I love Israel – that’s why I’m criticising it today

Palestinian protesters at Gaza border, 14 May

Daniel Sugarman wrote in the Jewish Chronicle, 15 May,”Growing up in North London, in the Jewish heartlands of Golders Green, I was something of a solitary child. It wasn’t that I had no friends, but I was perfectly happy in my own company. I would spend hours in the back garden kicking a football around, concocting scenarios of Cup Final glory. And then one day I looked over the fence and saw another boy, kicking a ball around on his own. At first I said nothing. But as we kicked our respective balls in our respective gardens, it struck me that it might be more fun to kick a ball around together. So I introduced myself. He was Israeli, and slightly older than me – maybe nine, I was about seven. Over the next few months, we played together on the weekends….They only lived next to us for a few months. Then they left, and I got on with my life, and they got on with theirs”….

“Until 2002. March 31, 2002. My friend, now 15, was sitting with his brother , now 18, and their father, in the Matza restaurant in Haifa. It was the height of the Second Intifada, and there had been a suicide bombing in the city just a few days before, …It was lunchtime, and the restaurant was busy. A man walked in. His name was Shadi Tubasi, and he was a member of Hamas. He was wearing an explosive device, which he detonated. He killed he killed my friend, his brother, their father and 13 others, and injured 40 more”…

Israeli soldiers prepare for protest

“I know that Hamas has orchestrated these attempts to breach the barrier. I know that Hamas has offered stipends to the families of those killed or wounded in these protests, in the same way that it gives stipends to the families of those who have died while carrying out terror attacks against Israelis. I understand why Israel cannot allow these protestors to cross the border. But every bullet Israel fires, every life Israel takes, makes this situation worse. There are ways to disperse crowds which do not include live fire. But the IDF has made an active choice to fire live rounds and kill scores of people”…

“I am a Zionist. I believe that the Jewish people have a right to a State in their historic homeland, Eretz Yisrael. I believe that the Palestinians have passed up a number of opportunities for peace, from 1948 right up until the present day. But I cannot defend Israel’s actions yesterday and today. I will not defend Israel’s actions yesterday and today…Scores more Palestinians will die today. If we do not speak up now, when will we?” (more…)