Haaretz tells Israelis, ‘It’s time to choose life over death’
December 18, 2024
by MEMO
Thousands of Israelis gathering with banners and Israel flags to protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for not signing the ceasefire agreement with Gaza in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 14, 2024
Thousands of Israelis gathering with banners and Israel flags to protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for not signing the ceasefire agreement with Gaza in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 14, 2024
[Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]
The self-declared “liberal and progressive” Israeli newspaper Haaretz is committed to “in-depth reporting and insightful analysis” of Israel’s domestic issues and international affairs. And despite it being founded by “Zionist immigrants” in Jerusalem in 1919, it is true to say that you can read criticism of the Zionist state and its leadership on its pages of a kind that would be self-censored by the so-called free press in the West.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that in what one reader has called a “courageous” editorial yesterday, Haaretz reminded its readers that what is being seen today in Gaza is “terrifying”, under a headline that proclaims: “Israel has reached a pivotal crossroads in Gaza. It’s time to choose life over death.”
It goes on to point out that, “Two million people in Gaza, the overwhelming majority of whom are innocent civilians, are witnessing one of the most dangerous humanitarian disasters in the world today.” This, said Haaretz, is because around “90 per cent of them have been displaced from their homes and are crowded into large tent cities, without sufficient food, clean water, health services, or means to face the winter.” All of this is happening while the Israeli army continues to bomb them killing “dozens” almost daily, “including many women and children.”
Most “Gazans” — the newspaper doesn’t describe them as Palestinians, despite its “liberal and progressive” credentials — “have lost their sense of personal security, honour, privacy, property and hope for the future. They have lost everything that makes human beings human.”
The editorial noted that “Israel created a ‘humanitarian zone’ where Gazans could flee to save their lives.” However, the IDF has recently intensified its bombing, even in the humanitarian zone, killing “dozens of civilians”. Indeed, said Haaretz, “Two days ago, the IDF admitted in response to a question from Haaretz that this isn’t a safe zone, but merely a ‘safer’ place than other parts of Gaza.”
According to the Israeli newspaper, “The bloody Netanyahu government, which dragged Israel into the worst disaster in its history, has also failed in this war — namely, in its ability to provide its citizens with security while complying with Israeli and international law and preserving Israel’s image and standing overseas and Israeli society’s moral backbone.”
Instead, said Haaretz, the government is relying on Israelis to accept “revenge, at the expense of tens of thousands of Gazan civilians as well as 100 Israeli hostages.” It calls out the “abysmal apathy” of “most Israelis” to the “disaster [that] the government is perpetrating in their name.” In a damning critique of Israeli society, it notes that, “On social media, thousands have even voiced joy over the terrible human suffering in Gaza.” The need to fight Hamas, it added, “cannot justify everything the IDF has done” in the coastal enclave.
The “pivotal crossroads” that Israel is now facing, concluded the editorial, is this: “One road would lead to the hostages’ deaths, more war crimes, a cycle of bloodshed and revenge, international isolation and a deep economic crisis. The other would lead to saving the hostages who are still alive, ending the war and starting the reconstruction of both Israel and Gaza. At this moment, the Israeli public must take to the streets and demand, using every nonviolent tactic possible, that the government choose the right road.”
READ: Stray dogs mauling bodies of lifeless Palestinians in northern Gaza amid Israeli assault, video shows
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
The self-declared “liberal and progressive” Israeli newspaper Haaretz is committed to “in-depth reporting and insightful analysis” of Israel’s domestic issues and international affairs. And despite it being founded by “Zionist immigrants” in Jerusalem in 1919, it is true to say that you can read criticism of the Zionist state and its leadership on its pages of a kind that would be self-censored by the so-called free press in the West.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that in what one reader has called a “courageous” editorial yesterday, Haaretz reminded its readers that what is being seen today in Gaza is “terrifying”, under a headline that proclaims: “Israel has reached a pivotal crossroads in Gaza. It’s time to choose life over death.”
It goes on to point out that, “Two million people in Gaza, the overwhelming majority of whom are innocent civilians, are witnessing one of the most dangerous humanitarian disasters in the world today.” This, said Haaretz, is because around “90 per cent of them have been displaced from their homes and are crowded into large tent cities, without sufficient food, clean water, health services, or means to face the winter.” All of this is happening while the Israeli army continues to bomb them killing “dozens” almost daily, “including many women and children.”
Most “Gazans” — the newspaper doesn’t describe them as Palestinians, despite its “liberal and progressive” credentials — “have lost their sense of personal security, honour, privacy, property and hope for the future. They have lost everything that makes human beings human.”
The editorial noted that “Israel created a ‘humanitarian zone’ where Gazans could flee to save their lives.” However, the IDF has recently intensified its bombing, even in the humanitarian zone, killing “dozens of civilians”. Indeed, said Haaretz, “Two days ago, the IDF admitted in response to a question from Haaretz that this isn’t a safe zone, but merely a ‘safer’ place than other parts of Gaza.”
According to the Israeli newspaper, “The bloody Netanyahu government, which dragged Israel into the worst disaster in its history, has also failed in this war — namely, in its ability to provide its citizens with security while complying with Israeli and international law and preserving Israel’s image and standing overseas and Israeli society’s moral backbone.”
Instead, said Haaretz, the government is relying on Israelis to accept “revenge, at the expense of tens of thousands of Gazan civilians as well as 100 Israeli hostages.” It calls out the “abysmal apathy” of “most Israelis” to the “disaster [that] the government is perpetrating in their name.” In a damning critique of Israeli society, it notes that, “On social media, thousands have even voiced joy over the terrible human suffering in Gaza.” The need to fight Hamas, it added, “cannot justify everything the IDF has done” in the coastal enclave.
The “pivotal crossroads” that Israel is now facing, concluded the editorial, is this: “One road would lead to the hostages’ deaths, more war crimes, a cycle of bloodshed and revenge, international isolation and a deep economic crisis. The other would lead to saving the hostages who are still alive, ending the war and starting the reconstruction of both Israel and Gaza. At this moment, the Israeli public must take to the streets and demand, using every nonviolent tactic possible, that the government choose the right road.”
READ: Stray dogs mauling bodies of lifeless Palestinians in northern Gaza amid Israeli assault, video shows
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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