The open letter, circulated by 160 Israeli authors, academics, and intellectuals, ignores the fact that the ongoing war in Gaza has been a war of annihilation from its very inception
ed note–as always, lots of ‘must knows’ that every Gentile with a vested interest in his/her own future survival needs to understand about all of this.
Firsto, allow us here at this humble little informational endeavor to both congratulate and applaud the author, truly a ‘righteous Jew’ who, it would appear, has not been ‘pickled’ in the battery-acid brine of Torah Judah-ism’s hatred for Gentiles.
Furthermore, as a ‘righteous Jew’, she is willing to say those things that need to be said concerning the ‘maskirovka’ that right now is being pedal-to-the-metal ‘productioned’ within various Jewish ‘neighborhoods’, and especially on the part of those who see the approaching storm that is building against the Jews as a whole and who therefore are out to do one of the things they do best–spin lies, twist words and contort ideas so as to leave the Gentiles ‘dazed and confused’.
Specifically, in this case, what they are out to accomplish is to ‘maskirovka’ the religiously-driven genocide in Gaza that has been taking place and where all of this is headed.
The esteemed Hebraic author is correct–these ‘authors’ and ‘academics’ trying to make the claim that somehow Netanyahu is an ‘aberration’ and not representative of Israel (and Jewry) is a lie. Netanyahu and the Genocide he has waged is ‘the people’s choice’ and is as ‘misrepresentative’ of Jewry as crocodiles, alligators and other crawling, flesh-eating creatures are ‘misrepresentative’ of the reptilian kingdom.
Ilana Hammerman for Haaretz
‘Netanyahu is not Israel – his government does not represent us!’
That was the headline of an open letter against the war in the Gaza Strip that was released on May 30. It was signed by 160 Israeli authors, academics and intellectuals, and since then, thousands more have signed.
There’s no doubt that their intentions were good. The problem is that the open letter itself wasn’t good, because it was wrong and misleading. Its drafters and signatories were lying to themselves.
The people behind the letter immediately translated it into English and sent it to media outlets overseas. Apparently, that was so that people overseas – those who aren’t antisemites, of course – would know that despite everything, justice is on our side. That on October 7, 2023, in a complete surprise that came out of nowhere (that is, out of Gaza, or in other words, out of the jail/ghetto we built for its residents), ‘human animals’ came to slaughter their neighbors, residents of the western Negev.
After that, we launched a ‘just war’ against those who barbarically – with their own hands, face-to-face – murdered babies, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, entire families. We fought with great intensity and we didn’t let up. For 19 months, we bombed, shelled, destroyed, razed, killed and expelled. And nevertheless, according to the open letter, despite all the destruction, this war was ‘justified’.
‘But then’, the letter implies, ‘something changed’, utterly. ‘The war that began on March 18 with Israel’s violation of the cease-fire and its failure to comply with the agreement to release the hostages is not the same just war that we set out to wage on October 7 after the horrific massacre in the communities of the western Negev. … A war in which more than 15,600 children have been killed is immoral,’ it said, while declining to explain that most of these children were killed, along with their mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, in the initial war we launched on October 7, 2023,
This war was a war of annihilation from its inception, 19 months earlier, with massive airstrikes by air force pilots and drones that dropped bombs weighing almost a ton from afar (in modern wars, we no longer kill face-to-face), and even more so once the ground operation began. And in fact, this war had goals other than military victory.
Increasingly, it was waged in the spirit of the calls from senior politicians, ministers and Knesset members, as well as generals, to destroy Gaza – to flatten, uproot, kill, starve, seize control and even establish Jewish settlements there. And thus, long before March 18, the entire Gaza Strip – cities and towns, residential neighborhoods, refugee camps, tilled fields, orchards – had become a wasteland over which death hovered constantly.
‘Netanyahu is not Israel. … This war is contrary to the will and the values of the majority in Israel,’ the open letter said.
Really?
Lest we forget, this government was elected by the votes of a majority of Israelis in free, democratic elections on the basis of the platforms of the parties that comprise it, from Likud headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu down to Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit, headed respectively by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Here are the first two sentences of the government’s guidelines:
‘The Jewish people have an exclusive and unassailable right to the entirety of the Land of Israel, and the government will promote and develop settlement in every part of the Land of Israel – the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan, Judea and Samaria,’ the biblical term for the West Bank. And indeed, it has been fulfilling that promise in the West Bank since the day it was established.
In this, it has been acting just like the governments that preceded it, albeit with greater zealotry and violence under the leadership of Smotrich, who to this end received another ministerial portfolio on top of the Finance Ministry – as the minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for the ‘settlement administration (Judea and Samaria).’ And in the current war, the government has been applying this directive to Gaza as well.
Despite this, the open letter said that ‘a war without political goals is a war of deception.’
But the war does have political goals – to occupy, expel, settle and control Gaza forever. Gaza will become like the West Bank.
Moreover, this war is currently implementing the policies and ideology of the bloc whose supporters constitute a majority – from the people who voted for Netanyahu and Gideon Sa’ar, and Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit, all the way to people who support opposition politicians Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman.
And even among the centrists who chafe at them – that is, the bloc that supports Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid – you won’t find forceful opposition to this policy.
This is the current Israeli majority, and these are their values. The new open letter became outdated long ago.
The drafters and signatories declare that they are ‘determined to defend Israeli democracy.’
Please, my friends, explain to me, what democracy do you mean?
Do you mean the democracy in which half the people living under Israel’s rule between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea have been subject to a violent military regime for three generations now, deprived of both civil and human rights, without even protection from destruction, expulsion and pogroms at the hands of the Jews?
And finally, the drafters and signatories promise that they are also determined ‘to preserve hope for both peoples.’
How, if you would be so kind?
Almost a year ago, the Knesset passed the following resolution:
‘The Knesset vehemently opposes establishing a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel would constitute an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and undermine regional stability.’
Only nine Knesset members from Arab parties voted against this resolution; Gantz’s National Unity Party and Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu both voted in favor.
If the Netanyahu government falls, these two parties – along with Bennett’s, whose opinion on this matter is identical to theirs – will constitute the decisive bloc within whatever coalition of parties forms the next government. And in the Knesset, a crushing majority will continue opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state – a majority that represents the majority of Jewish Israelis and their values. Yet Palestinians have nothing but the hope of establishing a state.
When will come the hope that you are determined to preserve for both peoples? And does your determination include anything substantive?
Finally, since we have reached this point, it’s sadly impossible not to wonder where that determination has been up until now.