Jews are in denial. No doubt about that. A women’s event in SUNY was denied funding, for the first time in 15 years, because the keynote speaker, Dr. Ruchama Marton, is the president of Israel’s Physicians for Human Rights! As the Voice says:
“Disavowing the occupation, after all, is precisely what Jews in Israel and the U.S. feel compelled to do to sustain their moral view of Israel and even of themselves, and that is why speakers like her draw such vitriolic attacks.”
“‘People know that what I’m saying is right about our use of too much force and violence only for the sake of protecting settlements in the Occupied Territories, but they can’t bear to face it. So they accept the idea that Israel is fighting for its life when in reality we are fighting for the settlements.’”
Meron Benvinisti makes a similar point about denial in this article about the surreal events that went on on the Jewish side of the “fence,” during Sukkot. I leave the last word to Dr. Marton:
“We won’t find a way out of the horrible bloodshed on both sides without facing that reality.”
To face another reality, read about the horrible suffering on the Palestinian side of the “fence,” described in this article by Amira Hess.