These last seven days it has been difficult to think, to understand and even to imagine the horror people living in the kibbutzim and the cities of the South of Israel have been through. Entire families—grand-parents, parents, children and babies have been hiding for hours in the shelters located in their homes, thinking that as usual, once the alert was over, they would be able to get out and to resume a so-called normal life, even though they have lived for years and years under the permanent threat of Gaza bombings. However that time, things have been different ; the army was unable to rescue them and they were left alone to defend themselves against a horde of murderers who had only one objective: killing them. 80 years after the Shoah, Jews have been murdered in the most barbaric way which I won’t detail here, not like before, in hostile lands where they did not need to hide, but at home, in their own country, where they had built their lives so that “it never happens again”.
However, it happened again. It will be time later on to seek those responsible within the Israeli government who, through their foolish policies, have only financed the activities of Hamas that have not benefited the Gazan population. The main thing is for them to avoid having to resume negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, which despite its corruption, remains the only internationally recognized interlocutor.
But if today, for Israel, it is a question of defending itself against the infiltrations that continue, against rocket fire, against threats on the northern border… We need also to start thinking about the after. After a war that has only just begun, and which we know will cause many casualties on both sides. In a few days, the sympathy that many Europeans feel for Israel today will turn around as soon as the images of the dead and destruction in Gaza replace those of the burials of the Israeli dead on our screens.
What can we do here ? Can we ignore the emotion that overwhelms us and try to imagine an after so that it really will never happen again ?
We shall discuss this next Tuesday, October 17, at 8 p.m., during the meeting organized by Le Centre-Medem in collaboration with La Paix Maintenant and JCall.
- Leopold Braunstein, former chairman of Medem center
- David Chemla, JCall’s General secretary
- Sylvie Lidgi, one of the organizers of the collective “Défendre la démocratie israélienne Paris”
- Ilan Rozenkier, chairman of “La Paix Maintenant”
- Tamar Sebok, journalist, correspondent of the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot in France
Registration not required to attend the meeting. There is the link to connect yourself :
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87878796013
ID of the meeting : 878 7879 6013
