Israel’s friends as well as its enemies agree that Israel is Western. The marketeers’ task is to make Westernness a salient property of Israel for Israel’s (potential) friends as it already is for its enemies, and to explain the implications. Dana’s right that Israel lacks Western “virtues” (some of which I’d call vices, but never mind), but that’s not relevant to the sales pitch. The point is that Israel is a Western society fighting not just a colonial war but to some extent, alas, a civilizational war against Islam as well.

Pace Fiddler, the West is not almost synonymous with democracy, unless “democracy” means “whatever Western government I happen to support” – and I admit that is a popular current usage. You certainly can have a Western, ethnocratic state. Haven’t we already agreed that Israel is one example? Plus Gershom’s example of the early US. The list can easily be extended.

I disagree that a time is coming when (Israeli) Haifa will be no more Western than Ramallah. A claim that big can’t really be argued in blog comments, so I’ll just leave it as my own statement of faith against Dana’s.

Dana asked, Who are these actual and potential friends I’m talking about? The actual friends are primarily Americans who view Islam as an enemy, rightly or wrongly. The most significant potential friends, as I said above, are those on the European right. Formerly anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic parties are now moving to a pro-Israel position as they view not only mass immigration, but jihad as an enemy. If I remember correctly, Lega Nord is a good example: they switched 180 degrees from supporting the Palestinians as their fellows in struggle for national liberation, to supporting Israel as the vanguard against jihad. (If it wasn’t Lega Nord, feel free to correct me; I know it was a secessionist or nationalist party.) The British National Party under Nick Griffin is trying very hard to clean up its image, and Griffin himself takes a very pro-Israel position. The list goes on, but the European right might be a very useful ally for Israel to have in the future. Unfortunately, Israel views them all as Nazis or Nazi sympathizers.

But therein lies the rub – as you correctly interpret my original statement – no amount of Western excess (colonization, militaristic model, ethnic purity) can make up for the increasing absence of Western “virtue”in israel, key among which are democracy as well as commitment to universal rights, and indeed – a move away from the purely ethnic/homogeneous model for a state (at least in principle; and yes, except for the Swiss; but they are a special case, and they do make excellent chocolate). But Aaron knows that, though he may be hoping that perhaps israel’s “friends” basking in the delights of tel Aviv’s western life will somehow neglect to notice those other creeping influences – the levantinization and talibanization that’s stalking the oh-so-modern skyscrappers dotting silicon vadi.

For a time, that has indeed happened. Israel’s “friends” (who are these, Aaron? please clarify…) will indeed feel at home in haifa more than in ramallah. But I maintain that this time is drawing to a close – perceptibly in some cases, less so than in others. It’s not that ranmallah will become a bastion of “westernism” overnight. It’s that israel will become more like an unholy mix of Dubai, Lebanon and Serbia, all mixed up with a touch of the maccabees’ judea and afganistan’s mujahadeen, sprinkled with prussian nationalist puff. A tasty mix, if there ever was one, no?

As an aside (and because I was tempted) I’ll go back to Avnery, and the following memorable passage: :

“The Prussian state became proverbial. Demonized by its enemies, it was, however, exemplary in many ways – a well organized, orderly and law-abiding structure, its bureaucracy untainted by corruption. The Prussian official received a paltry salary, lived modestly and was intensely proud of his status. He detested ostentation. ”

So here was the best of Prussia – the clean austerity that was also a hall mark of the early zionists. This is one of those western – and indeed spartan ideals – the good “army” as a model for civil society. Alas, not much of that respect for order, frugality and clean living in modern day Israel, is there?

Where do you get the idea that Israel’s friends don’t, by and large, agree that Israel is “Western”? The neocons, whether Jewish or Christian, certainly see it as Western outpost in the Middle East, a forward battalion in the alleged clash of cultures, if not of armies. Others see at least a close cultural relative, emphasizing Ashkenazi European-ness (which has historically defined and dominated the state anyway) over the (to them, elusive) Jewishness that binds Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, but excludes even the most friendly goyim. Somewhat paradoxically, this notion of Israel having come “out of our midst” (in both ways – “one of us” as well as “away from us”) still implies an otherness they’d never claim consciously: terming Jews “the other” is no-go-area for Western non-anti-Semites.
So, selling the “Israel is Western” message isn’t only easy, it’s also unnecessary. The rub is that in the West itself “the West” is almost synonymous with “democracy”. Whether Iraqis, Afghans, South Americans, and many others would agree with that is irrelevant – in Western perception you can’t have one without the other.

Interestingly, Uri Avneri compares Israel not to its neighbours, but to Prussia:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1260658441
Bearing in mind that the perception “the West = democracy” is pretty recent and had no base in even Western reality in the days of Prussia, is that the “West” you want Israel to sell itself as belonging to?

I noted that Israel’s enemies already agree that Israel is Western – in fact, they insist on it – in order to show to Dana that selling the “Israel is Western” message won’t be difficult at all. Pretty much everyone except Dana already agrees that Israel is Western compared to its Muslim enemies. Now it’s just a matter of marketing.

In any case, Israel is already perceived as Western by its Western enemies. Israel is supposedly a Western colonialist power or whatever. It’s a truism that perception is what matters in politics. So we already know that Israel can sell a Western image of itself to its enemies, whether or not it’s really Western (which it is, compared to its Muslim enemies). Israel’s enemies will (rightly) deny that it’s a democracy, but they will insist that it’s Western. So Israel just has to give up the tough sell of democracy and start selling a Western image to its potential friends.