01 November 2010
Baha’i Tradeoff Play
Because of their world headquarters and sacred shrines in Haifa, the community of five million Baha’i around the world has considerable economic impact on the welfare not only of that city, but arguably on the whole of Israel. It is also under continual persecution by the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Iran, which is a professed enemy of Israel as well as a financial and ideological supporter of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.
Exerting political pressure is supposedly prohibited by the tenets of the Baha’i faith. However, the very survival of its adherents in the land of its greatest prevalence may justify an exception to that rule. Perhaps the Baha’i should form a directed alliance with religiously moderate groups in Israel who are opposed to the hard-line ideologues in that society who have obstructed a resolution of its territorial dispute with the Palestinian people. A Baha’i committee could mobilize the community’s financial resources and international social network to influence business backers (IT, agricultural, and travel industries are vulnerable candidates) of the conservative Jewish segment of Israel’s ruling class. Their objective would be to draw Israel into a peaceful two-state settlement with the Palestinian Authority.
The ultimate advantage for the Baha’i would be to provide them with leverage in restoring their human, civil and cultural rights in Iran. To the extent that they are successful in influencing the Israeli government to reconcile with its neighboring Arab state, they will improve their political stature even in an Iran governed by a fundamentalist Shiite regime.
Because of their world headquarters and sacred shrines in Haifa, the community of five million Baha’i around the world has considerable economic impact on the welfare not only of that city, but arguably on the whole of Israel. It is also under continual persecution by the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Iran, which is a professed enemy of Israel as well as a financial and ideological supporter of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.
Exerting political pressure is supposedly prohibited by the tenets of the Baha’i faith. However, the very survival of its adherents in the land of its greatest prevalence may justify an exception to that rule. Perhaps the Baha’i should form a directed alliance with religiously moderate groups in Israel who are opposed to the hard-line ideologues in that society who have obstructed a resolution of its territorial dispute with the Palestinian people. A Baha’i committee could mobilize the community’s financial resources and international social network to influence business backers (IT, agricultural, and travel industries are vulnerable candidates) of the conservative Jewish segment of Israel’s ruling class. Their objective would be to draw Israel into a peaceful two-state settlement with the Palestinian Authority.
The ultimate advantage for the Baha’i would be to provide them with leverage in restoring their human, civil and cultural rights in Iran. To the extent that they are successful in influencing the Israeli government to reconcile with its neighboring Arab state, they will improve their political stature even in an Iran governed by a fundamentalist Shiite regime.
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