In a response to my latest Instagram controversial post (which was removed today).
People who know me well know that I would give a kidney, lung, and even my heart so other people won’t suffer. I have compassion for all living beings, including my enemies. As a progressive, I feel obligated to be open-minded. But that doesn’t obligate me to turn the other cheek. I have lived long enough and read enough to recognize when people are fighting for freedom and a better future for themselves and their children, and when people are fighting for power and money.
It pains me to see that the majority of people around the world do not see the big picture. And, instead of putting pressure on Hamas to release the hostages, protect their own people, and end this war, they put the pressure on Israel. And, by doing this, they legitimize barbaric and regressive behavior.
What enrages me the most is people who claim to have compassion towards the Palestinians but zero compassion for all the Israelis who were brutally killed, raped, burned alive, mutilated, tortured, and abducted on October 7th. I get anxious when people who know nothing about the history of the Middle East join the protests as if they were some kind of rave. Even worse is when people who know that the Palestinians rejected peace offers three times continue to blame Israel. By supporting Hamas unconditionally, they give it more power and legitimacy to continue with its human-shield strategy, causing more suffering to the Palestinians in Gaza.
It unsettles me when people compare the deaths of Palestinian civilians to the Jews that were brutally murdered in the Holocaust. Even though my family are Arab Jews, I still carry the trauma of the Holocaust. It wasn’t just the death of 6 million Jews that still haunts us; it’s the deliberate atrocities and torture the Nazis inflicted before they killed them. The dignity that was taken from them. The cruelty. If they had been killed by English bombs, there wouldn’t be a whole generation of neurotic, anxious Jews, including myself, who never use a steam shower because it reminds me of the gas chambers.
Israel does not target or deliberately kill civilians! But, even if they did, the Palestinians, the Arab world, and everyone should demand that Hamas protect them. If Israel is such a dangerous enemy, why not build shelters instead of an underground city of tunnels? Every country that cares about the lives of its citizens has shelters.
So instead of protesting against Israel and letting Hamas, who deliberately sacrifice their people to gain more popularity, off the hook while weakening Israel by spreading lies and hate, put pressure on Hamas and the Arab world to stop this charade.
If we truly want to help the innocent and the unfortunate, we must have compassion for both sides. We also must be aware of the root of the problem: dictatorship and propaganda. Not only in Gaza, but everywhere where people suffer and have no human rights – Congo, Sudan, China, North Korea etc.
Obviously it’s easier to rebel against, and hate, a small nation that has never in history destroyed any civilization – a nation that was always too busy surviving and thriving.
You either do your homework and educate yourself, fight all the fights, or do nothing. But don’t be a hypocrite or join the bullies to save your own skin, or try to belong somewhere you would regret belonging.
Don’t let the most corrupt, freedom-robbing Palestinian terror cult kidnap their own people’s freedom and eventually your freedom. Don’t give the heads of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad what they are really after: power and money.
Let’s sit down and talk before we post stupid slogans that will never solve the real problem. If we really want to help the Palestinians, we should be pressuring them to accept the existence of Israel. I have no doubt that if women and gays in the Arab world had more power, I wouldn’t have to offer an organ for peace.
P.S. It’s ironic how all the agnostic, feminist Susan Sarandons of the world are fighting for an organization of violent, religious fanatic chauvinists!
