Dr. Udi Leibel of the Ariel University Center was surprised when his research into government discrimination against right-wing fallen soldiers received a top prize in memory of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin – a prize that will be awarded by President Shimon Peres, himself one of the targets of criticism in Leibel's work.
Leibel's research focuses on the government's approach to fallen soldiers during the first decades of Israel's return to self-rule, beginning in 1948. He told Arutz Sheva that he was surprised by the support for his work, “I thought it was my own private obsession, after finding documents showing that bereaved parents had gone to the Defense Minister arguing that their sons were not recognized as fallen IDF soldiers,” he said.
“To my surprise, more and more groups became a part of this research. More and more paid a political price,” he added. While the government has since made its policies more inclusive, many remained interested in the first policies, and in what they revealed regarding the political battles that had raged in the 1950s and 60s.
In its first years Israel battled for survival as several Arab nations invaded the fledgling Jewish state in an attempt to destroy it and claim the land for themselves. Soldiers fought in various groups – while many battled under the command of the Hagana, which was affiliated with the political left, others fought with the Etzel and other more nationalist troops.
Peres was part of the Mapai government, led by then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, that discriminated when it came to recognition of those who fell in battle, Leibel explained. The government recognized fallen Etzel soldiers only when it mistakenly believed them to have belonged to the Hagana, he said.
Leibel noted that in later years, in the time of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Peres took charge of a change in policy that led to fallen soldiers from the political right being recognized and finding their place in Israel's collective memory.
Lessons for Today's Right
The trials and tribulations of Israel's right wing in the country's first years provide a valuable lesson to those outside the political elite today, Leibel said. Through his research, “I got a lesson in the power of memorials, of media and art. Ben-Gurion put his party in charge of teachers' seminaries. He wanted to train the teachers and get singers and writers involved in promoting the party.”
“Begin may have had historical truth on his side, but he had no way to tell people about it. [Mapai] knew how to dominate Israeli culture,” Leibel explained.
Today's political right must remember that, as important as it is to establish and strengthen Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the media and the worlds of art and popular culture are vital as well. “Without the media and cinema culture, this [Jewish settlement] will have no legitimacy,” he warned.
