Ignorance
13th September 2005
What makes us human? What defines humanity? Is it a human instinct?
was watching SBS just now. It was a documentary about refuseniks - Israeli Defence Force officers who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories.
Often we hear about the Middle East crisis and all sorts of images are conjured.
In the muslim's mind (not islamic people John Howard!!), images of chronic oppression and tyranny.
In the average civilian, images of suicide bombers and terror = basically whatever the media chooses to broadcast.
and in the Jew's mind?
it never occurred to me that there are those in Israel, who have laid down their weapons and openly defied orders of the army. The atrocities they were forced to do were against every core moral value they were taught. it fought against every moral instinct. it left them with sleepless nights and a battered conscience that they refused to do anymore.
I ask myself, "why is it that i have come to think like that?"
and one word. IGNORANCE. unabashedly admitted.
Good on ya SBS for showing the documentary. Its easy to think Israel as the tyrant, the enemy and the Palestinians as the oppressed and suffering. and of course rightly so, there is much truth in that.
But one doesn't stop to think about the Jewish people who are caught between their desire to serve Israel and the desire to be a moral human. for most at first there was no distinction until they found themselves in situations they found incapable of committing.
These officers who have declared themselves to be refuseniks faced alienation from their families and friends.
A scene most disturbing in the documentary was when over 200 refuseniks went to the checkpoint near the Occuppied Territories to protest against the atrocities that went on behind the barbed wire unknown to the rest of the Israeli public. Little kids who looked to be still in grade school were protesting against these refuseniks screaming "Traitor!" and other obscenities.
here you have a battle scarred soldier who have seen and committed many atrocities, standing up for human rights declaring that the oppression of Palestinians must be stopped.
and then you have a 10 year old kid , shaking his fists vehemently screaming such hateful words at these soldiers who have seen, been and done it all.
i cannot believe that a 10 year old kid could be so evil to support such atrocities.
Therefore the only conclusion i can draw is this:
IGNORANCE
perhaps if they have heard or seen one of the refuseniks account of how he had seen firsthand a child who was beaten up so badly, balls were kicked repeatedly, head was shaken continously till his brain was mush and in his own words " the child was like a rag" after that, that protesting child would be rendered speechless.
i was.
to think that was only one of the countless episodes of torture and terror that happened was too infinite for me to imagine.
even now, the world and more importantly the civilian community in Israel still are unaware.
many still support the occupation because they believe it will protect what they hold dear - the Jewish State of Israel, their identity.
but at the expense of lives, blood and suffering of others? innocents.
"Its easy when you're 19 to go into someone's home and thrash their place. But when you are older, and you have a family and a home, you think about where to hang that painting, what curtains to use. then i imagine a stranger without warrant or authority forcefully enters my house and start breaking down my walls, force me to open that door and show them what's behind there."
" We went into the refugee camp. One of the men came out and picked up a stone. He was 10 m from us. We shot him before he could do anything. The shot woke the camp and riots started. We called our reinforcements. That day 5 Palestinians died and all of us soldiers returned safely to our barracks."
"Its easy to see how people think we are doing the right thing. I read. I know about other countries and what happens there. The French army in Algeria, the whites in South Africa. Everyone thought they were doing the right thing. Protecting their race."
Life is ironic i think. The Holocaust remains one of the worst racial cleansing horrors and genocide in history but one cannot seem to help but see the eerie similarity in Israel. Like the Jews were driven out of their homes in Hitler's Reich, the Jews now are the ones that have effectively driven out the Palestinians from their home and land.
A stone versus rifles.
A suicide bomber versus tanks and guns. Both are equally fatal.
Who gets hurt? Civilians. Both Israelis and Palestinians.
As Dolores O'Riordan sang in Warchild:
At times of war, we're all losers.
There's no victory.
We shoot and kill
and kill your lover,
Fine by me.
weird, when i heard the refuseniks tell their story, i could not but seem to draw a parallel to me as a muslim. here, us muslims are judged solely by what a small minority of muslims have committed, atrocities that defy everthing we live by.
and us muslims and also others, but not all, unjustifiably judge Jews here by the atrocities committed in the middle east.
its funny we are not the best of friends.
What makes us human? What defines humanity? Is it a human instinct?
was watching SBS just now. It was a documentary about refuseniks - Israeli Defence Force officers who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories.
Often we hear about the Middle East crisis and all sorts of images are conjured.
In the muslim's mind (not islamic people John Howard!!), images of chronic oppression and tyranny.
In the average civilian, images of suicide bombers and terror = basically whatever the media chooses to broadcast.
and in the Jew's mind?
it never occurred to me that there are those in Israel, who have laid down their weapons and openly defied orders of the army. The atrocities they were forced to do were against every core moral value they were taught. it fought against every moral instinct. it left them with sleepless nights and a battered conscience that they refused to do anymore.
I ask myself, "why is it that i have come to think like that?"
and one word. IGNORANCE. unabashedly admitted.
Good on ya SBS for showing the documentary. Its easy to think Israel as the tyrant, the enemy and the Palestinians as the oppressed and suffering. and of course rightly so, there is much truth in that.
But one doesn't stop to think about the Jewish people who are caught between their desire to serve Israel and the desire to be a moral human. for most at first there was no distinction until they found themselves in situations they found incapable of committing.
These officers who have declared themselves to be refuseniks faced alienation from their families and friends.
A scene most disturbing in the documentary was when over 200 refuseniks went to the checkpoint near the Occuppied Territories to protest against the atrocities that went on behind the barbed wire unknown to the rest of the Israeli public. Little kids who looked to be still in grade school were protesting against these refuseniks screaming "Traitor!" and other obscenities.
here you have a battle scarred soldier who have seen and committed many atrocities, standing up for human rights declaring that the oppression of Palestinians must be stopped.
and then you have a 10 year old kid , shaking his fists vehemently screaming such hateful words at these soldiers who have seen, been and done it all.
i cannot believe that a 10 year old kid could be so evil to support such atrocities.
Therefore the only conclusion i can draw is this:
IGNORANCE
perhaps if they have heard or seen one of the refuseniks account of how he had seen firsthand a child who was beaten up so badly, balls were kicked repeatedly, head was shaken continously till his brain was mush and in his own words " the child was like a rag" after that, that protesting child would be rendered speechless.
i was.
to think that was only one of the countless episodes of torture and terror that happened was too infinite for me to imagine.
even now, the world and more importantly the civilian community in Israel still are unaware.
many still support the occupation because they believe it will protect what they hold dear - the Jewish State of Israel, their identity.
but at the expense of lives, blood and suffering of others? innocents.
"Its easy when you're 19 to go into someone's home and thrash their place. But when you are older, and you have a family and a home, you think about where to hang that painting, what curtains to use. then i imagine a stranger without warrant or authority forcefully enters my house and start breaking down my walls, force me to open that door and show them what's behind there."
" We went into the refugee camp. One of the men came out and picked up a stone. He was 10 m from us. We shot him before he could do anything. The shot woke the camp and riots started. We called our reinforcements. That day 5 Palestinians died and all of us soldiers returned safely to our barracks."
"Its easy to see how people think we are doing the right thing. I read. I know about other countries and what happens there. The French army in Algeria, the whites in South Africa. Everyone thought they were doing the right thing. Protecting their race."
Life is ironic i think. The Holocaust remains one of the worst racial cleansing horrors and genocide in history but one cannot seem to help but see the eerie similarity in Israel. Like the Jews were driven out of their homes in Hitler's Reich, the Jews now are the ones that have effectively driven out the Palestinians from their home and land.
A stone versus rifles.
A suicide bomber versus tanks and guns. Both are equally fatal.
Who gets hurt? Civilians. Both Israelis and Palestinians.
As Dolores O'Riordan sang in Warchild:
At times of war, we're all losers.
There's no victory.
We shoot and kill
and kill your lover,
Fine by me.
weird, when i heard the refuseniks tell their story, i could not but seem to draw a parallel to me as a muslim. here, us muslims are judged solely by what a small minority of muslims have committed, atrocities that defy everthing we live by.
and us muslims and also others, but not all, unjustifiably judge Jews here by the atrocities committed in the middle east.
its funny we are not the best of friends.
Comments