Saturday, March 08, 2008

Anger !


Yesterday I was angry.

I was angry at photo above.

Angry for the dead Yeshiva students. And for the wounded.

Angry for the Jewish people, who have to put up with this shit.

Angry at the Palestinian who pulled the trigger. – Did he think his need for revenge was worth the innocent lives he took?

Angry at the people who sent him. – Did they think a few more dead Jews would soften our hearts? That it would make Israel more likely to trade land for the promise of peace? Or that Israelis would just give up and “go back to Europe”.

I was angry at the photo above

Angry that Jewish blood is spilled on a holy book.

Angry that the photo evokes the holocaust, and every anti-Semitic pogrom in our history

Angry that the photographer who took the photo, knew that. That’s why he took it.

Angry at the Toronto Star, who knew what it evoked, and printed it.

Angry at the Rosh Yeshiva, who linked these killing to the 1929 killings in Hebron.

Angry at the Rav who linked these killings to Purim and to Amalek.

Angry at all those who interpret these killing as just another example of how eternal anti-Semitism always and everywhere wants to kill Jews.

Angry at those who think none of this is our fault. That it's just the way the world is and alway has been. The only solution is to be strong, and to kill them before they kill us.

I was angry at the photo above. Where was the photo of the blood soaked Koran from Gaza?

Angry that suddenly all the Jews have forgotten last weekend.

Angry that Israel killed 125 Palestinians in Gaza last weekend: approximately 40 of them civilians: “collateral damage.” Did we think that more dead Arabs would soften their hearts? That it would make Hamas more likely to trade land for the promise of peace and quiet? Or that Palestinians would just give up and settle for the status quo.

I was angry at the photo above.

Angry at the Palestinians who celebrated it: who cheered and fired into the air in the streets of Gaza.

Angry at the Jews of Jerusalem who chanted “Death to Arabs” (Mavet La’Aravaim) outside the Yeshiva where the killing took place.

Angry at the Hamas leaders who blessed this "noble operation".

Angry at the Rabbis who say this killing is a warning from God, telling us not to negotiate away Jerusalem or the West Bank.

Angry at the Israeli Jewish Knesset members who blame these killings on Israel’s Arab MKs, and promise to “get rid” of them.

Angry at the brother of the killer, who says he is proud his brother died a “martyr”.

Yesterday I was angry at everyone who was angry.

Angry at everyone who never looks at the fault within; who never thinks that maybe - just maybe - "the other" side is reacting to "our" actions; who thinks force, and only force will bring "the other" side to heal; who thinks that "them" killing "us" proves that "they" are animals, but "us" killing "them" is OK – understandable since "they" understand nothing but force - that "they" are brutal animals.

Angry at everyone would believes that "our" dead – who study and believe that God gave the land 100% to "us" and that "we" should never give it up – are holy martyrs; while "their" dead who study and believe that God gave this land 100% to "them" and that "they" should never give it up – are deranged lunatics bent on war in defense of wrong headed principal.

Angry at everyone who values land more than peace.

Angry at everyone who screams for revenge; who wants to meet force with more force, death with more death;

Angry at everyone who refuses to talk, to give something to get something, to compromise, to try something new, to learn.

Angry at everyone who screams at "them", and give his own side a free pass.

Yesterday I was angry.

Today I am mostly sad.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would you have been as angry if an American backed militia had shot up a Taliban madrassah? This yeshiva was as political as a Taliban madrassah.It trained people to give go to the settlements and promote and religiously justify acts of terror against
Palestinians

10:12 am  
Blogger Sydney Nestel said...

On a moral level there would be no difference. That act would deserve as much moral outrage as this one.

But on a personal emotional level I care more about this one.

The truth is, I pay much more attention to Israel / Palestine than to Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, Chechnia, or the many other equal morally horrible hot spots in the world. That because I am emotionally tied to the Jewish people and to Israel, not because of any rational or universally applicable argument.

11:56 am  
Blogger basics said...

beautiful post syd!

11:51 pm  

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