Lies that shine beyond the circle of light
We won’t applaud the magician for his courage, because we already knew the truth
The two laundering scandals exposed last week - one at Bank Hapoalim, one on the hilltops of the West Bank - didn’t teach us anything we didn’t already know.
The only innovation here is that the political establishment, like a weary magician upon retirement, decided to reveal its trade secrets by showing its old tricks. By doing so, the establishment lost it veil of illusion, without which the stage turns into a neglected warehouse made of scraps of wood, dusty fabric and lanterns turned upside down like bats.
Revealing trade secrets is the ultimate betrayal
To reveal one's secrets is the ultimate betrayal in the magician’s profession. The only explanation is to say that the wizard who fooled his audience fears that, soon enough, even the last of his innocent fans will find out that the pigeons are shitting on his sleeve, the double base in his top hat has frayed, and the wooden sidings of the crate in which the woman he sawed in half have fallen apart.
“If you cannot applaud me for my ability to fool you,” says Leno Kalyosro an old age pensioner, then applaud me for my courage.”
Did we know?
No, we shall not applaud him, because we already knew the truth. We tried not to know, and now we have to deal with the truth being blatantly exposed.
Did we not know it was the government itself that was responsible for setting up the outposts? That (right-wing activist) Zeev Hever and his ilk were not the thieves, but rather the sorcerer’s apprentice? We knew the state coffers were being robbed by the guardians we ourselves elected.
Did we fail to understand that the entire settlement enterprise was designed to destroy the sliver of remaining Palestinian territory, to ensure an eternity in which Jews and Palestinians would be at each other’s throats? Did we close our eyes to the fact that the whole project was based on the violation of international law?
And what about those tens of billions of dollars Jews have been funneling to Israel since its establishment, and even more so since the fall of the Soviet empire?
Where did the money come from for those beautiful neighborhoods in Ashdod and Netanya? What about the cash that built the "oligarch" villas in Herzliya Pituach?
No, we knew where the money was coming from, but we liked it too much. We have learned -- and internalised -- that money is protection, and and if a Jew doesn’t move it quickly from danger spot to hiding place, it will end up in the hands of the king.
No place like Israel
To that end, there’s no place like Israel where he can both protect his money and fortify the homeland.
Until a week ago we felt the black money flowing our way from the Jews of Argentina, Iran, France and Russia was really blue and white. Now we are more than a little confused.
The truth is that the magician has planned his retirement for years, but the process was so slow we didn’t notice. For example, at the height of his power, the magician told us that the 500,000 Palestinians who fled here in 1948 had merely answered the call of their leaders. Now it comes out that many were expelled at the poiont of rifle and sword.
Until recently, he managed to dupe us with stories about the way Palestinian land became "Israeli", about the way it was transferred to an institute "of the Jewish People", but now he is telling truths that no Jew wants to hear.
Jewish genius
Until recently, he mumbled something about "Jewish genius", a supposedly hereditary feature responsible for our youth’s great achievements. Suddenly we find out that the "genius" is disintegrating as rapidly as the brain of an Alzheimer patient, and we are already closing in on Tunisia at the bottom of the list of developed countries.
Apparently there is a terrible conspiracy, hiding somewhere in bright lights just behind the stage. My experience tells me to fear that all these truths are designed to hide some terrible lies from us, lies that are proliferating beyond the circle of light.
