Demonstration against the Israeli Apartheid, on April 10, 2003 in Hebron

This meant that they can be threatening with legal prosecution.

His allegations mean that helping the victims of Israeli oppression is an offence, which is preposterous. What this self-appointed bean counter of allegedly illicit acts fails to acknowledge is that each demonstration against Israel as a racist state is the result of blatant aggression. Understandably, acts of anger are on the increase whenever an overwhelming expansionist military power intensifies its violence in the occupied territories. The Palestinians are merely replying to violent assaults with the pathetic means at their disposal.

Living in Switzerland, I do not know this person; but his remarks, which are obviously meant to disqualify the testimony of those who denounce the crimes of the Israeli army, are loathsome. By trying to discredit through repeated accusations of anti-Semitism anyone who does not consider the Palestinians as criminals, this man merely succeeds in discrediting himself.

The CRIF president is not afraid of using words that kill. But what he is really afraid of is the truth – truth that may sully Israel. Intellectual intimidation has for far too long been the recourse of those who seek to preserve the status quo to their benefit, those who, in Israel, take advantage of the weapons they carry – I mean the Jewish settlers and military forces that dispossess the Palestinians of their land. All means are good for the Israeli to go on lording over the occupied territories.

The Jewish "community" should not be considered to be any different from any other community. Neither should Israel be considered to be any different from any other state. It can be criticized like any society, like any state can be. Why would one want to conceal the truth?

Why besmirch honest people who have been deeply moved by what they have seen?

What they have seen is that once the Israeli wear uniforms, they are capable of the worst atrocities. I too have shared the powerlessness, guilt and shock witnesses feel once they are home. What they have witnessed is a burden they must bear and cope with, a burden only compounded by the well-orchestrated lies propagated by unconditional defenders of a policy of massive repression against the Palestinians.

"Anti-Semitism" is but a scarecrow set up in order to muzzle us.

"Anti-Semitic", José Bové and those who, like him, have the courage to bear witness to what they have seen so that the rest of the world can no longer claim ignorance? Expressing one’s anger against the arrogance of a people intent on destroying another has absolutely nothing to do with "anti-Semitism". No one can ignore any longer where the “new anti-Semites” are: they are in Israel. And it is the Palestinians that, every day, are their victims.

The "new anti-Semites" are not some dozens in Israel, but hundreds of thousands. They belong to ultra orthodox parties, extremist religious parties. They flaunt their superiority over all that is not Jewish. They cultivate the hate of the Arab and take advantage of the very sophisticated logic of apartheid and other barbarian colonial tenets.

It is something that is hard to explain: one has to see it to believe it.

A South African met in Hebron – a town in agony which the most extremist armed Jewish settlers are strangling day after day – said that compared with the Israeli apartheid, apartheid in South Africa was a lark.

What is unique to the Israelis is that they can be openly racists and even worse, they can kill children, steal land, and oppress a whole population: they will not be prosecuted for it. No one will ever think of prosecuting them; they are untouchable.

Whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, a person has the right to dignity, respect and recognition. An Israeli is worth a Palestinian. And vice versa. I do not understand why the Jews who are asking for recognition of the victims of Nazism can refuse this same recognition to Palestinians victims.

Those who are trying to protect the Palestinians are not against the Israelis. Nevertheless, it is true that you cannot force yourself to like a country, a government, even a person that falsifies history and hates and victimises the weak, or those venomous flowers that, like M. Finkielkraut, hide the truth under cloaks of sophistry in order to cover up for criminals.

If loving the Palestinians, if helping the victims of brutal oppression means being prosecuted, then yes, we are ready.

Unfortunately, in Israel you can meet a lot of arrogant people newly arrived from Russia, Argentina or France and who are full of hatred, especially for the Arabs.

But who do you meet in Palestine? A population which is immediately welcoming, ready to love you if they feel accepted, a population which never expresses hatred for the Israelis. The Palestinians say it themselves: they are not fighting the Jews, but the military occupation that is choking them. Those Israelis that meet Palestinians for anything other than bullying and harassing, that meet them as friends, know it very well: they are welcomed with open arms.

It is humiliation that is behind the Palestinians’ fight. Recognition is a need for any society and they are fighting back for it, for their dignity. It is our duty, as human beings, to help them. Thus, the Warsaw ghetto is still around; today its name is Naplus, Jenin, Qalquilia, Tulkarem, Hebron. The fact that the Jews were the victims of Nazism does not allow them to take revenge on the Palestinians who had nothing to do with their plight.

So much suffering is being inflicted! Suffering that is recorded daily and that daily reaches us.

Here is for instance what Quasem, a Palestinian teacher has to say: “The six or seven young men, aged from 15 to 25, were made to kneel down on the side of the road, their hands were tied behind their backs and they were blindfolded; they were like being readied to be executed. I can tell you, dear brother, that these young men were not treated like men. I have even never heard of anyone treating an animal that way. The soldiers made them stand up one after the other to slap them, to kick them, so violently, so hatefully. One of the soldiers, who was 19 or 20, went to one of the Palestinians on his knees and stood so that his pelvis was level with his face; then he undid his zipper, pretending he was pissing on him while the whole patrol were laughing their heads off. You know, in 35 years, I do not remember having ever felt the same feeling of rage, of humiliation, of anger and most of all of powerlessness. And I was wondering what those young men were feeling at that moment. … I am furious, I admit it. Now you know why. But be reassured: I am far from being miserable. Our children will learn to always love life. They understand very well that we are under siege and will learn to defend themselves the best way they can.… “ [1]

I do not understand why all those for whom it is important to denounce the appalling scenes they witnessed in Palestine should be made to feel guilty by those who have blood on their hands. Israeli soldiers ransack, deport, torture. They execute in cold blood a Palestinian every three hours and what they fancy best is killing young boys.

Tomorrow, you will not be able to tell us that you knew nothing about it.