Gaza changed history forever
shlomo ben-ami is considered one of the strongest supporters of palestinian rights. he is an israeli professor, a former member of the labor party, and a member of the knesset. he was minister of internal security and subsequently minister of foreign affairs.
he is of moroccan origin, born in 1943, and immigrated to palestine in 1956. he is a senior historian and diplomat. he has given many lectures in support of palestinian rights and is considered, along with a good group of others, a representative of the “living jewish conscience,” in an environment that netanyahu has come to lead either to more bloodshed, or to devastation.
shlomo ben-ami wrote a letter in haaretz on april 2, 2024, addressed to all israelis, in which he said:
‘i write as a sephardic (israeli) jew about the genocide i witnessed, with countless atrocities and massacres. but what happened at al-shifa hospital deserves a study, a university course, and a wikipedia page of its own. i’ve never seen anything like it, ever. i don’t think isis has achieved anything like this. this sounds like the work of drug-addled death squads in a long orgy of killing, armed with 21st-century weapons.
‘it’s so crazy that we can’t even understand what it means yet, and it will take us years to understand that particular episode of genocide. i have no idea what israel did or did to its soldiers to prepare them for this, but it does not seem possible for ordinary people, even the most hateful of others, to carry out these actions, which continued for three weeks. i’m confused and need an explanation.
‘even in the context of the sheer depravity we have witnessed, these actions stand out as brutal and extremely evil.
‘oh my god, how did we sink to this point? (israel) begs humanity to stop it, but no one listens!!’
on the other hand, alon mizrahi, a former professional football player, wrote the following text on his account on the x platform.
‘what has become more clear at this unique moment is that hamas, a small palestinian movement, has defeated not only israel, but the entire west, has triumphed on the battlefield, and has triumphed in the arena of public opinion. hamas was able to make amazing use of its reading of the (israeli) mentality and used everything it had with great efficiency, winning the hearts of millions for the palestinian cause all over the world.
‘even now, after more than 180 days, it has not been destroyed or dismantled. it has kept almost every prisoner it captured 6 months ago, and has not yielded to any pressure, within a small sector that is besieged and bombed daily.
‘history will judge the past six months as one of the most unfathomable and brilliant achievements in all of military history. this is beyond unfathomable. ‘by waging this war in this way, without thinking or feeling, israel made hamas a legend of resistance that will live in cultural memory throughout the ages. no one believed they could do it, but they did, and they changed history forever. the issue of palestine will never be forgotten again, and this is hamas’ real victory.’
i hope that the palestinians will remember these two names, and dozens like them, who stood with the right of return.
