I want to say, or rather whisper, a word to people on both sides of the radical emotional divide caused by the events in Gaza. Allow me to first address the millions of demonstrators in Italy and around the world who stand in solidarity with the suffering of the people of Gaza.
Given the obvious agony of so many Palestinians right now, it is hard not to feel compassion for Gaza. I feel like one of you. But remember that the point that had to be defended was precisely that empathy cannot be one-sided? Of course, it is ridiculous to accuse those outraged by the suffering of a bombed population of anti-Semitism – we have even reached the point of stupidity of branding people like Greta Thunberg anti-Semites.
But do we also consider the very real fact that anti-Semitism exists, is real and is true, that it is on the rise? That the centuries-old history of the Jews and the tragic history of the Nazi regime’s Holocaust evoke a recurring and understandable terror in many Jews? When we denounce the suffering of individual children, women and men in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli army, before conducting historical analysis and assigning blame, are we also remembering that individual Israeli children, women and men were murdered? ? Before we do the math (unbalanced, of course) or assign responsibility, before we point out which political structures are oppressed or oppressed, we should remember to clarify that responsibility is never collective and that we defend the right to life and to housing, not crushed to become, even for the people on the other side of a conflict? I am sure that almost all of you will answer: “But it is obvious.” But we realize that if we do not repeat it clearly, every one of our expressions of solidarity with those who suffer, every one of our complaints about injustice, Each of our demands for justice is perceived by those who, on grounds of ethnicity, education, training, find themselves on the other side of the barricade, as a declaration of hatred, a death sentence, the re-emergence of the specter of pogroms that are recurring Massacres of Jews in history?
There are dear Jewish friends among us who have always abhorred Israel’s oppressive policies, who have always fought for the recognition of a fully independent Palestinian state, but now they hesitate, withdraw, frightened by the great flood in the world that they perpetrated Massacres condemned by the Israeli state, but he doesn’t want to say a word about the massacred Jews. Not seeing this effect is blindness; it pushes you into the abyss, into the inevitability of hatred. This is not a detail. It’s about the ability to see both sides of a tragedy and understand what motivates those who see things differently.
And now allow me to turn instead to those on the other side of this tragedy. I understand the feeling of siege, I understand what it feels like to hear hymns to Hamas on the streets around the world. I understand your perception of the world. I feel like one of you. But do we realize that calling anyone who does not support the bombing of civilians an anti-Semite does not free us from the plague of anti-Semitism and racism? On the contrary: does it actually fuel anti-Semitism? Do we realize that it is our own fear and the causes of that fear that fuel behaviors that fuel anti-Jewish reactions against us? Do we realize that the more we complain and use Hamas’ violence as justification for our actions, the more emotional arguments we provide to the very people who believe that the only possible answer to violence is more violence? The idea of winning by killing everyone else cannot work in a vast world where the United Nations General Assembly votes 120 to 14 against an Israeli state that rejects a ceasefire.
Calling the unleashing of extreme violence a “right to defense” does not strengthen us, it weakens us. Let’s also try to look at the conflict from the other side’s perspective: On the other side, there are not only fanatical extremists who want to destroy the Jews. Unfortunately, they exist there too, but they are a small minority in the world: even Hamas’s founding document calls for peaceful coexistence between Islam and Judaism. If we always identify everyone who does not support us with the most extremist minority, if we brand everyone who does not support the harshest political line of anti-Semitism, we reject all possible solutions and attract enemies.
The majority of those who disagree with us do not want us to die or even harm us. She doesn’t want to be bombed, doesn’t want to be oppressed, wants to live in a democracy where those who are governed can vote for those who command them. Here is what I wanted to try to say calmly to those who feel emotionally on one side and to those who feel on the other side. Let’s try to look at things from the other side for a moment. To those who stoke the fire for geopolitical strategic power calculations on both sides, or to those who profit from that pain through arms sales, I have nothing to say, except to remember Bob Dylan’s final words in Masters of War. Read them again.