The Comment Factory

Let me take you on a trip into Gaza, but this time from a different and unusual point of view. I’m a 26 year-old Israeli woman. I grew up in Israel and I can tell you that since day one all you learn and understand is that there is an enemy that wants to take your country and kill you.

You will learn in an Israeli history class that we were always outnumbered, that all of the battles were in the sanctity of the Holy Land. You will learn that the Jewish people have suffered throughout history. You will have no choice but to believe that the only way is to fight for your life, no matter what.

You will have heroes like Joseph Trumpeldor. His reputed last words were, “Never mind, it is good to die for our country”, and you will believe that it is good to die for your country.

But not everyone imbibes it all. As I became a young woman I was increasingly opposed to what my parents told me. I started to investigate and learn the facts, and to watch alternative media channels, which were not biased. And then when I was in high school I learned that the same Joseph Trumpeldor’s real last words was swearwords in Yiddish and from there — one by one all the myths about history started to fall apart.

Then I learned about the Sabra and Shatila massacre. And from here I finally saw the truth. I started to participate in the weekly demonstrations of Bil’in– a small village located 12 kilometers (7 mi) west of the city of Ramallah. And I saw the real ugly face of occupation. I, even as an Israeli, got attacked from “my” soldiers with tear gas grenades along with (illegal) rubber-coated steel bullets and stun grenades, all in a non-violent demonstration.

I saw a helpless child suffocated by a tear gas grenade which landed in his living room. I saw a young man been arrested just for calling out protest songs. I saw the madness in the soldiers eyes as they started to chase us into the village.

You see, to prevent the big bubble popping no one will never teach you about Sabra and Shatila, no one will teach you about Ariel Sharon’s crimes, no one will teach you about the fact that in Israel in 2009 there are roads that Palestinians aren’t allowed on even though it’s the direct road to their village. Or that the West Bank and every other Palestinian territory is surrounded with walls and every few meters there is a watch-tower with Israeli soldiers.

No one will teach you that. You will have to learn it yourself, or forever be in the dark.
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I can assure you that there is no other solution other than ending the occupation of Palestine — now. People need to break the bloody circle by seeing that they’ve been brainwashed their whole life to believe that “war is the only way they know”, and that the Islam calls them to kill all Jews – it is just false.

There are Muslims who kill in the name of Islam, but they are abusing the faith, like Yigal Amir did when he murdered Yitzhak Rabin – apparently in the name of God. And like Baruch Goldstein did when he murdered 29 Muslims, also “in the name of God”. So does this mean Jews kill in the name of God? Of course not. These people are not the majority, there is a fanatical minority on both sides.

The majority in Palestine are just men, women and children who are literally dying to live. As I write this lines, 437 people have died in Gaza, in 8 days! Whether people will admit to the truth or not, the Israeli government is committing war crimes in Gaza. And even though the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered to allow access for international journalists in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government continues to deny journalists entry to Gaza. Don’t you ask yourself why? If Israel is really fighting only the terrorists, then what is there to hide?

Young Israeli children are signing on bombs before the IDF use them to bombing Gaza. It is such an appalling display of contempt for human life. Is this how we want our children to be? Cold-blooded murderers?

As a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I grew up with the horror stories about what happened to the Jews in the Holocaust — the real stories. So how could it be justified to do it to another nation? We have got to put a stop to it. It’s a whole new modern genocide. Are you willing to be part of it? Are you willing to just sit there with crossed hands and do nothing? Well I can’t — my conscience doesn’t allow me to do that.