I Don’t Believe You

Chanukah is our festival of light and light represents wisdom and truth. I wish spreading truth were as simple as lighting a candle. We are bombarded by “information” and yet we often don’t hear or don’t know what is true. Or if we hear it, we can’t believe it.

It seems crazy to those of us who are attune to foreign media, but there are many Israelis who simply do not believe that innocent women and children are dying in Gaza.

When they hear reports that the humanitarian aid to Gaza is not getting through, they either believe it is because Hamas is commandeering it or say that it is not really needed anyway. If I contend that Israel might have some responsibility for widespread hunger and a duty to alleviate it, they do not believe me.

They cannot believe that the decision to keep soldiers in Gaza is influenced by political considerations – perhaps even more so than military ones.

If I suggest that not all our soldiers behave well, especially when under stress, they think I am influenced by antisemites.

When I report that settlers have broken into Arab homes in order to intimidate sleeping families, they respond, “I do not believe you.”

Those of us who open our eyes know that Arab Israelis suffer various forms of intimidation and discrimination. They often feel intimated in public – some are nervous about speaking on their telephones on public transport to give away that they are Arabic-speakers. However, many Israelis just don’t believe it. They believe that all Israelis are open-minded and tolerant.

It should be self-evident that the more gun-licenses issued, the more likely it is that guns will be used in domestic violence. Yet many Israelis do not believe it. They think that guns are going to make us safer.

There are those who deny that an independent legal system is an integral part of democracy or refuse to believe that the current proposals of the government will put our democracy in jeopardy.

They do not believe that it is unacceptable for government members, ministers or employees to accept gifts from foreign dignitaries or local tycoons and that Netanyahu MIGHT be guilty of accepting gifts that could be perceived by their givers as bribes.

Some don’t even believe that the law is there to be obeyed and politicians are expected to set an example.

Israel is a complicated society. A large proportion of the population subscribes to Western democratic values and we are seriously concerned about the steps that this current government is taking that contradict or undermine those values. Some of us were educated outside Israel and have experienced democracies in other places but many of my colleagues and like-minded friends grew up here and recognize that the Israel we could become is not the one that their parents and teachers described.

However, we are failing to convince many of our fellow citizens that a crisis looms if we do not change course.

There is another side to this failure to believe in what seem to me self-evident truths: the inability of many outside Israel to see the truth about this society.

Today, a young man was buried after he was killed in a tragic accident while serving in the army in Gaza. His father is one of the movers and shakers in Jerusalem’s protest movement.

Many do not understand or simply do not believe that left-wing activists serve in the reserves and then join demonstrations against the war when they are on leave. They allow or even encourage their children to fulfill their compulsory military service. They do not believe that the defense of the country should be something that someone else does. At the same time, they (we) believe that the defense needs of the country could be lessened if we made greater efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.

It is difficult for outsiders to imagine but the protest movement takes time to show respect for our soldiers at every gathering.

It is confusing and sometimes impossible for outsiders to believe that many of the images of religious soldiers dancing in uniform are not showing some sort of fanaticism or celebration of war or jubilation at killing or destroying. Difficult as it is to believe, often these young men are just bolstering themselves against fear. They are praying that what they are about to it is G-d’s will and that they will be able to withstand the temptation to treat human life with disdain. I know what it can look like. You must believe me that most of these young soldiers are moral, caring individuals who don’t want to be at war.

Another fact: Israeli soldiers do not rape. I was a participant in a panel for an American university, talking about Women Wage Peace and our focus on supporting women, especially the families of the hostages and the victims of October 7th. When I said that Israeli feminists felt betrayed by the feminist movement’s failure to outrightly condemn the rapes that Hamas committed on that dreadful day, somebody wrote in the chat, “What about the rape of Gazan women by IDF soldiers?” I did not dignify the question with a response. And I know that if I said, “Israeli soldiers do not use rape as a weapon of war” she would not believe me. But it is true. Do you think that if there were cases, they would not have been brought to the various sham trials that Israel has had to undergo in the international legal system?

There are Israeli rapists. A sad fact. But they cannot and do not enact their evil when fighting for the IDF – certainly not in the name of the IDF.

There is also not apartheid here. Despite what I wrote above, the comparison with South Africa’s evil regime is inaccurate. We do not need to change the law radically to give non-Jewish citizens full rights, we just need to apply it properly. But those who like to use slogans and half-truths or have fallen for them simply won’t believe me.

Years ago, I learnt not to try to discuss the Shoah with Holocaust deniers. I have learnt that there is no point in trying to use facts to convince an Israel-hater to relent.

I wish I knew a way of bringing the truth to light – both to Israelis who are blind to our shortcomings or to others who see only our shortcomings.