Opinion
My Jewish narrative
Assaf Wohl
Published: 28.07.07, 16:01
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75 Talkbacks for this article
1. Well Said..Needs to be heard loud and clear
Steve ,   Tel Aviv   (07.28.07)
2. Bravo!
Mike Jefferson ,   Washington D.C.   (07.28.07)
Assaf's poignant retort to the continued assault on Jewish history is to be lauded. Israel is always on the defensive and by all rights shouldn't be. Perhaps Assaf should consider running for the Kinesset. We need more people with his perspective in government.
3. 100 % correct !!! great job !!!
aaron ,   ra'anana   (07.28.07)
4. Well put bro.
Iskander   (07.28.07)
We need more people with this kind of mentality.
5. Excellent column. So true.
Tracy W   (07.28.07)
6. Excellent.
sk ,   USA   (07.28.07)
7. my jewish narrative
nurit ,   studio city, ca   (07.28.07)
Great article. I really enjoyed reading it.
8. Nakba
m ,   Israel   (07.28.07)
Couldn't agree more with the article , also how dare a member of the gov't allow citizens of this country to refer to the rebirth of the state as a holacaust , if these citizens do not like it here they are free to leave , also perhaps the minister of education would like to move to Gaza or Jenin and explain to the democratic loving people there her views
9. Nakbah
Thomas ,   Cleveland, USA   (07.28.07)
Any citizen of Israel who refers to Independance day as "Al Nakhba" must have his/her citizenship/rights revoked. The only reason these "Israeli" Arabs have the ability to speak out against Israel is because they live in Israel. If they want to be under an Arab government, they should try living in Egypt or Syria and attempt ot speak out against the government, see how long it takes before they are in a landfill.
10. Finally! Great peace! Thank you.
Frank ,   USA   (07.28.07)
11. What is it about the Jews who love self-criticism
Sindee ,   USA   (07.28.07)
and self-flagellation? Even when the Jews are right they will always question themselves and give the adversaries the upper hand.
12. I will not make aliya because the Jews in Israel
Dave ,   USA   (07.28.07)
in their never-ending desire to win over the enemies have lost perpective toward their own history, roots, purpose and reality. When will the Jews finally grasp that it is not possible to make the enemies love them when the enemy's narrative is based on hate, lies and violence.
13. When rhetoric is used to shove reason aside...
Yoni ,   Toronto   (07.28.07)
Perhaps the author is right. Seeing as an Arab student made a poor attempt at an insult on independence day, we must label all and any "narratives" as such, and in turn forbid teaching any history that might even in the slightest embarrass us. Apparently, because Mr. Wohl's great (x100) granddaddy visited a synagogue here about 3000 years ago, we are not allowed to, under any circumstances, mention any points in history where Jews perhaps *did* act in less than moral ways. Even *if* this is historically accurate. Mr Wohl's ancestors visiting that synagogue in 1048 BCE, completely overrules any such need for historical accuracy in our scholarship...
14. Bravo!!
Chaya ,   Bat Yam, Israel   (07.28.07)
Expresses extremely well exactly what I feel!
15. to #1,2,3,4,5...14 Narrative
Rafi ,   Jerusalem   (07.28.07)
You all are nothing but racist and anti-arabs .Arabs kids have nothing to do with their historic leaders.All they need is their land back and live in peace.Do not blame them for the fault of their leaders.This is their land,give it back to them and that's it .This is the only solution if you want to live in peace.End the occupation.Do not be so proud of this racist article.
16. When a little tiny mouse of truth . . .
Rob ,   portland, USA   (07.28.07)
. . . enters the room, all the Zionist liars stand up on their chairs in terror. The Nakba happened. The Jews came from Europe and ethnically cleansed the Palestinian people, then tried to cover it up, justify and distort the reality of what they had done. The Holocaust was a German crime, not a Palestinian one, and the efforts to blame Palestinians for it on the basis of a few individuals' support for anyone, including the Germans, who would challenge British rule in Palestine, is lies on top of lies. The threat to repeat the ethnic cleansing is hollow. If you had the power to do it, you would already have done it. Instead Jews flee Israel by the tens of thousands every year, and thousands renounce their Israeli citizenship and resume the German nationality of their ancestors. This land was never yours and your grip on it is slipping. Fairy tales about buried synagoges and threats of geocide will not reverse your decline. You need to focus your mind on what you will do after Zionism, because Zionism has failed. Did you get that?
17. Dave
Jane   (07.28.07)
You will not make aliyah because you don't want to. If you did, you would do it and complain from inside Israel.
18. Distortion and demagogary
Moshavnik ,   Israel   (07.28.07)
I agree with what is written here however this article and others distort what Yuli Tamir wants to appear in the textbook. What is proposed is stating that the arabs feel that the formation of Israel was a disaster for them. This is true, many of them do feel that way and I don't see anything wrong with stating the facts about their feelings. If these feelings are justified is another question.
19. #15 and #16
jack bauer ,   usa   (07.28.07)
#15 If you dug down deep into the earth and found ruins of stuff, thousands of years old, and it could be proved that it was hebrew, would you admit that in fact it wasn't your arab land after all? of course not...you would try and destroy the evidence as quickly as possible and continue spouting claims. #16 your post is simply appalling. You are indeed racist against jews. They did not ethnically cleanse Israel. The proof is in the fact that there is a 3rd column even today. If they had...there would not be any suicide bombers in Israel today. You say the land was never jewish? Fairy tales about buried stuff? Are the stories the native american indians have fairy tales too?.... Think of it this way. You live in portland? The land you live in was native land! So how about if I told you to "Go back to where you belong, your country was created by exterminating the native tribes. Give your home and land back to them...and move out of the USA." Focus your mind on what you will do after that. Did you get that?
20. Rob or Ahmad?
The Barber ,   USA   (07.29.07)
Ahlan ya Rob (yeah, right) The "Palestinian people" hardly existed before the 1930s. How was it that the Arab population almost doubled between the 1910s and the 1930s? How is it that many Palestinkians carry names like "Al-Masry" or "Horani" (Syrian)? No, most Palestinians today are the offspring of the Arabs who migrated to Palestine in the early 20th century to seek work. And why were there jobs, Rob? Because the Jews returned to their historic homeland and created a developed economy that no Arab nation to date managed to create. Did you get that, KALB?
21. # 16 Rob
Sagi ,   Israel   (07.28.07)
I could write ten pages in response but I shall suffice by saying you are a nutcase.
22. 400 out of 401 prophets agree . . .
Rob ,   portland, USA   (07.28.07)
. . . the Nakba never happened, the state of Israel is God's own blessed experiement, and Jewish fundementalism, the harder-edged the better, will ensure peace and prosperity in the years ahead. Let's remember that recognizing and denouncing the sins of the past and present is a very Jewish thing to do. Pooh-Poohing that indictment, and celebrating your power and wealth as evidence that your path was and is righteous, is also a part of the tradition. The latter "prophets" single out and villify the former. The critics' warnings go unheeded, and the critics themselves are scorned and mocked, as Wohl does here. What follows is described in detail in Isaiah. Spoiler alert: you won't like it.
23. #15 Speaking of racism it still exists in the Arab counries
Damian ,   USA   (07.29.07)
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia... As for your leadership, your leaders resemble you, your culture and mentality.
24. #18 Today they feel this way and tomorrow
Don ,   USA   (07.29.07)
they will feel that the Jews should be blown un in the restaurants, schools or at the wedding receptions. The Jews should not be involved in figuring out their feelings especially when they do not take the Jewish feelings into account. Please face reality, the Jews own a portion of the land of Israel while the adversaries own everything else in the Middle East and they still complain about the Jews.
25. Yoni (13), the last thing you want is "historical accuracy"
sk ,   USA   (07.29.07)
... or "reason," for that matter. You are faking the history, and so are Israeli schools. This is one reason why Israeli leaders cannot even articulate the Zionist cause anymore--they only know post-Zionist "history." And yes, Yoni, I do think that, as a group, Jews have been, by far, the most moral by 21st century standards. You seem to have decided to make yerida to Toronto. Good. You will be more happy sitting on Eskimo land.
26. Notice how threatened the Muzzies get when an Israeli ...
sk ,   USA   (07.29.07)
tells the truth? Just look at #15 & #16. They are right to be threatened. Truth is very threatening to those who have made lying an art form.
27. Narrative, History and Historiography
iandl ,   Europe   (07.29.07)
The winners determine history, and when they write about it, it is is called historiography. Historiographers have written a Zionist history of Israel. This is the "established truth". Losers don't have a history because theirs is written by the winners. Like the mention of their Nakbah in the proposed school books. The winner's rule is the more secure the better able they have been in co-opting the losers into their vision of "what happened". Now that the winners have consolidated their position, the next stage is going to be / has to be to co-opt the losers. This involves making insubstantial symbolic concessions which actually don't change the result: in reality the winners remain the winners and determine which history is told. It just helps to find one which reduces conflicts within the country. What is unusual here is that the winners feel so insecure that any slight concession to the losers can't be tolerated. I wonder why? Why all the cries of relief that someone has yet again repeated the truth-mantra? You've missed the point of the revised text in the school-books. It is to consolidate the Zionist story, not put it in question. A narrative is told by a minority viewpoint from the margins who would like to tell an alternative version of history but never get invited to do so. Therefore it remains a story but is never accepted as "the truth". The winners remain the winners. Oh yes, and if one digs under any former Arab village one will find all sorts of remains of all sorts of peoples, since Israel was hardly ever continuously a homogeneously Jewish place. That is a narrative which might be useful in building a historiography which will enable the non-Jewish part of the Israeli population to still be able to identify with the state. Zionist historians are going to use the narratives being suggested by "post-Zionists" and will incorporate them so as to render them "harmless" to Zionist history. If they can't or don't, Israel has a problem! It's all a question of presentation. P.S. #18, well said.
28. Thank you !!!!
Danielle Mizrahi ,   Beersheva, Israel   (07.28.07)
for a brilliant article. So well written, so true! It brings back hope, it remember us the main basic facts. Excellent article! Merci!!!
29. #16, keep off the crack man
Danny   (07.29.07)
I think you'll find the Arabs decided to fight and lose a war in 1948. The Holocaust has absolutely nothing to do with Zionism or the creation of the State of Israel - rather it meant there were millions fewer Jews to come to Israel. Zionism was around before Hitler was born and the Brits only left the Mandate because they were bankrupt. The "few individuals" you quote were the leaders of the Palestinians. Who is threatening to "ethnically cleanse" again? If Israel wanted rid of the Arabs in it's lands they'd be gone. If Israel wanted to commit "genocide" of the Palestinians they'd be dead too. The fact that the Palestinian causalty rate has been infinitesimal is proof that Israel isn't trying to kill them. Now the question is why do you feel you have to make "facts" up to criticise Israel? I assume it is because you find it's real behaviour to be blameless.
30. great article
moshe ,   jerusalem   (07.29.07)
i liked it.
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