It wasn't just the four kidnapped female soldiers who returned home. All of Israel returned home on Saturday, to self-love, to convulsion, to imitation of togetherness, to simulation of triumph, to a sense of superiority, to nationalism. The intimate joy of family members and friends, whose world had fallen apart over the past year, became a national carnival of excess. We're used to that. But now we've got an extra dose of kitsch and lies.
After more than a year of horror and terror, one can understand the need to rejoice and take a moment of pride in oneself. But Saturday's carnival went beyond all measure. As if ordinary human joy over the return of the female soldiers was not enough, we had to go too far. The need for propaganda and incitement on the very day of universal joy indicates that something bad is hiding under the cover of tears, hugs and kisses with Karina, Naama, Daniel and Liri.
The story of victory fell apart at the sight of organized, orderly and armed Hamas members staging a liberation ceremony with a stage and extras. Hamas seemed to rise from the ashes and rubble after 16 months of bombing, killing and destruction. It showed that it was still alive and standing tall.
They were said to be cruel, monstrous, satanic Nazis - not only in drunken bar conversations but also in the shows of the leading television stations that represent the voice of official Israel. But reality has denied this. The Hamas smear contest in our TV studios is in grotesque contrast to the relatively encouraging sight of the freed girls smiling from the stage. They are very different from the freed Palestinian prisoners, many of whom look exhausted and broken. We probably have more difficult scenes ahead of us with the freed Israeli hostages, but so far I would say that these do not look like people who were in the hands of the Nazis.
Look at us, how wonderful we are, how much we value life, how willing we are to pay any price to free our abductees - and compare this self-perception with the disturbing and triumphant truth that the release ceremony could have taken place eight months ago, or perhaps as early as the first day after October 7. The claim that they love death and we love life is perhaps the most vile of all lies. After almost 50 killed by our army, most of them innocent, there is no need to say anything more. Israel hardly values the lives of its own citizens: we have over 800 soldiers killed in this war, and it is certain that we do not respect every human life equally. There is nothing cheaper in Israel than a Palestinian life, both in war and in everyday life. Ask our soldiers and pilots how much a human life in Gaza is worth. He who systematically demolishes hospitals in Gaza, shoots at ambulances and kills hundreds of members of rescue teams does not value life, he tramples it.
And the mutual solidarity and support during the last hostage release was staged. The yellow stripes on the cars were supposed to express the solidarity and care of Israelis for each other. Pass by our roads, stand in lines, remember the massive forgery of disability certificates. This is not solidarity, but a fight for each other.
Israel celebrated the return of four kidnapped girls. The joy was genuine, exciting, and enchanting. But the makeup was overdone, and the decor was cheap and Bollywood. With a little more truth and a little less lies, this celebration could have worked.
(Haaretz; peščanik.net, translated from Hebrew by Alma Ferhat)
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