Again a text of his Omer Bartovan Israeli professor at Brown University in the US and one of the most prominent historians of the Holocaust, in the Guardian this time, it went viral, provoking anew the message of his compatriots – published on August 13 under the title “As a former soldier of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces Forces) and historian of the genocide, I was deeply moved by my recent visit to Israel.” It was written in response to the backlash before his scheduled lecture at Ben Gurion University in Israel on June 19 at an event on the global protests on university campuses against Israel, where Bartov planned to address the question “if the protests were sincere expressions of indignation or motivated by anti-Semitism.”
When he reached the entrance of the lecture hall, he saw a group of students. It soon became clear that they were not there to watch the event, but to protest against it. The students were mobilized by a WhatsApp message in which Bartov appeared guilty of committing treason. He had not visited Israel since June 2023, and during the recent episodic visit, he found “a different country than the one I knew,” in which I was “born and raised.”
Personal experiences led him to search for the reasons why “Israeli society today is incapable of feeling any empathy for the population of Gaza.”
Even the article in the “Guardian” had a mixed reception, he explains to “Vima” a few days after its publication: “Some people responded with long and moving personal narratives about their relationship with Israel. Others were very critical of me”. The “more interesting answers” however, our interlocutor emphasizes, “came from Jews and Israelis living abroad who reported that after their own critical comments about Israeli policies, they were attacked or even disowned by their families and friends”.
“Most Israelis do not support the Far Right, but support policies enacted by a far-right government, or at least do not effectively oppose them. And most seem to either support continued violence against the Palestinians, or simply don’t care about them. At the moment, it is difficult to see a change from within” he adds, unless Israel “face a combination of an ever-increasing military threat and catastrophic loss of life and property, from enemies such as Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis, alongside a dramatic economic downturn. Or if there is massive international pressure from the US and Europe, including arms supply restrictions, economic sanctions and loss of diplomatic support.”.
Two societies called to co-exist, despite the new deep trauma of the bloodshed of Hamas and the new cycle of blood in Gaza, will they be able to live together in peace? “Yes. But this presupposes the beginning of a political process that will eventually allow Israel and Palestine to share the land in peace and equality. It will also require a process of truth and reconciliation, including acceptance of guilt and responsibility and compensation for material, human and psychological harm.” replies Bartov, describing to us the “moral duty” of people who study the Holocaust and genocide to what is happening in Gaza today. “To claim ‘never again’ is not only to remember past atrocities, but also to fight against them today and in the future”.
The realistic solution that would allow the two peoples to coexist peacefully is one, he summarizes, without losing hope: “A confederal structure between Israel and Palestine, as described in (the Israeli-Palestinian movement) A Land for All, where two independent states side by side would allow some of the other state’s citizens to reside in their territory, while maintaining open borders and freedom of movement ».
#Omer #Bartov #Peaceful #life #presupposes #acceptance #guilt #responsibility
