Israelis have a strong resentment towards the statement “It won’t happen to me”. It is the sum of all of our fears: taking reality for granted, taking our guards off, not being alert.
On one hand, we tend to be alert all the time. One wears their seatbelt, stays near a shelter when asked, takes their vaccine and monitor the situation around them. On the other hand, we do love the term “It will be ok”, בסדר יהיה, in Hebrew. A broad statement that means "don’t worry, just roll on with it”. It reflects an almost blind belief in miracles and that a strong divine willpower shall prevail over any difficulty.
Some would like to claim that this Hybris, the idea that a strong will and strong belief that “everything will just turn out to be ok” turned us blind, and was the cause for the 7.10 attack resulting in such devastating results. That the lack of self reflecting, the mental laziness, the acceptance of what was thought of us “reality” as it was, actually made us ignore said “reality”, ignore blatant warnings, label them as noise and return to our comfort zone.
And then, war came. I still remember exactly where I was, at 6 am, with missile alarms going off almost endlessly. Messages flooded all of my WhatsApp groups. People cried for help. Begged to know about the fate of their loved ones. Friends recounted how they saw people with guns shooting other people at a festival. The entire country was in shock.
Our government proved dysfunctional and incompetent prompting citizens to rise up and volunteer themselves. Some drove soldiers to the front, others gathered resources to help those fleeing the carnage, everyone watched the foul videos taken by the attackers recording their crimes in the villages around Gaza, looking for faces, attempting to recognize the victims, trying to figure out who was able to flee, and who was - alas - kidnapped to Gaza.
The first message that I got that day was from a Palestinian friend. He told me he saw horrible videos on Telegram and that something horrible was happening. He said he was worried about me but I assured him that, luckily, I was with my family in the center of Israel. I would argue that people went mad. Mad from the fear, the trauma, the shock - the War. Hate spread like a virus and feelings like rage, revenge and thoughts of violence took over. The fact that the vast majority of the victims from the villages near the border were themselves peace activists - leftists who once wished for peace - only worsened the situation. The feelings of betrayal and the cruelty of the attack corrupted the minds of too many of my fellow citizens. Today, some might already be slowly healing while others are not.
I will not pretend to be a military expert. I do not understand geopolitical strategy and phenomena. I am not one who tries to understand the causes, reasons, implications of the crimes committed. I do know for sure, however, that I am and was always a humble peace activist. A peace activist who always tried his best and continues to.
I have a simple message to whomever is reading this piece: It can happen to you too.
The corruption of the mind in times of crisis, coupled with rhetoric and understanding around national identity turning immensely toxic is not out of reach even to the best of us.
Which is why I would argue Europeans are lucky. After 1950, when the dust of the Second World War settled down, no other major conflict ignited. No matter how much hatred and revanchism had survived hidden under the surface, the Hungarians and the Romanians were not at each other’s throats. The Austrians did not declare a holy war to reclaim lost lands. There were no Danish settlers “liberating” Norwegian grounds. Europe, with its harshly divided borders and arbitrary claims over national lines, declaring who is a Serb and who is a Croat, on which side of the border a Czech is part of the majority and where they are a minority, and what part of a fallen empire is Poland and what is Ukraine... and other such examples. Europe was able to keep the peace, albeit fragile, even between opposing sides of the cold war. I know, I am over simplifying things, but in the grander scheme of things, isn’t it the case? While Basques fought Spanish authorities and Irish fought the British, nothing came close to the proportion of wars on other sides of the world. Most Europeans, didn’t have to face full-scale War, luckily. especially if you were born after the 70’s and 80’s. Yet.
Storm clouds gather over Europe today. It is almost an accepted fact that the world is heading toward a large conflict. China, Russia, the USA, all watch as the Chess pieces are being put on the board. The Yugoslav wars already showed that bloody wars can be ignited by a tiny spark, and the war in Ukraine showed how massive and horrifying modern wars are. And now, with the wave of nationalist, militant leaders who thrive on fear and hatred, it seems that the reality of a peaceful Europe should not have and must not be taken for granted.
The average Israeli before the war was not more racist than the average guy in Europe. Bold statement, I know, and one can argue on how you measure and/or define racism, but I’ll dare say that other than minor differences in terminology and aesthetic, things were not as far away as your regular everyday racism in England or France.
The average Israeli, the people who live in Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Beer-Sheva, the folks you meet here and there in Festivals or events, were vastly apathetic to the situation, without raging hate or having a need for violence. While cultural differences caused the usual xenophobic stereotypes, and the “Us vs Them” mentality did separate people, things were mostly calm. The majority of people wished for peace (in theory at least), but were apathetic/ neutral to any form of active initiative, more concerned about the status quo than on major changes that can reshape their reality. A strong right-wing, religious and nationalistic part of society existed as well, one that opposed any idea of peace and threatened harsh reaction to peace activism, so people preferred to wait, basically thinking “mañana, Inshallah but later. One day, Amen. Hoping that time will heal us”. And honestly? Can you blame them? - Young people from all over the world ditched Politics and the idea of “Demos kratia”, of taking an active role in politics. This apathy for politics, the one we see infecting the world, is fertilizing the ground for “strong leaders” who pretend to want to liberate the masses from their responsibilities and from the consequences of their mistakes. This has also infected Israel. Since the assassination of PM and peacemaker Yitzhack Rabin by an Israeli far-right religious extremist in 1995, the concept of “hope for peace and a better future” became a cliche. We did try. However the reaction was deadly with the assassination of a leader who wanted peace. This event prompted apathy to rule instead. Those who opposed peace won, and a process of “slow occupation”, one that hid it from the majority of the people, took hold. The normalisation agreements with different Arabic nations did revive the hope for peace, but as we found out, it was too little and too late.
The fault for the apathy towards the horrors of the occupation, settlements, the creeping hatred and rooted racism, and the wars, is definitely on us Israelis. The Israeli people in general, gave up. There were and still are peace activists, and we are not a negligeable minority, and we were able to slow down and even (at times) halt the progress of the settlements and the nationalists’ wishes for horrors and conquests, but were not able to beat them. Most people preferred to focus on their own quality of life, on their communities and on small local victories.
But then again, dear friends, you do the same. Your greatest luck is that Europe has strong establishments that prevented the seeds of hatred and nationalist rage from actually sprouting. I repeat, there are no German or French settlers fighting each other on the borders, no eternal conflicts that erupt into fighting every 4 years, and not the ever present corruption of occupation. You had your fair share of Colonial conflicts up until the 60’s, but that’s the past. No more secret police or wide internal propaganda (In most of Europe at least). All I ask is, don’t take any of it for granted.
Don’t look at us Israelis, and think that we are inferior to you, that we were not just like you. That this corruption is inherent in us, that we were born this way. No, these expressions of hate, the war crimes you hear about, the aggressive responses toward anyone who criticizes us (be it fairly or not), is the consequence of exactly that - a country that develops a siege mentality. Scared from its own shadow, conflicted with itself over its identity, and able to justify everything under stress and paranoia. It can happen to you, and it WILL happen to you, unless you fight back. Unless you are able to grab the wheels of time and steer them toward a better future, away from fascists and tyrants who wish for eternal wars through fear and hate.
Do not think that wars only happen in far away lands and that Europe is somehow immune to it today. If you allow tyrannical and fearmongering demagogues to take over governments, you will end up in the exact same place we Israelis find ourselves in today.
Peace activists from Israel and Palestine are facing extreme difficulties, in an unforgiving reality. In Israel it is becoming harder and harder to demand peace and openly calling for peace, entailing public scrutiny and even arrests in some situations, while In Palestine it’s even more dangerous, and can result in direct violence, by Settlers, the Israeli army, and even from within one’s own community. And yet, we fight. We do our best to create a better tomorrow for both peoples, knowing that both peoples are here to stay. There will be no glorious military victory of one over the other. Only Peace. This is exactly why I believe in a federal solution for this conflict, why I wish for a stronger Europe, and why I take inspiration from the achievements in Europe.
In 1941, while Europe was butchering itself, when dictators were trying to bring humanity to its knees, Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi dared to dream of a better future. I also would like to dare to dream of a better future for the middle east, for Palestine and for Israel. For this dream to come true, we need a strong Europe. A Europe that can stand against the madness that surrounds us, of global powers running havoc, megalomaniac leaders who act on a whim, and subsequently bring more war.
We need peace. We need hope for a better future. We need Europe to get their shit together. We must work together if we have any desire to succeed.
JEF Europe, JEF Germany, JEF Italy and young Israeli and Palestinian federalists (myself included) are currently fundraising for a “Federalist Peace Forum” in September. To support it, click here - https://www.betterplace.org/en/projects/156747
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