Good Israelis and Corrupt American Media

By Iqbal Tamimi

In the picture, me and Gilad Atzmon, two activists from two different worlds, interested in Human Rights and ethics. The meeting was during a medical aid for Palestine concert in London. I read my poetry while Gilad played Jazz to stitch the wounds of Palestinians.

Iqbal Tamimi/ Palestinian Journalist and researcher in UK and creator of Palestinian Mothers Network

After many years of humiliation and despair experienced by many Palestinians like myself, I took the liberty after moving to the UK of starting an individual project - searching to find out why Israeli’s are very cruel, how come they never see that their acts are inhumane, and how come they know nothing about ethics.

I could not start any dialogue with Israelis while I was residing in any Arab country, because I am a Palestinian and a practicing Muslim. Many Arabs and Muslims are still marked with deep wounds caused by the Israeli occupation not for Palestinians only. The majority of Arabs will not understand my mission if I brushed against their inflamed memories of loss and grief. I have been able to anticipate most people’s reactions, after publishing a few articles about not judging others on faith choice basis, and refusing the ideologies of feelings of superiority thus judging others upon such criteria. I ended up with a large number of e mails calling me all kinds of names, the least of which was ‘praising’ Jews and Christians, and being a bad Muslim woman who does not deserve to wear her Hijab.

The other reason for not being able to start a direct dialogue was due to the fact that some Arab countries already have relations with Israel on members of state level, but ordinary citizens are not encouraged to start communicating with the ‘enemy’. As an example I have created a website
to initiate a dialogue between Palestinian mothers and Israeli mothers to talk about their feelings of loss and grief after losing a child to the war, and to shed some light on the Palestinian Plight. This website was banned in a Gulf country that has many Israeli projects and investments on its territories. Myself and many members of my network wrote to the department concerned in that country, but the answer was that we did not meet their criteria (internet is censored there by people who judge upon their own knowledge and experience what is good for all the citizens to have access for and what is not). Hence such human rights website has been classified in the same basket with porn websites, but of course other websites like dating and half naked women are OK and are not considered harming the ethics of the population like promoting peace might be considered. In short, ordinary citizens are not encouraged to contact Israelis, but influential personalities and investors can. This is another double standard one must stop to investigate in the Arab world.

Being in the UK made things easier for me to spread my concerns on a sheet and fish for answers, because of the large margin of freedom of expression. But I had no hope of finding a Jew with a drop of mercy in his heart. For all I knew, Jews were responsible for tens of massacres against my people. Hundreds of homes were bulldozed to the ground, thousands of people are still inside prisons without standing trials, confiscations of lands are still going on and on a large scale, the grip over Gazan people is tightened and the people are suffocating, uprooting of olive trees is an everyday ritual, and many other atrocities that no list is long enough to accommodate them all.
The first time I found out that not all Jews are inhumane or Zionists was a few years ago when I read one of Gilad Atzmon’s articles. I have translated it to Arabic and added the material to one of my books to share it with other Arabs who do not read English. Then almost two years ago, I met a group of Jewish people in London, they came to protest against the occupation and demand Israel to undo all the injustice done to Palestinians and withdraw from the occupied Palestinian land.

I was also introduced to many other Jewish human rights activists, and people who grew up thinking Israel was “the good guy”, people like Mary Rizzo, Eva Ferrero, Avichai Sharon, Noam Chayut from Breaking the Silence Campaign through Israeli mothers who are members of my network. I am able to discover a huge change is going on inside Israel. The young Israeli generation could not live with the double standards and the cruelty they were allowed to practice against Palestinian civilians. They do not hold the hatred and grudges that the older generation bears on their shoulders. They are more educated and more aware of ethics and human rights to a point they started to rebel against their state’s aggressive system.

The first obstacle those peace activists faced and still are facing is not the Israeli state or the Palestinians. To my shock it was the USA media as I was told. In an interview with Avichai Sharon, and Noam Chayut from Breaking the Silence Campaign, they made it quite clear that their main obstacle in their quest to expose the horrors of the military system in Israel was the USA media and its policies. It was not easy for them to talk about their experiences, and how a young Israeli soldier has the full permission to turn the life of any Palestinian to a living hell even without referring the decision to anyone else like a supervisor or a senior. A 20-year-old soldier can end the life of a Palestinian without having to think twice.

Israelis are waking up to the reality that what they are doing is inhumane, cruel and unacceptable. And many of them are trying to get this message across, to stop the military aid pouring from the USA to Israel, but the USA is happy to keep its own citizens in the dark, clinging to the old image it has created for tens of years about the righteousness of Israel and it’s legitimacy of doing what it does, and that Palestinians are terrorists and aggressive creatures. And that those Palestinian youngsters are a mischievous lot, throwing stones at armoured tanks belonging to the Israeli army, MADE IN USA. Someone should make them behave themselves regardless of their age or thinking about their motives.

One starts to wonder, was Israel the best ally of the USA because the Jews of the USA are controlling the media, the Congressional debates, and the financial arena as we were told, which makes Israel the first beneficiary of this relationship? Or is it the other way round, the USA is happy to keep the war flames ignited in the Middle East to keep the market where it sells its destruction toys’ production line in working order, besides making sure that it has a rest house in the Middle East within reach of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan… and other hot climate resorts, and can choose when to tilt its umbrella depending on its agenda for that season.

The USA is happy and content with the confrontations between the Israeli’s and the Palestinians. Because as long as the blood is running, the oil tap will be gushing in the region too. And the USA can be sure of soaking its feet in the wealth of the Middle East while sitting on a sturdy chair overlooking all the back gardens of the Middle Eastern neighbourhoods ignited with hatred, thus sponging all USA produce of military toys, and ready to accept the USA’s military bases on its lands because the good old USA as usual rushes to offer its supportive arm to rescue them in return of a teeny weenie price that would keep those countries sinking in debt, long enough for many policies to be implemented. Such debt will be there for many generations to come, or long enough for the USA to suck the marrow out of their bones, while spying on their home affairs without shedding one drop of sweat.

Naom Chayat, a veteran in the Israeli Forces said in an interview, after minutes of the attacks on the twin towers in USA, the attacks and raids on the city of Jenin in Palestine started. And this is how strongly connected the USA policies are with Israel’s.

I wonder how the USA reacts and feels about the good Israelis and the badly hurt Palestinians trying to knit the first stitch of peace by stretching their arms towards each other with a peace handshake.

Iqbal Tamimi is a Palestinian journalist and poet from Hebron. She is the creator of a vibrant and important activists' network Palestinian Mothers, open to all who share the vision of peace and justice, men and women alike.
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