In last summer’s social justice rallies, some of the participants vicariously imagined themselves in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and brandished signs that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fate would resemble that of Hosni Mubarak.A demonstrator with a more mature sense of history brought a model guillotine to the rally to emphasize what he envisioned for Bibi de Bourbon. Given the Islamist detour that the Arab Spring has taken in Cairo, invoking scenes along the Nile has become a tad unfashionable.Fortunately, there is no shortage of global villains to compare Netanyahu with. This year’s flavor is Vladimir Putin and, to believe the left, the situation in Israel closely resembles Putin’s Russia. One Haaretz talk-backer pithily labels the Netanyahu government “Lilliputin.”The Bibi = Putin line reached its apogee during the Russian president’s visit to Israel in late June, when Meretz demonstrated outside the prime minister’s residence, condemning Netanyahu for hosting a man who was selling arms to Syria’s Bashar Assad and arguing that therefore “meeting with him was a moral nadir and diplomatic blunder.”This criticism migrated overseas, where in an article published in The Daily Beast website’s Open Zion section, Israeli journalistblogger Dimi Reider claimed that “Israel’s internal political compass mostly appears to be crawling towards Moscow.” Reider bases this surprising judgment on the fact that the government with the help of “Netanyahu oligarch Sheldon Adelson” controls the press and the Im Tirtzu student organization’s harassment of leftist professors is reminiscent of Putin’s more overtly aggressive Nashi.It is interesting that Open Zion editor, Peter Beinart, who has described Barack Obama as America’s “first Jewish president,” has never published articles against Obama’s “reset policy” courting Putin.Nor has Open Zion had anything to say about the Europeans, whose fastidious Gazpromonic taste for Russian energy produces moral flatulence.Israel, no less than the US or EU , needs to be on good terms with Moscow. It is also responsible for over one million Russian-speaking kinsmen living in Putin’s orbit. But, as usual, it is expected to adhere to impossible standards.Yes, Adelson has bankrolled the Israel Today freebie and, in market terms, is exploiting the 50 percent niche left vacant by Israel’s other major dailies that range from center left to far left. But unlike Russia, the media in Israel could not be freer. The presenters on the highly rated TV Channels 2 and 10 are as fond of Netanyahu as Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman are enamored of Newt Gingrich.And whereas investigative journalists in Russia court death, those who steal and retain classified documents in Israel get community service. Im Tirzu is gallantly fighting for academic pluralism in the face of left-leaning Zhdanovism in academia.Precisely because I think that the Netanyahu-Putin parallel is so ludicrous, it is necessary to address one apparent similarity. The Russian parliament, the Duma has passed a law flagging Russian NGOs that receive assistance from abroad as foreign agents – in other words, spies. A somewhat similar proposal publicizing Israeli NGOs, which received support from foreign governments was unfortunately withdrawn before even a preliminary reading.Jewish philanthropists from abroad, from S. Daniel Abraham on the left to Adelson on the right, will attempt to influence Israeli politics, but they also contribute to causes such as Birthright – sponsored trips for young Diaspora Jews to Israel – that are consensual.Less toleration should be extended to foreign governments who selectively empower Israeli NGOs with a distinct leftist political agenda.Israel has no record of electoral fraud or denial of media access to opposition parties, which could justify such affirmative action.I would expect the EU to behave towards Israel the way it behaved in the recent Greek elections. Although the EU had much more on the line, it studiously avoided giving the impression of intervention in Greek politics. If the Europeans continue to treat us as a falafel republic, then it would be appropriate to plagiarize Putin and curb the scope of their activities.
PM Netanyahu with Russian President Putin 370(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)