When Roger Waters Cried
By Gideon Levy
August 16, 2022:
Information Clearing House --
Roger Waters cried Wednesday. It was on his Twitter page, as he read, on
camera, an essay he had read on the Mondoweiss news website the night
before. It was about a boy from the Gaza Strip.
“I really wish I could rest, or have some psychologist help
me like other people in the world who suffer wars,” said Mohammed. “No one
during or after the war asks me or my family ‘How are you doing?’”
He’s the family breadwinner, a boy of 13. And only his
crying,
wrote Tareq Hajjaj, “melts the manly shield” he is forced to wear. “I do
not want my mother to suffer like the mothers of the kids who were killed,”
the boy sobbed.
Mohammed wished he could have grown up somewhere else, where
he would only die “when his body is fully grown,” Hajjaj wrote. And this is
where Waters could no longer restrain his tears and burst out crying. No
decent person could remain indifferent to the sight of the musician’s tears.
Waters, the great man of conscience
But for Israelis, this
was a performance from a different
planet. They have a thousand defense
mechanisms against Waters’ tears. Let’s
even assume that Waters really is an
“antisemite” and “someone who hates
Israel” – which he isn’t. But crying
over a boy from Gaza? What about
the children of Sderot?
Has any Israeli shed
tears for a boy from Gaza? Are many
Israelis even aware of what happened to
children in Gaza during those three days
of colossal success that deluged Israel
in waves of pride and self-satisfaction
such as we haven’t seen here in a long
time? There hasn’t been a success like
this since Israel’s victory in the 1967
Six-Day War. Another few days of
fighting and there would even be albums.
Only the death of Zili, a
Border Police dog, in Nablus – which
garnered a front-page headline in the
Yedioth Ahronoth daily, along with his
funeral, the tears, the grave, the
eulogies and the official statement of
mourning by the prime minister – weighed
a bit on the intoxicating mood of
victory. It wasn’t disturbed for a
second by the scenes from Gaza, because
scenes from Gaza were never shown here.
Never before has there been such a
sterile killing operation here. The
Israeli media showed nothing this time,
absolutely nothing.
This was one of the most
corrupting operations in Israel’s history.
Instead of being priced at a steep discount,
like its predecessors in Gaza,
it was completely free. Not a drop of
Israeli blood, not a single destroyed home
and no condemnations from the world, not
even lame ones. With a zero cost like this,
the appetite for further operations will
obviously grow. In Nablus on Tuesday, it
would at least have been possible to argue
about the results.
The usual arrogance was
accompanied this time by the addictive
feeling of a sweet, easy victory. Just bring
us more wars at rock-bottom prices. After
all, no one was killed and almost no homes
were damaged in last weekend’s Operation
Breaking Dawn.
But it’s impossible to ignore
another factor that fed these feelings of
victory. This time, the operation was
launched
by the good Israelis. They’re the ones
in power now. Look at how they embarked on
this war, with flying colors.
Consequently, this was the
most political war Israel has ever fought.
The right was united; it can never utter a
word of criticism about killing Arabs. The
center-left was bursting with pride – what a
success, what management, what daring. The
flattery for the operation’s commanders –
Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense
Minister Benny Gantz, who are two of "our
own" – ran overtime.
Yossi Verter
described how Lapid’s wardrobe changed
due to this success. His “empty suit has
been filled,” he wrote understatedly. And
the next day he added, “Without a doubt,
this is a feather in the cap” for Lapid (Haaretz,
August 8). The suit that was filled (with
blood) and the feather in the cap are the
real spoils of this war, which ended in “a
dream for Israel.” A dream of war.
Verter was soon followed by
Uri Misgav, who shed all the disguises. The
real victory picture from this war, he
wrote, was that of Lapid briefing opposition
leader Benjamin Netanyahu (Haaretz in
Hebrew, August 7). It was worth going to war
for this victory picture. For Misgav and his
ilk, nothing could be sweeter.
Roger Waters cried. “What is
wrong with the fucking Israelis? What is
wrong with them?” he asked, in anger and
despair. I just wish I knew how to answer
him. Views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Reader financed- No
Advertising - No Government Grants -
No Algorithm - This
Is Independent
Registration is not necessary to post comments.
We ask only that you do not use obscene or offensive
language. Please be respectful of others.
|
|
Search
Information Clearing House
|
The views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
|
