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Lessons from Israeli Progressives

17 November 2016

All of us are struggling to come to terms with the repercussions of the elections. One of our great fears is that this administration will, in fact, follow through on what we heard during the elections. And given some of the early appointments, this fear seems justified.

Let us be clear. This is not a matter of routine political argument. We face an apparent clash of values. In this climate, clear moral leadership is necessary.

NIF is a community built on the values of democracy and equality. We believe in human dignity. We believe in inclusion. We believe in women’s rights. We understand that these values are under attack if a government chooses to trample civil rights, or ignore minority rights, or deny women control over their bodies. All of this seems possible in Donald Trump’s America.

With this reality, it behooves us to turn to our Israeli colleagues and to draw some lessons from the work that they have been doing to push back against their leadership, which over the past seven years has shown an increasing disdain for many of these same democratic values.

Under difficult circumstances, our Israeli partners have developed a series of effective strategies to keep pressing for a progressive agenda and to create an opening for Israel’s future leaders to live by democratic norms.

They have organized. They have built coalitions — including mobilizing partners beyond what most consider to be the “usual suspects.” They have turned setbacks into opportunities to grow their base. They have found the courage to stand for what they — and we — believe in even when the cost was high.

What did some of this work look like?

When the national government was not interested in improving Jewish-Arab relations, they looked “down ballot” to the local and municipal leaders to get things done. Our Israel understood that it is the local leaders who would always be interested in the welfare of their communities.

When a media scoop broke the news that hospitals were segregating Arab and Jewish women in maternity wards, our Israel brought pressure on hospital leaders and local governments to end these unconscionable (and illegal) policies.

When xenophobic rabbis overplayed their hand and complained that LGBTQ Israelis had too much influence in the IDF, our Israel mobilized a Jerusalem Pride march with a record turnout — fueled in large part by Orthodox Israelis upset with the hate coming from within their community.

This work isn’t easy, and it is far from done. The struggle for equality and democracy in Israel has been made more complicated by the rise to power of regressive forces here in America as well. As we look to the future, and to our desire to safeguard both America and the Israel we love, let us commit ourselves to moral clarity, to invest our time and efforts strategically, and to never give up on our commitment to fashion the better society we know is possible.

50 years ago, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel — a refugee from Nazi Europe who made his way to America’s shores — writing about the need to confront racism in his adopted home implored his readers: “Let us yield no inch to bigotry, let us make no compromise with callousness.”

His wisdom is with us today.

P.S. — Over the past few days, our team has turned to music in all sorts of ways as we processed the news. On Friday we spontaneously started a playlist of all the songs we have been listening to in our offices and homes. These are fight songs, peace songs, grief songs, dance songs, protest songs and love songs. They span decades, continents and languages. We have been listening to them all weekend and now we want to share them with all of you.

Check it out here, hit shuffle, and turn up the volume.