Grass-roots Protest Movements Disturbing Alignment, Likud

The leadership of Israel’s two largest political parties are viewing with increasing concern the burgeoning of grass-roots protest movements, a new phenomenon in Israeli society which poses a serious threat to the established leadership. The opposition Likud sees in these rising movements confirmation of its charges that the Labor Alignment regime is bankrupt and has lost the confidence of the people. Leaders of the Labor Alignment have acknowledged an “element of danger” that could topple the political hierarchy which has governed Israel throughout its 26 years of existence. Both Labor and Likud view the movements as essentially negative–they say what they are against but not what they are for, as one political veteran put it this week. What counter-action, if any, will be taken is not known at this stage. The Labor Alignment’s course may be to try to defuse the dissidents by catering to the special interests of their various groups, such as war veterans. Likud apparently will try to woo them on grounds that it is the only practical vehicle for change.

The protestors fall into two main categories–demobilized soldiers and dissatisfied civilians, the latter mainly academicians and professionals but also including youth groups and such alienated elements in society as the Black Panthers. This week, steps were being taken for the various groups to combine in a single movement, non-partisan in nature, but not divorced from politics. Members of all parties acknowledge that the Yom Kippur War and its aftermath was responsible for the rise of serious protest movements in Israel; in the past, such movements were “mere pin-pricks” on the body politic and not taken seriously. But now dissatisfaction is widespread over the handling of the war by the regime and the military; over soaring inflation which has resulted in the highest cost of living in Israel’s history; over the prolonged and bitter political maneuvering that produced only a shaky minority coalition government; and over the apparent division in the nation over what course to follow as Israel enters a phase of negotiations with its Arab neighbors.

The political establishment seems to be most alarmed over the number of demobilized war veterans rallying under the banner of protest. A one-man campaign by a Yom Kippur War hero, Capt. Mordechai (Motti) Ashkenazi, produced thousands of signatures on a petition demanding the resignation of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. A demonstration led by Ashkenazi and other ex-soldiers outside the Prime Minister’s Office last week also demanded the resignation of Premier Golda Meir. Mrs. Meir herself acknowledged, in a speech yesterday to the Hebrew University Board of Governors in Jerusalem that the demobilized soldiers posed “big questions.” She also inadvertently indicated that she had thought the unthinkable when she remarked that “military revolution is impossible in Israel.” “I can understand,” Mrs. Meir continued, “that they don’t want a 76-year-old woman as Prime Minister. But I was elected.” She added that she “would very much be tempted” to join “anybody who goes out to demonstrate against this old woman.” But Mrs. Meir observed. “So far we have heard only what they are against. I hope they will come forward saying what they are for.”

She may not have long to wait. An umbrella committee representing several protest groups was formed at a meeting here last night with the aim of exploring means to cooperate and work out a common program. The organizers included Ashkenazi; Prof. Amnon Rubinstein. Dean of the Tel Aviv University Law School; former Navy Commander Yochai Ben-Nun who holds the rank of general in the reserves; Hanaya Globman and Ran Livneh, described as demobilized paratroopers; Eli Ben Gal, of Mapam; Yigal Cohen of the Free Center, a constituent of Likud; Saadya Marclano, of the Black Panthers; and Tzvi Kesse of the Labor Party’s social problems study group. Earlier this week. Rubinstein and Mordechai Wirshuvsky, a lawyer for the Tel Aviv municipality, founded a movement called “Le’shinooy” (Movement for Change). Its founders also include Profs. Jonathan Shapiro, Michael Brunner and Shaul Friedlander, the latter from Hebrew University. Another group founded by Tel Aviv University student Motti Berkman calls itself “Students Who Care.” Its first meeting drew only 150 of the 15,000-member student body at Tel Aviv University. But it reflected widespread student sentiment in its calls for a change in national leadership and “clearing the polluted political atmosphere.”

A development paralleling the growing citizens’ protest movements is the rising disaffection within Labor Party ranks which embraces not only such perennial dissidents as Arye Eliav and Yitzhak Ben Aharon but staunch party loyalists as well. This was manifested at a meeting in Tel Aviv last week in which dissatisfaction with the government was expressed by such Labor stalwarts as Yitzhak Rabin, the new Minister of Labor; Haim Barlev, the Minister of Commerce and industry; Police Minister Shlomo Hillel; and Gen. Aharon Yariv who recently retired from the army to become a Labor MK. The meeting was held behind closed doors at the offices of Res. Gen. Meir Ammit, director general of Koor, the Histadrut-owned industrial conglomerate. In addition to the Cabinet ministers it was attended by key Labor Party and Histadrut officials. While details of what transpired were not disclosed, it was learned reliably that the participants discussed what could be done to reverse the present crisis of confidence in the party and restore its image.

Among the items of serious concern reportedly discussed were the demonstrations by ex-service men and the need to prepare for new elections. Premier Meir only yesterday characterized new elections as “the worst thing that could happen.” The Labor Party leadership learned of the meeting in Ammit’s office only after it was held. Mrs. Meir and Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir reportedly demanded that the participants explain themselves. The party leadership is also disturbed by the large number of youths who attended a recent rally here in support of Ben Aharon and Eliav, the two Labor MKs who abstained when Premier Meir presented her coalition government to the Knesset for a vote of confidence. At that meeting, Ben Aharon predicted: “This is the end of an era, of a group of people who know nothing, who have been deaf to other voices, who have been senile and unconscious of the dynamics that evolve from the people.”