Where are you? Why are you silent?
Israel is moving rapidly toward fascism. Israelis living in the country can feel it on a daily basis. Peaceful protesters are regularly subjected to unnecessary police violence. Law-abiding citizens are being arrested, sometimes merely for being near a demonstration. A senior academic, doctor, and lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was recently brutally arrested after stepping outside her apartment to check on her daughter at a protest. The excuse for her arrest: she was wearing a cap with a single word on it – Democracy. She was taken in for questioning and strip searched at the police station. This is outrageous – and it is just one example of many.
As an Israeli, a Jew, and a journalist, I write these words with a deep sense of urgency. I was born to a Holocaust survivor who was a partisan. A man who dared fight the worst fascist monster in history. That legacy of courage runs in my veins.
Today I see my country governed by extremists who are rapidly and determinedly dismantling Israeli democracy. The institutions of democracy are under a brutal and unprecedented attack. Hatred is spreading. And what do we hear from you, my fellow Jews? Silence!
Where are you?
It is not just a few of you who are silent, it is the majority. Some are afraid of backlash. Others are afraid of division within the community. But fear is no excuse. Silence is complicity. History will not absolve those of you who look away.
Antisemitism is rising and your silence will not protect you.
On the contrary.
Fear is perceived as weakness. Jews around the world are afraid to show signs of their identity. They are afraid to speak out. They are starting to be afraid to be identified as Jews. But fear will not change anything.
On the contrary: it is making the situation worse.
Speak out against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. This is not a protest against Israel nor against the Israeli people. This is standing up against those who are to blame for the steep decline in international support for Israel and the steep rise in acts of antisemitism in the world. This is standing up against a corrupt government which has immorally extended a war which started out as incredibly justified, turning it into a horrific political war to preserve Netanyahu’s own power. This is joining the vast majority of the Israeli public, who no longer support this war which continues as Netanyahu bends to the will of his fascist, messianic partners.
Most Israelis oppose this extremist regime. When you condemn Netanyahu and his government, you actually defend democratic and Jewish values. When you condemn Netanyahu and his government, you show that we are greater than one dangerous government and corrupt prime minister who is on trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
Speak out and your voice will help save Israel from corruption and the collapse of our democracy.
The partisans of the past did not fight because they expected to win. They fought because of the extermination of the Jewish people and the slaughter of their own families in the gas chambers. They fought because they could not do otherwise and still live with themselves.
I am asking you to stand for Israeli democracy, to show the world that you care about justice and human dignity in Israel, to act according to our Jewish legacy and moral standards, to be the kind of people who refuse to be silent when democracy, justice, and human rights are at stake.
Where are you?
This is the moment! The writing is on the wall, in letters too large to ignore. Will you keep looking away?
I am pleading with you my brothers and sisters around the world:
Protest in your communities. Give interviews to the media. Write on social media. Donate to worthy and proactive causes. Use your influence!
Israel is our homeland. Israel is our home. Let’s save it. Together, let’s build a better future. Together, let’s establish Israel’s new and vibrant democracy. Together, let’s build an enlightened and compassionate society for the Jewish people.
