A day where we sing songs teary eyed and add more soldiers names to the long list of fallen soldiers since the start of our young state. A day when we reflect on the continuing bloodshed and wonder if it will ever cease. A day when we stand silent and sing our national anthem proudly. And even with all the typical Israeli cynicism, today we come together, as a consolidated people still struggling to justify our right for a home.

On memorial day, a siren is heard throughout the country, and everything stops; all cars, people, everyone stops, and stands in silence. Such powerful, strong silence is overwhelming. Even kids know, that when the siren sounds, you stop, stand, and reflect.

One of my favorite Yom Hazikaron songs, translated from Hebrew.

PERACH (flower):

There, in the dust and the sky’s blue
a piece of peace exists
Sleep flower, sleep
Sleep little girl.

They took life from you
Oh, holy wars
Angels wept for you
With dry eyes.

Your smile, baby girl,
They buried in the ground
how does silence grow
from within the chaos?

Whoever pressed the trigger
Blood will stain his heart
In wars for justice
Children also die.

Yehuda Poliker

[tags] yom hazikaron, memorial, day, israel[/tags]

The soldiers’ testimonies described cold-blooded murder of Gaza civilians and unreasonable commands passed during the operation. This lead to a promise by the military to form an investigation which was recently concluded, resulting in no file charges against any of the soldiers as their descriptions were based on hearsay. Their names have not been released in order to protect their identity, and the military investigative police did not publish any more information about the case.

Zamir’s efforts haven’t sat well with a certain patriotic constituency within Israeli society. The IDF is seen as a sacred national institution that is beyond reproach. I’m sure Zamir didn’t expect to be lionized for his efforts, he probably didn’t expect to be vilified either. Not only have Israelis accused him of smearing the IDF, they’ve accused him of aiding and abetting the nation’s enemies who are only waiting to pounce upon such stories to justify their hatred of Israel. The IDF itself initiated this campaign by revealing that Zamir had been imprisoned briefly in the 1990s when he refused to guard a settler group holding a provocative religious ceremony at Joseph’s Tomb. They attempted to shoot the messenger. (link)

While doing research for my Global Voices Online post, I scoured through Israblog, Tapuz and other Hebrew portals, trying to find posts from soldier first-hand witnesses who wrote about their experiences in Gaza. To my dismay, I could not find any. It is such a taboo topic; an Israeli must not help those haters validate their claims against our country. We were all soldiers. We all realize that these situations are not black and white. And even if these stories are somewhat true on a micro level, it is certainly not an IDF-wide phenomenon. But when they are taken out of context and amplified to the masses, it is easy to forget the source, while letting our emotions play out. Especially when messages are rapidly amplified through Twitter, the effects can be devastating ( a.k.a. what we saw last week re: #amazonFail)

Ever more often, we are witnessing the implications of living in a society with fast-paced, worldwide media coverage that can easily spin stories out from their original context. This is precisely how a closed door session between school colleagues turns into a worldwide news sensation against the reputation of one of the most powerful armies in the world. We must remember that the truth usually lies somewhere in-between, and make an effort to fact-check before letting our emotions passionately take over our logic.

Here’s a link to my GVO article:

[tags]Israel,global voices oline,testimonials,context,idf,soldiers,war,palestine,gaza[/tags]

Yasser Arafat led Fatah at a time when its subgroups were purposefully killing civilians as acts of resistance against the state of Israel. They highjacked planes, kidnapped and killed athletes at the olympics and detonated bombs in public locations. My definition of terrorism encompasses directed action against civilian population. I categorize some of Fatah’s operations in the 70’s as terrorism. Move the clock 35 years forward, and we have Yitzhak Rabin severely scrutinized for negotiating with this “terrorist” and signing the Oslo accords. The right wing tore him to shreds using catchy-aggressive slogans. I remember the pictures depicting blood dripping from Rabin wearing an Arafat-style “keffiya”. He was portrayed as a Jewish traitor and extremist right wing rabbis legitimized “Pulsa denura” ceremonies calling for Rabin’s death. It was not wholly surprising that once Rabin was considered persona non grata by his extreme right wing opponents, a fanatic assassin in that right wing camp would arise and murder him.

Calling Ayers a terrorist is problematic. Yes, he was a radical figure in his youth, but the weathermen group were a troupe of troublemakers, acting against US powers and authority. Their bombs were not placed with an intention to kill civilians, but to harm state-recognized icons. No, I do not support such actions, but I take issue with how US media frames the organization as “domestic terrorist”. Moreover, Obama was only eight-year-old when Ayers and the Weathermen were active. He collaborated with Ayers on a professional-political level, within a commission many years later. If this means his friends are terrorists why not call a spade a spade – Bill Clinton worked intensely with “terrorists”. He was one of the main negotiators between Rabin and Arafat. Arafat, who has a substantial history of terrorist activities.

McCain’s campaign deliberately uses the terrorist ‘tag’ to create fear and hatred towards Obama, taking this whole story out of context. In her speeches, Palin points to the Times who framed Obama’s friend as terrorists as a way to legitimize this point. The fact that it is a pivotal topic in the campaign’s arguments against Obama shows just how desperate they are. Its dirty politics, and I am glad to see that it is not working in McCain’s favor. Still, I am disgusted. I see the slippery slope I witnessed before Rabin’s assasination. I see the ease at which words such as “terrorist” will affect people’s emotions… especially those with relatives in Iraq. I am disgusted because most Americans have *NO* idea what living with “terror” is like, yet they use the word so easily. The majority have never experienced the smell of death after a bomb explodes in a public space. Most never felt the need to calculate their odds of survival every time when using public transport.
I do hope you Americans never have to live through that. Just please don’t use the word “terrorist” to seed baseless fear.

[tags]elections,US,Ayers,Obama,McCain,Palin,Rabin,assasination,Arafat [/tags]