Dear Friends,
I belonged (and still do) to the sane left wing In Israel all my life. I have always thought (and still do)
that the only possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the two states solution, and that for this solution
Israel should give back all the areas that we conquer in 1967 (and evacuate all the settlements made in those
areas), while the Arabs should recognize Israel and give up what they call the "right to return". I have also
very strongly opposed all the Israeli settlements at the occupied areas, and I was of course supporting
the evacuation in 2005 of those settlements that had been in
Gaza's strip, as
well as Israel's almost full disengagement from
there in that year (I say "almost", because since then Israel is still providing most
of the electricity, oil, and other needed things
to the Gaza's strip, even though since 2007 this it is governed by an organization that
officially declares its goal to be the total
elimination of Israel - and has been acting accordingly. This is a situation which
is as absurd as UK regularly providing electricity and oil to Germany
during the two world's wars...)
I am telling you all this in order to explain that what is happening now is something
completely different. What we have
now is a
war on Israel's survival. No less. After the unbelievable horrible, cruel POGROM on October 7 ("The black Saturday" it is called here)
all the citizens of Israel who live in its south and in its north have been evacuated
to the center of Israel, and nobody
will agree to return if murderous organizations like HAMAS (which we have all witnessed
what it is ready and capable of doing) will sit on the borders
near them. Now Israel is a very small country. We cannot all concentrate in the area
of Tel Aviv (which for itself has daily been
the target of missiles). No country in the world can and would tolerate either such
a situation or a being brutally attacked by another
country, as Israel was victim to on October 7! (And what is called "Gaza strip" was
indeed before the war a country for all practical matters: it had
a government, a parliament, police, and above all: strong army.)
In view of these obvious facts,
people like me are totally
shocked by the hatred of
Israel (and frequently of
Jews in general)
that
we now witness in many campuses over the world, including many (far too many) faculty members. Slogans
like
"Palestine will be free from the river to the sea" have no other meaning but the total abolishment of Israel.
And
it is simply impossible to understand the support that a fanatical, cruel and murderous organization like Hamas
is getting
from people who call themselves "progressive" and who pretend to care about human rights. It seems that
Israelis,
including women and children, are not taken as "human" by them. (Actually, supporting Hamas means
that
human rights of Arabic women are also not important for the supporters.) This is a shame!!!
Below
is a link to a letter support us, initiated by professors in Australia. I beg each one of you
to sign
it and to spread it to other colleagues in the academy. It is important!
Hoping
for better days to come -
Arnon
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2023 11:53 AM