The Bitter Truth: Their Problem is That We’re Alive

From the President’s Desk
The Anti-Semite Corner of the Week

When the world strives to rationalize hatred of Jews through the immoral conduct of their state – along comes a Palestinian “freedom fighter” with the truth: “We fight Jews, not Zionism”

By: Anat Vidor, WIZO President

You know that moment when suddenly, out of nowhere, an innocent child tells the truth, and all the adults cringe with discomfort? Well, that’s what happened now. Our innocent child is called, for short, “Tamimi.” “Ahed Tamimi.” A Palestinian terrorist, who became known worldwide as a symbol of the struggle for freedom. In a podcast featuring her, she says: “Judaism is occupation. We fight Jews, not Zionism.” And more from the released terrorist: “I long for a third world war. For the world to be destroyed. For atomic bombs to fall and destroy the world.”

You might dismiss these statements as extreme and reprehensible, but no. Tamimi, 24 years old, daughter of an extensive terrorist family, is the heart of the anti-Israeli consensus, a beloved and revered Palestinian symbol, whose autobiographical book serves as inspiration for incitement against Jewish occupation – not just in Judea and Samaria but also in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Ashdod. She was hosted in the European Parliament, in the offices of heads of state, by the Real Madrid football club, received public support from Ayman Odeh – an Israeli Knesset member, and “Amnesty International” worked for her release from prison by mobilizing global cultural heroes. Even the Israeli left views her in a romantic light, and Israeli songwriter Yehonatan Gefen compared her to no less than Hannah Szenes and Anne Frank.

Except that Anne Frank wrote from hiding: “I still believe in the goodness of man,” and Hannah Szenes, the fighter for rescuing Jews from the Nazis, wrote: “My God, my God, may it never end, the sand and the sea…” Tamimi, on the other hand, wrote after the October 7th massacre: “We will slaughter the settlers (Jews of all Israel), you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke. We will drink your blood and eat your skulls.” The Palestinian Anne Frank.

Well now, the freedom fighter, with her Swedish appearance, provides us with a rare reflection of some truth, which removes the veil of diplomatic hypocrisy, sophisticated word games, the lie “I’m not antisemitic,” and the use of the word “Zionism” as justification for everything. The terrorist, wearing around her neck a pendant of Greater Israel, expresses what everyone who declares “from the river to the sea” means: the war against Jews must end with their complete destruction – in Paris as in Tel Aviv.

Tamimi is not ashamed of her views but is built from them, and from the willingness to say what others fear to say. They, who think like her, see her and are impressed. She saves them discomfort; their statement is to embrace her, without dirtying their own tongues. They will continue to go around and around with starvation, siege, oppression, genocide; they will continue to weave a humanitarian agenda as cover for hatred that was once again legal. But don’t believe them – believe her. She is the child who tells the truth; they are calculated political chess players.

Since the founding of the state, anyone who tried to destroy the Jewish people has failed. Anyone in Europe, Australia, or America who raises a hand against the State of Israel denies the fundamental right of the Jewish people to live securely in their historical homeland. Perhaps not always with too much comfort, but through our strength and steadfastness, with relative security. Even Tamimi, a direct and blunt anti-Semite with a Nazi flavor, will not change this fact. She is furious at us, and at the entire West that failed to wipe us off the map, and she dreams of destroying Israel and the entire world, eliminating billions, until nothing remains. This is the solution she offers to Palestinian suffering. And precisely her rare honesty is what makes her less dangerous.

A Story for Dessert

Belgium is about to recognize a “Palestinian state.” Who is pleased by this is another brave woman who loves truth, Belgian politician Saliha Raes. “Anyone who doesn’t accept women with headscarves, anyone who doesn’t accept Islam in Belgium – can leave,” she tells them straight to their faces. And in more pleasant words: “From Luxembourg to the sea – Belgium will be free!”