Meretz Kinda Disappointed Tel Aviv Shooting Wasn’t Anti-Gay

Gal-On said she immediately thought of the stabbing attack at the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade earlier this year, an event that allowed the Israeli Left a near-monopoly on the apparent moral high ground.

Tel Aviv, January 2 – Leaders of the Meretz Party confessed Saturday that they felt let down upon discovering that yesterday’s shooting in Tel Aviv was in fact anti-Jewish terrorism and not anti-gay terrorism.

Party Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On and fellow MKs Michal Rozin and Tamar Zandberg told reporters that when word of the attack, which killed two and injured seven, came to them, some of the initial speculation included the possibility that the shooter targeted homosexuals, given the association of the location with known gay hangouts. However, as police ruled out that possibility and focused primarily on the likelihood that the attack was motivated by anti-Israel feelings, the lawmakers heaved a collective sigh of disappointment and began the emotional shift from indignation at the targeting of gays to righteous justification of terrorism against Jews.

Gal-On said she immediately thought of the stabbing attack at the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade earlier this year, an event that allowed the Israeli Left a near-monopoly on the apparent moral high ground in the Israeli media, and provided an opportunity to slam the religious community as a whole for its intolerance and its condoning of such violence. Instead, she explained, the Left finds itself on the defensive. “It’s much easier to claim the mantle of inclusiveness and tolerance, and to assert leadership in the fight against the forces of backwardness and hate, when it’s your voter base being directly attacked as such,” she said. “But if an Arab attacks a Jew, there’s already an unpleasant situation to explain, and emotional obstacle to overcome in putting forth a coherent argument for the Left’s contention that relinquishing Jewish sovereignty will bring world peace.”

Rozin said it was a jarring adjustment to make. “I was all ready to decry the use of violence as a tool of intimidation and hate, and now I have to turn around and justify the use of violence, or at least explain it, in terms of frustration and rage over the Occupation,” she lamented. “Even for me, who’s well practiced in that kind of moral contortionism, it can be challenging.”

Zandberg admitted she felt deprived of an easy opportunity to paint political opponents as bigoted, if not allied with bigots. “Social conservatives are softer targets for us, but we can easily taint them by association with security hawks,” she said. “It would have been nice to get in a bunch of digs at the religious Zionists for homophobia, but now the evidence indicates that would be out of place. Now the challenge is to defend Palestinians and their society for choosing violence, a society whose homophobia makes Jewish intolerance for gays look like a love-fest.”

Fortunately, she said, Meretz’s core voters, at least, would forgive any clumsiness in the attempt.