From Anne Frank and Nelson Mandela to eyewitness accounts and recent statements, these quotes confront the moral cost of occupation and force us to reckon with the human toll in Palestine.
"Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness." Anne Frank.
Anne Frank was a 16-year-old Jewish girl who was killed by the Nazi genocide.
Today, I would like to share some quotes that resonate with what's happening in Palestine!
In the 1997 speech on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, Nelson Mandela, president of South Africa, said: "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians."
Let's look back at history to see what Israel, which calls itself "the world's greatest democracy," has communicated to the world:
"The land was never empty. I know this because I lived with Arabs. I know it was not empty. At that time, I did not see anything wrong with what we were doing." Amnon Neumann- Palmach Militia Member, Nakba 1948.
"Of course, we killed them. We killed them without remorse." Former Israeli Soldier, Nakba 1948.
"During the first three months of war, I was a murderer. I did not take any prisoners." Former Israeli Soldier, Nakba 1948.
"Tantura was a rich village with beautiful houses. They lived like Europeans, you know." "One of our men raped a 16-year-old girl." Former Israeli Soldier, Nakba 1948.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Israeli soldiers wore T-shirts with a pregnant woman in cross-hairs and the slogan "1 Shot 2 Kills," CBS News, 2009.
Soldiers wore shirts that also read, "The smaller they are, the harder it is," to mark the end of basic training and other military courses. First reported by the Haaretz daily. CBS News, 2009.
One battalion had a shirt made of a soldier standing next to a young woman with bruises, with the slogan, "Bet you got raped!" Haaretz, reported by CBS News, 2009.
"Mowing the grass," Naftali Bennett referred to the idea in a speech in 2018 when he said, "He who does not mow the grass, the grass mows him." Ever since Israel withdrew its settlements in 2005, it has periodically attacked Gaza. The shelling of locations throughout the narrow strip of land gave rise to the Israeli expression "mowing the lawn."
"We want our enemy not to exist, not to be alive, because they don't have a right to live." Ezra Yachin, Israeli Army reservist, 2023-2024.
"Be triumphant and finish them off. Erase the memory of them. Erase them, their families, mothers, and children." Ezra Yachin, Israeli Army reservist, 2023-2024.
Tel Aviv, Israel (AP) Fighting "human animals." Making Gaza a "slaughterhouse." "Erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth."
There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed." We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly."
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, 2023.
"We will win. They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world." Energy Minister Israel Katz.
"I don't care about Gaza at all. They can go out and swim in the sea. I want to see dead bodies of terrorists around Gaza." Dec 13, 2023 May Golan.
Rabia Rizvi
