Does this Israeli demonstrator really believe the IDF are Nazis?
We can debate about whether or not what someone shouts out spontaneously in exasperation is what they really think or merely the worst, most hurtful thing that comes to them in the heat of the moment.
With that in mind, watch what I taped during a demonstration that took place in Haifa yesterday morning. The speaker is reading from a testimony claimed to having been told by a young boy in the Palestinian Authority (PA). I shortened the clip and added subscripts in English so that you can hear the context of her speech, the heckling by a particularly loud counterdemonstrator, and then the last thing she said before leaving the ‘stage.’ (Click ‘settings’ on the video if the subtitles do not automatically show.)
You heard correctly. She ended her recitation by admonishing the counterdemonstrator with:
And you support child murder. You are a stinking Nazi. Shame on you for the rest of your life.
I believe that angry outbursts cut through our normal rational filtering mechanisms and, therefore, what is said in such moments of distress actually reflects one’s true thoughts or feelings. After all, there are countless words and expressions she could have blurted out other than what she said.
What was the demonstration about?
The group’s FB post tells us what they are about. This is my translation into English. I will comment on it below the screenshot of their post. Before I do that, I just want to let you know that visitors to the page do not let them off lightly and most of the comments remind the organization of what is really going on here.
The FB post text:
Today we held a vigil in Paris Square in which we read testimonies from the four theaters of war: Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
The vigil was attended by dozens of people who read the testimonies in tears, interrupted by a small handful of Ben Gvir activists.
For years, and even more so in this past year, Israel has been killing, starving, deporting, and abusing girls and boys living in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
The state has not spared Israeli girls and boys either and for over a year, tens of thousands of girls and boys have been displaced from their homes, living in the shadow of ongoing anxiety, missile threats, and all-out war.
It is on our shoulders and it is our responsibility not to forget or to stop caring about the lives and welfare of all girls and boys living in the region, those who are directly affected by government policy and those who are under Israeli control.
We thank the Anti-Occupation Bloc in Haifa for their mobilization
My comments on their post on the basis of my having been there in person:
- There were perhaps 20 activists — that I think they brought with them— and about the same number of police officers. I wonder if they counted the passersby as with them or against them because there were only a handful of people who actually stood by to watch and listen and more who walked by on their way to somewhere else.
- I was not aware of anyone reading anything in tears but saying so does make a good impression on readers of their post, I think.
- Hmmm. Those who disagree with them are now Ben-Gvir activts? At least they didn’t call them ‘Bibists,’ that derogatory term that is applied to anyone who doesn’t agree this government has to be taken down immediately, even in the midst of fighting a war for our survival. ‘Bibist’ was getting boring, I agree.
- Amazing that Hamas and Hezbollah are not mentioned in their post. There was no Oct 7th for these people, apparently, and no unprovoked Hezbollah missiles.
- Another example of blame-the-occupation for everything bad that happens here. Do they not realize that their own homes in Tel Aviv and Haifa are considered by our enemies to be sitting on occupied land? Are these activists ready to ‘go back to Europe’ even if they are from Iraq, for example, or perhaps 6th-, 7th-, 8th-generation or more Israelis?
Given what the organization posted on FB after the ‘vigil,’ perhaps they really do regard the IDF as a Nazi force.
Final word
I will let Shai Glick, CEO of Betsalmo, have the last word. Betsalmo is a human rights organization operating in the spirit of Judaism.
Yesterday Shai wrote:
The morning when a soldier, a hero of Israel, Ron Epstein of Nesher, who fell in Gaza, was being placed in his final resting place, there was a disgraceful display in Haifa.
An exhibit arguing that IDF soldiers are murderers and war criminals is contemptible and should not be allowed to take place anywhere — not in Haifa, and not in any other place in the world.
Betsalmo will continue to fight to stop all incitement in Haifa and elsewhere.
Haifa is the capital of Israel’s north and we will not let delusional and confused [to put it nicely] individuals turn it into the capital of Palestine.
