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Omer Goldman Quotes and Transcripts: "Father, forgive me, I will not fight for
your Israel!"
“The occupation is poisoning Israel from within. It creates an aggressive
people, extreme nationalism, and leaves important values such as solidarity and
equality behind. That’s why taking a stand against it, as an Israeli, is crucial
for both Palestinians and Israelis, as one.”—Omer Goldman
Omer Goldman has the arresting looks of a supermodel, but much
more importantly, she is a superb role model for young Israeli Jews who believe in true
equality and justice for everyone, including Palestinians. As a teenager, she
took a defiant stand for equality and justice, went to jail for her convictions,
and was published by Sojourners ("Faith in Action for Social Justice")
and elsewhere on the Internet. Later on this page you can find links to her
YouTube interviews and Facebook page.
I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.
—Michael R. Burch, "Epitaph for a Palestinian
Child"
Omer Goldman has called Israel's military attacks on Gaza acts of
state-sponsored terrorism and war crimes that will not obtain any of Israel's
objectives. She has also accused Israel of having become a fascist country that
lies and does irrational and stupid things. And she says that Israel's IDF is
"exactly" like Hamas, both being terrorist organizations that bomb innocent
people.
“In Israel, when you are born, you are a soldier to be … when you challenge
them, they attack you personally.”—Omer Goldman
Omer Goldman Granot is the daughter of Naftali Granot, a former deputy head
of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service which is similar to the CIA. She is also a member of the
Shministim,
a group of young Israeli sarvanim (conscientious objectors or “refuseniks”).
Most of them
as 12th-graders refused to serve in Israel's occupation army after they graduated
from high school. Goldman opposes Israel’s military occupation of Palestine and
its racist repression of the Palestinian people. She says, by way of explanation:
“When I was growing up, I believed in war heroes and dying for a piece of
land, and [giving] everything for my brothers and sisters here in the Jewish
community of Israel ... But when I was really small, I always cared about human
rights, and my dream when I was [around] eight was to be at Amnesty
International ... I only awoke when I was about 16 or 17 [to understand] that
all those things I’d been told in the education system and everywhere [in
Israeli life] were questionable ... [so] maybe I should double-check things ...
maybe everything was not as I thought it was.”—Omer Goldman
Omer was sentenced to a military prison for refusing to serve the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF), along with her fellow high-schoolers Tamar Katz and Mia
Tamarin. She has since spent a second term in prison (Israel can re-draft
conscientious objectors and jail them repeatedly for the same "crime").
"In Israel, after you finish high school, you have to join the army
immediately ... when it was my time to join the Israeli army, I refused, because
I am against the fact that the Israeli army is occupying the Palestinian
territories and the Palestinian people. I won't take part in a system that
commits war crimes and crimes against humanity."—Omer
Goldman
"Anyone who uses violence is wrong. But our country, which claims to be
democratic, and the IDF, which is supposed to be human, [both] act exactly like
Hamas, a terrorist organization. [The IDF] bombs innocent people; it's a
terrorist organization, but no one calls it that. We are hurting innocent
people; we are acting like a terrorist organization."—Omer
Goldman
"Many young Palestinians go to jail for no reason."—Omer
Goldman
"Denying the Palestinians their basic human rights puts us all in danger."—Omer
Goldman
"It's against my personal beliefs."—Omer Goldman
"I knew I had to go with my heart, because I have to live with myself. I didn't
want to regret for the rest of my life being a part of a system that is so
wrong, and so illegal, and doing awful things."—Omer
Goldman
"I went to this village in the West Bank, and the Israeli army just put a
check-point in the middle of the village for no reason just to make it difficult
for the people to cross and we wanted to take it off. So they start shooting at
us like crazy. And I didn’t understand, like, is the army that I’ve been told
all of my life is protecting me, now shooting at me? My whole idea of what they
are just vanished."—Omer Goldman
When asked what she would say to her father, she replied:
"Each of us is fighting for our beliefs; I chose the non-violent way, you chose
the violent way. It’s very hard for me to answer that. I wish we can get better
but I’m not sure it will happen."—Omer Goldman
In her declaration of refusal she stated:
"I refuse to enlist in the Israeli military. I shall not be part of an army
that needlessly implements a violent policy and violates the most basic human
rights on a daily basis. Like most of my peers, I too had not dared to question
the ethics of the Israeli military. But when I visited the Occupied Territories,
I realized a completely different reality, a violent, oppressive, extreme
reality that must be ended. I believe in service to the society I am part of,
and that is precisely why I refuse to take part in the war crimes committed by
my country. Violence will not bring any kind of solution, and I shall not commit
violence, come what may."—Omer Goldman
She explains that the crucial moment in her metamorphosis occurred when at
the age of 16, as a member of the group Combatants for Peace, she
went to the Palestinian village of Shufa, where the IDF had set up an arbitrary
roadblock, without any purpose except to make Palestinian life unendurable. In
Shufa, Palestinians she had once considered her enemy stood beside her, while someone who
was supposed to be defending her, opened fire on her.
"I often traveled to the occupied territories, and saw with my own eyes,
what the Israeli army is there are things which I cannot cooperate."—Omer
Goldman
Combatants for Peace is made up of former Israeli and Palestinian soldiers who
have joined together to demonstrate against the injustices of the war between
their people. The group heard about an arbitrary roadblock set up in the middle
of the city that was blocking kids from going to school and others from carrying
out their daily tasks. While the demonstrators tried to bring awareness about
the unjust checkpoint, Israeli soldiers opened fire
with rubber bullets and gas grenades. Omer was caught off guard. She didn’t
expect the Israeli military to blindly follow orders and attack Israelis and
Palestinians over a peaceful protest.
Here’s what Ed Asner said about her:
"I've been around this world for awhile, and it's pretty hard to leave
me speechless. But when I learned about Omer Goldman—well, her story got me ...
Her courage, and the courage of the other ‘Shministim’ in Israel is utterly
humbling. And amazing. I don't use those words lightly."
Here’s what Ed Asner said about the young Israeli refuseniks:
"This new generation of young Israeli kids is standing up to the government—they
call 'em "Shministim." The Shministim—all about ages 17, 18, 19 and in the 12th
grade—are taking a stand. They believe in a better, more peaceful future for
themselves and for Israelis and Palestinians, and they are refusing to join the
Israeli army. They're in jail, holding strong against immense pressure from
family, friends and the Israeli government. They need our support and they need
it today."
Here’s what she has said herself ...
I first went to prison on September 23 and served 35 days. I am lucky, after
two times in jail, I got a medical discharge, but I'm the only one. By the time
you read this, many of my friends will be in prison too: in for three weeks, out
for one, and then back in, over and over, until they are 21. The reason? We
refuse to do military service for the Israeli army.
I grew up with the army. My father was deputy head of Mossad and I saw my
sister, who is eight years older than me, do her military service. As a young
girl, I wanted to be a soldier. The military was such a part of my life that I
never even questioned it.
Earlier this year, I went to a peace demonstration in Palestine. I had always
been told that the Israeli army was there to defend me, but during that
demonstration Israeli soldiers opened fire on me and my friends with rubber
bullets and tear-gas grenades. I was shocked and scared. I saw the truth. I saw
the reality. I saw for the first time that the most dangerous thing in Palestine
is the Israeli soldiers, the very people who are supposed to be on my side.
When I came back to Israel, I knew I had changed. I told my dad what had
happened. He was angry that I had been over to the occupied territories and told
me I had endangered my life. I have always discussed history and politics with
my father but on this subject – my rejection of the military and my
conscientious objecting – we can’t speak.
When I came back to Israel, I knew I had changed. And so, I have joined with
a number of other young people who are refusing to serve; they call us the
Shministim. On December 18th, we are holding a Day of Action in Israel, and we
are determined to show Israelis and the world that there is wide support for
stopping a culture of war. Will you join us? Please, just sign a
letter. That's
all it takes.
Many have asked me about what it was like for me during this time. Of course
I got scared while in prison. But also, it's frightening that my country is the
way that it is, locking up young people who are against violence and war. And I
worry that what I am doing may damage my future. It's hard to go from being a
free girl who can decide things for herself — what to wear, who to see, what to
eat — and then go back to having every minute of the day time-tabled.
Last time I was out of prison, I went to see my dad. We tried not to talk
politics. He cares about me as his daughter, that I am suffering, but he doesn't
want to hear my views. He never came to visit me in prison. I think it was too
hard for him to see me in there. He is an army man.
I suppose, actually, we have similar characters. We both fight for what we
believe in.
I understand from our friends at Jewish Voice for Peace that you are also
someone who fights for what you believe in. Believe in me. Believe in Omer
Goldman. Believe in the Shministim.
Thank you,
Omer Goldman
Tel-Aviv, Israel
Here is an explanation of when her views began to change ...
In 2006, at the beginning of the Second Lebanon War, me and my friends took a
trip to Cyprus.
There, outside of Israel was the first time I actually heard criticism against
the Israeli army and government, and even personally of me as an Israeli girl.
My first instinct was to defend what I grew up with and thought was right. Only
then I saw pictures in the news I had never seen before in the Israeli media.
Those pictures made me realize how little I know about the reality an hour from
my home.
As that war turned into another operation in vain and no one in the Israeli
government admitted that, not only did I lose my faith in the “humanity” of this
army, but I started questioning the ability of the Israeli army sent by the
Israeli government to defend me.
I remember sitting on the curve, smoking a cigarette after a demo in Tel Aviv
calling for Israeli leadership to resign, saying to my friend “I’m not going to
take part in this; this government doesn’t represent me any more, there must be
another way.”
The problem with the Israeli youth is that they are not exposed to the
reality from a balanced point of view. 99% of Israeli teenagers never went to
the West Bank to meet Palestinians, and their first interaction with them is
when they are carrying a gun and wearing the army uniform.
The fact that we visited the West Bank before we were supposed to join the army
opened our eyes, and once our eyes were open we could see no other way.
When you refuse to serve your society with military service you reflect on
all your friends and family, so there are many consequences when you use your
democratic right to resist something you think is immoral, old friends become
distant, and sometimes family show no support.
We feel that the basic understanding that real security comes from peace has
been forgotten.
The occupation is poisoning Israel from within. It creates an aggressive
people, extreme nationalism, and leaves important values such as solidarity and
equality behind. That’s why taking a stand against it, as an Israeli, is crucial
for both Palestinians and Israelis as one.
But the law itself and the two years for women or three years for men of army
service are only the tip of the iceberg of a highly militaristic state.
The service does not only consist of the two or three years as a teenager,
but also of reservist service – every man and women until a certain age can be
called up once a year or more in times of war to either train or for active
military service. This makes a state in which every parent, teacher, employer
and politician not only has been a soldier in his youth, but in many cases still
acts as one on the average of once a year.
The care packages for soldiers every kinder-garden child has sent on the
Jewish holidays, the memorial planks at the entrance to most schools
commemorating all the former students of the school who died during their
military service, the compulsory one week of military training most schools take
11th graders on, and the constant presence of army personal inside schools and
classrooms are only a few examples of what makes Israeli society [so] militant
and obedient in a scary way.
Here is a similar viewpoint by one of the modern world's greatest philosophers:
"The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was “given” by a
foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state. The result was
that many hundreds of thousands of innocent people were made permanently
homeless. With every new conflict their numbers increased. How much longer is
the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?" - Bertrand
Russell
Here is a link to Omer Goldman's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Omer-Goldman/36359399693
You may also want to read and consider Israeli Prime Ministers who were Terrorists; they include
Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon and David Ben-Gurion.
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