“Netanyahu is not Israel,” wrote the intellectuals and authors. They are wrong
Contrary to the assertion of the declaration’s drafters, it seems that the war indeed expresses the desires and values of most Israelis, who chose this government in free elections
By Ilana Hammerman • Translated by Sol Salbe
“Netanyahu is not Israel — his government does not represent us!” Under this heading, a public statement against the war in Gaza was issueed on 30 May, signed by 160 writers and Israeli academics and intellectuals, and since then thousands more have added their signatures. There is no doubt that the intention is good and worthy, but the trouble is that the public statement itself is not good; it is wrong and misleading, and its authors and signatories are deceiving themselves.
The initiators promptly took care to translate the document into English and send it to media outlets abroad, presumably so that those who are not antisemitic would know and understand that, fundamentally, ours we the just, right side. This is because on October 7, in a complete surprise, from nowhere (that is to say, from Gaza, from the prison, from the ghetto we established for its residents), beasts came to slaughter their neighbours, the residents of the western Negev. And then we went to war justly against those who ruthlessly murdered — with their own hands, face to face — toddlers, mothers and fathers, grandparents, entire families. We fought with tremendous strength and did not relent: for 19 months we bombed and shelled, destroyed, devastated, killed, expelled, and yet it was considered a just war according to the declaration.
However, then, as it is implied in the text, things changed, they truly turned upside down. “The war that began on March 18 with Israel’s violation of the ceasefire and the failure to adhere to the agreement for the release of captives is not the just war we went out to on October 7… A war in which more than 15,600 children were killed is not moral” — the declaration states, which nicely avoids clarifying that these children were already killed in the war we went out to on 7 October 2023, as were their mothers and fathers, and their grandparents. For this war was one of annihilation from the very beginning, 19 months earlier, with the massive bombardments by air force pilots and remotely operated drones and the use of bombs weighing nearly a tonne — for a while now, in modern wars they no longer kill face to face — and even more so with the commencement of the ground “manoeuvre.” Indeed, this war had other goals besides military victory; it was conducted increasingly in the spirit of calls from senior politicians, ministers, and members of parliament, as well as all sorts of generals, to destroy the Gaza Strip: to flatten, uproot, kill, starve, take control of it, and even establish Jewish settlements there. And so, long before March 18, the entire Gaza Strip — cities and towns, residential neighbourhoods, refugee camps, cultivated fields, orchards — had already become a land of desolation and death.
“Netanyahu is not Israel… This war is against the wishes of the majority in Israel and its values,” states the declaration. How so? After all, this government was elected in free and democratic elections by the majority of Israeli citizens according to the public platform of the participating parties, starting with Likud led by Netanyahu and ending with Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit [Jewish Power] led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. The first sentence in its underlying guidelines states: ‘The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all areas of Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of Land of Israel — in the Galilee, Negev [Naqab], Golan, Judea, and Samaria [the last two being the West bank].”
Indeed, it has been implementing these underlying guidelines in the West Bank since its establishment. Like the governments before it, albeit with greater zeal and violence, under the leadership of Smotrich, who received an additional portfolio alongside the Ministry of Finance: Minister in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the “Settlement Administration (Judea and Samaria).” In the current war, the government applies these underlying guidelines also to the Gaza Strip.
And yet it is written in the declaration that “a war that is not accompanied by political objectives is a war of deception.” But these are precisely the political objectives of the war: to conquer, to expel, to settle, and to control forever. What is applicable for the West Bank is equally applicable to Gaza. Moreover, this war today is the implementation of a policy, an ideology, for which the supporting political camp in Israel has been mostly composed of Netanyahu and Saar voters, Religious Zionism, and Jewish Power, all the way to the voters of Bennett and Lieberman; and even among those who rub shoulders with them in the centre, in Gantz’s formation and even those who line up with Lapid there are no strong opponents to this policy. This is the majority in Israel today and these are its values. This new declaration had long since become outdated.
The drafters and signatories promise that they are “determined to defend Israeli democracy.” Pray tell, my friends, what sort of democracy are you talking about? Is it a democracy when half of the people living under its rule Between the River and the Sea have been subjected to this violent military regime for three generations — with neither civil rights nor human rights, for them, and no protection from demolition, expulsion, and pogroms perpetrated by Jews?
And to conclude, the drafters and signatories pledge that they are determined to “preserve hope for both peoples”. Would you kindly tell me how, if I may ask? Almost a year ago, the Knesset passed a resolution in these terms: “The Knesset of Israel vehemently opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the land of Israel would pose an existential threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and undermine stability in the region.” Only nine members of the Knesset from the Arab parties voted against the decision, while the National Unity’s component parties and Yisrael Beytenu voted in favour. If Netanyahu’s government falls, these two parties, along with Bennett’s party whose opinion on this matter is exactly the same as theirs, will be the decisive bloc in the coalition that will form the next government. And in the Knesset, there will continue to be an overwhelming majority opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, a majority that represents most of the Jewish citizens of Israel and their values. After all, for the other people, there is nothing but this hope: that a state will be established for them. So where will the hope that you are determined to preserve for both peoples come from? And what validity is there to your determination? And since we have come this far, one cannot help but sadly wonder where this determination has been until now.
