Anat Rimon-Or published this essay in Hebrew yesterday on Facebook. It was translated by Richard Flantz and posted on his Facebook page.
The understandable and demonstrated shock following yesterday’s events (the burning of a toddler and the wounding of members of his family, and the stabbings in the Pride parade) must not blind us. The great horrors that the State of Israel is involved in are not in the outbursts of rage by extremists. They’re committed routinely, in all spheres of life: in the occupation – on a normal day; in the siege – on a normal day; in the collapse of welfare – as a by-product of routine acts; in the gas plan – through a procedure carried out under the aegis of the law; in the murder of refugees –by means of ministries and authorities that have become a resolute machine of extermination.
Involved in these horrors are ordinary citizens, media people, researchers and intellectuals. Involved in them up to their necks: in delegitimizing and labeling as ‘extremists’ everyone who tries to cry out about this routine, whether as part of their job or in their free time.
Involved in it are decent people who appear completely normal, and act completely normally. Don’t be fooled by them, they have a characteristic: in their sweetest dream about a life of peace, fraternity and friendship, they see Gaza stripped of its weapons, the Palestinian Authority stripped of its weapons, and the State of Israel as a Jewish state sitting on its reservoirs of weapons, in which Arabs have civil rights. Here, in this standard place, which is so far today from the margins of fantasy, sits the source of the madness that we are witness to now.
On the background of the shock being demonstrated about the Jewish murderers, the Jewish stabbers and the Jewish stealers of lands, these people seem like a sane pole. That’s a mistake. The one who actually perpetrates the violence is not the most dangerous predator in the food chain. The most dangerous predator is always sated, which is why he lurks silently and seems polite. All his flourishing cultural projects, which are generally liberal, are based on two basic premises: 1. ‘The other deserves less than me, in principle’. 2. ‘I am the source of authority, I am right, I judge, and I am the one who decides what will be for the other, according to my values.’
And yes: the Palestinian terror is justified, quite justified, in light of the routine horrors of the occupation and the siege. There can be no comparison between terror carried out in order to steal rights and terror carried out against a condition of occupation and siege. Anyone who replies ‘Terror is terror and is not justified’, anyone who expresses their pretentious astonishment at ‘supporters of terror’, is a sated predator who doesn’t understand a thing about the political reality in which they live. Three sentences will reveal to anyone who speaks with such a person that he or she doesn’t understand the terror conducted by the state. I will not apologize for being condescending.
If it wasn’t normal, it would be the biggest tool in the toolbox.
“Involved in it are decent people who appear completely normal, and act completely normally. Don’t be fooled by them, they have a characteristic: in their sweetest dream about a life of peace, fraternity and friendship, they see Gaza stripped of its weapons, the Palestinian Authority stripped of its weapons, and the State of Israel as a Jewish state sitting on its reservoirs of weapons, in which Arabs have civil rights. Here, in this standard place, which is so far today from the margins of fantasy, sits the source of the madness that we are witness to now. – See more at: https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2015/08/the-normal-horrors#sthash.Wlge2dgR.dpuf”
This refers to the “Normal ” Settlers that Yonah excuses.
Every person involved in any way in the occupation , from the street cleaner to the bus driver to the admin clerk at the ministry of social welfare to the owner of a construction company building illegal squats to the PM and leaders of Israel are aiding and abetting war crimes on a grand scale.Those who make excuses for these people , such as Yonah , are no less complicit.
Their hands are just as covered in blood as is the soldier who shoots a Palestinian kid in the back , when he is running in the opposite direction.
I ask these people, How do you sleep or look in the mirror and worse still , come here and defend these criminals.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Anat Rimon-Or.
“Anat Rimon-Or is an Israeli teacher and lecturer.”
At least your students stand a chance. There are other Israeli teachers that exemplify the” sated predator who doesn’t understand a thing about the political reality in which they live. Three sentences will reveal to anyone who speaks with such a person that he or she doesn’t understand the terror conducted by the state.”
Some even claim to be on the “left”! You make some stunning points for an Israeli. I wish we could hear more from you.
(Don’t be surprised if some folks come over and attack you for having this article translated from Hebrew. Some folks are uncomfortable having their ‘dirty laundry’ aired in English.)
Some of the people might appear “decent” and/or “normal”, but that’s only when they interact with others they consider to be members of “their” group.
Just wait until some among them draw up medical bills for the family of the murdered toddler – whether they survive or not.
Just wait for some among them to deny a permit to rebuild their burnt out home.
Just wait for many among them to drag their heels in seeing the perpetrators of the outrage brought to justice, or receiving as severe a sentence as is appropriate.
it is ironic that the word normal is the focus of discussion when the zionists yearned for normalcy.
normal sometimes means something statistical: near to the norm or the average.
let me pick one aspect: zionist israeli jewish attitudes towards gaza. the normal attitude adds up to an ugly apathy to the governmental cruelty that has its direct causes in the original exile of the Palestinians in 48, who make up 2/3rds of the population, and the lengthy full fledged occupation , 67 to 2005, followed by the more recent siege, 2005 til today. it would require a truly revolutionary zionist (or is it nonzionist) spirit to look at gaza as some opportunity for turning the past into the past and the future into a different future. but that is a bridge too far. and thus the normal israeli zionist jewish attitude towards gaza is blind and ugly.