The dismal results of the elections confirmed bankruptcy of the traditional
Jewish Left. Do not regret overmuch: Meretz and Labour competed with the
nationalist parties in anti-Arafat rhetoric and remained adamant in
rejecting the full equality for non-Jews. They were undermined by
demographic shift: their electorate, wealthy and well-educated Ashkenazi
Jews, voted with their legs and left Israel. Thirty five per cent of the
total electorate did not participate in the elections for they live abroad,
in Los Angeles and Amsterdam, in Paris and New York. There are more
supporters of Meretz in the US than in Israel. While bank managers and
computer experts leave for America, poor and less educated remain in
Palestine, and they often vote for fascists or for religious parties.

But it is not all gloom. The best news concerning elections hardly made the
second page in Israeli newspapers, but it should lit red light on the
Zionists’ board. A few days before the elections, the Slavic Union, a new
political organization of Russians in Israel, made a historic alliance with
the Palestinians. They supported HADASH, the Communist-led mainly
Palestinian block, and now they intend to forge ties with another radical
force, Azmi Bishara’s BALAD. In their letter to voters, leaders of the
Slavic Union Igor Zhemailov and Alexey Korobov did not beat around the bush.
“We, the Russians, were brought here as cheap labour force and cannon meat
in order to displace and fight the native Palestinians. But we have no truck
with this dispute. Let us join forces with the Palestinians against racism
and poverty, for equality and democracy”.

There are over a million Russians in Israel, mainly immigrants of the last
decade. Many of them, probably majority, are not considered ‘Jews’, even if
they have Jewish-sounding last names. By Israeli law, it is enough to have
one Jewish grandfather in order to qualify for citizenship, but such a
person is not considered ‘a Jew’ in law, and therefore suffers of many legal
and illegal disabilities in the racist Jewish state. Non-Jewish spouses of
immigrants form another discriminated category of citizens. They are drafted
into the army, but refused even decent burial. These people have a strong
personal reason to support the idea of ‘a state for all its citizens’, as
opposed to the present concept of ‘the state of and for the Jews wherever
they are’.

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It is not the racialist division: many Russians that are considered to be
‘Jews’ also support the idea of a democratic state and oppose the Jewish
supremacy. They have a good reason: the Jewish supremacy in Israel means
supremacy of a certain socio-economic group, of wealthy Ashkenazi
establishment. Young generation of Russian ‘Jews’ was thoroughly ‘dejewified
‘ in the Soviet Union and accepted universal humanist values instead of
particularistic ones. Many of them are Christians forced to hide their
belief in Christ. Swept by the massive propaganda campaign they immigrated
to Israel where they discovered the real face of the Jewish state. In the
yesterday’s elections some of them had voted for Shinui, the anti-clerical
party, and gave it 15 seats in the Parliament. However, Shinui is rabidly
nationalistic and unable to attend to their problems. Its neo-liberal
position makes Shinui unsuitable for the socially weaker Russians.

Actually true interests of Russians and Palestinians coincide. For the both
communities, the best solution is creation of non-racist, democratic state,
and the only way to achieve it is to give full citizen rights to the three
million presently disenfranchised native Palestinians. In the democratised
Palestine/Israel of nine million citizens the concept of a Jewish State will
follow its twin, the Aryan State, to oblivion. There were cases of Russians
taking part in Palestinian armed resistance, but their political union is
spelling doom to the Zionist state. In the next elections, probably in a
year time, this union will be able to change the political map of Israel, if
properly supported and nourished. Much depends on the political maturity and
wisdom of Palestinian leadership and the remnants of the Israeli Left. All
the pro-equality forces should unite in our version of the South African
ANC, and bury apartheid.

The Jewish State is already a sham. Deeply divided between the Orthodox and
anti-religious, between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, it remains a dangerous
phantom in the mind of its ignorant American backers. The favourite of
Conrad Black’s newspaper The Jerusalem Post, Nathan Sharansky and his
nationalist party just made it to the parliament with only two seats, and as
many voters as the Free Cannabis list. The options for Israel’s future
shrunk to a stark choice between Jewish Fascism and the State for All, from
Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.