<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Former editor of Maariv says ‘I’m Ashamed of Being Israeli’ | Jews for Justice for&nbsp;Palestinians]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/01/11/amnon-dankner-im-ashamed-of-being-israeli/">Amnon Dankner: ‘I’m Ashamed of Being Israeli’</a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:1em 0 3px;">Richard Silverstein, 11 January 2011</p>
<p>Amnon Danker, former editor of one of Israel’s most popular dailies, Maariv, has written a <a href="http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/197/845.html?hp=1&amp;loc=31&amp;tmp=7296" target="_blank">scathing essay</a> excoriating Israel and the current political situation there.  The   terms he uses are savage and unsparing.  It’s rare for such mainstream   cultural and media figures to speak in such unconditional terms about   the state of latter-day Israeli society.</p>
<p>Here is my translation of the most important passages:</p>
<blockquote><p>It’s quite clear that if our [national] life continues in   the manner it has been evolving, good, moderate, balanced and humane   individuals will no longer be able to live here.  Before our very eyes   with results that grow every stronger, Israeli society is changing, the   political culture is changing.  Checks and balances are violated and  are  swept to the winds by this awful spirit which blows through our  lives  and dyes them with an ever-deepening shade of black.</p>
<p>It seems that things that were repressed within the Israeli soul and   well-hidden through shame are suddenly bursting forth with a sense of   liberation, dancing obscenely in the public square.  It’s now acceptable   to be overtly racist and to be proud of it.  It’s acceptable to   disparage democracy and be proud of that.  Acceptable to steal and rob   and trample on rights when it concerns Arabs.  And acceptable to be   proud of this.  There are Knesset members for whom this is one of their   specialties and they do it with smiles they don’t even bother to   conceal.  There are entire parties whose tenor and tone arouse feelings   of horror and terrifying memories [a reference to Nazism].</p>
<p>How is it possible for example that there are people who sat and   calculated the needs for feeding children and removed these necessities   from the list of products permitted to enter Gaza?  They sat and  counted  sweets and halva and toys and who the hell knows what else and  crossed  them out with an “x” and explained to us that this was a  critical part  of toppling Hamas’ rule.  And we took these wicked fools  seriously and  put our faith in them.  After what happened with the  Marmara we lifted  the sweets siege and even permitted the import of  coriander into Gaza.   No disaster happened besides that we remained in  this great exposed  space loitering in front of the gates of Gaza though  our own naked,  wicked stupidity.</p>
<p>Worst of all is that the this wickedness wears a <em>kippah</em> on   its head and is an observant Jew.  His head is bursting with rabbis   letters [directing Jews not to rent apartments to Arabs] and books   advocating murder [of Arabs, a reference to <em>Sefer HaMelech</em> by a   settler rabbi advocating murdering Palestinian children], and racist   publications, and pogroms perpetrated on Arab villages, and neo-Nazi   expressions in the Knesset.  How it makes the blood boil to hear this   stance advocated too many times by one rabbi or another, who truly does   us a favor by not quite saying what we’re all really thinking.  That  is,  that it’s acceptable to think this way and that only for fear of  the  evil eye we have to quiet ourselves until the day comes when we can  say  what we really think and then we’ll really stick it to ‘em [the  Arabs].</p>
<p>What adds to my sense of depression is the awareness that demographic   processes are turning our society more and more religious, more and   more racist and venomous, more and more withdrawn and violent.</p>
<p>For a man of my age who wasted serious parts of his life writing in   newspapers about these issues, to see that I did all this out of great   hope that has come to naught and was based on illusions and naiveté;   what happens now is a particular type of bitterness and disillusion.  To   see Israeli society change its nature so quickly, becoming something   you never thought you’d see outside of nightmares, it breaks your heart.    To begin to feel ashamed at being Israeli, and to know with not a   small amount of confidence that such a feeling will grow, it depresses   you utterly.</p></blockquote>
<p>I regret to say that there was a time when such a heartfelt cry moved   me to tears, made me proud in a depressing sort of way that there were   still Israelis who felt this way, who had a conscience, even if they   were a beleaguered minority.  Now, I’m a bit more jaded.  Dankner is, no   doubt an important voice, perhaps even an Israeli bellwether.  But   there’s been too much “shooting and crying” among Israeli liberals.    This may be more of the same.</p>
<p>Or it really may portend the sort of wake up call that Israelis need   to hear.  When the former editor of Israel’s most popular daily   newspaper says he’s becoming ashamed of his own country, many may sit up   and take notice.  So I give Dankner, Churchill’s famous two and a half   cheers.</p>
<p><a href="http://jfjfp.com/?p=20238&amp;utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=former-editor-of-maariv-says-%25e2%2580%2598i%25e2%2580%2599m-ashamed-of-being-israeli%25e2%2580%2599">Former editor of Maariv says ‘I’m Ashamed of Being Israeli’ | Jews for Justice for Palestinians</a>.</p>
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