The words in quotes in the title are not my words. They are those of former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Avraham Burg. They are the opening salvo in his brutally honest op-ed, The End of Zionism. I wish I could publish it in its entirety here - the flow of words should not be broken into partial quotes. I urge you to click the link and read it ALL, from the first to the last word. It is not long, I promise.
Except for the lack of mention of the "hand over" of Gaza, the war/s on Gaza and the mention of an Israeli leader in power who is no longer alive, ie, Ariel Sharon, you might think this was written recently. Actually, it was published 11 years ago. I first saw it back then, on a Guardian Talkboard, and I was floored by it - by the "what" of it said by the "who." I will never forget it. Perhaps you will agree with me that it is even more relevant today than it was eleven years ago.
The End of Zionism
[... ]The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice. As such, the end of the Zionist enterprise is already on our doorstep. There is a real chance that ours will be the last Zionist generation. There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly.
It turns out that the 2,000-year struggle for Jewish survival comes down to a state of settlements, run by an amoral clique of corrupt lawbreakers who are deaf both to their citizens and to their enemies. A state lacking justice cannot survive.
[... ]Travelling on the fast highway that skirts barely a half-mile west of the Palestinian roadblocks, it's hard to comprehend the humiliating experience of the despised Arab who must creep for hours along the pocked, blockaded roads assigned to him. One road for the occupier, one road for the occupied.
Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centres of Israeli escapism. [... ] We could kill a thousand ringleaders a day and nothing will be solved, because the leaders come up from below - from the wells of hatred and anger, from the "infrastructures" of injustice and moral corruption.
If all this were inevitable, divinely ordained and immutable, I would be silent. But things could be different, and so crying out is a moral imperative.
The prime minister should present the choices forthrightly: Jewish racism or democracy. Settlements, or hope for both peoples. False visions of barbed wire and suicide bombers, or a recognised international border between two states and a shared capital in Jerusalem.
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Very telling, isnt it? Like the first line of the 4th blockquote: "Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centres of Israeli escapism."
As I finish this, with the TV on, I hear Israel is calling up 16,000 reservists, because they must "finish this task." Tunnels. Martin Fletcher says 90% of Israelis want this to continue. The Israelis are running away from their border towns, afraid of the tunnels - "we cannot live with that." That being the idea of rebels popping out and killing them.
What is one to make of 90% roaring approval for such undeserved slaughter of a people?
I can only imagine them yelling, as they run from the border, "We cannot tolerate a rebellion against our 47 year brutal occupation! We cannot give back what we stole! We are a majority addicted to the status quo of occupation and domination! Give us the Protective Edge!
I can only imagine this 90% elects and supports the best bullies they can get and then calls in their fear & loathing chips, cries for protection from those who threaten the status quo by daring to fight for this odd thing called freedom. They run to hide behind the steel skirts of their awesome military (Made in the USA), as they cheer it on to bomb, bomb, bomb! Bomb to oblivion those who dare intrude on their far more advanced "modern" lives. Cry, cry, cry, run, run, run, bomb, bomb, bomb...
What is next in the queue for these Israelis, for the 90%, if they dont achieve the level of comfort they demand while continuing this brutal occupation? If the bombs dont do the trick, if the shells dont, as Bibi said, "finish this task," if the automatic weapons dont do it, what is next? Bring out the nukes?
This is a delusional nation run by mass murderers supported by the masses. They are mass murderers on a rampage. I can only conclude they actually see those "human shield" children (non existent) as human targets of necessity. Dont let the "little snakes" grow up. As Knesset member Ayelet Shaked says of the Palestinians:
“They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads,” the post reads. “Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.”
Shaked was the former head of My Israel, a Zionist activist group she formed in 2010 with
Naftali Bennett, the current Minister of the Economy in Israel.
Daily Beast
It does appear that we are seeing the manifestation of Avraham Burg's dire predictions, including,
"There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly."