From hocus pocus to open sesame to recognition as Jewish state: It’s a kind of magic

 
 y Chemi Shalev
To the long list of such enchanted incantations as open sesame, hocus pocus, and bibbedy-bobbedy-boo, we can now add “recognition as a Jewish state.” If Mahmoud Abbas would only say the magic words, then presto-change-o, the walls will come tumbling down, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will end and we’ll have a whole new world, shining, shimmering and splendid.
This, at least, the impression one gets from the focus of the discussion in recent weeks about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s struggling peace initiative. Forget once-burning but now-boring issues such as settlements, security, refugees, borders, Jerusalem or Temple Mount: recognition as Jewish state is the only game in town. Once the words are said, it’s going to be wham-bam-alakazaam, welcome to the magic kingdom.
It’s not for nothing that Benjamin Netanyahu was once widely known in Israel as hakosem, the magician. His mastery of the media, his meteoric rise in the Likud, his utterly fantastic victory over Shimon Peres in the 1996 elections – all of these endowed Bibi with a supernatural mystique. And while the magic didn’t last forever and Netanyahu was subsequently subjected to a barrage of obligatory clichés - his spell is broken, no more tricks up his sleeve, King Midas in reverse etc – once an illusionist, always an illusionist. He’s still got plenty of wizardry left up his sleeves.
After all, Netanyahu did pull out the hitherto non-existent or at least marginal demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, like a dove from a coat, like a rabbit from a hat, like the Hebrew Houdini or the Kosher Copperfield that he is. Netanyahu said the words, raised his voice, pointed his finger, waved his arms put on his very stern face, and - voila! - The jinx is on, the charm is active, the hex is doing its job. It was a classic abracadabra, which in Aramaic may mean: “I will create what I will say.”
Since then, from Obama to Cameron, from Biden to Boogy, from Hannity to Hoenlein, from New York to Netivot and beyond, everyone is following Netanyahu’s Pied Piper tune. Re-cog-nize, re-cog-nize, re-cog-nize, the world is chanting. Even Abbas has been swept up in the frenzy, clinging to his refusal to utter the words for dear life, as if his world would collapse around him if he dares to open his mouth.
But Abbas should be given fair warning: there may be contingency plans in place, I am told, based on time-tested Kabbalistic methods, to increase the potency of Netanyahu’s spell: at first, the alluring acronym RJ”S will be produced and stamped on holy amulets; then the magic words will be spelled backwards - that’s etats hsiweJ fo noitingocer, if you’re writing this down; finally, if nothing else helps, the Prime Minister’s Office might opt for the ultimate evolved-spelling concoction: r, re, rec, reco, recog, recogn, recogni…and so on. You get the picture.
We all seem to be waiting for a moment of catharsis, after which what was will never be again: the Palestinians will turn righteous, the Holy Land shall dwell in peace, swords will be beaten into ploughshares, wolves will live with lambs, hamburger will reside with cheddar and so on. The possibilities are endless. Why, the Palestinians might even turn around and say “oh yes, of course the Jews own this land. How stupid of us. Let’s go somewhere else.”
If only Abbas did what our mothers always told us to do when we asked for cookies: say the magic words.
It is a watershed moment in the annals of Zionism. We used to be known as pragmatic, no-nonsense creators of facts on the ground, another acre and another goat: “Our future does not depend on what the goyim say, but on what the Jews do,” as Ben Gurion told a 1955 Independence Day rally. Now it seems, we’re shifted our focus as far away as possible from what the Jews are doing – sometimes understandably – to concentrate almost exclusively on what other people are saying, especially about us.
As Jodi Rudoren showed on Monday in the New York Times we’re all engaged in a war of words and “tit for tat terminology.”
I wouldn’t get too excited, however. Even though so many Israelis seem to be hanging on every word Abbas says these days, if he ever takes the plunge and crosses the Rubicon, the magic moment will be over in a jiffy. After a short hiatus of shock and even jubilation, someone is sure to point out that the Palestinian leader muffled his words, and didn’t speak up clearly, like he does when he glorifies “terrorists”. Then a Jewish watchdog group will issue a statement asking why is he saying it in English, rather than Arabic, where it counts. Then we will learn that he winked at Saeb Erekat, that the Koran allows him to lie anyway, that he’s an unreconstructed one-stater, that he’ll say anything to advance the PLO’s salami-like “doctrine of stages”, and that there’s still incitement in the schools. You know the routine.
Then the official line will be: Abbas thinks that he’ll say a few words and all will be forgiven and forgotten? What are we? Patsies? Chumps? Pushovers?