Volume 67, Issue 4

Renowned Israeli Political Scientist
Enhances Yeshiva’s Faculty  

by Jeremy Mazurek and Jonathan Bodner

Within the past week, we have witnessed the complexities and the intricacies of the Israeli parliamentary system.  The resignation of the Labor Party ministers spelled the end of Prime Minister Sharon’s national unity government, throwing the political establishment in Israel into chaos.  To many Americans, and even some Israelis, the democratic system in Israel remains largely unfamiliar and confusing.  Fortunately, though, some Yeshiva College students will be able to decipher the baffling political jousting expected in the next few weeks, utilizing the knowledge they are obtaining from a new course offered, aptly titled Israeli Politics.

At the end of last semester, Dr. Ruth Bevan, chair of the Political Science Department, informed students that Dr. Gideon Doron, an internationally regarded political scientist and professor from Tel Aviv University, was taking a sabbatical in New York, and agreed to teach a course at Yeshiva in the fall.

Doron received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and public administration from Hebrew University.  He then earned his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Rochester.  His bi-national teaching career includes stints at SUNY Binghamton, Hebrew University, Haifa University, and NYU.

In the mid-1980s, Doron founded the first graduate program in public policy in Israel, and later founded its first graduate program in political communications.  Doron is currently teaching at both NYU and Yeshiva.  He was twice elected as the President of the Israeli Political Science Association, and is also a member of the Executive Board of The International Political Science Association.  During the 1992 election, he served as Yitzhak Rabin’s campaign strategist, and subsequently was appointed member of the National Security Team.  Between 1995 and 1999 he served as the Chairman of the Board of the Second Authority for Television and Radio Council.  Doron is the author of numerous articles in Hebrew and English, as well as the author of three edited volumes and 12 books, two of which serve as the texts for his class at Yeshiva.

Doron vs. Ashrawi

This past September, a symposium held in Colorado College about September 11, and about how to respond to global challenges one year later, gained national attention because Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a well-known Palestinian spokeswoman, was one of the symposium’s speakers.  Many Jewish and non-Jewish leaders expressed outrage, calling it a defamation of the memory of those who perished on September 11.

Also invited, yet less well-known, was Doron, who was asked to present the Israeli perspective.  Doron accepted the invitation, thinking initially that he would be addressing a small gathering of academics.

Later, however, Doron realized that his role had become more political than academic, as there were almost 10,000 protesters demonstrating at Ashrawi’s speech.  “I felt obligated to accurately express the Israeli point of view, while exposing the falsehoods of Ashrawi’s statements,” Doron said.

Although he believed Ashrawi was speaking purely for political gain, Doron was not deterred, realizing that “You can’t stop the Palestinians from stating their opinions, but we are obligated to answer them, especially in such a forum.”  While Ashrawi spoke, Doron paid close attention to her words, jotting down her main points.  After reviewing his notes, Doron concluded that she used a lot of jargon: “She was well versed in American buzz words,” tossing around the terms “love, compassion, and peace.”

She spoke against suicide and violence, which Doron commented was quite ironic since such acts are being committed daily by the people she represents.  She also spoke of “the globalization of global dialogue that promotes peace,” but this, noted Doron, seems contradictory to the behavior and actions of many Palestinians.

Respecting her position as a Palestinian spokeswoman, Doron chose to attack her leaders and refrained from personally assailing her.  “It’s a tragedy that in Middle East, Arab countries can’t produce quality leadership,” expressed Doron, citing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Syria’s Hafez Assad, and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat.

“It is unfortunate that their biggest accomplishment is their own survival, but their actions reek of poor judgment and corruption,” Doron continued.  “Israel is constantly accused of oppressing the Palestinians, yet Arafat is the perpetrator who has subjected his own people to nothing but corruption and oppression.”

Doron stressed the importance of understanding the two sides to this conflict.  He explained that Israel has been involved in a game to capture the media’s attention, and that students – who are generally uninformed – are used as innocent pawns, consequently condemning Israel’s actions.  “Every young generation has the responsibility to make this world a better place to be in.  This is what I teach my children and my students, which are, I guess, the same thing for me,” he said.  Doron said there are manifold resources that college students have at their disposal in order to become well informed.

“If an articulate woman gets up, and speaks about the horrors of the occupied territories, it is understandable that many would agree that it must be the root of all the problems.  They have to capture their agenda, but we need to provide good responses,” he explained.  “But no one takes time to look at the facts.  Israel had made more attempts at peace than any other nation, all of which have been broken by the other side.  By 2000, before the outbreak of the second Intifada, 98 percent of the Palestinians were under Arafat, and it was only the recent upsurge in violence that made them go back in,” said Doron.

Despite the uncomfortable feeling that might have existed at the outset, “by the end of the speech I received an overwhelmingly positive response, and a standing ovation,” said Doron.  In fact, Doron explained that it was beneficial that he followed Ashwari, because it afforded him the opportunity to rebut her remarks, while leaving the audience with the Israeli perspective.  The students, he noted, were very open-minded to his views.

When asked what he thinks will ultimately happen in Israel, Doron said, “I believe in coexistence, but this current predicament must be resolved.  Terrorism must stop, and then we’ll talk.”

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