“There are about two million people in Israel, extremists like there are in other countries: racists, messianics, fanatics. But they are a minority, like the neo-Nazis in Germany. The problem is that here they are in power. Unfortunately for us and for the Palestinians, they are the ones who make the ministers…”
Etgar Keret, the renowned Israeli writer, smiles for the first time in the entire interview and places his hand on his forehead, as if to say: “I knew this moment would come.” “Do you want me to say that word that starts with a G? I can only say what I see: Israel is destroying entire cities, displacing millions of people, using starvation as a weapon of war. I see something inhumane, terrible, unacceptable. But this thirst to put a name to everything is the fruit of Instagram culture. Is Putin like Hitler? No, it’s different. Is what’s happening in Gaza genocide? I don’t know. Let’s stop this massacre, release the hostages, and then call in the world’s best lawyers to determine whether this tragedy falls into the category of genocide, and if so, we’ll shout it to the four corners of the world: genocide. But first, please stop.”
While Netanyahu’s government has decided on a total occupation of the Gaza Strip, Keret calls the situation “a nightmare.”
“We are living in a historical moment when democracy has ceased to function. The vast majority of Israelis want the war to stop and the hostages to be released. Only 20% support the continuation of violence, perhaps even the destruction of Gaza and the exploitation of the situation to oppress the Palestinians in the West Bank. There are about two million people, extremists as there are in other countries: racists, messianics, fanatics. But they are a minority, like the neo-Nazis in Germany. The problem is that here they are in power. Unfortunately for us and for the Palestinians, they are the ones who make the ministers.” Although the polls do not show Netanyahu as weak, Keret says: “Maybe I want to deceive myself, maybe I do not accept reality, but I follow the polls and I see that 80% of Israelis want the war to end and the hostages to be returned. Netanyahu’s skill is that he has been telling us for years: ‘We are negotiating,’ ‘this is the decisive week,’ and so he continues his plan. He has always worked by creating chaos, not allowing people to think.”
How are you doing?
If I ask someone on the street what we are doing in Gaza, they raise their hands: I don’t know. We have a specific Israeli problem and a global one. We are still in the fog of October 7th. It is not post-traumatic stress, it is ongoing trauma. People are afraid of the Palestinians, they feel insecure, they only trust the army. And then there is the global problem: Terrible people like Trump and Netanyahu manage to make people act against their will. The whole system cooperates. Social networks help, but traditional media is also responsible for this permanent state of anxiety and adrenaline that does not let you think. Every night there is a show about October 7th. About Gaza? Almost nothing. We are waiting for the American envoy Witkoff to come as if he were Godot. He should go to Gaza to tell us whether there is hunger or not? Are we in our right minds?
Isn’t it the duty of intellectuals to expose the deceptions of power?
I try to do it through writing, but every Saturday I go out on the street with my wife. We stand with a photo of a Palestinian child in our hands. In this victimizing universe in which we live, those who see us do not accept that there could be another victim. We have a selective sensitivity that prevents us from understanding the suffering of others.
What reactions do you get?
One lady shouted at me: ‘Don’t you understand that these are images created with Artificial Intelligence?’ Another told me that the people of Gaza can be saved from Hamas and everything will be over, and that if they don’t, they are complicit. I usually don’t respond, but this time I couldn’t. I told her that we have been protesting with hundreds of thousands of people for months to get rid of Netanyahu and we haven’t succeeded. How can the Palestinians deal with Hamas?
Is there hope for a solution?
History will move towards two states, one Israeli and one Palestinian living side by side and towards agreements like the Abrahamic Covenant with neighbors. I want to believe that Netanyahu and criminals like Ben-Gvir are a temporary aberration of history. That one day we will emerge from the fog of October 7th and understand what a tragedy we have plunged into. (Corriere della Sera)