I am genuinely fearful about writing this post.
And there lies the problem.
So many of my friends went to Tel Aviv last night to protest the government and its proposed reforms.
So far, great. That’s what a democracy looks like, the ability, the right to protest.
But can I; by the same right, protest parts of their protest without getting canceled or hated upon?
Here’s the thing. They took to the streets out of fear that the new right wing government will be the end of Israeli’s democracy.
But… Democracy also has its limits and some people have such open minds, their brains seem to have fallen out.
In what universe, on what planet is it normal that in a protest, people openly wave the flags of the enemy and no one says a thing?!
Now, I know what’s coming next because we’ve been here before.
“You’re lying. It was a peaceful protest. Only a few crazy people were with Palestinian flags.”
Ok, could be. “Only” 20 people waved Palestinian flags. Not 20? 10? 5? One?? One is one too many.
And anyone around that one person who saw that flag and said nothing is equally guilty. But I’m not blaming the protestors. They’re not the guilty one here.
Want to know where the guilt lies?
Over the last few decades, throughout the many governments that led this country, we’ve all come to terms with an absolutely absurd reality.
Show me one other conflict in history in which one side wants to destroy the other, totally annihilate them, and the other side just wants to exist.
Do you comprehend that Israel considers it a compromise if the Palestinian leadership says the words “Israel has a right to exist.”?
They are on the offense and they say it loud and clear every single day: “From the river to the sea”. And we, like pathetic weak Jews are once again begging for a right to exist. “Just say we can exist. Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?”
So here’s the thing. When the other side is fighting an ideological war and we are only fighting for a right to exist, of course we’re getting tired.
Furthermore, if the Torah and our tradition is not part of my values and belief system, then why even bother? Why even fight for this land? Let’s just go somewhere else. Uganda, the United States, anywhere in the west. Why do we even need this struggle?
Show me one other place in which the parliament includes people who openly call for the destruction of the state they are supposed to represent. Show me one other parliament where a person can get up and speak about a terrorist who killed a citizen and can call that terrorist a hero.
Don’t bother. It doesn&rsq
