30. Progressive Israel Fellowship
I intended for No. 30 to be a completely different and off-the-wall idea (a transnational Jewish republic), but as the crackdown on human rights organizations in Israel continues unabated, now with an officially orchestrated attack on the New Israel Fund, I’ve decided to give preference to another idea I’ve been kicking around: A fellowship program to develop the next generation of progressive Israeli political leaders.
For younger Israelis fed-up with the status quo and broken by the intractability of the Israeli political system, there appears to be little hope for the future. Israeli youth are increasingly apathetic about national politics and have trouble envisioning for themselves a future in Israel. More and more Israelis each year are abstaining from military service, and many more are opting to leave Israel all together for the more seemingly normal political environments of Europe and the United States. Many see the country they thought they knew slipping away and feel their energies unwelcome.
For those not yet broken, who do choose to commit themselves to public service, support is virtually non-existent. Only if you wish to maintain the status quo, or push Israel further to the right, it seems, are there any opportunities to develop Israeli youth into tomorrow’s leaders. The end result is that today Israel has few notable progressive Jewish political leaders, and that number continues to dwindle. Israel’s progressive parties are shadows of their former selves. The Israeli opposition today is not even left, but a centrist party. The Israeli political left — the democratic and socially concerned balance to Israel’s now predominant right — is nearly extinct, save for the most radicalized elements, and religious fundamentalism, privatization and militarism have become the order of the day. “The only democracy in the Middle East” grows increasingly undemocratic. This trend imperils the survival of the state itself.
Israel needs investment in the next generation of progressive political leaders. We need to create programs to develop policy, strategy, and new talent. And we need to act quickly. We in the American Jewish community can help by working to create something like a progressive Shalem Center that offers fellowships to college-aged progressive Israeli youth which helps them develop their political and policy chops and which sets them forth on their career paths.
Israel needs progressive policy wonks, political strategists and community organizers. We need to help create new parliamentary candidates and political parties which understand 21st century organizing and who can speak thoughtfully and not acerbically to Israeli populist values. We need those who can stand steadfast — resilient and principled — in the face of attacks, corruption and obstruction. We need to develop individuals who are sensitive to the views of all of Israel’s voting blocs, who can flip the script and turn a new page in Israeli political discourse by not promoting the same incendiary rhetoric, failed policy initiatives, and unstrategic thinking of the past. And we need to start cranking these folks out now!
We must help seed Israel’s progressive future so that ten years down the road, we still have partners on the ground working the ensure that the Israel we love and support continues to exist. Otherwise Israel will face, not only the continued loss of its youth, but it will lose the support of its overseas allies as well.
