Israel is a nation grappling with deep internal divisions, and
unfortunately, it is the Palestinian people who are paying the
heavy price. Recently, a group of Israeli reservists known as
Brothers In Arms made headlines by refusing to fulfill their
reserve duty in protest of the newly passed Judicial Reform. Their
stated concern was for the preservation of Jewish democracy, with
an emphasis on creating a better future for their children within
such a system.
Some of the refusers who sat with their backs to the cameras,
probably because they were members in some of Israels highly
secretive death squads, known as the Special Forces, said they were
concerned about the nature of the Israeli army. But what was it
that they did not mention? Even once? The rights of
Palestinians.
The rights and welfare of the Palestinian people seemed to hold
no significance for these individuals. Despite being hailed by some
as heroic champions of democracy, they displayed a disheartening
indifference toward the safety and well-being of Palestinian
children. To them, millions of Palestinians are merely viewed as
targets, devoid of any value beyond the crosshairs of a gun.
The media is portraying the protest in Israel as the growing
pains of a young democracy. It is not. Israel was never a democracy
but a racist, violent, divided entity that has barely kept it
together. Furthermore, Israel was never a cohesive society, and
this break was inevitable.
Now Israel is falling apart in front of our very eyes,
Palestinians are undergoing unprecedented suffering, and there is
no one presenting a clear agenda for Palestine. Once again, at
historic intersections in Palestine, the people of Palestine have
no say because they have no voice.
Not the First Time
Israeli society is a patchwork of immigrant groups who are
mostly disconnected from each other and make up the socio-economic
structure of Israeli society. Generally speaking, the more European
you are, the more privilege you have. This is definitely not the
first crisis that Israeli society has had to endure, but it is the
first one where the President of the United States and other
notable Americans seem concerned.
When the state of Israel was established, Zionist institutions
did everything they could to get Jewish communities in Arab
countries to leave their homeland and their homes and to come to
what was now Israel. Even though, for the most part, these ancient
Jewish communities were reluctant to move, many of them did. They
came from Yemen, all over North Africa, from Iraq, Syria and
Lebanon, and the...
