No subject

th an assorted crew of settlers, racists, nationalists, messianic zealots a=
nd ordinary fascists in charge of the state, turning the Knesset into a cir=
cus, undermining the Supreme Court, perverting the army, imposing obscurant=
ist religious laws, handing the public treasury to unbridled tycoons, pollu=
ting the education system with a primitive nationalist indoctrination, pers=
ecuting poor asylum seekers, oppressing the national minority and planning =
military attacks that will wreak death and destruction on civilian populati=
ons.=20



This is the state that you detest. I have no quarrel with you about that.=
=20



This is the state that you despair of. About that I do have a dispute with =
you.=20



YOU BEAR the name of the prophet who is nearest to my heart, Yirmiyahu, the=
 prophet of anger who called out: =E2=80=9CWoe is me, my mother, that thou =
hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole world =
=E2=80=A6 every one doth curse me!=E2=80=9D (Jer. 15:10)=20



But Jeremiah was not only an accuser, he was also a healer: =E2=80=9Cto roo=
t out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down =E2=80=93 to bui=
ld and to plant.=E2=80=9D (Jer. 1:10)=20



You, Dov, have invested in this state much too much to turn your back on it=
 in a gesture of anger and despair. The most hackneyed and worn-out slogan =
in Israel is also true: =E2=80=9CWe don=E2=80=99t have another state!=E2=80=
=9D=20



Other states in the world have sunk to the depths of depravity and committe=
d unspeakable crimes, far beyond our worst sins, and still brought themselv=
es back to the family of nations and redeemed their souls.=20



We and all the members of our generation, who were among those who created =
this state, bear a heavy responsibility for it. A responsibility to our off=
spring, to those oppressed by this state, to the entire world. From this re=
sponsibility we cannot escape.=20



Even at your respectable age, and precisely because of it and because of wh=
at you represent, you must be a compass for the young and tell them: This s=
tate belongs to you, you can change it, don=E2=80=99t allow the nationalist=
 wreckers to steal it from you!=20



True, 61 years ago we had another state in mind. Now, after our state has t=
umbled to where it is today, we must remember that other state, and remind =
everybody, every day, what the state should have been like, what it can be =
like, and not allow our vision to disappear like a dream. Let=E2=80=99s len=
d our shoulders to every effort to repair and heal!=20



You have voiced the message of Jeremiah, the prophet of anger. I beg you, g=
ive voice also to Jeremiah, the prophet of hope!=20



[Dov Yermiya, a former Israeli Defence Forces lieutenant-colonel , who publ=
ished a critical eye-witness account of Israeli crimes in the 1982 Lebanon =
War, entitled " My War Diary: Lebanon June 5 -- July 1, 1982" ]