I HAVE BEEN SILENT.
I HAVE BEEN A COWARD.
I AM ASHAMED.
I have been silent about Israel lately.
I deluded myself that I could impact positively by bettering myself - by eating pure food and keeping my affective state up-tempo.
I was lying to myself. I was being a coward and I am ashamed of myself for that. I am older now and I don't want to fight anymore. I want to rest and live out my life pleasantly.
But I hear the Israeli People crying and I hear their increasing misery. I cannot be silent, though I know that speaking out will make my trial for "insulting" a Social Worker who destroyed the lives of a number of families by telling the truth about what she did.
There is no living pleasantly here. Every day in every way the government broadcasts to us that we are unworthy of respect, that our lives are of no consequence. That is the background message upon which things only get worse for those who dare to speak out and say: I AM HUMAN!
I cannot be silent to protect myself. I will speak out. I will tell the truth. I will say that children are taken from parents who are experiencing normal problems who can be easily helped. I will say that Israel is a fascist state in which atrocities are committed against its activist citizens every day and ordinary citizens' are treated like garbage whose lives don't matter and that the State of Israel is a disgrace.
No one, anywhere, should live in fear of being tortured, imprisoned, sectioned or have their lives otherwise destroyed for telling the truth.
No country in which the citizens experience this as the normal course of events can be called a democracy or even fit for Human habitation.
Israel is one of those countries in which the citizens live with that fear constantly.
The policy in Israel is to make everyone feel worthless and as though their needs are of no import. That way they come to feel broken and defeated, humiliated and defective and don't demand human dignity after awhile. This is the life of the average Israeli. Those who become activists because they can't stand the pain of the large and small injustices put their lives in danger. This is the reality - particularly for Jews who aren't Ashkenazi.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
I HAVE BEEN A COWARD.
I AM ASHAMED.
I have been silent about Israel lately.
I deluded myself that I could impact positively by bettering myself - by eating pure food and keeping my affective state up-tempo.
I was lying to myself. I was being a coward and I am ashamed of myself for that. I am older now and I don't want to fight anymore. I want to rest and live out my life pleasantly.
But I hear the Israeli People crying and I hear their increasing misery. I cannot be silent, though I know that speaking out will make my trial for "insulting" a Social Worker who destroyed the lives of a number of families by telling the truth about what she did.
There is no living pleasantly here. Every day in every way the government broadcasts to us that we are unworthy of respect, that our lives are of no consequence. That is the background message upon which things only get worse for those who dare to speak out and say: I AM HUMAN!
I cannot be silent to protect myself. I will speak out. I will tell the truth. I will say that children are taken from parents who are experiencing normal problems who can be easily helped. I will say that Israel is a fascist state in which atrocities are committed against its activist citizens every day and ordinary citizens' are treated like garbage whose lives don't matter and that the State of Israel is a disgrace.
No one, anywhere, should live in fear of being tortured, imprisoned, sectioned or have their lives otherwise destroyed for telling the truth.
No country in which the citizens experience this as the normal course of events can be called a democracy or even fit for Human habitation.
Israel is one of those countries in which the citizens live with that fear constantly.
The policy in Israel is to make everyone feel worthless and as though their needs are of no import. That way they come to feel broken and defeated, humiliated and defective and don't demand human dignity after awhile. This is the life of the average Israeli. Those who become activists because they can't stand the pain of the large and small injustices put their lives in danger. This is the reality - particularly for Jews who aren't Ashkenazi.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
