Israel: ‘We felt like we'd landed in North Korea’

Below is an extract of a public letter by Hilla Dayan and PW Zuidhof, an Israeli-Dutch couple visiting Tel Aviv with their children. The full letter was published on the Jewish Voice for Peace website on July 31. It details the atmosphere of intimidation, hatred and hysteria inside Israel during its military offensive on Gaza.

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The witch hunt of dissenters has reached epidemic proportions, targeting many, and women especially, who dare speak their minds against the war. Orna Banai, Gila Almagor, Shira Gefen are famous celebrities who were vilified for speaking out; a Palestinian psychologist working for the Lod municipality and many like her got fired for what they posted on Facebook ...

The Open House LGBT organisation in Jerusalem came under attack after Elinor Sidi, its director, took a stance against the war. In academia, university presidents published statements warning that they monitor staff and students expressions on social media and will resort to sanctions if they express “too extreme” opinions ... Candidates for jobs are asked to write letters renouncing their political opinions ...

Needless to say, the government does nothing to curb the climate of violence against dissenters. Instead it incites it with reckless disregard to its potentially disastrous consequences.

We do not fear to go and demonstrate, we are still able to do that with reasonable safety, but staying safe on the street is a slightly more complicated task than calculating where the nearest building entrance is in case of a siren alarm.

This regime of collective fear and collective mobilisation in support of the war is so intense, that our “war vacation” is starting to feel like we took the wrong flight and landed in North Korea ...

What is entirely lost or powerful sublimated is the consequence of being implicated in and authorising crimes against humanity. Israelis consider the war of position between Hamas and their government to be an existential war, and the conduct of their enemy, they feel, absolves them from any accountability. In this savage place no laws of war apply.

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