The Blogs: Open Letter to Sarah Tuttle-Singer

This is an open letter to Sarah Tuttle-Singer.

Dear Sarah:

I read your recent Facebook post in which you lament the failure of the Israeli government’s recognition of the “Nakba.” You ‘have tears in your eyes’ (your words) that the ‘Palestinian’ citizens of Israel have no opportunity to commemorate their ‘tragedy.’

You further point out that we are the strongest military force in the middle east .

I wonder why our current defensive strength should be shameful and what that has to do with the past? We should be ashamed that we have managed to build a society that has security and defence?

Or is it because, as good Jews, we shouldn’t be strong. As good Jews we should simply turn to Torah to protect us? Or, I guess, we should just let people stab, car ram, and shoot us … because, you know, we have a great armed forces and the poor population of Gaza has only the rocket launching Brigade to rely upon?

You laugh that you can “come and go as you please while mentioning the weather” through airport security. And, in contrast, you want us to believe that the people carrying knives (BTW 2-80 year old women were stabbed today) should be accommodated, like you are. Glad you find our security so humorous.

You have a problem with our flag? You know what, our flag has two blue bars. I like to think one is the RIVER and one is the SEA. Oh, right, that’s what your ‘oppressed’ Arab friends want for us.

“What is their flag?” “What is their narrative,” you ask? Oh, river to the sea – same as ours. Except, they want that ‘river to the sea’ to be free of Jews. Free of Israelis. Period. Permanently.

The non-Jewish population of Israel is NOT 23%. It is 20% and of that 20% there are Bedouins, Druze, Christians, Buddhists, and atheists (not a complete nor comprehensive list).

So when you “think about others… the nearly “23% citizens of Israel” who did not look toward Zion, who were already here when we returned home, the people who cut their teeth on stories of banishment, of exile so like ours, only done by us to them during one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history… a time when we, too, uprooted were building a home. A time when they, firmly rooted, had to flee.” you need to qualify that statement.

We were already there when the rest of us returned home. They were never, nor will they ever be, the indigenous people of Israel.
Nothing was ‘only done by us’. The Arab countries told those people to leave their homes so that they wouldn’t be killed during their own invasion with the intention of those same people returning home once they ‘won’ the war! The original “door knock”.
“They didn’t have to flee” … they chose to flee.

There is NO LAW that prevents the commemoration of the Nabka. There IS a law that says Israelis don’t have to pay for that celebration. Fair enough!

Democracy and freedom of expression, in any country, does provide leave of speech to promote treason. Period.

“Native Americans can protest Columbus Day “- yes, because they are the indigenous people of North America. Arabs are not the indigenous people of Israel.

“African Americans have Juneteenth” – because they were once slaves! Arabs were never our slaves!

“This isn’t a true democracy…” – Do they have the right to vote? Can they participate in elections with an equal vote? Then it IS a true democracy.

And this:

** Also called “Arab Israelis” or “Israeli Arabs” I use “Palestinian citizens of Israel” because I asked my friends who identify as such how they wish to be called and that’s what they told me. .

I leave that to Muhammad Zoabi who told you exactly what he thinks of that statement.

Dayenu. It would have been enough. But not for you. Shame.