I feel very grateful that we have someone like Carolyne who can speak authoratively about the situation in the Middle Least.
You see, though I support Israel instinctively, I have been increasingly worried by the one-sided report on BBC and other media, which make the Israeli troops out to be as vicious and perhaps inhuman as we may have heard of other troops in times past.
I also worry about the political scene in Israel where Bibi is so influenced by Ben Gvir and Smotrich. I wrote to Carolyne with my worries and here is her reply.
Dear Nick
I am sorry to read that you are suffering doubts but frankly I am not surprised.
§Having been in the UK these past few months, we have come to the stage where we can no longer watch the news on the TV or listen to the radio, as so much of what is reported is skewed and twisted, and there are an awful lot of outright lies and misinformation and “if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth”. So let me try to deal with some of points.
Firstly you say that Bibi’s coalition with Ben Gvir and Smotrich troubles you. It troubles an awful lot of people, but you cannot totally lay the blame at the feet of Netanyahu, as it is electoral system that brings about time and time again such uncomfortable coalitions, granting the balance of power to small parties.
The extreme right actually gained 14 seats so that is a sizeable amount, without which Bibi could not have formed a government. Their policies do not align with the more liberal policies of the centre or the left leaning and people on that side of the political map find their policies really disturbing .
Likud won 32 seats and although they are more closely aligned with the right, they didn’t rule out a coaltion with the centre but the centre refuses to sit with Bibi on a matter of principle and that has birthed this coaltion.
The religious parties have their core voters. UTJ and Shas gained 7 & 9 respectively and will sit with any government that protects their religious requirements, which had included dodging the draft. That is now contentious as in times of war everyone has to play their part. They naturally sit with the more right wing parties as secularism doesn’t sit well with them.
The other parties did not gain enough seats to form a government and it is my suspicion that if there was an election today a coalition would need to draw on the votes of extremist parties either from the right or the left and people will still be uncomfortable and those sort of governments collapse very quickly .
So while it offends people that Bibi must rely on parties who views are extreme, nothing much will change unless the electoral system changes or we change the demographics. In Israel people do hold quite opposing views. This is democracy at its worst.
There are some pretty strong feelings against Bibi, but it is not the whole country . We see a lot of it as the protests from before the war have now merged with the protests to release the hostages at any price, but not everyone agrees that we must have a ceasefire at any price and at no point has Hamas agreed to the latest ceasefire or to release all the hostages. They haven’t actually agreed to release any hostages .
Tel Aviv as a city is totally at odds with say Jerusalem and those who live over the green line. The life style of the average Tel Avivian can hardly be recognised as Jewish. The majority do not respect Shabbat, 68%s of the restaurants are not Kosher. The life style of the Haredim is far apart from the life style of the secular. So you come to the question: Is Israel a Jewish country or a country for Jews ?
We also have the 20% Arab population and the 32% Soviets (since 1989) , both who have unique cultures., so you see Israel is not an easy country to govern and there has been a lot of outside interference bringing about the left wing protests that we saw even before the war. Now they use the war as a peg to hang their hat against Bibi, but it is much deeper than not agreeing with the way the war is being waged.
We have areas A, B and C in the so called West Bank, each under a different Administrative system since Oslo (1995) . The area A under total Palestinian control is a perfect example of apartheid ( another crime Israel is accused of ), includes Bethlehem, virtually cleansed of its Christian (Ethnic cleansing another crime Israel is accused of ), Jenin. ( a hotbed of terrorism) and Hebron (Jews can only enter in armoured vehicles to visit the graves of the Patriarchs) .The site is totally separated between Jewish and Muslim.
Area C is where the so called settlements are and is home to around 500,000 Jews and 350,000 Arabs who are not citizens of Israel but claim refugee status.
Jerusalem has been a major point of contention standing in the way of all peace deals. When Trump recognised it as the capital of the Jewish State, it should have been taken off the table for once and all as Israel can never give up Jerusalem but the Arabs would never accept a Palestinian state without East Jerusalem which is the holy basin- now open to all religions and protected by Israel. Unlike when it was under Jordanian control and was closed to Jews and lay in total disrepair.
You can see why any recognition of a Palestinian State is problematic both for Israel and the Palestinians.
Gaza was the starting point and was totally evacuated as as stepping stone towards a final peace solution, but we all know what happened in Gaza. Israel is not about to repeat that mistake, giving land for peace when there is no peace.
So now lets address these “special activities” of blowing up journalists. You must firstly understand that Israel is at war and Gaza is a theatre of war together with all the horrible things that happen during a war. Since this incident it has been proven that Anas al Sharif was a Hamas operative. Israel claims to have documentation proving his direct links to terrorist attacks. Al Jazeera deny this but I am inclined to believe Israel and not Al Jazeera who are the mouth piece of Hamas.
There is an uproar that journalists are not allowed into the strip and this demonstrates why - as they are likely to get killed, while not being specifically targeted, the strip is still running with terrorists and booby traps and Israel cannot protect those who then chose to mix with Hamas.
Journalists who were previously in Gaza are now admitting that they had no choice but to report according to Hamas so really why would you want them in there to risk their lives and still be unable to report freely. Surely you have seen the verified reports amount the starving children that have been proven falsified.
The Hamas operatives are posing as aid workers and are still controlling and hijacking much of the aid. Israel reports that one of their last strong holds is Gaza City and that is why they want to take control of the area.
The western media has very unfortunately decided to only report the news that shows Israel in a bad light, all other news is ignored. Did you see the rally on Sunday widely reported. NO.
Did you see front page retractions of the lies reported about the starving children NO. Do you see daily the casualties that Israel has endured NO.
Did we see stories about the Bibis child’s 6th birthday this week ? NO
Why are the western media not interviewing the families of the nearly 2,000 killed and the 16,000 injured ?
What about the families of the hostages, the hostages themselves .
Why are the Red Cross not answering for their failures ?
Israel is now a country of mourners, cripples, orphans and young people with severe trauma but that is not being reported because no one is interested.
The UN is vehemently anti Israel and there is nothing we can do. Since the war anti- semitism has become not only popular but fashionable . This back lash against Israel is anti semitism.
The Ukraine war has seen Russia kill approximately 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and around 14,000 civilians, injuring around 40,000 but no one is attacking Russians and the news pretty much ignores it.
The UK Ministry of Defence estimates that the Russians have suffered up to one million casualties, but no one is screaming at the Ukrainians or chasing them down the the streets and beating them, and the UK still trades with Russia.
So while I understand that British Jews are feeling very hot under the collar as now the war has moved to the diaspora, they must recognise what is happening to them and not allow this very clever propaganda that is fact gas lighting at its best on an international scale.
Never forget, Israel was attacked in a surprise unprovoked attack and this war could end tomorrow if the hostages are released and Hamas disarm. However, unpleasant the war may be, Israel has been left no choice at all. Personally, I feel we have been too careful and our soldiers have died because we have tried so hard to protect the innocent civilians in Gaza.
But we must ask how many are innocent civilians . Certainly every child under 14 is innocent even through children as young as 13 have been caught with knives and explosives. They are trained from Kindagarten both culturally and through the books supplied by the UNWRA that their highest merit in life is martyrdom and killing Jews.
Even with all the suffering, you will find that the Gazans have been brainwashed against peace. We saw clearly and heard first hand reports from the hostages how the civilians behaved towards them. There was not any human kindness and to date not one civilian has come forward with information on the whereabouts of the hostages. In such a small place, it is unthinkable that no one knows where they are being held.
Israel now thinks they are in Gaza City and we saw after the “All Eyes on Rafah” campaign what a hot bed of terror Rafah was. Gaza city will be the same and must be cleared.
Never before in the history of warfare has a country been made to feed the enemy ! This is not an enemy that has surrendered but one that is still fighting Israel but wants sympathy as the fight is not going well.
I know its hard to be living in a country that is constantly criticising your people, calling them child murderers and throwing claims of genocide and famine at your door, but do not fall for it.
Israel is doing what it must , there is no other other way as there is no partner for peace and we are not going to allow Hamas to stay in power and rebuild as that is suicide for our children.
My grandson goes to the army in a few weeks and of course, I am scared, horrified really. He is just a child. A gentle child who grew up on a kibbutz, he couldn’t kill a dog let alone a child. He is just an example of these young boys who are taken from school ( he left school 4 weeks ago) and made to go and defend the country. The soldiers are known to us, they are our children, our cousins our friend’s children and they are not cold blooded murderers. Some have committed suicide as they had the choice to die or to defend themselves. They defended themselves but can no longer live with themselves. It is tragic, but Jewish history is tragic and we can see very clearly now if there was no Israel no Jews will be safe anywhere in the world.
So be strong, do not succumb to the gas lighting and ask yourself if this was the UK that was attacked what would they do ? What did the US do after 9/11. What dreadful lengths did the allies had to resort to in order to defeat the Nazis and the Japanese ?
War is so terrible and should be avoided at all costs, but when you have a an enemy that vows to kill you, it is written you should get up early and kill them first. (Sanhedrin 72b)
Israel did not get up early even through they knew that Hamas was a death cult and they slept through the threats and allowed October 7th to happen. Not only this government but the previous one under Bennet and Benny Gantz.
We didn’t want to face the reality so we told ourselves a story that we could make peace, and that story pleased our sensitivities but has cost the lives of over 2,000 innocent people. The cold truth now faces us , its us, them or all of us, and there is no way around this stark and terrifying reality .
I am sorry if my words do not comfort you but the situation is beyond dire and we face another holocaust if we falter now .
Kind Regards
Carolyne Davis