I am currently rereading "Middle England", a novel by Jonathan Coe set in Britain during the pre- and post-Brexit
years of civil unrest and is the third part of the 'Rotters Club' saga, featuring some of same characters who are now 50 years old instead of
15. The book describes a Britain that I can barely recognise although I can
empathise. I have just come across the following passage that, although
describing Britain as it was then, is also extremely pertinent to Israel 2023.
‘He was quite right, you know. “Rivers of blood”1. He was the
only one brave enough to say it.’ Sophie froze when she heard these words,
and the platitudes died on her lips. The silence that opened up between her
and Helena was fathomless now. Here it was, after all. The subject that
wouldn’t, couldn’t, be discussed. The subject that divided people more than
any other, mortified people more than any other, because to bring it up was
to strip off your own clothes and to tear off the other person’s
clothes and to be forced to stare at each other naked, unprotected, with no
way of averting your eyes. Any reply she made to Helena at this moment – any
reply that tried to give an honest sense of her own, differing views – would
immediately mean confronting the unspeakable truth: that Sophie (and
everyone like her) and Helena (and everyone like her) might be living
cheek-by-jowl in the same country, but they also lived in different
universes, and these universes were separated by a wall, infinitely high,
impermeable, a wall built out of fear and suspicion and even – perhaps – a
little bit of those most English of all qualities, shame and embarrassment.
Impossible to deal with any of this. The only practical thing was to ignore
it (but for how long was that practical, in fact?) and to double down, for
now, on the desperate, unconsoling fiction that all of this was just a minor
difference of opinion, like not quite seeing eye-to-eye over a neighbour’s
choice of colour scheme or the merits of a particular TV show.
I am reminded of a conversation that I had with one of my clients way back in
February. This person was born secular but turned into an observant Jew several
years ago. Despite this, we have never had any problems whatsoever. In a
conversation, I mentioned that I had attended the demonstration at the Knesset
a few days ago, and he asked me in all seriousness to explain why I (and many
others) felt the need to demonstrate. "It's very simple", I told him. "Once
the government passes their legislation about emasculating the judicial
system, especially the parts that check and can curb the government's actions,
what is there to stop them from overthrowing the election laws and staying in
power for ever?"
"That would never happen" said my client.
"Do you want to bet on that?" I asked. And I felt exactly as written above
(after adapting the tenses), namely [we] might be living cheek-by-jowl in the same country, but [we] also live in
different universes, and these universes [are] separated by a wall,
infinitely high, impermeable, a wall built out of fear and suspicion.
The weekly news round-up on Saturday night showed an item about seemingly
serious people who have prepared plans for separation - one religious state
and one secular. According to one plan's boundaries, I live in the religious
state. The Arab belligerents must be in heaven, seeing us destroy ourselves by
our own hands. In a sense, I am reminded of the partition plan of Palestine
from 1947, only here the two sides are the same people. The person showing
this plan remarked that it's the same as is happening in Spain (Catalonians
want separation), Scotland and Belgium. No problem when it's someone else
we're talking about but it's a big issue when it's your country that is
divided.
[1] Rivers of blood - a famous
speech made by MP Enoch Powell in 1968, who naturally went to the same school as did most of the (fictional) protagonists of this book and its author.
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