There are major differences between the American and the
Israeli right. Never has this been more apparent to this author than during the
pandemic. The vast majority of my acquaintances on the Israeli right support
vaccination and even banning the non-vaccinated from events and shops. We see
those who refuse vaccination and try to sneak into shul, for example, as
endangering our lives. But tune into conservative American talk shows, and it
is easy to see that the American right sees vaccinations and “passports” as an
infringement of their civil liberties, and sometimes something even more
nefarious.
It is not the only difference between the Israeli and
American conservative right. One of the more obvious disparities between the
two is seen in the way the American and Israeli view the two-state solution. A 2016
Pew report revealed that 43 percent of American Jews who identify as conservatives
say that “A peaceful two-state solution is possible, compared with 70% of those
who say they are liberal – a gap of 27 percentage points. Among Israeli Jews,
29% of those on the political right say a peaceful two-state solution is
possible, compared with 86% on the left – a 57-point gulf.”
One might also suggest that our issues are different. In Israel,
our health care system is socialist and it works. We offer all sorts of benefits
to encourage immigration (albeit JEWISH immigration/Aliyah). On the Israeli
right, among the main issues—not in any particular order—are sovereignty; settlement;
access and freedom of worship at our holy sites; the preservation of Jewish
identity and observance; security; and at least as far as this author is
concerned: a fierce and stubborn desire to spurn the West on any matters on
which we differ in relation to Israeli sovereignty and security.
With the arrival of the horrible, no-good pandemic, another
difference between the American and the Israeli right became apparent. Israelis,
on the right and on the left, trust
the medical establishment, even when that medical establishment can only wager
a guess as to the right decisions to take in battling COVID-19. In fact, while
there are pockets of conspiracy theorists on both sides of the equation, most
of us understand that the danger of coronavirus is very real, and we are
willing to take risks and use heretofore unknown vaccines in an effort to
protect the most vulnerable sectors of our population.
I can’t quote statistics on what I freely admit are observed
phenomena. But thus far, over 3
million Israelis have received their third booster shot, with the FDA
still unwilling to approve the third booster across the board but only for
those over 65 or at high risk. The effort to administer that third jab,
here in Israel, for all sectors, continues unabated.
Not long after the American presidential election, as I was
leaving a doctor’s office, we struck up a conversation about the pandemic. Believing
her to have similar political views, I ventured to say that it was Trump’s
cavalier attitude to COVID-19 that lost him the election. How is it, I asked,
that Israel managed to get all those Pfizer vaccines when in America, where
those vaccines were produced, Americans wanting to vaccinate, couldn’t get
vaccinated for love or money. Appointments were impossible to get, and my first
cousin had to travel from Pennsylvania to Ohio in order to be vaccinated (twice).
My doctor agreed, venturing the fact that her mother in New
York was having a terrible time trying to secure an appointment to be
vaccinated. So, I reiterated, in my opinion, that’s how Trump lost the election.
At which point my doctor said, “And what a shame! He was good for Israel, and
now look what we’ve got.”
We both shook our heads, commiserating. In our opinion, both
of us on the Israeli right, it was the stubborn insistence on pooh-poohing COVID
and vaccination that lost the election for the Conservatives. More’s the pity.
My family doctor, Dr. Chaim Judelman, in a thread on social
media, at one point alluded to the fact that in America, Conservatives differed
from us on the subject of vaccinations. I agreed. I had seen it myself, in
online interactions, in listening to talk shows and American Conservative
pundits. It was disturbing to me, seeming contrary to medical science, and dare
I say it: selfish.
That thread occurred some months ago. Then yesterday, my
husband alerted me to the fact that Dr. Judelman had contracted and recovered
from COVID-19 though we are both well aware of his positive stance on vaccination.
Dov told me to go see Dr. Judelman’s latest post on Facebook. It was long, said
Dov, with many interesting points.
I received permission from Dr. Judelman to share his post here
in full:
I want to quote here one point in this thoughtful commentary
on the Israeli vaccination program that I found most striking and persuasive:
“Other than tweaking or finding a better vaccine that provides a longer lasting
more diffuse immunity, it seems to me
that currently the best immunity is a combination of vaccine and viral
exposure. People get vaccinated and then recover from COVID and these who are
recovered should get vaccinated. Hopefully a better tweaked vaccine will be
available soon.”
It is only natural that Dr. Judelman’s post generated a lot
of discussion. Which is why he debated sharing his experience and his thoughts
in the first place. In my experience, he is a mensch who hates dissension.
Also, he didn’t really want to get into it with the anti-vaxxers. But he braved
the waters anyway, believing he had something important to say to the world, irrespective
of politics. And I really liked this response Dr. Judelman made to a comment
from a friend of his in Pittsburgh, no doubt on the right, and obviously on the
other side of the vaccine equation (emphasis added):
“I have seen many young patients from the USA and here who
had cardiac, pulmonary, stroke, embolic and other long term post-COVID problems
despite "effective" treatments. I have a 25 year old who had
encephalitis -a young family devastated and some patients died. YET - I did not vaccinate myself because I was
fearful of COVID. I did not vaccinate my children because I was fearful of
their risk - The absolute risk is low. I did it because in Israel, we are a
family and we take daily personal risks to protect others.”
In a nutshell, this is the difference between the American
and the Israeli right, from my purview. Freedom of choice, individual liberties
is what matters most on the American right. In Israel, on the other hand, in
spite of our vigorous political and religious debate, we live in a world that
hates us and tries to eradicate us as a nation and as a people. Perhaps it is
this existential threat that has turned us into a family. And there isn’t
anything we wouldn’t do for each other.
Including vaccination.
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Elder of Ziyon
