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bof the Foreign Ministry, Gideon Rafael, wrote an impassioned bdefense of democracy in Israel. But, more important, he bblistered the “fanatics” and “extremists” with their “anti- bdemocratic virus.” Rafael is a firm believer in democratic rights bfor the Arabs of Israel. He calls on “the supporters of the demo- bcratic way of life” to be “on constant alert to weed out the bgrowth of antidemocratic tendencies. They must warn against bcheap slogans and deceptive shortcuts. They must strengthen bthe understanding that democracy, with all its shortcomings, boutshines the deceptive glitter of autocracy.” bRafael is guilty of the worst of cheap slogans. His bitter bcondemnation of honest “extremists” is a cover for his fear of bfacing the frightening question: Would he allow the Arabs of bIsrael to exercise their glorious democratic rights in order to put ban end to Zionism? bWill that democratic “shortcoming” also outshine “auto- bcracy”? The inherent contradiction of the Rafaels is not lost on bthe Arabs. What they fail to understand, however, is the genuine bconfusion of soul in those modern-day Hellenists who are really bgentilized creatures of the West. The very real conflict between bthe Jewish values and Western ones unifies them. They are truly btroubled souls, and so they attempt to avoid thinking about the breal question, all the while hysterically waving high the banner bof total democracy they hope they will never have to test. The bpromises they make to the Arabs are really anesthetics for their bown troubled consciences. In the end they will be forced to bchoose, when, thanks to their own previous moral cowardice, bthey will have brought Israel to the very brink of tragedy. bA Jewish state versus the Western, gentilized one of total bequality for Arabs and Jews. A growing Arab population that buses democracy to turn Israel into “Palestine.” One cannot em- bphasize too often or too strongly that this is the core of the prob- blem. But the tragic dwarfs who guide Israeli policy are too ter- brified to see. And so they choose to avoid reality. bTeddy Kollek, the greatest proponent of the illusion of “one bJerusalem,” appoints mini-advisers on Arab affairs. One of bthem, Aharon Sarig, described his task (February 28, 1978) as bbeing to “close the enormous gap” between East (Arab) and bWest (Jewish) Jerusalem “in everything connected with educa- btional facilities, housing, and cultural institutions as well as the b
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