One of the most puzzling and saddening spectacles of the past few days is the sight of Jewish protesters at the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Ashdod Port, fighting like lions to ensure we do not fail in our inhumanity. They have joined the experts on evil on the TV panel shows, the print journalists advocating starving Gaza and, of all things, some hostage families and bereaved parents who have been overcome by concern for the fates of their loved ones and the pain of bereavement.
With their bodies and with their words they have been trying to stop the trucks delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. As they see it, these trucks are carrying dangerous cargo – water, food, fuel, blankets and perhaps – God forbid – clothing, crutches, baby formula and antibiotics. Without a doubt, the kind of goods that will change the face of the war.
Even assuming they have the best intentions, it is hard to discern exactly what they want. They have only one word to each and every undertaking and it is, No! No to humanitarian aid, no to a "costly" hostage deal. No to bringing an end to the destruction. It is as if they have decided to make sure not a single drop of suffering is denied the hundreds of thousands of Gazans living amid mud and rubble.
The suffering of the Gazans will not benefit anyone: It will not bring the hostages home any earlier. On the contrary, it can only deepen their suffering. It will not "pressure" Hamas into waving a white flag; we have learned, again and again, that the Hamas leadership is completely indifferent to the suffering of its citizens. It won't even make the unfortunate residents of Gaza emigrate en masse, freeing up acres of sacred land so that settler crusaders may satisfy their whims. "They have nowhere to go," as Golda Meir once told Joe Biden about the Jews.
"There are no noncombatants," declares the dumbest of the signs waved by those who seek to starve the Gaza Strip and to declare open season on all of its Palestinian residents. "They elected Hamas and support it," they explain. Idiots. They fail to understand that what they are justifying is the shedding of all Israeli blood, too. After all, if all Gazans are implicated in the crime of voting for a despicable government, we are no less guilty. In the case of the Gazans, Hamas imposed itself on them by force 16 years ago. We Israelis have for decades elected over and over again the corrupt, racist, inept and cruel people who govern us. It seems that "there are noncombatants" in Israel, either.
The only thing that this sadistic campaign will do is to further darken the black stain Israel already carries, encourage more Gazans to join Hamas and exacerbate the moral leprosy that has already spread among us.
So why do the protesters do it? It isn't clear. Maybe for the fun of it. Maybe for the excitement. For the revenge. For the thrill of it. Maybe it is to vent their hatred, to give flight to their racism. To finally be like the rest of the world's villains. Oh, and of course – for the sake of heaven. To hasten the population transfer. To hasten redemption. It is no coincidence that most of the demonstrators wear kippot or headscarves. Judaism, as we are learning every day, ain't what it used to be.
God also comes out looking pretty miserable. He must be turning in his grave at the sight of his believers defiling human beings, demanding that milk be denied to infants and nursing mothers and medical care to patients, that parents be starved and homes razed with their occupants inside.
"Why oh Lord, why in this manner?" I asked, talking back to God. Did I hear a bitter sigh from on high? Or did it actually come from down below?