By Liat Ben-David

Shalom all,

"Mom, why does he hate us so much? What have we done to him?" Bar couldn't understand why the man on TV is standing and very calmly saying that Israel must be destroyed.

Truth being told, I couldn't explain it to him either. I can't even completely explain it to myself. When I was a child, there was an Israeli song that said the following:

The whole world is against us,

That's a very ancient song,

And we have learned from our forefathers,

How to sing and dance to it…

Even when I was very small I understood that there was something very, very wrong with these words. The whole world is against us? Why?? What have we done? It can't be, I thought, that everyone is against us. My mother always told me that if you think the entire class is against you, you better check what you have done as well, so if this is the case on the personal level – why would a state be different? And indeed, in history lessons, literature and social studies, we always learned that even when we thought that everyone was against us, there were always people who helped. I dismissed the song.

As time went by, the song disappeared. It sounded ridiculous. After all, we were starting to have peace treaties, we have friends, and besides – we felt we were growing up. After half a century, Israel is a fact, and only someone who is completely delirious can think Israel is about to disappear. Continue attacking and killing us, yes. Make us suffer terrible losses, yes. But completely destroy us? No way.

And then the second Intifada came and slapped us in the face. The Durban conference about Anti-Semitism – remember? It wasn't that long ago, only five years – became a manifesto of Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel feelings. Voices from states like Italy and Malaysia and from people like Greek poet Theodorakis said that Israel was "a mistake", that the Jews are to be blamed for all the problems of the world and even going as far as saying that a discussion should deal with whether we should be allowed to exist. In spite of the extensive work that I know has been done in the field of Hasbarah, in spite of condemnations and harsh criticism that these saying have received, even now there are still those who are raising their heads and seriously talking about the annihilation of Israel from the map of the world, and although part of the world condemns these declarations – no one finds them strange or unique. The world is used to the fact that there is always someone who will talk about extinction of the Jewish people, or of our state, or both. 

Ahmedinajad declared that the only solution for the problems of the world is the total destruction of the state of Israel. There is no other country in the entire world, that someone dare say it should be destroyed. No one ever suggested that Turkey should cease to exist because of what it did to the Armenians, or that Saudi Arabia or Iran should be wiped away because of their lack of human rights. Even after WWII, when the full extent of the horrors was revealed, no one thought that Germany should be obliterated. Only in our case, it is OK to discuss our very existence. Last time there was such a discussion, it was called "the final solution".                    

The international "Human rights" organization published a report saying that Israel is deliberately killing civilians in Lebanon, that we are ignoring the suffering of innocent people there, that we are guilty of not making a distinction between military and civil target. No word in the report about the attacks against Israel's civilians by Hezbollah, which is an organization that is an elected party of Lebanon's government and therefore part of Lebanon itself. This report, that is supposed to be the report of an organization that keeps watch to ensure human rights – i.e., an organization that deals with ethics, values, dignity and freedom – has nothing to say about the hundreds of bombs that Hezbollah is throwing every single day on Israeli towns and cities, all and only civilian targets, killing and injuring innocent people. Am I being paranoid when I think this is just another, "modern" way of saying that our blood is cheap?     

King Abdullah of Jordan is afraid that even if Israel completely destroys the Hezbollah organization, a new Hezbollah will arise in his own country. You need to be someone who deeply understands the nature of your people to say, in nice words, that terror is the basis of thought and action of your own brothers. Abdullah knows what he is talking about – he has long, personal, bitter experience of dealing with terror. And again, it's much easier to demand that Israel deals with the problem that should actually be dealt with by Abdullah and his friends.  

In Australia there are riots against what they call "the sins Israel is committing in Lebanon". How easy it is to be angry about something that is so physically and culturally far from you, that there is absolutely no way you can really understand the daily reality and dilemmas of, when you are sitting between a sleepy kuala and lazy kangaroo. Australia? What do they know about this neighborhood? Or are they just following the example of the swastikas in Rome? 

Richard Cohen, Washington Post journalist and a man whose name leaves no room for imagination, wrote an article two weeks ago saying that "Israel need to understand that Israel's mistake is Israel itself – Israel is a historic mistake". A historic mistake. Lord, help me beware my brothers. My enemies I can recognize on my own.

For some reason, the last few days remind me that not so long ago I heard a bereaved mother say that the Jews are the moral compass of the world: when moral values start to deteriorate, the Jews are the first to be attacked before others start suffering as well. I don't know why I keep thinking of her words, maybe because this war isn't only between us and the Hezbollah.

I have a message for Ahmedinajad, Richard Cohen and anyone else who thinks Israel is "a historic mistake". We will continue fighting, and we don't really care what you think. We will continue fighting as long as there is someone who still has the audacity of daring to have a discussion about our very existence. We are fighting and will continue to fight until the very last person on earth understands, that there can be no conference of leaders that deals with our very being, no discussion about how to end our survival, no dilemma about us being a mistake. Israel's existence is not, and never will be, up for negotiation.

And only after our very last enemy understands that, only then we will lay down our swords. And even then, in view of experience, we will lay them down very, very carefully.

Shabbat shalom,

Liat