Palestine

100 Days

Today, the hostages have been in captivity for 100 days. Most of the minors and their mothers, and elderly women, as well as most Thais and the 2 Filipinos, were released during the ceasefire after 7 weeks. But 136 living people are still assumed to be held prisoner in Gaza. Some of the hostages have died (were murdered) and their bodies are known to still be held captive, like Joshua Mollel, whose bloody murder was broadcast by Hamas. Some are known to be seriously injured, like Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose arm was blown off during an explosion on October 7. Some are only teenagers, like Eden Alexander, who is 19 years old. Some are very old, like Oded Lifschitz, 83.

Some of those who are still being held are friends or family members of my friends. Like Noa Argamani, who is my friend’s cousin. Like Ofer Calderon, David Cunio and Ariel Cunio, who are friends of my friends.

There have been practically no signs of life. A few weeks back, Hamas released a video of three of the oldest hostages, Haim Peri (79), Yoram Metzger (80) and Amiram Cooper (84). They were sitting in a row in front of the camera, looking thin and weak, with long beards. They pleaded with the Israeli government to stop the war and rescue them. Of course, they had been told exactly what to say by men with automatic guns, so we have no idea what they actually wanted to say.

This kind of thing has the dual effect of raising our hopes – they’re alive! – and feeding our anxiety: time is running out. It’s a known tactic of psychological warfare. It is entirely possible that these three elderly men were executed immediately after the recording of that video.

I hope to heaven that this is not what happened. I hope the majority of the hostages are alive and will one day be found safe and brought back home. But sometimes, I wonder if any of them are still alive right now. And if they are, what hell are they going through? We know from the released hostages that they were kept in harsh circumstances, fed very little and threatened constantly. Some men were beaten with electric cables. Some women were kept in cages and sexually assaulted, over and over again.

Some were not even abducted by Hamas at all. Some were taken by Islamic Jihad, another terror organization. And some were taken by civilians, who followed Hamas out of the gates and joined cheerfully in the plunder, murder and destruction. These civilians chose young girls and women to kidnap for themselves. No one knows where they are, but we can guess what is being done to them. Sexual violence was a big part of the October 7 massacre. It is no secret that many bodies were found naked and bleeding, gangraped violently and then shot. Hamas member have bragged about raping Israeli women.

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But somehow, this is still being contested by the world. Somehow, people all over the world manage to turn this atrocity around and twist it. Humans everywhere love to blame Jews. It has always been like this in history and these times are no exception. We are apparently to blame for progroms and holocausts, for hatred and massacres, just because we are Jews and we should not be wherever we are. People manage to justify to themselves what Hamas has done. They want to absolve their guilty conscience by saying: “Well, the Jews had it coming.” And they cheerfully campaign for Palestine, donate to Gaza (which all goes straight to Hamas), walk around with kefiyahs on their heads and feel like cool, edgy, progressive humans.

You’re not. You’re antisemites and neo-Nazis. Just a few days ago, someone from my own country stole my words, twisted them around and gleefully managed to suggest that not only did we have it coming, but Israel orchestrated the attack themselves, just to have an excuse to “commit genocide” in Gaza.

I have never been so ashamed to be Dutch in my life. People like this make me sick. They are holocaust deniers, victim blamers and no better than the Death Eaters themselves. But I know what is going to happen. Hamas has said it themselves, numerous times: the West is next. One day very soon, things like this will happen in Europe. Then, these people will finally start to realize that radical Islam is a horrific evil that wants to conquer the world and destroy everyone that doesn’t live exactly according to their draconian rules. But then, it will be too late.

I want to take this opportunity to draw attention to the women and children still in the hands of Gazans, and likely subjected to physical, sexual and psychological violence. Is this what you want? Is this what you want to see in your own country? To them, women are objects. Trophies, to be owned, stolen and discarded as they please. We need to fight this evil and make sure they do not conquer Europe! Because no matter what I shout, I care deeply about my old country. My heart breaks to see it slowly being subjected to Sharia law. As much as it breaks for these beautiful women. Please, please help us bring them home. Raise your voice. Say NO. This is evil, no matter what your race, religion or nationality is.

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Liri, Karina, Daniela, Carmel, Arbel, Eden, Amit, Noa, Agam, Naama, Romi and Doron are still being held hostage. 100 days.

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Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas are still not back home. Kfir recently turned one year old. He has been captive for 100 days of his short little life.

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Look them in the eyes, these young girls. See what the Death Eaters did to them. And then stand behind that with a clear conscience. I dare you.

#bringthemhome

The Green Prince

I want you to meet Mosab Hassan Yousef, also known as “The Green Prince”. He is the son of one of the founders of Hamas. His story is incredible and what he has to say is hugely important. He has been very vocal in denouncing Hamas and supporting Israel for years. To me, he is a fascinating person. His sharp intellect and his courage are remarkable, and we can learn so much from his insights. If we choose to listen, and not turn the other way, because we don’t like the picture he is painting.

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Mosab Hassan Yousef was born in the West Bank in 1978. While growing up, his ambition was to become a “freedom fighter”, as so many Palestinian children’s was. But his life went differently. After witnessing the cruelty, brutality and terror that Hamas subjected their OWN people to, he started thinking differently. He became an informant for the Israeli intelligence.

Over the years, he has prevented countless suicide and terror attacks, earning himself the nickname “the Green Prince” (the colour of the Palestinian flag and his status as the son of a sheikh). Many of us owe him our lives and we don’t even know it. Jews, Israeli Arabs, foreign workers, tourists – everyone. Hamas does not distinguish. Their goal is to eradicate the state of Israel, kill every single Jew on the planet and then establish the Islamic State. They will use any means necessary, including using their own people as a human shield.

We know this because Yousef, and other people like him, told us, again and again. Yousef wrote a book, “Son of Hamas”, and a documentary was made about him: “The Green Prince”. Now, he is raising his voice again to tell the international community what we already know. He is putting himself in extreme danger to say these things. Hamas wants his blood like they want ours. He now lives in the USA, for his own safety.

This is an interview with Mosab Hassan Yousef by Piers Morgan, on October 26, 2023.

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It’s not just Youssef’s sharpness and his bravery that impress me. It is his humanity. He is driven by his love for the Palestinian people. He wants to see them free and in peace. Free from Hamas’ reign of terror. He wants to say his truth, and say it loudly. Listen to him.

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I agree with him. Hamas cannot be forgiven for what they did to us on October 7. We can never forget, and never forgive. They must be destroyed. Not only for us, but for the entire world. As Mosab Hassan Yousef says: “If Israel fails in Gaza, all of us will be next.”

Mizrahi Jews

Jews are white people, right? They have German and Polish sounding names and they come from Western and Eastern Europe. They are basically white colonists, occupying the land of the indigenous people of Palestine. That’s the narrative that is being spread lately, anyway.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Jews come in all colours and cultures, and many of them have lived on the Arabian peninsula for thousands of years. Mizrahi Jews are people whose ancestry is traced back to Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq – even Palestine itself. Yes I know, shocker!!

This is from the “Jews from the Middle East Fact Sheet” of the Jewish Voice for Peace:

“Of 7 million Israelis, 35-40% are Mizrahim, 15% are Russian immigrants, 20% are Palestinian Israelis, 2.2% are Ethiopian, and 25-30% are Ashkenazi Jews and others. This means 55-60% of the Israeli population is ‘non-white’; together, Mizrahim and Palestinian Israelis form a majority.”

As you probably know and accept, Jews originated from the land we now know as Israel. In the 6th century BCE, their country was invaded by the Babylonians and many of the Jews fled – an event known as the Babylonian exile. Some of them travelled far and wide and settled in Europe, Poland and Russia. Their descendents are now called Ashkenazi Jews. They have lighter skin, hair and eyes and some of them still speak Yiddish, which contains elements of Hebrew, German and Eastern European languages.

But most Jews did not travel that far, or in that direction. Many settled closer to Israel, in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Others spread out over the rest of the Arabian peninsula and stayed in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen, and some ended up in Persia (Iran) and Turkey. Yet others moved to Northern Africa and settled in Morocco, Libya, Tunesia and Algeria. These Jews are now known as Mizrahi (or Sephardic) Jews. Their skin, hair and eyes are darker. They speak many languages, but not Yiddish. Their culture and customs are very different from those of the Ashkenazi and share a lot of similarities with Arabic cultures.

In the Second World War, 85% of the Jews that were murdered in the Holocaust were Ashkenazi. Most of the Jews in Germany, Poland, Eastern and Northern Europe were wiped out in a huge-scale, monstrous act of genocide. We all know about this. (And if you don’t, you should). My husband’s family from his father’s side is Polish. His grandparents were the only ones in both their families who survived. They emigrated to Israel in an attempt to leave the unspeakable horror behind. But his other set of grandparents came to Israel from Iran. And they were not running from the European Holocaust. They were fleeing from something else.

After the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel in 1948, all Arab countries surrounding Israel declared war. They did not want a Jewish state next to them. In fact, they decided they did not want any Jews inside their own countries, either. This led to the Jewish Exodus from the Muslim world. Around 900,000 Mizrahi Jews were expelled from all Arab and Northern African countries. An estimated 650,000 of these people fled, often on foot, to Israel, which, against all odds, managed to hold its own against the entire Arab world, and even won the war.

And then, there were the Jews who never left. Yes, some Jews stayed where they were after the Babylonians took over. They stayed when the Greeks and the Romans came and went. They stayed through all the Crusades. The country was called Canaan, the Holy Land, Mandatory Palestine. It was ruled by Romans, Christians, Muslims and later the British. But Jews have always lived in Israel. They have sometimes been called Palestinian Jews. But really, they were the original Israelis, who simply never left. Jews are indigenous to Israel, just as much as Arabs are.

So wait a moment before you shout “from the river to the sea”. Do some research. Where do you want the Jews to go? Back to where they came from? The majority of them came from Arab countries, where they were harassed, persecuted, stripped of their citizenship and expelled. None of the Mizrahi Jews can “go back to where they came from”. They would be either deported or simply killed instanty. If you remember, Muslim countries hate Jews. “From the river to the sea” is a call for a death sentence to all Jews. Do you really want to be a modern Nazi?

This very compact history of the Mizrahi Jewish people is obviously extremely simplified. And their immigration to Israel did not go without a hitch. European Jews and Middle Eastern Jews were so different from each other that many problems arose between them. Mizrahi Jews felt like second class citizens, discriminated against and pushed to the side. Some still feel like that. Their feelings are valid and the injustice done to them must be addressed.

Also, I am not in any way saying that Arab Israelis / Palestinians are not indigenous to Israel. They are. But so are Jews. And we must find a way to live together. I believe it can be done. But not with Hamas.