If all year round we know that things in the media and political arena should be accepted with limited certainty, then on election days, at least.
Media storms and vigorous protests are nothing more than orchestrated cynical campaigns, managed by advertising and public relations agencies.
The excited outcry of several organizations in American Jewry should also be dismissed with a slight yawn. Isn't it just a coincidence that a public relations firm that promotes a particular party is also the one that advises these organizations? Just as there is absolutely no connection between a certain journalist who sends agitated messages in English to those organizations, urging them to respond, and the next day publishes huge headlines in his newspaper about the 'storm in American Jewry.'.
Falling into a trap
But regardless of the artificial and hypocritical storm, there is a point here that deserves serious discussion, and that is the attitude towards extremes. In every community and every camp there are extremes. People who are more extreme, more decisive, more vocal. Sometimes they are a factor that shakes up the camp and energizes it. Sometimes they cause damage, and the camp needs to restrain them.
But the question is whether the public can also accommodate fringes that do not play in the same tone as the entire camp. In an orchestra, this of course creates cacophony and ear-splitting, but a public by its very nature is not an obedient orchestra, and has a wide variety of opinions and perceptions. It can also tolerate opinions and approaches that do not match the mainstream.
But the extremes serve as convenient targets for attacks by opponents. When they want to harm the entire camp, they pull out a quote, a picture, or an action by someone at the extremes, and try to use it to blacken the face of the entire public. Here lies a trap, and unfortunately, some fall into it again and again.
Such attacks urge certain people to renounce and condemn. In this way, they pretend to distance themselves from those extremes and cleanse themselves of the mud thrown at them. They do not realize that in doing so they have fallen into the pit they have earned. Now they are in the position of those defending and apologizing, while their opponents are portrayed as bearers of the banner of justice and morality. The flatterers forget that the opponents' aim is not directed at the extremes themselves, but at the heart of the camp, and the extremes were nothing more than an available and convenient target.
Learn and adopt
Look and see how the other side of the spectrum behaves. There they will never defend the extremists. There they will fill their mouths with water when Arab MKs openly support terrorist organizations. There they will stand as a wall in defense of organizations that defame IDF soldiers throughout the world and fuel boycott initiatives against Israel. There they will never defend terrible expressions of incitement against Haredim, settlers, and right-wing prime ministers. On the contrary, they will wave the flags of freedom of expression and democracy.
Maybe it's time to learn from them, in the sense of "I will be wiser than my enemies." Stop apologizing. Stop complaining. Avoid attempts at embellishment. Yes, we have extremes, and they are a thousand times better and more deserving than the extremes on the other side. Our extremes are lovers of Israel, and on the other side there are haters of Israel. With us they want the best for the Jewish people, and on the other side they want our destruction (be it or not).
And this is exactly the time to pull out all the slogans: the right to express an opinion, freedom of expression, democracy, silencing. In short, in three simple words – don't confuse your brain.
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