CW: war, violence, military occupation, death, and complacency.
I am writing to you today with a heavy heart and an aching soul. Writing these words is difficult, knowing that many of you would feel attacked, or feel that I betrayed you, or that I don’t understand.
It is with great sorrow that I’d like to direct your attention to a crucial part of the country’s reality. I am not saying our country, because – well, it doesn’t feel like it’s mine anymore, nor have I felt that I could belong there, or that my voice mattered, for years.
I used to believe there was hope for change. Back when I was a kid watching teenagers wear white t-shirts with the slogan Peace Now, singing the peace song. But a lot has changed since those days, and my votes for peace-promoting parties have drowned in millions of votes for violent, militant, dividing parties.
It hurts me that the basic understanding that Palestinians and Arabs deserve the same rights and opportunities that we do, is still up for debate. Actually, it almost isn’t up for debate, it is seen as plain wrong. The rhetoric that Arabs all hate and want to kill us, is so pervasive that I’ve been continuously nauseated over the last week looking at the news.
We used to say that ‘by the time it’d be your turn, there won’t be a military anymore’ but now we’ve stopped saying it. You tell your children this is normal – that a military occupation, a stripping of human rights, a constant war or an impending war, death by rockets and racial violence, are normal and unavoidable. You ask children as young as four what they want to do in the army.
You have been voting for parties that do only harm. Voices of those who want equality and to end decades-old violence drown, are ridiculed and are labelled as ‘Arab-loving’ or unrealistic. Meanwhile the world sees children losing their lives, families, hope for a basic, free, safe life. The Israeli government refuses a cease fire.
Yet your children tell me ‘I’ve had enough of Hammas’, because your media only shows the damages on the Israeli side of the fence, and only if it’s far enough from it. The violence and dispossession of property in your cities isn’t reported about, or if it is, it is accepted, like a normal part of every country’s reality. You don’t make any sound about police, army or civilian violence against those who aren’t Jews. A small minority of you makes a little noise, but it isn’t loud enough, not even close. And the violence continues.
This week you are attacking those with an international platform, like Gal Gadot, for not speaking up to defend Israel. Here’s a newsflash – YOU are doing absolutely nothing to defend Israel or ensure long-lasting peace. Most people do not see the current war as anything to worry about. The media presents it as an ‘operation’ and you all tell me it will be over in a few days.
‘It’ won’t be over, because you do not speak up and make your leaders accountable, because you do not demand justice. Because you allow the government to be violent towards peaceful protesters. Because you keep electing a corrupt and violent prime minister for fifteen years. Your idea of an alternative is another military commander whose policy is exactly like the current government’s. You have let human rights, peace and equality be utterly de-prioritised.
You are promoting violence, with the absurd expectation it will lead to no violence in return. You do not make the basic connection between the military occupation, discrimination, dispossession, and racism, to the violence you and your children endure.
I’m tired of the expectation to defend your country when all you do is say everything is fine. I am tired of hearing criticism of my decision to live overseas, when life in the region is filled with a cycle of colonisation, violence, dispossession and hatred.
I am tired of the complete lack of accountability. Everything is always someone else’s fault. Even when the Israeli government rejects a ceasefire, you are silent and blaming someone else. I am tired of hearing that you don’t care about the lives of those behind the fence, and are just happy to send your children to die there in the name of ‘the land’.
I am exhausted by the toxic rhetoric that we cannot get along. I am exhausted by the decision over generations to ignore how our children are being indoctrinated against anyone who isn’t an Israeli, who isn’t a Jew. I am sick of the discrimination against Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians. Of the racist jokes.
I am ashamed. It’s always been scary to admit I was born in Israel, or raised Jewish, but now it is plain embarrassing to let the world know that that is actually the country I’m a citizen of.
I cannot ‘stand by Israel’ like the slogan running through social media is promoting, because Israel as a nation isn’t standing by basic human rights, and hasn’t been for a while.
You wonder why Wonder Woman hasn’t been speaking up to defend Israel, but I’m not surprised. I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, living outside of Israel, and wanting the war to stop, I feel helpless. I feel alone in the cause – because you don’t seem to want the same thing.
If you really want the rockets to stop, if you really want to protect the next generation, and the next – start making noise. Start looking in and seeing the real problems. Start demanding change, start a conversation to make sure that everyone gets to live. And live free, and safe. Not behind walls and with guns to their faces, not in reliance on Israeli governments’ allowance of electricity or water.
I am tired, and so is the world. The (still-alive) children of Gaza, the West-Bank, Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv and Ashkelon are tired, and scared.
If you’re tired too, do something.
Liel K. Bridgford
P.S. I know some of you would now label me as an ‘Israel hater’, which is a part of the huge problem. But I am writing this out of love – love for the people and children, everywhere. All children deserve a safe place to call home.