I was watching a video of a Guardian reporter interviewing Israeli’s about the election. What stood out was the racist and scary comments by the young people about the Palestinians. Some were clearly also American. One girl in particular reminded me a bit of my niece, who I know has strong zionist feelings and who disagrees with me about my strong opposition to the war in Gaza and in my belief that zionism is a racist ideology.
My niece is a mother to a little boy. My Nephew, her brother, is also a father to a little boy. And I can not help thinking what they will tell these men when they are older, when the planet is burning and history has come to terms and accepted the Genocide in Gaza and the colonization of the Palestinian people, much as we now accept what the Europeans did to the Native Americans was wrong and immoral. Will these young men ever encounter a Palestinian peer with missing limbs who speaks of the trauma of being born into a war? Will my nephew’s and niece’s boys learn in history class about the nefarious reasons for the war that had little to do with Jewish safety and more to do with money, power and oil. Or will the lie behind it all continue into the next generation. Will they share with their children how they stood by Israel or like so many of the Germans or South Africans act like they were unaware or unable to stop it.
And what about the soldiers who have participated in this. What will they tell their children? Will they be haunted by the deaths they have caused or will they continue to believe in their superiority and God-given right to commit those deaths and pass on this belief to their children. And will it matter as the world burns or will being able to kill other humans you deem as less than you be a survival tactic.