The Israeli Obama

The Israeli Obama. What will he look like, the Israeli counterpart of BarackObama? What will be his attributes?

That is a tantalizing question. It goes without saying that one cannot constructa human being according to a recipe, like a cake from a cook book. But one can,at least, consider a few of the desired traits.

For example:

Where will he come from? 

The Israeli equivalent of the black community in the United States is theOriental Jewish community, the Jews who have come to Israel from Arab and otherIslamic countries. They do not belong to another people, like the Arab citizensof Israel, they belong to the majority population. They are a patrioticcommunity which sees itself discriminated against, a community of second classcitizens.

In order to obtain an exact parallel to Obama, the candidate should be halfOriental and half Ashkenazi, with the Oriental part of his image dominating.Once I invented a Hebrew word for Israelis of mixed Ashkenazi-Sephardi origin– "Ashkeradim". The term did not catch on, in spite of the fact that wenow have hundreds of thousands of women and men who fit this definition.

So, the Israeli Obama is an Oriental Jew of mixed extraction.

For convenience’s sake, let’s give him an imaginary Hebrew name: BarakHasson Ovadya.


What will be his task?

The first achievement of Barack Obama was the mobilization of millions ofvoters, many of them young, who were fed up with the politicians. He inspiredthem, gave them a reason to join the political process and turned them intoactivists, donors and mobilizers.

He proved a hugely important thing: what this large group detested was notpolitics, as it seemed, but the politicians. They had come to the conclusionthat there was no real difference between the members of the various parties,that they were all cynics, all greedy for power and most of them greedy formoney. When these young voters saw a politician of a different species, theyhoisted him onto their shoulders.

That is exactly what we need. The recent experience in the Tel-Aviv municipalelections proves that this is possible. When a politician of a different kindappears on the stage, one who does not resemble the old-time politicians, thevoters will recognize him.

The Israelis are a political people, perhaps more so than any other. But theyare tired of the politicians they know. They see that there is no realdifference between the leaders of the three major parties, between the incumbentPrime Minister and the three candidates scrabbling to succeed him. They believe"they are all the same," and that the leaders of the small parties are notvery different either. They see no difference in their character, no realdifferences between their messages. These potential voters don’t vote at all,or they vote, out of sheer spite, for some half- farcical list, like thePensioners’ Party in the last elections.

"Barak Ovadya" must find his way into the hearts and minds of these hundredsof thousands. He must give them hope and motivation, convince them that it ispossible to change everything completely, and thus inspire them to join thecampaign for a renewal of the political scene in Israel. 


Where will his voters come from?

The second great achievement of Barack Obama was his success in constructinga new rainbow coalition: young whites and blacks, Hispanics, Green idealists,liberals, people with a social conscience, gays and lesbians, and at the endalso feminists.

The ability to build such a coalition is essential for Barak Ovadya. Israel doesnot need another small party representing a one-issue crowd. That is the job ofextra-parliamentary advocacy groups, each of which acts in a niche of its ownand concentrates on one issue. A political party designed to change thepolitical system and set the country on a new course must form a majority arounda message that touches all spheres of life of the state and the citizen.

In Israel, this is harder than in the United States. The American two-partysystem encourages large conglomerates. Our system of proportionalrepresentation, on the other hand, encourages the very opposite – smallone-issue parties. 

In order to launch the big change there is a need for a strong political camp.Ovadya will have the task of building a grand coalition before the elections.That is in essence the founding of a new party – or the taking over and totalre-shaping of an existing party, as Obama has done.

What will be the ingredients of such a new force? The masses of young Ashkenazisand Orientals, the "social" public, the Arab citizens, the Russiancommunity, the greens, the secular, the gays and lesbians, the feminists, thereligious progressives, and of course the peace activists.

Even Hercules would think twice before undertaking such a task. For reasons wedon’t have room to go into here, an abyss is yawning between those who arestriving for peace and reconciliation with the Palestinian people, almost all ofwhom belong to the Ashkenazi elite, and the Oriental Jews, the great majority ofwhom vote for the old right-wing parties, in glaring contradiction to their owneconomic interests. The Russian public is cut off, estranged and bitter. Itlives in a soap bubble, and almost all of its spokespersons are extremenationalist racists. The large secular public, which loathes the domineeringreligious establishment and the extreme-right message of almost all of itsspokespersons, has no one to vote for. Even Meretz has lowered this flag tohalf-mast. (In the recent municipal elections in Jerusalem, the secular voted,for lack of an alternative, for a secular right-winger.) 

Can all these messages, which look so different, be connected to each other? Thefight against corruption and the concern for the environment, the struggle for ajust peace and the longing for social justice, the demand for equality for theArab citizens and the citizens of Russian origin (both Jews and non-Jews),equality for women and for gays and Lesbians, the demand for the separation ofState and religion, and the insistence on human rights, a healthy Israelipatriotism and universal human values?

The answer is: yes, absolutely! All these aims spring from the same source: thestriving for justice, for a model society, for a country that is good to livein, a state we can be proud of.

Is this possible? Some people believe that if one just utters the word"Palestinians", all the other voters will run away. Or that the Orientalheritage of the candidate will scare away the members of the Ashkenazi elite. Orthat the Russians will be deterred by the Arabs.

I am convinced that it is indeed possible – provided that the overall messageis convincing enough, that it is balanced and emphasizes the uniting and not thedividing, that each of the aims finds the place it deserves in the generalscheme, that it is clear that one thing depends on the other. (In 1965, such aneffort was made by the founders of the "Haolam Hazeh – New ForceMovement", which succeeded in breaking into the Knesset, a feat consideredimpossible until then. But the time was not yet ripe, and the effort peteredout.)

The connection between the various aims is not mechanical. They must form partsof one great, captivating message. A patriotic, humanist message that addressesthe heart and the mind at the same time. Obama did this in America. Ovadya mustdo it in Israel.

What attributes does he need?

Obama has a rare combination of traits, making him an almost perfectcandidate.

He is new. He is untouched by corruption. He is a great speaker, convincing inevery word. He never makes a gaffe, not even under heavy pressure. His views areconsidered and balanced. He does not get excited. His private life seems withoutflaw. He radiates tranquility. He lives modestly. He showed personal and moralcourage when he opposed the Iraq war from the first moment. (How many people inIsrael opposed the first and second Lebanon Wars from the first day?) Hismessage unites, it does not divide. He doesn’t revel in controversy. He has no"killer instinct". He brought with him a message of hope, an altogetherpositive message, a message that allows him to find his way even into the heartsof his opponents.

And on top of everything else – and that must not be underestimated – he isgood-looking.

Such people do not grow on trees. But such an almost impossible combination ofcharacteristics is essential for a task that looks almost impossible. MahatmaGandhi was like that. And perhaps Jesus. And Rabbi Hillel ("the Old"). Andperhaps Henri IV, king of France. But in their day there was no TV.


SUCH A THING can happen suddenly, without prior notice, and conquer a nation inone stroke. But the chances for it to happen this time, with just 42 days to gobefore the elections, are slim indeed.

The way things look now, the next Knesset will be as miserable as the presentone. It will not be able to tackle any of the big national and social problems.It will collapse long before it is threatened by old age.

The great effort of preparing the ground for a powerful new political camp muststart on the morrow of the elections.

Barak Hasson Ovadya, where are you?