We have never had a war like this before, a war with absolute consent, in complete silence and blind support. War without a single voice against, without protest, without rejection of military mobilization, without opposition. Neither at its beginning nor at its peak. Unanimous consent and total support, which excludes Arab citizens who are forbidden to rebel, without a single question or even a doubt.
Is the war that killed nearly twenty thousand people in Gaza, most of them innocent, and destroyed almost all homes and lives in the Strip, the most justified war in Israel's history? If not, how come there is not a single voice calling for an end to the bloodshed? Even the increasing losses on the Israeli side did not raise the question until when? And how many more?
Most of the wars that Israel fought were wars of choice. Almost everyone was supportive at the beginning, but soon, when its terrible cost and futility were shown, resistance would begin. After they were over, the majority would already be against the war. Looking back, many were against it. This was the case in the two recent Lebanon wars and in all attacks on Gaza and the West Bank. All of them were shorter than the current one that will end with our salvation. And this time, everyone is in favor and no one even asks anything. The media brainwashes citizens day and night in studios in a way we have never seen before. Even those who are beginning to have doubts do not dare to express them publicly. Because only together will we win.
It is the result of a war that broke out after a barbaric and criminal attack, but which has not been contained since. A war without limits that is not allowed to be contested or opposed. In the eyes of Israeli Jews, its justified beginning also justifies every continuation. Now, after two terrible months, doubts may begin to arise.
There is no one in the Arab community who is not shaken by the scenes from Gaza. These are their brothers and cousins. Unlike the Jews, they are exposed to the reality in Gaza that is denied to us under the auspices of the poor, propaganda media. But Israeli Arabs cannot protest. The current government threatens them more than any previous government, brutally silences them and sends them to prisons. Israeli Arabs currently live in fear of the authorities and the Jewish public as they have not known since the Nakba in 1948.
And in the Jewish community, if we put aside the overwhelming support for the war along with all the atrocities that accompany it, there are those who are beginning to see the horrors that Israel is perpetrating. But even here the fear of reprisal is great because of the terror of the current government, the street and the "disappointed". The result is that we have a war that no one opposes.
There is more open opposition to the war in Ukraine in Putin's Russia than there is in supposedly democratic Israel to the war in Gaza. Not because the two wars are the same, in Ukraine the war is much more criminal, but in terms of means and results they are becoming more and more similar. Terrible scenes, indescribable suffering of millions of innocents, and all for nothing.
The suffering of Gaza cannot benefit Israel. Winter is approaching and the suffering will double. Israel has never caused such destruction and killed so many children and people as in this war. When public discourse focuses only on real and imagined military achievements, endlessly wallowing in Israeli suffering and that alone, and on the other hand suppressing any expression of opposition, the result is clear. As far as the Israelis are concerned, this war can last indefinitely, and the killing of the residents of the Gaza Strip and its destruction forever. The most moral and just.
(Haaretz; Peščanik.net; translation from Hebrew: Alma Ferhat)
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