not always clear to those who…

As the Israeli school system
and the Israeli Defense Force
train nice Jewish boys and girls
to be innovators, to staff the most ethical military in the world,
and indeed perfect functionaries
who see only the appropriate evils,
their vision of our common Jewish tradition
and hard-won insights and beliefs
negates the wisdom of a millennium of Talmudic scholars,
sees social justice and empathy for others
as effeminate filthy ghetto culture
as Herzl once proclaimed.

I can hear their justifications now,
“I was just following orders,”
perhaps even the “Forgive me, Lord,
for I knew not what I did,”
of their political backers in Biden’s America,
as they passed laws negating Palestinians’ nationality,
approved bills of lading for cattle cars
bound for Gaza,
counter-signed instructions to turn all water away
and ban food from crossing Gaza’s border.
Perhaps telling the kids that it was the Palestinians’ own fault,
they just lacked the culture
to make arid deserts bloom.

And somewhere, some teen-age malcontent whispering
“Is the answer to the test question
‘Never Again’?
or is it ‘Ever Again? and Again? and Again’”