With Kahanists at the Helm, Israelis Have Become the World's New 'Bad Guys' - Opinion - Haaretz.com
Sometimes it's actually with the help of anecdotes that an approaching storm can be predicted: The opening of an off-Broadway performance of a play based on Amos Oz's novel "A Perfect Peace" was canceled.
Two actors had resigned from the cast. Officials at agencies representing Israeli authors report that there is a polite boycott going on of Israeli literature. A protest by pro-Palestinian activists disrupted the opening of an exhibition of the work of Israeli artist Michal Rovner in New York.
But why? That's what the chorus of citizens involved in public diplomacy that coalesced immediately after the October 7 massacre are shouting. They slaughtered us and of all people, we're the ones being boycotted? How could our story have become distorted to such an extent that the Palestinian narrative is winning?
- It turns out that the pictures and reports coming out of Gaza aren't showing our attractive face, and nor is Israel's face-saving appearance at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. And in the future, the approval of 3,076 housing units in West Bank settlements could result in sanctions and arrest warrants. The investigation against Israel in The Hague continues, and it's becoming clear that the world has lost its patience.
The reaction to Israel's conduct has changed at every level. The naval port that the Americans will be building in Gaza should be named after Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir and his band of Kahanists; they've prevented trucks carrying humanitarian assistance to enter the Strip as a result of Ben-Gvir's vow that the police wouldn't deal with it.
Protesters against humanitarian aid for Gaza at the Kerem Shalom crossing, in February.Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz
What do they think around the world about Jews who prevent food from getting in for hungry children, and about the religious Zionist rabbi who claimed that Jewish religious law requires the killing of babies and the elderly in Gaza? And there's more.
Even in Berlin, Israel is no longer the ultimate victim. A friend who lives there and saw how they spat in the face of a friend on the city's subway has stopped speaking Hebrew in public. Another friend who was at a concert recounted how the warm-up act got off the stage to the chant of "Free Palestine" and applause from the crowd.
And yet another friend who has lived in Europe for many years gave some thought to whether it would be better to remove the mezuzah from his doorpost and move it inside the house – but then the very thought frightened him.
Another friend, a British Jewish journalist who lives in Ireland, sent me an article that he wrote. It was about to be published in the Irish Times and describes the tribulations involved in being a Jew in Ireland since October 7. He pulled it from publication because he couldn't deal with the threatening responses that he surely would have received.
A pro-Palestinian protest in London, in March.Credit: Kin Cheung/AP
It can be viewed as another walk with the unleashed dog of antisemitism. One can understand that it's difficult to deal with the public relations of 13,000 dead children and pictures of hungry civilians.
It's hard to explain an incident in which famished human beings pouncing on trucks carrying humanitarian assistance are run over and shot to death. And it's hard to sell Israel's Kahanists and messianic lawbreakers to the world. The country's face is the face of the person at the top. And the people leading Benjamin Netanyahu by the nose are Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Even sobered up left-wingers quote the adage that "he who is merciful to the cruel will ultimately be cruel to the merciful" to justify their coldheartedness.
If that's the state of mind in society, how can we understand the aggressiveness toward Israelis around the world? Something profound has happened, and now it doesn't involve post-colonialists from the global left wing. Israeli mythology – or what is known as "branding" in the advertising field – is sprawled out liked a plucked chicken
We're the world's new bad guys. The leaders of countries, particularly those facing re-election soon, can't ignore it. Israel's allies will change their policies. It's unavoidable.
It's possible that Netanyahu is about to imprison us in diplomatic isolation, with the Kahanists in the role of the jail wardens. That's the necessary ending to his delusions of persecution.
Then he'll be free to have the Israeli army enter Rafah, to forgo a deal for the release of the hostages and open another full front with Hezbollah without American support or assistance, and conclude his life's work – which is to destroy our lives. We are about one step away from Masada: The Sequel. Will we commit suicide together – or rebel?