs treat Jews, and Jews treat Arabs, and therefore from there - through extensive volunteer work by doctors and dedicated free treatment for Palestinians - reconciliation between the peoples can grow. The author's words moved me. Many years ago, while passing through a Jerusalem hospital in the gynecological department, Ahmad Tibi saved my life. This is not the only reason I vote for him, although it is certainly a necessary reason for it.

What causes an ethnocentric and benighted Jewish rabbi to vote for Tibi? Well, Tibi is the gentile I would like as the Prime Minister of Israel. He is the figure I see in my dreams as the leader of the country. Not Scandinavian, not American, and not an Islamist or Arab nationalist (the equivalent of the forceful Jewish nationalist as in a mirror image). I trust only Tibi - that he will be democratic and fair to Jews, just as he now demands fairness for Arabs. I want the leader of my country to be educated, pragmatic, humanist, and of universal moral stature. Someone who, despite his previous extensive ties with the regime in Syria, did not stammer or equivocate and came out vehemently against the massacre and against Assad and against Russia. Because one who proves that the blood of civilians is dear to him and no excuse or ideology justifies bloodshed in his eyes - the blood of Jews will also be dear to him. Only an Arab who understands the meaning of the Holocaust for Jews - can rule over Jews. I want a Prime Minister who has sworn the Hippocratic Oath.

As one who advocates for returning the Jewish community in Israel to its diasporic state, I am interested in having an Arab Prime Minister - even if Arabs are a minority in the country. In my view, Jewish culture should not rule over any people - not only over another people, but especially not over itself. Current Israeli politics is an excellent illustration of this, and if we continue with self-rule - we haven't seen anything yet. Anyone who has read the Bible, or is familiar with the history of the Second Temple period, knows how this ends. It's not for nothing that Judaism abstained from ruling for two thousand years.

The historical proximity of Zionism and the Holocaust is not coincidental - and contrary to Zionist historiosophy, this is not a proximity of blow and remedy. Both phenomena are severe diseases stemming from one clinical root cause: a massive collapse of traditional Judaism in the face of modernity. The establishment of the state was a shock wave caused by the Holocaust, but this does not make it a positive development but rather a continuation of the disaster in other ways. The physical disaster turns into a trauma in the nation's psyche and a cultural disaster - which in turn causes secondary physical disasters, which cause secondary psychological-cultural disasters, and so on. Tibi's rule will finally bandage the wounds and cover all the disasters under the blanket of Jewish normality - to be a thriving community under foreign rule, with which there is no identification but a basic relationship of foreignness and alienation and ad-hoc intercession, because "we have no king but you." Fortunately, Jewish normality is also Arab normality - to rule over Jews as protected people and to protect them. Tibi will heal us from ourselves, and will deliver the stillborn fetus of Zionism as an Arab state with a Jewish majority. I promise you he is an excellent gynecologist.

Contrary to the opinion of A.B. Yehoshua and some of my friends on the left, we must not be part of a single Palestinian state between the Jordan and the sea. The Palestinians have not internalized democracy, they have only heard of human rights in theory, and the last time free elections were held there, Hamas was elected. Ahmad Tibi, on the other hand, will preserve Israel's historical democratic institutions, protect the Jews from the Palestinians' vengeful aspirations, and as a bonus, will make peace with the Palestinians within five minutes. Even Hamas will have no problem recognizing Israel under Arab rule. And so the Jewish majority will be able to live here in peace - if only it does not insist on holding onto power.

In conclusion, the damage that Zionism has caused to Judaism is enormous - morally, literarily, religiously, and ideologically. Zionism was a cluster bomb in the delicate fabric of Jewish life, and severely harmed not only the Jews of Israel but also the Jews of the diaspora, and not only Jews - but also Judaism as an idea. There's no need to discuss the practice. Zionism turned the Jews into vile gentiles - and Ahmad Tibi will help us return to ourselves. Tibi, by the way, also has a sense of humor.