I am ashamed

I am deeply ashamed – ashamed of my government, my country, and my people.

In the past few months, I have had several opportunities to visit the Bedouin herding communities in the northern Jordan Valley, and what I saw there was devastating. Residents have been physically attacked, their property, equipment and buildings – including schools and kindergartens – have been looted and destroyed. Some of their cattle and sheep have been assaulted or shot, and in many cases, the entire herd has simply been taken.

Most of these crimes are committed by violent extremists from Israeli settlements, with the full knowledge, encouragement and, sometimes, the active assistance of the fanatics in Netanyahu’s government. All this while security forces barely enforce the law, whether through blatant indifference or a willful choice to turn a blind eye, which in practice amounts to enabling the perpetrators. Often, security personnel actually assist them in carrying out their vile acts.

Bedouin in the West Bank are also under increasing pressure from enforcement authorities, who make their lives difficult through regular harassment, arrests, and demolition orders. In recent weeks, there has been another sharp escalation with the mass confiscation of agricultural equipment in the area, including water tanks needed for the herds – a move that will inevitably lead to the death of animals and the loss of livelihoods.

The terrorism directed against Bedouin herding communities throughout Area C is committed by growing militias of Jewish settlers, whose perverse ideology has nothing to do with Jewish values and Jewish tradition. As a graduate of Bnei Akiva’s Netiv Meir high-school yeshiva, I grew up within the moderate and humane Religious Zionism of the 50s and 60s. Today, that “pedigree” makes me want to bury myself in shame. The distance between who we were then and the monstrous acts committed today is like the distance between light and utter darkness.

At the center of these political and ideological battles over borders and messianic visions stand small communities of people who seek no part in these struggles, and for whom daily reality has become unbearable.

A central symbol of this ongoing injustice is Khan al-Ahmar, a small herding village located between Jerusalem and Jericho, whose residents belong to the Jahalin tribe. The campaign to uproot this village is part of a methodical effort by the settlement enterprise and its supporters to create a contiguous Jewish built-up area in the disputed E1 region bisecting the West Bank, thereby establishing irreversible facts on the ground.

The village has been in the media and courts for many years, with repeated rulings by the Supreme Court against the residents and in favor of demolition orders for homes and public buildings there. In 2018, Benjamin Netanyahu himself announced the imminent evacuation of the site, but the move has since been repeatedly postponed, often due to public and international pressure.

But if the evacuation and destruction of Khan al-Ahmar go through, it will not be carried out by fringe terrorists. The government itself plans to do it, openly and officially. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently announced he would work toward the village’s immediate evacuation. For myself, I am deeply ashamed of any government that “cleanses” regions of people, that orders soldiers to wipe villages off the map. I am ashamed of government ministers who celebrate the destruction and loss suffered by another people.

How can we not all rend our clothes in shame? How can we not cover ourselves in sackcloth and ashes?

I believe this is a feeling shared by all those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts capable of feeling. We are appalled by the suffering and anguish that our country and government have inflicted upon the people of Khan al-Ahmar, the entire Jahalin tribe, and all of the besieged Bedouin communities for so many years. We regret failing to see how bad the situation could become and for not doing enough. I personally apologize for being unable to prevent or influence the Supreme Court’s repeated rulings against them over the years.

It is shameful that the proud Jahalin community that has lived in Khan al-Ahmar for more than half a century may once again be expelled, while my Jewish brothers and sisters who settled in nearby Kfar Adumim five years after the Jahalin arrived sit securely on their land. No one shoots their animals, no one steals their water, and no one tries to expel them.

More than anything, I regret that my friends and I have not yet found a way to cast this venal government into the dustbin of history.

And, I make this pledge – a commitment on behalf of all sane and peace-seeking Israelis – to fight the shocking injustices throughout the West Bank, and to do all I can in Israel and around the world, to bring an end to the malignant occupation that consumes us, our children, and our grandchildren, and destroys every good thing in its path.

The Bedouin deserve to live on their land. They deserve justice, equality, and freedom. And all of us deserve peace.