What has happened to Israel?
It used to be a country of clever pioneers who had a vision of a new state based on a social democracy. This meant that Palestinians could live along with Jews in the same state. They carried a large slice of world opinion with them. Everyone I knew cheered when they repelled invasion from all sides or pulled off the Entebbe raid. There was something of standing up for justice against the odds about this.
Now, it has become dominated by a hard hearted group of nationalists who want Israel for themselves and only want to crush anyone that sees things differently. I know very few who sympathizes with the invasion of Gaza or the manner in which the intifadas were suppressed, not to mention Sabra and Shatila. There is something of the victim become tyrant about this.
I think there needs to be a change of conduct and approach from Israel before things will change in the region. It is very hard to see how this will happen with the current government.
Nationalism is a poison wherever it is found. Bring back the old Israel. It is not Zionism that is the problem, but nationalism. It is nationalists who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, something that was unthinkable. |
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