“My name is Eran Efrati, I am Jewish, a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces, and a 7th generation Jerusalemite.
What I’ve seen in Israel over the last few weeks is beyond anything I have witnessed in my life.
Gaza under Israeli attack, July 2014. Photo: The Times, UK.
I’ve seen terrified Palestinian children in Hebron and Halhul, sitting on the ruins of their homes.
I’ve seen Israeli mobs in the street chanting “death to Arabs” and pulling out Palestinian men from their stores to beat them as other Israelis stood idly by. I’ve seen Israeli soldiers lined up at the Gaza border, ready at a moment’s notice to invade.
And now, like you, I’ve seen the climbing death toll in Gaza, over 100 dead and some 500 injured – all by Israeli missiles, with no end in sight.
As much as it pains me to say it, I don’t think I can do a lot about it. But I believe you can.
North American voices – especially Jewish North American voices – are probably the most critical voices right now. [MR: I would add that in the face of crimes on this scale, all voices of reason and compassion need to be heard wherever and however they can.]
We need you to tell Israeli politicians, the Israeli media, Israeli society, that you can’t support this attack. That you can’t support human rights violations. That you can’t support racism. That you won’t support the idea that Jewish lives matter more than Palestinian lives.
We know the roots of this are long and deep. But the truth behind this latest assault is finally coming out: as J.J. Goldberg wrote in The Forward, the Israeli government lied, and created this situation.
For weeks, the government knew that the three kidnapped teenagers were dead. But they instituted a gag order on the media, lied to Israelis and the world, and falsely claimed the mass arrests and collective punishment of Palestinians was all in the hopes of finding the teenagers alive.
In other words, their chosen response was to kidnap the mind of an entire country.
From the very beginning, this has been about punishing Palestinians. From the beginning, the government has been willing to manipulate and use its own people for that goal.
Overhead, I hear airplanes headed to Gaza all day long, and I know there’s nothing I can do to stop them. And now we all know the lengths they’ve gone to justify this attack, and how fully Israeli society has bought into it. And I don’t think we can stop it from within.
But I think you can.
Reliable updates on the current Israeli assault on Gaza and the West Bank, here, and here.
For an inside look at how Palestinians and Israelis are resisting the occupation, check out Our Way to Fight.
Michael Riordon 