October 25, 2023
In Letters To Finkelstein
Hello Mr FinkelsteinI live in Haifa israel/Palestine but the events that unfolded made my wife and I flee to the states for the time being. I was a 19 years old soldier in the Israeli navy when operation “cast led” happend, it’s been 15 years since and the events of the last two weeks made me feel like I’m there all over again and i am devastated. what have i been a part of?? Massacre and slaughter! I have witnessed crimes against my fellow men and women. When I got released from the navy, I started questioning the situation entirely, I started questioning the reasons why I was there in the first place. The answers I got were disturbing but non the less had to be confronted and they led me to a life of confrontation with the entire so called Israeli civil society and its apparatuses, my friends and family could never grasp the horrors we are performing on an hourly basis in Gaza for the last 20 or so years…the events that took place on October 7th as gruesome as they were, are a drop in a bucket compared to what the gazans feel every second. The kibutzim that got a small dose of their own remedie, are some of the richest and most affluent IN THE WORLD! while 20 meters away sits “an open game reserve” with some of the most impoverished people on earth, to openly state that today will get you in A LOT of trouble in “israel”, October 7th was bound to happen and I was genuinely surprised it didn’t happen earlier. I have been saying these things out loud for the past 15 years, but only a few years ago, through a good friend, I came across your work and public speeches and I have no other words but thank you. I was on the brink of insanity when I first met with your critique on the question of Palestine and suddenly I felt a great relief, I am not alone.Words can never show my eternal gratitude for your work and actions Mr Finkelstein and for that I admire you deeply and I’m trying to pass your words and ideas onwards to never be quiet about the matter, to stay true to what I witnessed for the memories of the innocent people who are suffering and dying from horrendous brutality that is happening in my name and in the name of a religion that once was a part of a magnificent leftist tradition. With a broken heart I once again say, Thank You.Solidarity for ever!