Soldier testimonies and why they are important

I was the last soldier in Gaza, or so I thought. 

When I joined the IDF I thought I was being trained to fight other soldiers from Syria or Egypt. Instead, I found myself stationed in a residential neighbourhood facing civilians not an army. I received one command there - shoot if you have to. Soon we were bulldozing our way into homes of innocent Palestinians and taking over their homes. In one home we entered was an old lady who could not even speak clearly. Once we were in her home, she had no freedom. She had to seek permission to use the toilet, in her own house. We did not know her name, so we just named her Fatima. We would take turns to guard her with our weapons, ready to shoot if needed. New Year was approaching, so we even joked, 'who will kiss Fatima'. Three days later the Red Crescent came to rescue her, until then, it was a problem to monitor her, help if needed and do our job. I was embarrassed. I had kept an old lady prisoner in her home after taking over her house. Between 2003 and 2006 I experienced many moments like this one. - An ex-IDF soldier stationed in Gaza 

Israeli Soldiers stationed in Hebron

This is the story of one Israeli soldier who broke his silence on what the Occupation really looks like. He is a member of the NGO, Breaking the Silence, which collects and publishes testimonials of soldiers to inform the Israeli public and the world at large about everyday life in the Occupied Territories. 

There are hundreds like this soldier who have shared their stories with Breaking the Silence for 11 years now. Despite these testimonials that document in no uncertain terms the abuse to which Palestinians are subjected, cases of destruction of property, looting and the general violation of human rights, the public in Israel is hardly aware of what the occupation means or looks like. In addition, the right-wing in Israel is now stifling the voice of the left, putting democracy to the test in this country. 

In November 2015 a lecture organised by Breaking the Silence in a Be'er Sheva pub had to be cancelled after BtS activists and the pub owner received threats from pro-occupation right-wing fanatics. Despite BtS complying with all the security requirements, the police issued a last minute restraining order preventing the NGO from going through with the lecture. One would have hoped for the police to offer protection to the NGO, instead the police submitted to the threats of violence issued by the right-wing activists. 

On a larger scale, a bill is being proposed by the justice minister to isolate left-wing NGOs that receive foreign funding. This special tag will enable the government to mark NGOs that receive a majority of their funding from foreign governments and international organisations and limit the funds these NGOs receive. It is probably worth mentioning now that a recent investigation by Haaretz found that a number of tax-exempt nonprofits handed out more than $220 million to Jewish communities in the West Bank in 2009-2013 alone. 

The reason NGOs like BtS are crucial to Israeli democracy is because they shed light on what the public here finds easy to ignore. There is a vast gap between what the average families know and the reality. And it has been easy to create this gap given that Israelis even use a different term to refer to West Bank. Israel refers to the Israeli Administrative region as Judea and Samaria and not West Bank. To those who advocate the use of the term Judea and Samaria, this usage gives them more claim (because it has a Biblical history) over the land as opposed to West Bank which according to them is an artificial construct. The different groups use different terms to refer to this area thereby painting their respective religious narratives.

"An average Israeli family does not discuss the Occupation, they may just know that something bad happens there, but not exactly what," an Israeli told me once. He said, "I did not know what Occupied Territory meant, what Palestine meant." It is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.

Posts following my visit to Hebron with Breaking the Silence:
Hebron - Part 1
Hebron - Part 2

Breaking the Silence organises tours in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills. You can find the details here. The Hebron tour is on hold now because of the security situation in the city. 

Happy Hanukkah!

Tel Aviv's City Hall lights up for Hanukkah 2015

If you have grown up watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S you may believe that Hanukkah is the Jewish equivalent of Christmas. It is not. It is hardly Christmas, it is hardly a major Jewish festival. So there is no point trying to compare it with the most important Christian festival of all time.

I came to Israel with the same misconception that I am now trying to dispel. Last year I witnessed Hanukkah for the first time. It is a festival of lights, so Hanukkiahs (nine-branched candelabra for Hanukkah as opposed to the traditional seven-branched Menorah) are sold in grocery stores along with candles and Chabad representatives light massive Hanukkiahs at major social spaces in the city. That apart, you don't get an inkling that a festival is being celebrated by the country.

Being mostly passive participant of Jewish festivals I have come to superficially understand Jewish festivals. My learning is as follows:

The holy days follow a general set of principles:
1. Significance of the festival: Someone attacked/enslaved the Jews; the Jews fought and emerged victorious/escaped the horrors
2. Rules: More rigorous than shabbath. The general principle is to mourn the event that is being remembered and therefore many pleasures or luxuries must be given up. All that in addition to the absence of public transportation. Lord, have mercy!
For example -- for Passover or Pesach, wheat based food products are not to be consumed; on Yom Kippur even personal hygiene should be set aside as bathing is prohibited on this day
3. Feast: No matter what the misery the ancestors survived, a feast to commemorate the holy day is non-negotiable.

A Hanukkiah is lit up in a fruit juice stall on the third day of Hanukkah 2015

Considering the history of the religion and its followers, it is not a stretch to imagine that most Jewish festivals adhere to Principle 1. As does Hanukkah (Revolt of the Maccabees). Despite that, it is still a minor Jewish festival. I risk the chance of over simplifying but my simple reason is this: the buses are running, there are no major rules to follow, life goes on like any other day of the week. That says a lot about a Jewish holiday, to me.

Also, Hanukkah is not a Biblical festival. Its origins are not in The Book but in another book which is like an appendage to The Book. 

This may seem like a trivial detail but families get into major Biblical arguments over this stuff. I was once part of one very enlightening discussion between two cousins about the 'legitimacy' of Hanukkah. The general happy holidays greeting in Hebrew - Chag Sameah - apparently should not be used in the context of Hanukkah. Because the Biblically more knowledgeable cousin says that since Hanukkah is not a Biblical festival it can't be classified as a chag - festival of a Biblical nature. The liberal cousin argued that in modern society the status of chag has been diminished and so you can hear some people wishing each other chag sameah even for Hanukkah.

So, there you have it. Hanukkah is not anything like Christmas save for the proximity between the two festivals. Its origin story is quite mystical though, something about oil that was meant to last for one night ended up lasting for eight days. Therefore, lighting of one candle every day for eight days. Google will tell you all about that and the Maccabees (not the Israeli football team).

Sufganiyot! Attack!

Finally, Hanukkah involves food, but most unhealthy in nature. Oil, as you now know, is key to Hanukkah. What better way of honouring oil than by deep frying things in it and then stuffing your face with that? This brings us to sufganiyot or jelly filled doughnuts which are central to any Hanukkah celebration. Other fried delicacies include, potato latakes, pancake variations, etc.

Time now for me to go gorge on some sufganiyot. Doesn't sufganiyot just sound a million times better than doughnuts? I'll leave you with that thought.