"...but we were wrong." Eli Goldschmidt speaks

Editorial note: One instinctively recoils from thinking that something good might have come out of the horror of 7 October. The problem is not that something like this might be true, but that such a thought could cross one's mind. It is easy to stand one's ground on a hill, holding the banner of truth aloft against all assailants. It is much more difficult when the assailant is the one holding the banner. Five days ago, Yishai Fleischer uploaded a video commentary of former Member of Knesset Eli Goldschmidt revealing his soul. No doubt, it is a story churning within the souls of many Jews. I have no alternative but to agree with Goldschmidt that we have October 7 to thank for this.

I said in my last post that I was mistaken, and many of my friends were mistaken, when we supported the Oslo Accords, who enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity. Here, someone who was on the Left, or in the Labour Party, admits that he failed in supporting Oslo. That doesn’t interest me. What interests me is to look at my inner truth and not to be concerned even if the results are not good when I look inward.

Oslo was an expression, beyond the desire to make peace with the Arabs. It was an expression, first of all, to be a sort of nation like all others. To be accepted among other nations, to be accepted in the liberal, progressive world. Until Oslo, we couldn’t fly, not to China, I think not to Japan, not to Russia, not to Eastern Europe, not to most countries in South America. After Oslo, everything opened up. Suddenly, we were accepted into the family of nations.

It gave us a very good feeling. We suddenly felt that in our “neighbourhood”, we could all go to the Hall of Culture and hear Brahms, not only the members of the philharmonic orchestra of German descent, that we could all go and see and hear performances of plays of Shakespeare, of Chekhov. Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air. That is what the witches say in the play Macbeth. I learnt that by heart in the 11^th Grade.

But nobody taught me Arabic.

And not only did nobody teach me Arabic, nobody also wanted to learn Arabic in all my surroundings. All our Prime Ministers, I think with the exception of Moshe Sharett, who knew Arabic. All of them, from Ben-Gurion to Bibi today, and throughout, they didn’t know Arabic. I don’t know how many Members of Knesset (not from the Arab parties) who are in the Knesset today, know Arabic, except those who are the heads of the General Security Service (Shabak). Avi Dichter, presumably, knows Arabic. That indicates something.

I remember that they would come to us, mainly Sephardic Jews from Morocco, from Iraq, who would say to us, “You guys are naïve. We grew up with them, we know who they are,” and they would say very harsh things about their Arab neighbours in their countries of origin.

We lived with a feeling, I, for example, with a father from Germany and a mother from Poland, who both fled the Nazi terror, each on his own journey. My father, who in 1936, was beaten in school by the Nazis when he was fourteen. Later, when we grew up, we saw that it is possible to develop ties with Germany, and till today, Germany is one of the most friendly countries with us. It could be that we projected that what was possible to do with them, can be done with the Arabs.

October 7^th proved to us that this is not possible.

And it suddenly entered into my consciousness, how much we were enticed, and how much we were deceived. Not the very signing of the Oslo Accords, but because we didn’t react and stop them, suspend them, after all the terrorist attacks that took place. And it was not only us, but also Bibi, also the Likud didn’t stop the Oslo Accords.

I’m not blaming here, not the Likud, and not us. It’s not about blame. I’m trying to explain what stood behind it, because as I said in my last post, we all wanted what was best, but we were wrong. Those Sephardic Jews who spoke to us were right and we were wrong. And our most egregious mistake is that, even today, we do not pay much attention to them.

Picture credits:

Hermann Burchardt/Haaretz

Screenshot from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFqjmdOVSRA&list=WL&index=23

Google

Comments:

On 25 September 2024 at 13:23, Ben Dor A. wrote:

Thank you for sharing. 👏

I had no idea that someone who supported the Oslo Disaster actually came openly and expressed his regrets.

The days of the Messiah are nearing! 🤔

I found it in Hebrew and shared with many friends and family.

Best Regards

Ben Dor A

On 26 September 2024 at 6:29, Anjuli Pandavar said:

The real focus here, for me, is the Ashkenazi dismissal of the Sephardim and Mizrahim as not knowing what they're talking about. The country had brought into its territory the ultimate natural defence against Arab Muslims, and promptly proceeded to belittle and marginalise it. I'll put it no more strongly than that.