To the editor(s) of Ha'aretz, shalom,
I do not expect that you will publish this letter, given the strong opinion it holds, but since you're the last independent newspaper (i.e. voice) that I hear/read from Israel, I simply feel compelled to direct my opinion in a letter to this oppressive government and to all Israelis who voted in support and moreover to all who, even with the knowledge of today, back its abhorrent policy.
What my opinion will bring, little I fear, but somehow I sense it needs to be said, it needs to be written. I wish you, and all people of true good will, all the best and may our God have mercy on us all (whether religious or not).
Letter written between 2023 October 07 to 2023 November 11.
To the reader,
I mourn these days and nights, gloom, sometimes literally headache and heartache, anguish.
First a terror-attack (forewarned, expected yet not prevented, what does that tell us?) and then the revenge followed with war crimes. Crimes against humanity.
Even while in my youth I felt pain and sorrow for the victims of the Holocaust, for all victims: Jewish, Roma, homosexual or otherwise deviant or unwanted in the eyes of the Nazis. There was a time, given through upbringing and history, when thinking of Israel I thought: 'right or wrong, my country'. As a young man so proud of having Jewish forefathers. The books I came across at home, much I studied later, that are still on my bookshelves, contributed to this. No, no more. For the history that subsequently unfolded during this life has changed it all. No, not the pain and sorrow for the victims of the Holocaust, that will never diminish. Will not change. Yet my sympathy, the unconditional support for the State of Israel has diminished over the past thirty odd years, incident after shocking incident, year after year. Gone. Having dived again in history, even more open minded than ever before, I realise now, I should have wakened much sooner to see what from early on, yes, remember Deir Yassin, the provoked Al-Nakba, was done to the Palestinian people.
Shabra and Shatila caused my first shock in thinking, but a real turning point was the murder by a Jewish extremist (read: fascist, settler) of Yithzak Rabin. This zionist murder signaled the definitive end of my being blind to, up to defending, what the Israelis et alii* have done to the Palestinian people. Certainly, the horrific massacre by Hamas on October 7, 2023 hurts, it disgusts, and all old sympathy immediately flared up... and evaporated through the days and nights that followed. No, not for the victims of October 7, not for the hostages and not for their families and friends, they still have my sympathy. And yes, that gives one the right to defend oneself against terrorists, butchers that kill anyone: unarmed civilians, children, the elderly, even those (or perhaps especially, it is Hamas after all) who could empathise with the idea of the Palestinian desire for life, peace and justice in their own country. But that does not ever legitimise what the Israelis have been doing, continuously, for years to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza: No! And certainly it cannot begin to legitimise what is now unfolding, especially in Gaza, but also in the West Bank and East-Jerusalem. This policy of settlers, of land theft, of any denial of the right of their fellow man, based on - and enforced by - historical claims, is reprehensible, rotten through and through and reveals Israel's moral decay. It was and is nothing else than robbery, ethnic cleansing, and has now become a start of genocide.
It is written: '..an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..'; but there's proportionality in that. Israeli's have elevated disproportionate retaliation to a cult. Yet at the same time have proven that this is not the way, that Palestinians will not allow themselves to be enslaved, not even in the face of systemically applied settler's and/or state terror. I do agree that part of Hamas is terrorist, as was Irgun, even towards its own people. Yet when Hamas is terrorist, I cannot but come to the conclusion that the D in IDF must be replaced by a T, for Defense has degenerated to Terror.
We, Europeans, my ancestors, played a part in the suffering of the Jewish people, and now we share a large part of the blame for what the Palestinian people have had to endure under Israel's yoke since 1947. Has Europe in its past not created the idea of a Jewish state through its actions? And are we Europeans not -be it partly- responsible for dropping the guilt we felt onto the shoulders of the Palestinian people, by demanding that they allow strangers/outsiders to establish a state on their territory? Yes, to Palestinians every Jew in Israel truly is a stranger, an outsider, an occupier. But while we Europeans can be blamed for a lot, this cannot be attributed to the choices that the Israeli people themselves have made and continue to make with their ballot paper. The brutalisation, right-wing movement, the theft of even more land, the theft of lives, especially ever since Likud has taken part in governments, everything morally reprehensible in political and military actions, are entirely the choices of the Jewish population of Israel. And yet, I am and will never be blind or deaf to the voices of my brothers and sisters like: Parents circle, Peace now, EAJG (i.e. another Jewish voice) and similar; they are still the light in this darkness. Unfortunately, they are not a majority (where in this world.., immediately spooks to my mind). I truly hope that the tens of thousands of Palestinian victims 'on the other side of the border' will one day be able to refrain from hating reasonless (too), and will still handle it mentally to participate in peace initiatives.
What I fear as well, and it is already happening, is growing blind hatred of Jews (although the 'zionists' will undoubtedly label me an anti-Semite) as well as increasing Islamophobia (where sympathisers of Hamas will of course call me a zionist), with all the consequences for the innocent who, as history repeatedly shows, will always be the hardest hit. I realise that as long as fascist elements on Israeli and Palestinian sides are allowed to have their way in society, a one-state solution, in which Jewish and Palestinian citizens equally and democratically - with respect for every minority - choose the government they deserve, with worthy leaders, is a dream and not a realistic vision of the future. For that reason, I have come to the conclusion that 76 years later, UN Resolution 181 is still the only real option for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace next to each other. I pray that - also for your benefit - after all atrocities in Gaza and in the West Bank, that Palestinians are still able to bring themselves to do so.
Perhaps the UN headquarters should be moved from the USA to Jerusalem and rule the city jointly with Israeli and Palestinian residents. Learning to live together to build an honest (do you still know the meaning?) and workable society... wouldn't that serve God's very plan for humanity?! In the hope that time can truly heal all wounds, instead of cultivating mutual hatred, and that one day in a distant future the rejection of each other can be lifted... a distant future, for is it at all forgivable what's been done to the Palestinian people? The question is rhetorical.
Civilisation against barbarism, as Netanyahu wishes to spin? Forget it! Israel profanes October 7 and the Holocaust to eradicate a whole nation. You have become a Hamas, compassionless, ruthless, you have copied the Nazis you claim to fight. How many Palestinians will you allow to survive and if so under what circumstance? You are committing genocide, no question about it.
To quote favoured prophet Micah: 'It hath been told thee, O man, what is good. And what the Lord doth require of thee: only to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God'.
I mourn these days and nights, the death of the Palestinian people, I grieve for the loss of what could have been Israel yet what has turned out a fraud, but most of all I mourn and pray for all the innocent Palestinian children of whatever age.
This world is watching, caring so little, doing next to nothing, and thus we have all fallen from grace.
* And others: i.e. the USA, Europe, the Arab League and self-enriching Palestinian leaders.
(Full name and address of the author of this letter is known to the editorial staff of Ha'aretz).
Ré'59.
Note. Februari 17-th 2024.
I have made some minor, cosmetic, changes and additions to the letter originally sent to the editors of Ha'aretz Newspaper. However, in essence it's unaltered. Now three months later, the situation has worsened for all Palestinians in Gaza and in the Westbank, as it has worsened for Arabic-Israelian citizens condemned to live under the oppression of Jewish countrymen and settlers.
Yet, still there remain those that truly deserve the title 'mensch' (please look up its definition for yourselves). But O Lord, have they become scarce....
To all those on either side, of any border, I say shalom, salam, may peace be with you always!
2024 February 17, Europe,
Post scriptum.
Let it be clear, I have no desire to renounce my Jewish genealogy, but, yes, I do reject this mode of Zionism and no that does not make me -or any other speaking out in favour of a free, democratic and peaceful Palestinian state- an anti-semite. It defines me as mensch.
Please visit this website via this link: English | standing-together
or look at: https://www.standing-together.org
and I think you may be interested in this website as well:
March 30 Movement Manifesto
https://30-3.org/pages/view/7
