A New Political Consciousness Sweeping Over Israel: Freedman
As a leader of the feminist
movement, Mrs. Freedman
already had a name in Israel
before Mrs. Aloni placed her
third on the Citizens Rights
list. But her reputation as a
leader of the women's move-
ment was not what won those
three seats. "Our reputation
at the time wars that of bra
burners, hysterical women,
radicals — and that charge
came from women as well
as men. No, I would suspect
that I was elected in spite of
women's rights."
What drew the support of
the electorate to this fledgling
party, she said, was a grow-
ing frustration among the
people that their interests
Were not represented in gov-
ernment — and "Shulamit's
great deal of integrity and
courage in saying what other
people weren't saying. Our
winning three seats made a
new alternative pOssible for
the first time."
In America, a candidate is
re-elected if he proves re-
sponsive to the wishes of his
constituents. In Israel, a
candidate's loyalty to the
party determines his political
fate. Growing dissatisfaction
with this system has been
evidenced in the mounting
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS demand for electoral reform
36—Friday, April S, 1974
— away from the list and
toward personal and regional
elections. And this was item
number one in the Citizens
Rights platform.
- Mrs. Freedman claims that
the Citizens, Rights Party gets
AND HIS ORCHESTRA
90 per cent of the mail to
968-2563
the Knesset. The letters re-
veal an impossible bureau-
cracy, civil servants who
dispense wrong information
and the violation of indivi-
dual rights. Against these,
DOWN OR WOOL
Shulamit
Aloni, Boaz Moav
Custom Made or Remade
and Marcia Freedman — the
Citizens Rights representa-
Factory Showroom
tion in the Knesset — have
promised to champion the
individual.
Quilt & Pillow Shop
An aging- Labor establish-
ment, led by Golda Meir, is
15144 W. Seven Mile Rd.
the particular target of Mrs.
DETROIT
342-9448
Freedman, who describes the
Sat. ,by e ppt.
prime minister as "a dis-
By CHARLOTTE DUBIN
Marcia Freedman's soft
voice is a fooler. There is
nothing reticent about this
petite woman of 35 who, as
one of the newest members
of the Knesset, is speaking
out against the wrongs she
sees in Israeli society.
An American who made
aliya with her husband and
daughter but five years ago,
Mrs. Freedman won her
Knesset seat on the Citizens
Rights list, led by Shulamit
Aloni. Both Freedmans teach
at Haifa University, she in
the department of philosophy.
In Detroit to visit friends
Esther and Bob Broner,
whom she met in Israel,
Mrs. Freedman delivered
several_ addresses both here
and in Flint. Her focus for
the Midrasha Institute (see
story below) was on women's
rights — and the lack of
them .— in Israel. For the
Laymen's Institute on the
Middle East, Sunday at the
- Jewish Center, Mrs. Freed-
man discussed the politics of
Israel.
It was with the latter sub-
- ject that she dealt in an in-
terview . with The Jewish
News.
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aster for Israel" and who
predicts that the present
government can't hold up for
"more than a year."
"The pressure from the
street will heighten. In Is-
rael, it's shocking to see a
demonstration of 5. to 6,000
persons — and these aren't
the Black Panthers (de-
scribed by Mrs. Meir as 'not
nice boys') but Israel's war
heroes.
"Everything has changed
in Israel except the leaders
and their ideas. There is a
tremendous dynamism out-
side the government; and a-
tremendous static within."
Did the war, and the criti-
cism of Israel's leaders for
failing to accept responsibil-
ity for "mistakes" in the
war, help the Citizens Rights
list?
"Actually, if it weren't for
the war, we might have done
even better. There had been
talk that we could take
seven seats. We were stress-
ing internal, social issues.
"After the war, we empha-
sized the peace issue — that
peace was more important
than territory, that we must
aim at Geneva for a gradual
settlement with concessions."
Her party regards only
Golan and Jerusalem as non_
negotiable, Mrs. Freedman
said.
She added that Labor now
agrees with the Citizens
Rights list on all points "ex-
cept we called for recogni-
tion of the right of self-
determination of the Pales-
tinian Arabs."
The insistence of her party
on individual rights won a
portion of the Arab vote,
Mrs. Freedman said, but
they still balloted heavily for
Rakah, "an anti - Zionist
vote."
"Arabs who identify as
Palestinians and vote against
the government," Mrs.
Freedman said, "are doing
the right thing as Arabs.
This is a group that, despite
an improved status under Is-
rael, is constantly under
suspicion, without the equal-
ity and rights and obligations
of other Israelis. The gov-
ernment barely tolerates
their existence.
"Israel's leadership has an
obligation, for reasons of
moral justice, to educate the
citizenry toward tolerance,
to break down prejudice and
make it possible for the
Arabs to integrate into Jew-
ish society. We as Jews
should know better than to
create a ghettoized minor-
ity."
Mrs. Freedman 'reserved
some of her criticism for the
religimis establishment an
"the interference" of Ameri-
can Orthodox leaders into
the secular politics of Israel.
Her position calling for free
abortion, for the publication
of information on birth con-
trol, for more lenient con-
version requirements and for
civil marriage (for those
who request it) has not won
the Orthodox popularity vote
either.
(In her talk in Flint, Mrs.
Freedman emphasized the
important role-that American
Jews can play in workin
social change within Israel.
She urged that Americans
continue to contribute — be-
cause Israel is greatly de-
pendent on funds from Ameri-
can Jewry — but also to let
their feelings be known "be-
cause it will help Israel.")
The status quo has been
accepted for too long, she
argues. "Before the war, it
looked as though we might
have civil strife between
Classes and groups.
"The war was a catalyst—
not by raising new problems
and issues, but by forcing
everyone to ask himself
the question: Do I belong
here? It knocked them out of
their indifference and has
developed a political con-
sciousness.
I I
* * *
On Women's Rights
In her Midrasha Institute
address, last week, Mrs.
Freedman put to the lie the
common misconception that
Israel, under the political
leadership of a matriarch, is
a "haven" for advocates of
women's rights.
The equality of ,women that
was a cardinal principle of
the Second Aliya was dis-
carded by the second gen-
eration, and only now is be-
ing rediscovered by the
Third, Mrs. Freedman said.
A leader of the 2 1/2-year-
old feminist movement in
-Israel and one of only 10
women in the Knesset, Mrs.
Freedman said the Yorri
Kippur War proved how vital
is a full and active role for
women — just as it was in
the pioneering society where
women worked and fought
alongside men.
Last October, when 4_ to
7,000 male bus drivers were
drafted, buses stood empty.
When the truck drivers were
drafted, transportation broke
down. Because plant admin-
istrators are men, many
women factory workers were
thrown out of work as in-
dustry ground down.
"The political and eco-
nomic leadership began to
realize that a- country in a
constant state of emergency
cannot afford for half of its
society to be outside the area
of usefulness," Mrs. Freed-
man said. The remedy will
call for a restructuring of
the economy, but she feels
it is well worth it to involve
more than the present 30 per
cent of the total women's
population in the labor force
She foresees that the fem-
inist movement in Israel,
some eight years behind
America's, will be a signi-
ficant force for political, eco-
nomic and . social change.
Whatever gains are made in
the status of Jewish women
will filter down to Arab
women as well, she added.
Mrs. Freedman sees an
uphill battle, however, in the
halakhic opposition , of the re-
ligious establishment to any
change. To cite one particu-
larly sensitive issue, women
can be divorced but cannot
themselves initiate divorce
proceedings, even if their
_husbands desert them or are
patients in a mental insti-
tution.
But the women's move-
ment has done battle with
the Orthodox before. Mrs.
Freedman noted that in 1903,
the Orthodox community in
Palestine tried to prevent
passage of a law granting
women suffrage.
A public referendum was
called, and the Orthodox
urged their women to get
out and vote .. against the
right to vote. 'Suffrage won.
.
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