An illegally abducted Jew is languishing in a desert prison. While only one of several abductees held illegally, this man is especially targeted by his captors for being a Jew. Though a US citizen, no US Senator, Congresswoman or man, has lifted their little finger, or even said a word, to secure his safe release.
His name is David Adler, a colleague, dear friend, a member of our extended family. The notorious prison he is languishing in is called Ketziot and is in the Negev desert. His captors are the state of Israel whose operatives abducted David in international waters, along with hundreds of others – an act of (legally indisputable) piracy against the crews of the Global Sumud Flotilla who had set course for a land – the so-called Gaza Strip – that the International Court of Justice, on 19thJune 2024, had declared an illegally occupied territory that Israel had to vacate forthwith. Instead, during the past year, Israel reinforced its siege of Gaza and continued its calculated genocide of its people.
Israeli propaganda (always an essential tool for those seeking to whitewash their war crimes) put forward three gigantic lies by which to justify its piracy on the high seas: First, that David Adler and his comrades were recklessly entering a war zone and violating a security zone. Second, that if they were truly interested in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, they should have given it to Israel’s authorities who would then deliver it to the people of Gaza. Third, that the crews of the flotilla were funded and directed by Hamas.
That these are gigantic lies is ever so easy to demonstrate.
First, David Adler and his comrades were not entering a war zone but a genocide zone. It was Israel that violated international law by declaring a security zone around Gaza to safeguard their genocide inside Gaza, not the crews of the flotilla whose only weapons were baby formula and some grain.
Second, the people of Gaza are starving to death (when not being bombed to smithereens) because Israel, as several of its ministers have proclaimed, has meticulously connived to prevent food, water and medicine to enter Gaza. In this sense, the notion that the flotilla crews should have handed their aid over to Israel (to add to the existing huge stocks they are actively preventing from reaching Gaza) is laughable.
Third, calling David Adler and his colleagues Hamas-enablers or, even worse, instruments of Hamas smacks of the Israeli government’s desperation in seeking to plaster the Hamas logo on the forehead of anyone whom they want to kill, abduct or vilify.
You may ask: Why am I focusing on David Adler in this post? The reason becomes obvious in a post David uploaded before his much anticipated abduction:
“I almost never write ‘as a Jew’. I share the exhaustion of being forced to put Jewish feelings first… But today I felt compelled to write in that register — as one of the only Jews on this mission… If there’s any part of the Torah that I still remember, it is this obligation it bestows upon us: "Justice, justice you shall pursue."… How could we stand by while the State of Israel perverts this holy obligation, overseeing a holocaust of the Palestinian people? I joined this flotilla just like any other delegate — to defend humanity, before it is too late. But on Yom Kippur, I am reminded that I am also here because my Jewish heritage demands it.
As a mere adolescent, my grandfather Jacques Adler (pictured) joined the Parisian resistance against the Nazis, putting his life on the line to sabotage their operations even as his friends and family were sent to their deaths in concentration camps. That is the tradition to which I am called, and the definition of “justice” that feels true to my Jewish identity — as the same genocidal rage that targeted my ancestors is now taken up by its principal victims… If Israeli forces intercept us on Yom Kippur, then let them see what true atonement looks like. Not fasting in comfort while starving their neighbors. Not praying in safety while dropping bombs over their heads. Atonement means action. So as the sun sets tonight, and the fasting begins, I hope that fellow Jews will join me in redefining their approach to atonement — together with silent prayer, and toward courageous action to put an end to this horrific genocide. G'mar chatima tova.”
So, THIS is why I am focusing my post on my friend David Adler, without of course neglecting or discounting the sacrifices of our other comrades in Israeli captivity: Because David is the only Jew in the clasps of Israeli war criminals who believe they are perpetrating a genocide on behalf of the Jewish people.
Genocidal maniacs, like Israeli Security Minister Itavar Ben-Gvir, hate an upstanding Jewish man like David Adler more than they hate even Hamas. For it is David Adler’s brave stance that exposes the lie that the Global Sumud Flotilla was an antisemitic fleet of deluded Westerners. For he is a living, breathing reminder (just as his Nazi-resisting grandfather was decades ago) of the error, the criminality, of the ways of those who place a whole people on death row – a splendid example of the Jewish people’s longstanding opposition to orchestrated misanthropy, to pogroms, to genocide.
And this is my reason for fearing for David Adler’s life and limb more than for any of his abducted comrades: because his genocidal abductors feel ever so tiny, ever so small, in the presence of this Jewish man.
Weergaven
Israel/Gaza: Statement by the High Representative on remarks of Minister Smotrich regarding starving civilians
The European Union strongly condemns recent declarations of Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich at the Katif Annual Conference.
Deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime. Minister Smotrich saying that “it might be justified and moral” to let Israel “cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger” until the “hostages are returned” is beyond ignominious. It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity.
We expect the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from the words of Minister Smotrich, as well as to establish transparency on the reported acts of torture in the Sde Teiman prison.
The EU continues urging Israel to implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and binding orders of the International Court of Justice, and ensure full and unimpeded humanitarian access to cover the needs of scores of civilians, including hundreds of thousands of children, living in extremely dire conditions and exposed to famine and disease in Gaza.
The EU reiterates its call for an immediate ceasefire that leads to the release of all hostages and a significant and sustained increase in the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten