Something profound happened. We are the new baddies of the world
It turns out that the photos and reports from Gaza do not show our beautiful faces, nor do they show the appearance of Israel’s saviour at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Approval for the construction of 3,076 apartments in the West Bank could turn into sanctions and arrest warrants in the future. The investigation against Israel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague continues. The world, it turns out, has lost its patience. ■ We are a step away from Masada — the Sequel. Will we commit suicide together, or will we rise up?
By Iris Leal • Translated by Sol Salbe
Sometimes it is actually anecdotes that make it possible to predict the approaching storm. An off-Broadway premiere Perfect Peace based on a translation of an Amos Oz novel, has been cancelled. Two actors resigned from the show. Agencies representing Israeli writers say there is a polite boycott of Hebrew literature. A demonstration by pro-Palestinian activists at the opening of Michal Rovner’s exhibition in New York disrupted the event.
But why? Cries out the civic society Hasbara choir that came into being immediately after October 7. They slaughtered us, and it’s WE who are being boycotted? How has our story been misrepresented to the point that the Palestinian narrative wins? It turns out that the photos and reports from Gaza do not show our beautiful faces, nor do they show the appearance of Israel’s saviour at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Approval for the construction of 3,076 apartments in the West Bank could turn into sanctions and arrest warrants in the future. The investigation against Israel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague continues. The world, it turns out, has lost its patience.
Reactions to Israel’s actions have changed on every level. The port that the Americans will build in Gaza should be named after Itamar Ben-Gvir and his band of Kahanists, who prevented humanitarian aid trucks from entering with a promise from the minister that the police would stay away from it.
What does the world think about Jews who prevent bringing food in for hungry children, and about a Religious Zionist rabbi who states that according to the Halakha [Jewish law], babies and the elderly must also be killed in Gaza? And there are other anecdotes. Even in Berlin, Israel is no longer the ultimate victim. A friend who lives there and saw how they spat in the face of a friend on the subway stopped speaking Hebrew in public. A friend who was at a concert said that the warm-up band walked off the stage following the call of “Free Palestine”, to the audience’s applause.
A friend who has lived in Europe for many years contemplated whether it would be better to take the mezuzah off the doorjamb and put it inside the house, but then they were horrified by the very thought. Another friend, a British Jewish journalist living in Ireland, sent me an article they had written. It was about to be published in the Irish Times and describes the agony of being a Jew in Ireland since the war began. He pulled it because he couldn’t handle the threatening responses he would surely receive.
One can see this as another round, this time without a leash, of the antisemitism dog, and one can understand that 13,000 dead children and images of hungry civilians make running a PR campaign rather difficult. It is also hard to explain an event where starving people besiege aid trucks and get run over and shot to death. And it’s hard to sell the law-breaking Kahanists and Jewish Messianics to the world. The face of the state is the face of its leader, and those who are pulling Benjamin Netanyahu’s bridle are Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Even the disillusioned leftists quote the sages adage that “Whoever feels merciful for the cruel ends up being cruel to the merciful” to justify their obtuseness. If this is the ambience in our society, how can we understand the aggression against Israelis around the world? Something profound has happened, and this time we are not talking about post-colonialists from the global Left. Israeli mythology, what in marketing theory is called “the brand”, is sprawled like a feather-plucked carcass. We are the new “baddies” of the world. Heads of state, especially those up for re-election soon, cannot ignore this. Israel’s allies will change their policies, it’s inevitable.
Netanyahu may be going to imprison us in political isolation, and the Kahanists will be the guards. This is the obvious end to his persecution complex. Then he will be free to invade Rafah, give up on a deal to release the abductees and open a front with Hezbollah without US support or assistance, and end his life’s work — which is to destroy our lives. We are a step away from Masada — the Sequel. Will we commit suicide together, or will we rise up?
