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Gil Mildar
As the song says, a Latin American with no money in his pocket.

Be brief, OK?

Families and friends of Israelis held hostage at the Gaza Strip attend status of Women and Gender Equality committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on October 28, 2024. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Imagine it. A cold, dead room in the Knesset, where a woman, her spirit crushed, tries to explain the gaping wound left by her niece’s murder. She’s not there for herself — she’s there because something precious was torn from her life. And across from her sits David Bitan, his face thick with arrogance, exuding that kind of indifference that belongs only to men who’ve forgotten what it is to feel. He flings out his words, barely looking her way: “Be brief, OK?”

“Be brief.” This wasn’t a suggestion. It was a dismissal, a command for her to package up her grief and hand it to him in a clean, silent bundle. He didn’t say it because he was distracted; he said it because her loss meant nothing to him. Here was Bitan, a man steeped in allegations of bribery and backroom deals, a man who doesn’t recognize people as human beings but as assets and liabilities, a creature who’s learned to turn the raw pain of others into ambient noise.

He’s precisely the type Netanyahu craves around him: yes-men, mediocre husks, hollow vessels who’d chew on whatever scraps of power he throws them, blind to the cost. Bitan — a parasite who breeds in the shadow of power, a man whose only allegiance is to his own interests, never his own principles. He’ll defend his seat with the fierceness of a wolf, but only so he can keep his teeth in the game. Does Netanyahu want mediocrity? Bitan is mediocrity in its purest form — an empty man without empathy or depth who doesn’t need to understand sacrifice because he’s incapable of it, gnawing on power like a mongrel scavenging bones from a trash heap.

Bitan wanted her to hurry up and shut up, to reduce her sorrow to a footnote he could flick aside. But let’s get something straight: he is the one who should be brief because this country, these people, deserve something beyond this mockery, beyond this parade of tiny tyrants and slick brokers who turn politics into a back-alley exchange, ignoring the cries of those they’re sworn to protect. Israel doesn’t need Bitans. It needs people who can feel the weight of the suffering they serve and grasp that defending a person means more than protecting a title.

Bitan’s chill is nothing less than moral rot, a signal to us all that, for men like him, power is the only god.

אמפתיה, تعاطف, Empathy, Empatía, Empathie, Empathie, Empatia, Empatia, Эмпатия, 同理心, 共感, 공감, Ενσυναίσθηση, Empati, Empathie, Empati, Empati, Empatia, सहानुभूति, ความเห็นอกเห็นใจ

About the Author
As a Brazilian, Jewish, and humanist writer, I embody a rich cultural blend that influences my worldview and actions. Six years ago, I made the significant decision to move to Israel, a journey that not only connects me to my ancestral roots but also positions me as an active participant in an ongoing dialogue between the past, present, and future. My Latin American heritage and life in Israel have instilled a deep commitment to diversity, inclusion, and justice. Through my writing, I delve into themes of authoritarianism, memory, and resistance, aiming not just to reflect on history but to actively contribute to the shaping of a more just and equitable future. My work is an invitation for reflection and action, aspiring to advance human dignity above all.
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