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From reading this, you wouldn’t know that bet 2000-2010, thousands more Palestinians were killed by Israel than Israelis killed by Palestinians. You wouldn’t know there’s systematic violence if occupation. 1/ nytimes.com/2019/09/09/opi…
I was a few paces away from some of the worst terror attacks in Tel Aviv just before they happened. I know what it’s like to be on a bus and wonder if it will explode. I watched as Ehud Barak killed the Israeli left. 2/
I gave birth to my son in 2014 while Gaza rockets fired daily at Tel Aviv, under Netanyahu. He is not only bad for Israelis’ security, he has worked against securing Israel as “Jewish and democratic” state and as such he is the leading anti-Zionist in the world. 3/
Sure, many Israelis vote for Netanayhu out of fear and lack of hope, but to argue they repress trauma is a total misreading of the situation. Israeli trauma is expressed every day through violence and racism and the self fulfilling prophecy of a state that remains untenable 4/
Matti Friedman writes “No single episode has shaped Israel’s population and politics like the wave of suicide bombings perpetrated by Palestinians in the first years of 21st Century.” That may be true, but taking that logic, let’s look at what has shaped Palestinian politics: 5/
Entire generation of Palestinian men and youth in Israeli jails, children taken from their homes at night, homes demolished, agricultural lands stolen and burned, residencies revoked, travel banned, women, children and young men who protest nonviolently shot at. /6
“The attacks, which killed 100s of Israeli civilians, ended hopes for a negotiated peace and destroyed the left... Any sympathy that the Israeli majority had toward Palestinians evaporated.” You could argue the exact same logic for Palestinians, except with far worse trauma. /7
Maybe the worst part of this oped is it provides zero original thought or critical thinking, but rather seems to be a column justifying Israeli intractability while ignoring Palestinians, offering to keep us all stuck in endless loops of violence-just like Netanyahy. END
