Versione Italiana – Translation by Paul Rosenberg
[TEL AVIV]
Dear Director,
I have not read any articles about Israel and the Middle East on ytali for some time.
Almost all Israelis have relatives and friends abroad who wonder what is happening in Israel. But the recurring question is ‘what are you doing in Gaza?’.
The answer is not simple and often sparks passionate and even argumentative discussions. It is a widespread opinion – even a belief – that Israel is carrying out a massacre in Gaza, and many empathize with the Palestinian people of Gaza.
My point of view is different.
Let me start by saying that I am part of the Other Israel, the one that is against the Netanyahu government. For Bibi, all of his opponents are leftists who threaten his power. Of course, this is a complete lie, because the opposition includes right-wing and center parties, while the four deputies from the left count for practically nothing.
Israel is a right-wing country, and today the more narrow-minded element of the right is in power, with the center-right in opposition. Therefore, it is an opposition, so to speak, at least the way I see it, being a person of the left.
The left that I was part of and which I feel part of has dissolved. I belong to the old left-wing politics, which was for negotiation and in favor of a Palestinian state. Today no one pleads this cause anymore: the word Peace is an illusion, the dream of a few.
But there are those who seek compromise solutions. They propose negotiation, while we witness the clash between two stubborn and arrogant leaders, meaning the leader of the inhabitants of Gaza and Netanyahu. Egypt and the USA, as well as the Europeans, are attempting mediation. Yahya Sinwar, the grim and rigid leader of Hamas, wants a solution in which Israel withdraws from its territories, allows Hamas to manage Gaza and above all to stay alive. Netanyahu wants Sinwar dead and Hamas eradicated, and he intends to remain in control of the Strip militarily, but in truth he cannot say what he wants for the inhabitants of Gaza – he does not want Hamas in power, but not even Abu Mazen is acceptable. In short, he is not in favor of a Palestinian state.
Meanwhile, the negotiations being carried out by the mediators are close to a possible agreement. But the two leaders continue to devise ways to make changes to the agreements to keep them from going forward. Meanwhile, the 115 Israeli hostages in Gaza are being held in inhumane conditions. Their families are in turmoil and continue to ask for a solution, which itself is very onerous for Israel: ending the war and freeing the hostages means releasing many Hamas detainees, in a ratio of one hostage to thirty detainees. Of course, there is a precedent for this in the case of the soldier Gilad Shalit, who in 2011, following an agreement between Hamas and the Israeli government mediated by Egypt, was freed in exchange for the liberation of a thousand Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. Among them was Yahya Sinwar.
Is it worth pointing out that not all Israelis are Netanyahu’s accomplices?
At least sixty percent are in favor of the immediate release of the hostages. There is a growing front of forces and citizens proposing early elections, with the aim of installing a new government. At the moment this is a desperate undertaking, with a government majority in the Knesset that holds 64 seats against the opposition’s 56.
Meanwhile, the cost of the war is being felt heavily. It is already terrible, and the Israeli economy cannot withstand a long-lasting war. Many jobs are already vanishing. And in the meantime, the government continues to subsidize religious Jews who study Torah and are for now exempt from military duty. This is a topic of bitter and growing conflict in Israeli society and politics, and it is currently the only topic on which the governing coalition could possibly stumble disastrously and end badly. Otherwise, Netanyahu will remain in power until the end of the war, which is why he has no interest in ending it. Not only would he reach the end of his political career, but he would find himself facing several trials, with the risk of prison.
My wish, like that of many other Israelis, is that the government falls, the hostages are freed and new elections take place – with the hope that this time Netanyahu, abandoned by his own disappointed electorate, will be soundly defeated.
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