I haven’t written for a while. Away in Israel during the
month of June, and busy for the past two months with the last editing sequence
of the Hebrew version of my memoir, I was too busy to write. That, in spite of
the events that precipitated the current cycle of violence that is raging
between Israel and Hamas. Then the war broke out and I was reluctant to write
about it. Not only because much has been already written and spoken about the
war, but also because I find it too hard emotionally. It brings me
back to the day I was widowed during the 1967 war. As if time hasn’t passed. As
if I haven’t successfully rebuilt a fulfilling life for myself.
But I can’t remain silent. Not after the odd ceasefire
proposal that Secretary of State John Kerry submitted to the parties on Friday.
To be sure, there have been enough reasons to speak up, from
the moment three innocent Jewish Israeli teenagers were abducted in the West Bank on
June 12, by two Palestinian terrorists disguised as religious Jews, and the Israeli
government’s response to the kidnapping. I was in Israel then, affected by the
grace of the missing children’s parents.
Two weeks after their abduction their slaughtered bodies were found. That
followed by the horrific murder of a Palestinian boy by a few misguided
avenging extremist Israeli Jews, and all hell broke loose.
Israeli cities have been bombarded by Hamas with thousands
of rockets and missiles to which Israel had no choice but to respond. Additionally,
Israel discovered over thirty underground tunnels Hamas had built in order to
penetrate Israeli towns, for the purpose of abducting and killing Israelis. That
discovery has suddenly posed a strategic challenge for Israel it hasn’t known
before.
Israel is facing a cruel, stubborn, sardonic enemy that is
gaining from the suffering of its own people. That is how terrorist
organizations operate. They rely on political gains resulting from widespread
sympathy after massive retaliation that is expected from the party they had harmed
in the first place. You can read about such tactics in any introductory
textbook on the subject of terrorism.
Still, no human being can be oblivious to the horrifying pictures
that come out of Gaza. They are not helpful to American interests, nor to
Israel’s. But American cities are not bombarded and hundreds, if not thousands
of terrorists that could infiltrate US borders through underground tunnels do
not threaten its citizens. Witness the outcry in Congress over the infiltration
of undocumented youth through American borders. Can you imagine what the US
would do if the infiltrators would be terrorists that openly call for your
country’s destruction rather than undocumented immigrants?
That is why Israelis are so upset with Secretary Kerry’s ceasefire
proposal. It took into account all of Hamas’s demands, neglecting Israel’s
legitimate concerns, and it designated Qatar and Turkey, two countries that are
extremely hostile to Israel, as emissaries.
You do not have to be a right wing Israeli to be shocked by
such a proposal. No one who knows me can accuse me of being one.
The suffering needs to stop. The pictures of Israeli mothers
and fathers burying their sons, and those of pregnant widows, like I was so
many years ago, break my heart. So do the images that are coming out of Gaza. In
spite of that there is no moral equivalency here.
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Well said, Ziva and an important post. I hope many will read this and understand that this is an Israeli war of defense. Your analogy of the undocumented youth coming across US borders with the tunnels dug by Hamas is perfect. I hope it makes Americans realize the ultimate destruction those tunnels could have on the state of Israel if they are not dismantled. .
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. I too hope people will read it. After this is over I hope the Israeli govm't will stop playing domestic politics, as it had been doing for decades, and move to negotiate peace, and that Abbas will have the courage to tell the Palestinians that they have to give up the right of return. Hamas is another story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with every word. Talking to each other and trying to negotiate a solution is the only way for the 2 nations to live side by side. So far, our polititions closed their
ReplyDeleteears and eyes instead of trying to be realistic and face the facts. Nizza