On the gay-surrogacy controversy; the nation state law, and the impotence of the Israeli peace movement

On the Gay-Surrogacy Controversy; the Nation State Law; and the Impotence of the Israeli Peace Movement

This post is in response to some dialogues I've noted in the past few days. Firstly; the outrage over the gay surrogacy controversy seems disproportionate relative to far less outrage over the NSL. Secondly; the connection between the two laws being made by left wing opponents of both.

The perceived connection is that both are viewed as expressions of the same phenomenon: of bigotry, discrimination, intolerance, and anti-democracy. Any expression in favor of traditional ways of family formation is swept under that umbrella. The irony is that in an equal society in which Muslims and Palestinians had significant influence on the legal process; the outcome would look very different than the  Western-imported liberal agenda that these left wing advocates demand.

In fact it’s not only Muslims and Palestinians who have more socially conservative orientation. Lots of Israeli Jews do too. People are quick to dismiss them as the ultra-orthodox.  This not only ignores that the ultra-Orthodox are as legitimate a sector of society as any other, it also ignores that social conservatism is not limited to Orthodox; and that many people in various walks of life in Israel do not identify with liberal progressivism.

The peace movement in Israel is failing at influencing the course of politics; failing at drawing in the rest of the nation. And I wonder if its marriage to social progressivism is part of the reason for that. Would Israeli Jews be more open to a peace movement based on shared religious and cultural heritage? Would it speak to them more than one based on a system in which biology is irrelevant to kinship, genders are meaningless, and first fathers, and then mothers become superfluous?

It’s possible that it wouldn’t make a difference. It’s possible that fear of Arabs is too ingrained to envision anything different. But it’s also possible that a peace movement anchored in traditional Judaism would be more attractive than a Judaism that dismisses the building blocks of society as we know it. The possibility of creating a pro-peace movement that doesn’t conflict with a traditional identity is something that needs to be explored.