Marta González Isidoro
International Analyst
Memory is nourished by History. The Book of Memories is still open, and the Jewish people, scattered in every corner of the world, is the hand that holds the pen. On the most special day of the year, a day of fasting and reflection, of growth and purification, Israel closes its airspace and the streets empty of traffic and passersby remind us of the days of confinement by the covid19 pandemic. But Yom Kippur is not the name of any virus, but that of the most solemn closing day of a calendar of ten extremely holy days that takes place on the evening of the ninth day of the month of Tishrei according to the Hebrew calendar – from October 3 to 4.
Forgive so that the pain of the past does not drag down the present and burden the future, but also because pain poisons our mind and soul, and prevents us from rejoicing in the gift of being alive. A soul enslaved by resentment is a prisoner soul. Act of individual, but also collective confession.
A grudging man, a grudging nation, does not advance. Perhaps that is why, since time immemorial, the Jewish people, through the symbolism of fasting and atonement, have closed the circle of pain and have embarked on the path of liberation through the cure of forgiveness. It is not just a matter of revising one’s behavior. Without this dialogue with God, it would be impossible to explain the way they face and shake hands with those who want to annihilate you in a merciless way since the beginning of Time, mutating the reasons and the way to make convenient a prejudice that seems disproportionate, subjective and very selective. Even now, when there is a sanctuary – the State of Israel – where to escape and be theoretically safe from that insane feeling. Because anti-Semitism, represented today in economic boycotts, terrorism, acts of vandalism or diplomatic maneuvers, is advancing like a stain all over the world – even in the so-called democratic and civilized world – and internal violence is intensifying as Israel expands its strategic presence in the region and develops its offensive and defensive capabilities in collaboration with governments that until now seemed unthinkable.
Three months have passed since the Feast of Atonement and the Israelis have been put to the test once again. Intoxication and propaganda campaigns, harassment of the population, glorification of terrorism, attacks with stones, Molotov cocktails, explosives, firearms and stabbings. Palestinian violence in 2022, in figures, has left 31 Israelis killed and 734 wounded, but also a deeply divided society. On 1 November, the public swung to the centre-right by opting for a more stable coalition of 64 MPs – including the Haredi and the religious nationalist right – led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to the forefront of politics after the hiatus of the Bennett-Lapid-Gantz coalition, promising to manage security issues and his relationship with the Palestinians more efficiently. But above all, by taking on the message of guaranteeing the national interest over subordination to Washington’s interests or any other consideration of appeasing an International Community that is hostile to them, and that does not disguise either its war against Jewish identity and sovereignty in the region or its indulgence of an unrealistic Palestinian cause designed to keep a deliberately inflamed confrontation going.
Hopes for peace dashed by the realisation of an unwillingness to share any land with the Jews, and the reality check of a population tired of bearing the high cost in lives of dealing with negotiation and confrontation. Internal polarisation, risks of social fracture and accusations of wanting to restrict civil rights in the face of the negative impact on the population of too many concessions to the new government partners, not only in ministerial portfolios, but also in commitments on specific measures to favour very minority sectors of the ultra-Orthodox spectrum to the detriment of the majority of the population. Glimpses of planned legal reforms that critics see as a breach of the country’s constitutional system, and personal decisions by members of the new government are shocking because of the high sensitivity of a symbolism that lends itself to political analysis with different points of interpretation.
Israel knows that it plays in the league of tightrope walkers, and that any move is interpreted with the eyes of one looking through a kaleidoscope. Minister Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount, the holiest site for the Jewish people, under Israeli sovereignty but subject to a status quo used by the Palestinian Authority to veto Jewish presence in the area, has broken the fissures through which anti-Semitism fester. And because context matters and it is words that convey history, at this turning point, in order to move forward, one must take risks. Apartheid, occupation, settlers, provocation, offence… are terms that intentionally dilute the connection of Jews to the land and places of which they are a part and around which their culture and faith revolve. Israel lost the narrative war the very moment it agreed to succumb to the blackmail of a Palestinian Authority that is politically and economically hyperventilating internationally and constantly threatening to unleash waves of violence whenever it feels frustrated.
The Abraham Accords marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Middle East. Not only did they formalise cordial relations that had existed for years with the Gulf states, but they took the Palestinians out of the peace equation. This is a new reality in which the Palestinians are now secondary on the international and regional agenda. Successive Israeli cabinets, aware that there are even more extremist forces in the Palestinian camp – Hamas, Islamic Jihad – have cooperated with the Palestinian Authority to prevent its collapse. The new cabinet, willing to curb the campaign against Israel internationally and the violence at home, is not committed to further strengthening an organisation that incites terrorism and which it considers an enemy. Mahmoud Abbas does not have much time left – because of age and health – and if he is unable to assume pragmatic leadership and seize the opportunities that Israel’s new partners under the Abraham Accords offer to advance the transformation to an integrated and stable Economic and Security Order, the new Israeli cabinet will have no qualms about allowing the Palestinian Authority to collapse, even if it means that the Palestinian camp becomes embroiled in a civil war for leadership and the dreams of an independent nation alongside Israel are forever diluted. Palestinians are a resentful society that does not move forward. To forgive so that the pain of the past, which weighs down the present, does not drag down the future, and to recognise that the Memory that feeds its History is distorted, should be the last act of reconciliation and love for his people of a man who is on the threshold of crossing the threshold of the Beyond.
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