"I come as an accuser: thank God you are not our neighbours!"
I hear zero compassion. ...he was nine months old. A week ago, he celebrated his one-year-old. So I would expect you, the ones who now give their speeches, to show a little bit of compassion to the Jew, but you will not do it.
MK Boaz Bismuth addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg, 23 January 2024.
With thanks to Avinoam Ben Dor.
Madam President, I must admit I came from Israel with my speech, but when I hear some of your speeches—too many, unfortunately—I'll speak to you directly, because, honestly, I come to a very respectful platform and I think that today the debate, when I hear your speeches, it's a disgrace to your platform, and you're staining the place where you sit. And I'll tell you why: because people violated my sovereignty, entered my homes, entered kibbutz, entered little towns, and took, picked up — did not kill, because kill is too easy — They slaughtered, they raped, they [abducted], they mutilated. Why? Because you're Jewish.
What happened eighty years ago, you do it because you're Jewish. But there's a big difference. Eighty years ago, what did the Jew do when he was raped, mutilated, assassinated, killed? What did he do? He ran away. He fled! What does he do today? He defends himself! But my God, the Jew cannot defend himself, because immediately all of you will speak of crimes, world crimes.
You must understand one thing: I hear many of you here and you speak on this platform honourable again, but you know what drives me crazy? I hear zero compassion. Now "forget" my 136 hostages. Okay, you're very far; you don't think of them. But let me talk to you about one specific one, and you know why I say "one"? There is one that when he was [abducted], he was nine months old. A week ago, he celebrated his one-year-old. So I would expect you, the ones who now give their speeches, to show a little bit of compassion to the Jew, but you will not do it. So, I want to tell you something, There is something I want you to understand: Hamas terrorists are the new Nazis. And if you do not understand that, then you've understood nothing!
But there is one thing after those speeches that I hear, that disgrace those shameful speeches I hear. I did not come here to Strasbourg to speak to you in order to justify myself. I came as an accuser. And my God, when I was a kid, I asked my parents, you know eighty years ago, when you had the Holocaust, where were all those people when they were killing the Jews? Why didn't they say anything? And I come here to Strasbourg and I understand the child who was asking the questions, because if some of you are in your speeches, my God, some Jews thank God you are not their neighbours.
Thank you very much.
Editorial note: That I do not entirely agree with MK Boaz Bismuth's characterisation of Hamas is not the point. The point he makes is far more important than that. We kill our own humanity for the sake of fitting in, for a little narcotic comfort, to conform to the ruling orthodoxy, even if that ruling orthodoxy turns our souls to stone. I left Islam because of the cruelty and inhumanity of the Muslims I grew up amongst. I saw that same death of humanity in the vast majority of South Africans, both black and white, after apartheid had ravaged the soul of that nation for generations. I see it again today, when going onto the streets to show solidarity with people who gleefully pump babies full of bullets is the decent thing to do. They all have flags and scarves and slogans to signal their virtue. The almost inaudible applause given Boaz Bismuth in the European Parliament is a deafening alarm bell. The same alarm that sounded to similarly deaf ears on the same continent eighty years ago. Mr Bismuth will not be thanked.
Picture credits:
https://www.hidabroot.org/article/1191235
Spokesperson unit of ZAKA, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=141316963
