Yes, I have heard these criticisms of Breaking the Silence from other Israeli dissidents. I remember reading in “Eichmann in Jerusalem” how some high ranking SS officers refused to cooperate with Eichmann in his organization of the final solution. Other accounts show other SS officers refused to cooperate with the Einsatzgruppen. Maybe this showed a small spark of what was left of the humanity in these officers, but they never renounced the murderous organization they belonged to with its racist and supremacist goals. If a person find the actions of colleagues repugnant and immoral, maybe they should have never participated in that organization in the first place. While Breaking the Silence has provided some useful information, I have much more respect for the young Israelis who have the moral conscience to refuse to serve in the first place, and end up in prison and treated as pariahs in their own society.
Spot on Avigail. I can empathise with those who refuse to serve or refuse to fire but those who murder then feel guilt can rot in hell for all I care. A reckoning will come for these criminals and their enablers in the West. They are a cursed poison upon this earth and deserve the hell that awaits them 😶👍💚🇵🇸
Their cheap guilt won't undo their monstrous crimes. More than words are needed to make up for the crimes of Zionism. And those who support Zionism while feeling guilty about genocidal conduct that is inseparable from it are at best naïve and ignorant, at worst dishonest or disingenuous.
Saying sorry for an accident or mistake one has caused may be worthwhile and some mitigation. Saying sorry for something one chose to do is not, whether it is made to an actual human being or to a mythical entity.
Lol, just absorbed your title after reading your fitful fury of a piece on faux regret.
Shoot first.
Don’t ask questions.
Shoot again.
Laugh and post it on un$ocial media.
Ahhh, what have I done, cry about it.
I see you made reference to the Nazi era. That cannot have been easy.
I am always very careful not to make light or casual comparisons to the Nazi crimes as they were so bad, so, so cruel and depraved and on an industrial scale.
Yet, in many ways the 100 year war on Palestine is worse, it’s gone of much longer and has many aspects and new and insanely twisted, cruel and sadistic crimes that just seem to keep strengthening and deepening day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.
It’s truly horrific to watch and read about the Zionist genocide on Gaza and the West Bank.
“They are war criminals and they are as guilty as hell.”
This pretty much says it all.
You’re all murderers.
Plain and simple.
“For sins committed against fellow humans, God grants no absolution. Those seeking forgiveness must approach the very people they have wronged, because only they have the power to grant it.”
This needs to be a human law.
These confessing soldiers need to seek absolution from those they are trying to obliterate from the face of the planet.
I fear the crime of genocide is unforgivable, it is too great a crime.
SO must destruction,
SO many killed.
How will Israel and Israeli people ever be able to show penance, sorrow for what they have done.
How will they repent?
How do you atone for 100 years of killing, destruction, pain, suffering and dispossession?
Merriam-Webster definitions help, see below.
Definition of absolution - the act of forgiving someone for having done something wrong or sinful : the act of absolving someone or the state of being absolved.
Definition of absolved - to set (someone) free from an obligation or the consequences of guilt. And -
to pardon or forgive (a sin).
Definition of penance - an act of self-abasement, mortification or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin.
Definition of repentance - the action or process of repenting especially for misdeeds or moral shortcomings.
Definition of repenting - to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life. To cause to feel regret or contrition. To feel sorrow, regret, or contrition for.
Definition of contrition -
the state of being contrite.
Definition of contrite - feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for improper or objectionable behavior, actions.
Definition of remorse -
a gnawing distress arising from a sense of guilt for past wrongs.
Definition of guilt -
the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty.
The state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously.
A feeling of deserving blame for offences.
Definition of atone -
to make amends : to provide or serve as reparation or compensation for something bad or unwelcome
Thanks for your comment and the many definitions of words like guilt, remorse, contrition, atonement, etc.
I didn’t find it difficult to compare what Israel does to the Nazis. I don’t know why that would be difficult…
I was brought up in Israel to see the entire German nation as guilty and complicit in the crimes of the Nazi regime. By the same logic, I see the entire Israeli population complicit in settler-colonialism and genocide. (The only Jewish Israeli citizens who do not share in the guilt are those who actively and openly oppose settler-colonialism and Zionism, and I know what a small minority they are). Like Nazi Germany, Israel’s soldiers are regular members of the public, not career soldiers or mercenaries. Israel’s military is entirely made out of Israel’s population, so the guilt is not just by association, it is quite direct. If I know anything about genocide and how to think about the relationship between regimes and the people and their respective populations is because I learned about it in Israel. That country just never thought that some of us would apply what we learned more broadly and that we can generalise. Israel has always viewed itself as exceptional and has an ‘specialness complex’ as I have always called it. There is a stubborn refusal to accept that Jews are just human beings and they are prone to anything and everything that human beings are prone to. Have you seen the photos of those Palestinian prisoners released from prison in Israel (most, if not all of whom are guilty of nothing except being Palestinian)? Have you seen the burnt star of David on the face of one and the numbers burned into the forehead of others? What the hell is this? I am sure you know about the rape of that male Palestinian, and how the population reacted to it; how it was discussed in the Knesset. It is time Israel stops seeing itself as different and exceptional and own up to the fact that as a settler-colonialist society bent on eliminating the Palestinians, they are among the most horrid life forms in humanity. The comparison with Nazi Germany is really easy to make and very very appropriate.
The entire German nation was indeed guilty and complicit. The only ones whom I would exempt are the handful who actively fought against their own wretched society. Most of these were leftists; a few were religious. And the first concentration camps were built to oppress left-wing opponents of the fascist régime.
Likewise, as you said, the entire settler-colonial population occupying Palestine, other than the very few who actively oppose Zionism, is guilty and complicit in the crime that is Zionism. And the US population, except the tiny number who actively oppose US imperialism (not just select imperialist acts), is guilty and complicit in the US’s large catalogue of crimes.
The Zionist entity is Nazi Germany transplanted to occupied Palestine. Strong and perfectly valid comparisons exist.
Not for nothing was the apartheid régime occupying Azania (colonially «South Africa») one of the closest allies of the Zionist entity. Indeed, top Zionist leaders in the early 1940s tried to negotiate an alliance with fascist Germany to gain its support for the Zionist project.
What you call a specialness complex is known, as applied to the US, as American exceptionalism. The Zionists do the very same thing, elevating one group of people (arbitrarily defined) above others. But there is nothing exceptional about genocide: it has been practised in the Western Hemisphere, Palestine, Australia, Indonesia, and elsewhere. It is a horrific crime no matter which group it happens to favour.
One of your best Avigail. I wasn't aware of this organization. How presumptuous of Israeli Jews and what a horrible face for their nation and religion. I really do not think Israelis should be allowed to enter other countries. They have their place, let them live and die there.
There is no Zionism without Jewish-supremacist genocide. I fully agree that those former soldiers of the Zionist army who continue to endorse Zionism are in denial about this basic fact.
I would advise Hind Rajab not to forgive any member of the Zionist army of criminals. Many people believe that the deaths of Rajab and others are nothing but «collateral damage», the unintended consequences of legitimate warfare. They are not: Zionism has always had as its goal to purge Palestine of its indigenous population through murder, expulsion, or «voluntary» departure. And that is one point on which I disagree with Isaac: the world has seen the Zionist genocide not «[f]or the last year» but for the last century.
If the international institutions have any meaning, and it is questionable for how long, we cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
To know more about The Hind Rajab Foundation, you might find meaningful to watch the interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland for the crime of speaking about Palestinian rights::
The vanilla Protestantism that was forced on me in childhood postulates that the sacrifice of the alleged Jesus brought forgiveness for all subsequent sins of believers. Even as a child, I did not understand how wrong could be forgiven in advance. It would seem to be an invitation for depravity: knowing that all was forgiven, one could do any amount of wrong.
Of course, Christianity is really Judaism 2.0, and the Christian idea of sacrificing a living being for absolution is Jewish in origin.
I hope this group meets your approval. I like what I have seen so far:
Combatants for Peace
The world needs to see that humanity persists, that there is another way, and that despite everything, we will not stop fighting for a future built on dignity, justice, and peace for all. We can't do this alone and your support is crucial.
Amid the ongoing devastation in Gaza, we are here to say: the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Ceremony will take place this year. We will not bow to those who seek to silence us.
Every contribution goes directly toward production, logistics, and, most importantly, ensuring the safety and security of all participants and guests.
The ceremony is live streamed on 29th April 2025 at 8:30pm Jerusalem time. You can register online:
Salient comment regarding Breaking the Silence. There is a very mixed bag of bet hedging involved in the testimonies as you suggest.
And having been to what is called Israel and worked with and for Israelis, I have long been aware of the psychopathic levels of mental illness in State, society, culture and most Israelis. They do not hide their hatred and fanaticism. They never did. And that is why now, as they commit one of the worst genocides in human history they openly boast, gloat and rejoice in their atrocities.
Those who are devoid of humanity, common human decency and conscience can do anything and will do anything, particularly if they have been allowed to get away with such evil for three generations as is the case for those who call themselves Israelis.
A normal human being, and soldiers with some respect for the rules of war, would have taken Hind Rajab and comforted and cared for her and then handed her over to the ambulance crew when they arrived. Why would they not? Because they are not normal human beings and their hate is so great that tormenting and then murdering a terrified small child delighted them.
The sickness at the heart, no, there is no heart, at the centre of what is called Israel is too evil to be cured and the rot can only be cut out in a complete eradication of the State of Hate called Zionist Israel.
What is hard to understand is why so many Jews, probably most, have not just supported Israel in 76 years of bestial atrocities but funded, enabled and cheered it on when everything the State is, does, did, believes, promotes is the opposite of Judaic teachings. Israel is anti-semitism writ large which is not surprising since the Zionists were atheists and many Israelis who call themselves Jews are not Jews because they are atheists and they hate the religion and its teachings.
Jews are accountable even if not responsible for Israel because their religion has funded and promoted it.
The settler population, realistcally considered, is forced to enlist in the colonial army of oppression. Exemptions for Orthodox students at yeshivoth are being eliminated. Settlers who refuse to enlist are sent to prison and are subject to discrimination in everyday life: they may struggle to find a job or even a place to live.
In addition, settlers are indoctrinated to believe that they should serve in the Zionist army and advance its allegedly noble mission.
So not everyone who enlists does so out of a commitment to the Zionist project. And even our brilliant and insightful Avigail was in her twenties when she turned against Zionism. But I don't excuse people who confess their crimes as agents of the Zionist entity while maintaining a commitment to its goals.
Sorry Scott, but I disagree with you. The ‘settler’ population loves serving in the military and do so willingly. You may be confusing different Orthodox communities here. The ‘settlers’ (euphemism for colonisers) are staunch Zionists and are at the forefront of the Zionist project, albeit with Messianic aspirations, which makes them even more dangerous than ‘secular’ Zionists.
Many among the Israeli military’s top brass are from that community. You might be thinking of the ultra orthodox, the ones called ‘blacks’ in Israel because of their traditional black dress. The ‘settlers’ are known for their ‘knitted yarmulkas’ (not the black cloth ones), and more casual dress. They are military-trained and get to keep weapons at home to protect their colonies. They are very closely involved with the military. In Israel no one can buy weapons like submachine guns or pistols. These are all military regulated, and issued.
It used to be that religious people could refuse to serve and choose to do national service instead. But this exemption—called the ‘status quo’—which was a result of a historical, informal agreement between Rabbi Cook and Ben-Gurion, has been voted out more recently, which is difficult for the ultra orthodox. But from what I hear, many even from that community are joining the military quite willingly. Those who don’t want to, are probably leaving the country. The Neturei Karta (also black dress) don’t take Israeli citizenship, and are openly anti-Zionist. You’ll see them in demos around the world. They are considered traitors, and are a hated minority in Israel.
Either way, the ‘settler’ population always served willingly and enthusiastically. All the food in the military is Kosher, and there are other regulations to accommodate religious soldiers.
It’s not unusual for people outside Israel to confuse the different religious groups, but when you grow up there you know exactly who’s who.
Overwhelmingly, yes, the settler-colonial population enthusiastically supports the army and is happy to take part in its settler-colonial enterprise. You yourself have mentioned being eager to enlist when you were young.
But participation is compulsory, and there are a few—far fewer than 1%—who refuse for different reasons. There must be others who join against their will, just to avoid legal oppression and social exclusion. I agree that even most of these support Zionism and its military arm.
I understand that the compulsion extends even to illegal practices, such as asking about completion of military service during interviews for civilian jobs. The message is clear: don't even think about not joining the army.
I don't know much about the various Jewish religious movements in occupied Palestine. The Neturei Karta, as I understand, do agree that the Zionist project is an unacceptable abuse of the Palestinians, but their primary reason for opposing Zionism is the religious view—with much support in the Bible—that God drove the Israëlites out of Palestine long ago because of their misconduct and that it is sacrilege for Jews to force their way back against divine will. They are aggressively anti-Zionist and, yes, are widely hated within the Zionist entity occupying Palestine.
By the way, I use «settlers» for the entire settler-colonial population, including various Russian and other non-Jews who have been brought in as a garrison population to promote the occupation of Palestine. I don't use it just for people who establish «settlements» in the occupied West Bank.
The military units that are carry out the genocide in Gaza and most of the work in the West Bank are not based on the young 18-21 year-old enlisted lot who are doing their compulsory service, but on the milu’im (reserve) which is very different from the reserve in other countries.
When I wrote «forced to enlist», I did not mean that the people went unwillingly (they do not, in the main), but that there is a legal and even a social obligation to join the army. In many countries, such as Canada, joining the army is by no means required or expected, and most people do not do so.
Any military which is the result of a society brainwashed from birth for three generations in lies and propaganda and a belief the native people of the land you have taken are subhuman and deserve to be killed, must by its nature be psychopathic. How many Israelis, given the level of brainwashing from birth can even made a fact-based, rational and reasoned decision about joining the military?
When a society is devoid of humanity, conscience, integrity, morality and ethics toward others because they follow different religions, then it is at core evil and cannot be saved from itself.
Social pressure is force and there is massive social pressure in Israel not just to enlist and kill non-Jews, but to eradicate every last Palestinian and until that happens, deny them their rights.
Another brilliant, unflinching piece that should be shared and read widely.
Thank you. I am angry and heartbroken.
Me, too. I just don't know what to do with myself anymore.
I write, and I feel, and I write.
I write with increasing assertiveness. This is no time for the language of the parlour.
I can’t even write anymore but I do produce little Instagram videos - I talk, and I feel, and I talk, I guess…
You are not silent. And I pray, in my own way…
Yes, I have heard these criticisms of Breaking the Silence from other Israeli dissidents. I remember reading in “Eichmann in Jerusalem” how some high ranking SS officers refused to cooperate with Eichmann in his organization of the final solution. Other accounts show other SS officers refused to cooperate with the Einsatzgruppen. Maybe this showed a small spark of what was left of the humanity in these officers, but they never renounced the murderous organization they belonged to with its racist and supremacist goals. If a person find the actions of colleagues repugnant and immoral, maybe they should have never participated in that organization in the first place. While Breaking the Silence has provided some useful information, I have much more respect for the young Israelis who have the moral conscience to refuse to serve in the first place, and end up in prison and treated as pariahs in their own society.
Me too, or those who left and are actively working to oppose Israeli settler-colonialism and for Palestinian human rights.
Yes, brave souls like yourself, Alon Mizrahi, Shir Hever, Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim and others.
🙏🏼
Spot on Avigail. I can empathise with those who refuse to serve or refuse to fire but those who murder then feel guilt can rot in hell for all I care. A reckoning will come for these criminals and their enablers in the West. They are a cursed poison upon this earth and deserve the hell that awaits them 😶👍💚🇵🇸
Their cheap guilt won't undo their monstrous crimes. More than words are needed to make up for the crimes of Zionism. And those who support Zionism while feeling guilty about genocidal conduct that is inseparable from it are at best naïve and ignorant, at worst dishonest or disingenuous.
Saying sorry for an accident or mistake one has caused may be worthwhile and some mitigation. Saying sorry for something one chose to do is not, whether it is made to an actual human being or to a mythical entity.
Lol, just absorbed your title after reading your fitful fury of a piece on faux regret.
Shoot first.
Don’t ask questions.
Shoot again.
Laugh and post it on un$ocial media.
Ahhh, what have I done, cry about it.
I see you made reference to the Nazi era. That cannot have been easy.
I am always very careful not to make light or casual comparisons to the Nazi crimes as they were so bad, so, so cruel and depraved and on an industrial scale.
Yet, in many ways the 100 year war on Palestine is worse, it’s gone of much longer and has many aspects and new and insanely twisted, cruel and sadistic crimes that just seem to keep strengthening and deepening day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.
It’s truly horrific to watch and read about the Zionist genocide on Gaza and the West Bank.
“They are war criminals and they are as guilty as hell.”
This pretty much says it all.
You’re all murderers.
Plain and simple.
“For sins committed against fellow humans, God grants no absolution. Those seeking forgiveness must approach the very people they have wronged, because only they have the power to grant it.”
This needs to be a human law.
These confessing soldiers need to seek absolution from those they are trying to obliterate from the face of the planet.
I fear the crime of genocide is unforgivable, it is too great a crime.
SO must destruction,
SO many killed.
How will Israel and Israeli people ever be able to show penance, sorrow for what they have done.
How will they repent?
How do you atone for 100 years of killing, destruction, pain, suffering and dispossession?
Merriam-Webster definitions help, see below.
Definition of absolution - the act of forgiving someone for having done something wrong or sinful : the act of absolving someone or the state of being absolved.
Definition of absolved - to set (someone) free from an obligation or the consequences of guilt. And -
to pardon or forgive (a sin).
Definition of penance - an act of self-abasement, mortification or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin.
Definition of repentance - the action or process of repenting especially for misdeeds or moral shortcomings.
Definition of repenting - to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life. To cause to feel regret or contrition. To feel sorrow, regret, or contrition for.
Definition of contrition -
the state of being contrite.
Definition of contrite - feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for improper or objectionable behavior, actions.
Definition of remorse -
a gnawing distress arising from a sense of guilt for past wrongs.
Definition of guilt -
the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty.
The state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously.
A feeling of deserving blame for offences.
Definition of atone -
to make amends : to provide or serve as reparation or compensation for something bad or unwelcome
Thanks for your comment and the many definitions of words like guilt, remorse, contrition, atonement, etc.
I didn’t find it difficult to compare what Israel does to the Nazis. I don’t know why that would be difficult…
I was brought up in Israel to see the entire German nation as guilty and complicit in the crimes of the Nazi regime. By the same logic, I see the entire Israeli population complicit in settler-colonialism and genocide. (The only Jewish Israeli citizens who do not share in the guilt are those who actively and openly oppose settler-colonialism and Zionism, and I know what a small minority they are). Like Nazi Germany, Israel’s soldiers are regular members of the public, not career soldiers or mercenaries. Israel’s military is entirely made out of Israel’s population, so the guilt is not just by association, it is quite direct. If I know anything about genocide and how to think about the relationship between regimes and the people and their respective populations is because I learned about it in Israel. That country just never thought that some of us would apply what we learned more broadly and that we can generalise. Israel has always viewed itself as exceptional and has an ‘specialness complex’ as I have always called it. There is a stubborn refusal to accept that Jews are just human beings and they are prone to anything and everything that human beings are prone to. Have you seen the photos of those Palestinian prisoners released from prison in Israel (most, if not all of whom are guilty of nothing except being Palestinian)? Have you seen the burnt star of David on the face of one and the numbers burned into the forehead of others? What the hell is this? I am sure you know about the rape of that male Palestinian, and how the population reacted to it; how it was discussed in the Knesset. It is time Israel stops seeing itself as different and exceptional and own up to the fact that as a settler-colonialist society bent on eliminating the Palestinians, they are among the most horrid life forms in humanity. The comparison with Nazi Germany is really easy to make and very very appropriate.
The entire German nation was indeed guilty and complicit. The only ones whom I would exempt are the handful who actively fought against their own wretched society. Most of these were leftists; a few were religious. And the first concentration camps were built to oppress left-wing opponents of the fascist régime.
Likewise, as you said, the entire settler-colonial population occupying Palestine, other than the very few who actively oppose Zionism, is guilty and complicit in the crime that is Zionism. And the US population, except the tiny number who actively oppose US imperialism (not just select imperialist acts), is guilty and complicit in the US’s large catalogue of crimes.
The Zionist entity is Nazi Germany transplanted to occupied Palestine. Strong and perfectly valid comparisons exist.
Not for nothing was the apartheid régime occupying Azania (colonially «South Africa») one of the closest allies of the Zionist entity. Indeed, top Zionist leaders in the early 1940s tried to negotiate an alliance with fascist Germany to gain its support for the Zionist project.
What you call a specialness complex is known, as applied to the US, as American exceptionalism. The Zionists do the very same thing, elevating one group of people (arbitrarily defined) above others. But there is nothing exceptional about genocide: it has been practised in the Western Hemisphere, Palestine, Australia, Indonesia, and elsewhere. It is a horrific crime no matter which group it happens to favour.
Those soldiers do this, because they can. They can commit crimes with total impunity and then expect praise because they had a sad afterwards.
Microsoft workers oppose ties with Israel.
Take action with us — and support the Microsoft workers organizing to cut the company’s ties with Israel’s military
https://act.mpowerchange.org/go/71588?t=3&akid=10199%2E809623%2EH7UcG5
Microsoft and other tech partners, like Google and Amazon, are helping redefine the ugly underbelly of U.S. technology’s use in war.
We’ve set up a digital action where you can send emails to Microsoft leadership, including AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, with just a few clicks.
And let’s tell Google to stop weaponizing AI, and to cut ties with Israel.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-google-stop-using-your-ai-for-genocide-apartheid-and-border-violence?source=mc_GoogleNext_2025_04_10
One of your best Avigail. I wasn't aware of this organization. How presumptuous of Israeli Jews and what a horrible face for their nation and religion. I really do not think Israelis should be allowed to enter other countries. They have their place, let them live and die there.
Thank you. It’s all very grim. Israelis might well find soon enough that they cannot go to many places because of arrest warrants for warcrimes.
There is no Zionism without Jewish-supremacist genocide. I fully agree that those former soldiers of the Zionist army who continue to endorse Zionism are in denial about this basic fact.
Jewishness the way Zionism has hijacked it and redefined it.
I would advise Hind Rajab not to forgive any member of the Zionist army of criminals. Many people believe that the deaths of Rajab and others are nothing but «collateral damage», the unintended consequences of legitimate warfare. They are not: Zionism has always had as its goal to purge Palestine of its indigenous population through murder, expulsion, or «voluntary» departure. And that is one point on which I disagree with Isaac: the world has seen the Zionist genocide not «[f]or the last year» but for the last century.
If the international institutions have any meaning, and it is questionable for how long, we cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/perpetrators/hind-rajab-foundation-files-historic-icc-complaint-against-1000-israeli-soldiers-for-war-crimes-in-gaza
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
https://buy.stripe.com/cN228hbY5g7jaM84gg
To know more about The Hind Rajab Foundation, you might find meaningful to watch the interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland for the crime of speaking about Palestinian rights::
https://chng.it/8D4pkxPhWS
Please sign the petition and share widely.
The vanilla Protestantism that was forced on me in childhood postulates that the sacrifice of the alleged Jesus brought forgiveness for all subsequent sins of believers. Even as a child, I did not understand how wrong could be forgiven in advance. It would seem to be an invitation for depravity: knowing that all was forgiven, one could do any amount of wrong.
Of course, Christianity is really Judaism 2.0, and the Christian idea of sacrificing a living being for absolution is Jewish in origin.
I hope this group meets your approval. I like what I have seen so far:
Combatants for Peace
The world needs to see that humanity persists, that there is another way, and that despite everything, we will not stop fighting for a future built on dignity, justice, and peace for all. We can't do this alone and your support is crucial.
Amid the ongoing devastation in Gaza, we are here to say: the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Ceremony will take place this year. We will not bow to those who seek to silence us.
Every contribution goes directly toward production, logistics, and, most importantly, ensuring the safety and security of all participants and guests.
The ceremony is live streamed on 29th April 2025 at 8:30pm Jerusalem time. You can register online:
https://form.jotform.com/250713298885065
You can support them here:
https://www.drove.com/campaign/67e136ebc7b99f39b8ccd657?emci=524b798a-ce0f-f011-90cd-0022482a9fb7&emdi=c73421bf-da0f-f011-90cd-0022482a9fb7&ceid=13999075
Free Rumeysa Ozturk. Tufts PhD student snatched from the street by unidentified, masked men, from HHS/ICE.
https://actionnetwork.org/forms/free-rumeysa-ozturk/?source=group-just-strategy&referrer=group-just-strategy&redirect=https://secure.actblue.com/donate/nc4j_free_ozturk&link_id=3&can_id=a707410023f29d0530df1e255f3edf18&email_referrer=email_2694599&&&email_subject=speaking-out-is-not-a-crime-stop-the-deportation-of-rumeysa-ozturk&refcodeEmailReferrer=email_2694599
Tell Universities: Protect Student Rights, Reject Trump's Order
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/protectstudents?source=direct_link
Salient comment regarding Breaking the Silence. There is a very mixed bag of bet hedging involved in the testimonies as you suggest.
And having been to what is called Israel and worked with and for Israelis, I have long been aware of the psychopathic levels of mental illness in State, society, culture and most Israelis. They do not hide their hatred and fanaticism. They never did. And that is why now, as they commit one of the worst genocides in human history they openly boast, gloat and rejoice in their atrocities.
Those who are devoid of humanity, common human decency and conscience can do anything and will do anything, particularly if they have been allowed to get away with such evil for three generations as is the case for those who call themselves Israelis.
A normal human being, and soldiers with some respect for the rules of war, would have taken Hind Rajab and comforted and cared for her and then handed her over to the ambulance crew when they arrived. Why would they not? Because they are not normal human beings and their hate is so great that tormenting and then murdering a terrified small child delighted them.
The sickness at the heart, no, there is no heart, at the centre of what is called Israel is too evil to be cured and the rot can only be cut out in a complete eradication of the State of Hate called Zionist Israel.
What is hard to understand is why so many Jews, probably most, have not just supported Israel in 76 years of bestial atrocities but funded, enabled and cheered it on when everything the State is, does, did, believes, promotes is the opposite of Judaic teachings. Israel is anti-semitism writ large which is not surprising since the Zionists were atheists and many Israelis who call themselves Jews are not Jews because they are atheists and they hate the religion and its teachings.
Jews are accountable even if not responsible for Israel because their religion has funded and promoted it.
The settler population, realistcally considered, is forced to enlist in the colonial army of oppression. Exemptions for Orthodox students at yeshivoth are being eliminated. Settlers who refuse to enlist are sent to prison and are subject to discrimination in everyday life: they may struggle to find a job or even a place to live.
In addition, settlers are indoctrinated to believe that they should serve in the Zionist army and advance its allegedly noble mission.
So not everyone who enlists does so out of a commitment to the Zionist project. And even our brilliant and insightful Avigail was in her twenties when she turned against Zionism. But I don't excuse people who confess their crimes as agents of the Zionist entity while maintaining a commitment to its goals.
Sorry Scott, but I disagree with you. The ‘settler’ population loves serving in the military and do so willingly. You may be confusing different Orthodox communities here. The ‘settlers’ (euphemism for colonisers) are staunch Zionists and are at the forefront of the Zionist project, albeit with Messianic aspirations, which makes them even more dangerous than ‘secular’ Zionists.
Many among the Israeli military’s top brass are from that community. You might be thinking of the ultra orthodox, the ones called ‘blacks’ in Israel because of their traditional black dress. The ‘settlers’ are known for their ‘knitted yarmulkas’ (not the black cloth ones), and more casual dress. They are military-trained and get to keep weapons at home to protect their colonies. They are very closely involved with the military. In Israel no one can buy weapons like submachine guns or pistols. These are all military regulated, and issued.
It used to be that religious people could refuse to serve and choose to do national service instead. But this exemption—called the ‘status quo’—which was a result of a historical, informal agreement between Rabbi Cook and Ben-Gurion, has been voted out more recently, which is difficult for the ultra orthodox. But from what I hear, many even from that community are joining the military quite willingly. Those who don’t want to, are probably leaving the country. The Neturei Karta (also black dress) don’t take Israeli citizenship, and are openly anti-Zionist. You’ll see them in demos around the world. They are considered traitors, and are a hated minority in Israel.
Either way, the ‘settler’ population always served willingly and enthusiastically. All the food in the military is Kosher, and there are other regulations to accommodate religious soldiers.
It’s not unusual for people outside Israel to confuse the different religious groups, but when you grow up there you know exactly who’s who.
Overwhelmingly, yes, the settler-colonial population enthusiastically supports the army and is happy to take part in its settler-colonial enterprise. You yourself have mentioned being eager to enlist when you were young.
But participation is compulsory, and there are a few—far fewer than 1%—who refuse for different reasons. There must be others who join against their will, just to avoid legal oppression and social exclusion. I agree that even most of these support Zionism and its military arm.
I understand that the compulsion extends even to illegal practices, such as asking about completion of military service during interviews for civilian jobs. The message is clear: don't even think about not joining the army.
I don't know much about the various Jewish religious movements in occupied Palestine. The Neturei Karta, as I understand, do agree that the Zionist project is an unacceptable abuse of the Palestinians, but their primary reason for opposing Zionism is the religious view—with much support in the Bible—that God drove the Israëlites out of Palestine long ago because of their misconduct and that it is sacrilege for Jews to force their way back against divine will. They are aggressively anti-Zionist and, yes, are widely hated within the Zionist entity occupying Palestine.
By the way, I use «settlers» for the entire settler-colonial population, including various Russian and other non-Jews who have been brought in as a garrison population to promote the occupation of Palestine. I don't use it just for people who establish «settlements» in the occupied West Bank.
The military units that are carry out the genocide in Gaza and most of the work in the West Bank are not based on the young 18-21 year-old enlisted lot who are doing their compulsory service, but on the milu’im (reserve) which is very different from the reserve in other countries.
When I wrote «forced to enlist», I did not mean that the people went unwillingly (they do not, in the main), but that there is a legal and even a social obligation to join the army. In many countries, such as Canada, joining the army is by no means required or expected, and most people do not do so.
You might find this article interesting. It doesn’t speak about this point directly but explains something about how things work in Israel in regards to the military. https://www.972mag.com/israeli-army-refusal-crisis-gaza-war/
Any military which is the result of a society brainwashed from birth for three generations in lies and propaganda and a belief the native people of the land you have taken are subhuman and deserve to be killed, must by its nature be psychopathic. How many Israelis, given the level of brainwashing from birth can even made a fact-based, rational and reasoned decision about joining the military?
When a society is devoid of humanity, conscience, integrity, morality and ethics toward others because they follow different religions, then it is at core evil and cannot be saved from itself.
Social pressure is force and there is massive social pressure in Israel not just to enlist and kill non-Jews, but to eradicate every last Palestinian and until that happens, deny them their rights.