Israel is in a nightmare: Who will we be when we rise from the ashes?

By: David Grossman, writer translated into more than 30 languages ​​/ The Financial Times
English translation: Jessica Cohen
Translation into Albanian (from English): Agron Shala / Telegrafi.com

Read too The years when the Albanians ruled Jerusalem: They were received as liberators, they brought equality for all

About 1 killed, more than 000 injured, dozens of people taken hostage. Each survivor is an amazing story of resourcefulness and bravery. Countless miracles, countless acts of heroism and sacrifice by soldiers and civilians alike.

I look at people's faces and see shock. Numbness. Our hearts are heavy with constant burdens. We keep telling each other: it's a nightmare. A nightmare beyond compare. There are no words to describe it. There are no words to contain it.

I also see the deep sense of betrayal. The betrayal of citizens by their government - by the prime minister and his destructive coalition. Betrayal of all that we value as citizens and especially as residents of this country. Betrayal of his formative and promising idea. Betrayal of the most precious deposit of all - the national home of the Jewish people - which has been entrusted to leaders to protect and which they should have treated with respect. But, instead, what have we seen? What we are used to seeing, almost everything was inevitable? What we have seen was the complete abandonment of the state in favor of petty, greedy agendas and cynical, narrow-minded, delusional policies.

What is happening now is the concrete price that Israel is paying for being, for years, a lure for the corrupt leadership that is taking it from bad to worse; leadership that is eroding the institutions of law and justice, the army, the education system; leadership that was willing to put the country in existential danger, with the goal of keeping the prime minister out of jail.

Now, just think about what we have collaborated with over the years. Think of all the energy, thought and money we spent watching Netanyahu and his family play out their Ceausescu-style dramas. Think of the grotesque illusions they created for our unbelieving eyes.

In the past nine months, millions of Israelis have taken to the streets, every week, to protest against the government and the man at its head. It was a movement of great importance, an attempt to bring Israel back to its path, to the noble notion of the roots of its existence: the creation of a home for the Jewish people. And, not just any house. Millions of Israelis wanted to build a liberal, democratic, peace-loving state that respects the faith of all people. But instead of listening to what this protest movement had to offer, Netanyahu chose to discredit it, paint it as treason, incite against it, deepen hatred among its constituents. However, he used every opportunity to declare how strong Israel was, how determined and above all – how prepared it was to face any threat.

It's good to say that to the parents who are going crazy with grief, the baby thrown by the wayside. Hostages. To the people who voted for you. Eighty cracks in the world's most advanced border fence.

But make no mistake and don't be confused: for all the rage against Netanyahu and his people and his policies, the horror of these last few days was not caused by Israel. It was carried out by Hamas. Occupying is a crime, but killing hundreds of civilians without mercy – children and parents, the elderly and the sick – is a worse crime. Even in the hierarchy of evil there is a "ranking". There is a degree of severity that our common sense and natural instincts can identify. And when you see the killing fields at the music festival site, when you see Hamas terrorists on motorbikes chasing young people having fun, some of whom continue to dance without understanding what is going on...

I don't know if Hamas operatives should be called "animals", but they have definitely lost their humanity.

We spend the nights and days as sleepwalkers. By trying to resist the temptation to watch horrible videos and listen to rumours. A sense of dread creeps in among those who for the first time in 50 years – since the Yom Kippur War – are experiencing the terrifying prospect of defeat.

Who will we be when we rise from the ashes and enter our lives again? Then when we basically feel the pain of the words of the author Haim Gouri, written during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948: "How many are those who are no longer with us". Who will we be and what kind of human beings will we be after we see what we have seen? Where do we begin after the destruction and loss of so many things we cherished and believed in?

If I may guess: after the war, Israel will be much more right-wing, more militant and more racist. Forced war will cement the most extreme and hateful stereotypes and prejudices that can establish—and will continue to further establish—Israeli identity. And, from now on, this identity will also embody the trauma of October 2023, as well as polarization, internal division.

Is it possible that what was lost – or indefinitely suspended – on October 7, was the small chance for real dialogue, for real acceptance of the other's existence by each nation? And what do those who were talking about the absurd notion of a "binational state" say now? Israel and Palestine, two nations warped and corrupted by endless war, cannot even be cousins ​​to each other – does anyone still believe they can be conjoined twins? Many years will have to pass without struggle before acceptance and healing can be considered. Meanwhile, we can only imagine the scale of fear and hatred that will rise to the surface. I hope and pray that there will be Palestinians in the West Bank who, despite their hatred of Israel – their occupier – will distance themselves either in action or in word from what their countrymen have done. As an Israeli, I have no right to preach to you or tell you what to do. But, as a human being, I have the right - and obligation - to demand from them a humane and moral behavior.

Late last month, the leaders of the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia enthusiastically talked about a peace deal between Israel and the Saudis that would build on Israel's normalization agreements with Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Arabic. Palestinians are hardly present in these agreements. The arrogant and self-confident Netanyahu succeeded - in his words - in severing the connection between the Palestinian problem and Israel's relations with the Arab states. The Israeli-Saudi deal is not separate from the "Black Saturday" events between Gaza and Israel. The peace it would create is the peace of the rich. It is an attempt to overcome the essence of the conflict. The last few days have proven that it is impossible to begin solving the tragedy of the Middle East without offering the solution that alleviates the suffering of the Palestinians.

Are we able to shake off worn-out formulas and realize that what has happened here is too big and too terrible to see through stale paradigms? Even Israel's behavior and its crimes in the occupied territories for 56 years cannot justify or mitigate what has come to light: the depth of hatred towards Israel, the painful realization that we Israelis must always live with heightened vigilance and constant readiness for war. In the continuous effort to be Athens and Sparta at the same time. And, with the fundamental doubt whether we will ever be able to lead a normal, free life, unrestricted by threats and anxieties. A stable, secure life. A life that is home. /Telegraph/

Read too https://telegrafi.com/izraelitet-dhe-palestinezet-po-perballen-momentin-e-rrezikut-te-madh-qe-nga-viti-1948/

Read too There will be no life unless we achieve peace