Israel came about as a safe haven for Jews. But we have always had a blind spot for the Arabs already living on that same piece of land. When I was in the Zionist youth movement after the Second World War, we were imbued with the slogan that Palestine was: “ a land without people for a people without a land.”
My Holocaust past is part of what has brought me to the decision to come and live in a Jewish state, strong enough to never be at the mercy of Jew-haters all over the world, and safe to live according to our Jewish ethics, not to be confused with religious perceptions, that are not the subject here. A light unto the nations. What we have achieved over the years of this dream is open for discussion, and in my view, we are sliding down a very muddy path.
Surely, sixty years ago there played: ”never again”, and I firmly believe in that until this day. But things have changed. This little country has developed into a fascist military power. Nothing of the humanity we once believed in was adopted by the leaders who lately rose to the fore. This land requires from its citizens a certain measure of toeing the line. And that has grown with time.
Today, being a ‘leftist’ is treason, a stab in the back of our heroic soldiers. The least we can do is demonstrate for an attempt to make this area more peaceful and against the incitement we hear from Netanyahu and his friends. And if the police do not agree, they will not hesitate to use their batons against the demonstrators.
