Hagada Hasmalit

Early on the afternoon of Friday 3 July, half a dozen thugs, mostly masked, openly belonging to the Jewish Defense League (Kahane group), assaulted and vandalized the Résistances bookstore in the 17th arrondissement of Paris.

Dear Ben Dror Yemini,
I read your posting on the NRG website about Zochrot (Hebrew). I read, and thought to myself, “Forget it.” Why make the effort to respond? The differences between us seem so great, and I’d have to write so much even to get within hearing distance, so that even now, while I’m sitting and writing, I say to myself again, “Forget it; why even bother. Get on with your life.” I’m strongly tempted to drop the whole thing. But there’s something else tempting me, my fingers itching on the keyboard, to join the cockfight. Perhaps because of the tremendous distance I’d have to travel to reach you, it’s easier and more tempting to get within shouting distance, rather than close enough for an actual conversation. I’m tempted. You yelled, “Enemy!” I’ll yell back, “Fascist!” You yelled, “Warped!” I’ll respond, “Racist!” You yelled, “Hamasnik!” I’ll cry, “Settleroist!” And we’ll go on like that until both of us are dead, hopefully in the fullness of our years, two bitter, hoarse foes.

The escalation in and around the Gaza Strip is causing terrible suffering to people – to men, women, elderly and children, Palestinian as well as Israeli civilians.

To Meni Mazoz, Government Legal Advisor
P.O.B 49029, Jerusalem, 91490
Hello,
how symbolic is the fact that your decision not to put on trial any of the policemen and officers who shot and ordered the killing of 13 Arabic citizens on the October 2000 demonstrations, was received on January 27, 2008, the International Holocaust Memorial Day. While this day should be a symbol for the struggle against racism, in Israel, a country who prides itself in being a shelter (though a lacking one) for the survivors of Auschwitz and the other concentration camps, the senior member of the Israeli government’s prosecution system issues a racist decision. As it is undoubtedly so, that your decision is pure racism, and it will be listed, so I assume, at the highest rank of institutionalized racism of Israeli governments across the generations.

To Prof. Zeev Tzahor
President of Sapir College, Israel
February 1st, 2008

Dear Prof. Tzahor,
I have read with disbelief and shock your humiliating and unprecedented letter to Nizar Hassan, following the Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry which you have appointed to check his case. I must say that the report itself is a questionable document which is unlikely to be produced by any self-respecting academic institution, and I wonder if it could indeed be written in another country, unless we think of Pakistan or Turkey, where similar sentiments against intellectuals on nationalist basis have been voiced.

Last week there were strong winds, rain and cold weather all over Israel, and in the Negev. On Wednesday on my way to work I received a call from Sumaya el Atrash, from the village of Saaweh – it is terrible here – come and see if you can help…

Traveling abroad is usually a happy experience – a vacation or an escape from the pressures of daily routine.

1. Who is a Nazi? Unfortunately, there have been gangs with Nazi leanings in Israel for not a few years. The difference between the gang recently caught and the gangs that preceded it is that the most recent one made attacks on Jews its objective and operated on these grounds while other gangs had always focused on non-Jewish targets, particularly Arabs, using a Jewish discourse and acting in the name of Judaism.

What were Israeli fighter jets looking for in Syria? What was their mission? The military-security and political leadership has maintained its silence and the world must guess. The mystery is back, and prominent journalists are extremely comfortable with and support the silence of the government and army.

I stand silently in the corner while the doctor of the village busys with the foetuses. A stream of comments. “The foetus is well. It’s 25 weeks. Have you had a blood test. Drink milk. Come back in 2 weeks.” Monotone. Women, heads cowed try to cover themselves with the dirty sheet, hide the colour of their skin with white make-up so much they look ill. The doctor wipes her instrument with a tissue, leaving sticky pieces to be smeared onto the next abdomen.