How much evil can you swallow ?
- Eyal Shani
- Apr 1
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 1
It's two in the morning, and I find myself struggling in the middle of a dream, my jaw tightly closed, my hand clenched, and a feeling of paralysis comes over me. I feel like I'm struggling with someone, like Jacob fought the angel – maybe he was dreaming too... I wake up. I feel like throwing up, and I'm also hungry. I make toast with tea, sit down in front of an empty page, and spew out everything I've been through today.
How do I fill the page with my feelings? How do I express these feelings? How do I get people to reach out and stand together for human dignity, against racism, evil, and corruption? How do I finally spread some light in such a dark time?
At the end of the blog you can see what can be done.
The title of this blog has changed many times. I really wanted to call it "Love your neighbor as yourself... really?" or "Do unto others as you would have them do to you ..." or maybe Oscar - to be or not to be... but no matter what the title was, the intensity I felt was always the same intensity.
Anyone who knows me and has followed me for years knows that I always try to see the good in people, even when things get tough, even when there are a lot of atrocities and depravity. I have always looked for that hint of purity, a tiny glint of light, a speck of human dignity that can be saved from all the suffering and destruction. But......
Here's what happened today (13.3.25):
It started out as a normal day. We bought boxes of food to distribute to families for the holiday. I loaded up a window to bring to Salem, who is currently renovating, and Assi went on ahead to take a box of food to the carpenter from Dahariya who has nothing left to feed his children with. Two hundred meters before the checkpoint, the lashing on the roof of my vehicle came loose and I found myself stopping on the side of the road and repacking the parts of the window (strangely the glass hadn’t broken, as if it was keeping itself strong, reminds me somehow of the Palestinians who don't break despite everything).
I treated Salem, who was sick, with cupping and acupuncture, and we started going round the families, wishing them a happy holiday and giving them a small gift. In Umm Ghosa we heard how Yoav, the settler who took over the Umm Daraj police, harasses them every day, even confiscating 2 of their mashtufot (illegal vehicles) that he now drives around in freely!
While sitting there, we got a message, at about 1:30 PM, that goats were being stolen from a compound. We left everything and went over there as quickly as possible.
A military pickup truck with reservists was on the scene. The settler with the stolen herd was no longer around. The reservists said they saw the end of the theft in front of their eyes but could do nothing to stop it (Not clear why? Why couldn’t they stop him?). The soldiers called the police. Assi travelled with one of the Palestinians towards Halawa to look for the stolen goats. They were spotted from a distance in the dry riverbed between Halawa and the Menachem Farm, an illegal settlement that was established on Sukkot Eve in the heart of Firing Area 918, a.k.a Masaffer Yatta. After a petition by attorney Neta Amar, the farm was forced to relocate to an enclave outside the 48 borders at the same distance from the village. Who are they kidding?
In the meantime, the police arrived. They took evidence from the Palestinians, with my translation. I was shocked to hear that about 20 settlers had arrived when the army left, took the owner of the herd into his tent, threatening to beat him with their clubs, opened his paddock and, in broad daylight stole 12 goats, in addition to the one they had stolen from him earlier. You have to understand, that this is his livelihood, his only source of income (out of 28 goats, he now has 15 left). Later, we drove with the police towards the Menachem Farm but they asked me not to enter the farm. I drove with the owner of the stolen goats to the ridge to make sure that they did not move the stolen herd.
Assi, who did not hear the instructions, went into the farm and spoke with the police and soldiers who were there. The police said that they were handling the incident. The soldiers heard there was a new incident in the paddock and asked Assi to confirm. Assi checked with one of the Palestinians and realized that it was true. The soldiers decided to return to the paddock (it later turned out that it was a false incident probably set up by settlers). The policemen received some instructions over the phone, folded up and left the area. Assi left after them while the settler who was at the farm was filming him and trying to hit him with his car.
I waved to the police to come to us for the goats that were hidden in the riverbed, but they ignored me and continued to drive off at speed. I called the 100 hotline and asked them to tell the police to return. Even though an incident has been reported, and there is a number, they don’t know what it is and want to send another patrol vehicle…. I call the army’s Operational Headquarters and ask them to contact the soldiers and return the police. “We don’t talk to civilians” I hear her reply from the other side.
I call Noam who happened to be on his way. Noam stops the police who left the scene and tells them that the stolen goats are now at the farm and asks them to return to the scene. The police returned with Noam to the farm and I join them.
The settlers tried to block the entrance until they saw the police. The settlers were angry that I had entered the farm with a Palestinian “terrorist”. A verbal confrontation ensued. The police asked Noam and me to move away. Even though the Palestinian had identified the stolen goats, the police claimed that they had no way of verifying this and that we need to file a complaint with the Kiryat Arba police. Once again, I am left dumbfounded and embarrassed in the face of this mechanism of institutionalized evil, one that solves everything while completely ignoring this weaker side, and without giving any logical explanations. In the meantime, dozens of settlers arrived in the area, there was a sense of violence in the air. Noam and I cut off contact and went back, while the settlers blocked us with their vehicles from time to time.
The feeling was like an encounter with Phalangists, Nokhba, or Taliban guerrillas. Some of the settlers were identified as the field managers in the area, the ones who activate all the hill-boy vigilantes. One of them told us as we left, "Let’s see you come back without the police - cowards."
A feeling of helplessness overwhelms me, an entire establishment of police, soldiers, settlers, operating without conscience, without honor or morality. Over the years, I have cultivated relationships with many Palestinian families in the southern Hebron Hills and I admire their amazing ability not to despair, and to continue living despite all the evil. The last year and a half have overwhelmed my human carrying capacities, and today, I can no longer remain silent: When I see what is happening, I ask myself, “Have we become exactly what we feared?”
I use the first person plural and say “we,” and then I immediately hold back. I am not part of this “we”! I do not agree with this injustice and wrongdoing being done to anyone! Despite everything, I would not want any settler, Palestinian or Israeli, to be harmed, to live in under pressure or fear for their survival, no matter who they are.
In my imagination, I see myself in a dream again. This time, I am not fighting our forefather Jacob or the angel, but a settler – a Phalangist, a Taliban guerrilla with a pointed beard and a glint of madness in his eyes – only this time he is Jewish. Luckily, it is only a dream and I am sitting with my eyes open and recording this for you.
We finish up with an Iftar meal at Shehadeh’s, who listens painfully to our stories. Tonight is Purim, when people get drunk, and I fear that the group of settlers at the Menachem Farm may seek revenge. I have sent a message to everyone I know: Keep your eyes open tonight. Assi and Noam stay to sleep. I continue to four more families and meet Erela, Ehud and Nasser on the way, urging them that we must be vigilant tonight and that we must brand, quickly, all the sheep in Massafer Yata.
The law here discriminates. It comes down heavily on one side, and the other is left as if nothing happened, the law simply does not exist. There is a reality of fear, of violence, of racism.
I ask myself, are we, the Jewish people, who experienced a terrible Holocaust, and again unimaginable evil and cruelty on October 7, turning into those monsters that we condemn, just to survive?
And if there are those who think that they have a historical right as the "chosen people" on this land, are we not losing this right with such behavior of plunder, harassment of our neighbors, violence and evil?
We, who supposedly walked the path of humanity, now seem to be losing our values and our morality.
But what do we do with all this pain? How do we convey the message to people, to stand against evil, not to be afraid, to confront corruption, to say no to racism? How do we talk about it?
We can no longer remain silent. I cannot look at this reality and know that it is bubbling at the surface, while more and more people continue to be voiceless. Now is our time to say the right words and to act.
This is my message: do not turn your head and look the other way. Do not stand in silence and fold your arms when you see injustice, no matter which side you belong to. Every one of us must take responsibility for the way we live.
Now, in particular, we can no longer remain indifferent.
The world needs hope, action, change. Do not miss your opportunity to be part of this process.
So, what can you do:
1. Join us for a protective presence and take part in promoting human values that will allow us to build peace here.
2. Watch the Oscar-winning film "No Other Country" that brings you into the unbelievable reality of life as it is lived, so close to us.
3. Come to the Bearing Peace Days, get to know what’s happening up close and see it with the whites of your eyes, in early April .
With a heavy heart and with hope that many will join us in making changes here and addressing injustice.
Eyal
Tr: Yonathan (Jon) Anson
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