I’ve become more disturbed by the situation in Darfur recently, as I continue to enjoy my studies in Israel more and more, I also become more and more disturbed by the ongoing realization that Israel is failing to respond to Darfur as well! Israel! My own country! This is supposed to be the country of the Jews – the examples – the freedom fighters. These are the people that know oppression and persecution like no other. These are the people that, thank G-d, thrive now more than ever despite their innumerable traumatic experiences of attempted extermination. These are the people that bewildered individuals like Mark Twain, with his famous quotation: "All things are mortal but the Jew…What is the secret of his immortality?" These are the people that ask again and again, "Where was the world in our terrors of the holocaust? Why did the world turn their backs on us when we needed them most? Why couldn’t Roosevelt just drop a single bomb on the railway tracks to Auschwitz that his air force was flying over anyway? Why did the people of Europe turn their heads to the human-smoke rising from the crematoriums and plug their noses to the smell of Jewish burning flesh, obvious like the aroma of a mother’s shabbat cooking?
Indeed, where was the world?
I’ll tell you where the world was: the world was sitting on its rump just as you are right now in the faces of the victims of Darfur!
I recently had a long and heated debate/argument with an Israeli at my yeshiva. As we were casually sitting around the table at lunch, I brought up Darfur. To which all the Israelis replied "What?" I said, "I’ve really started to get worked-up about Darfur." To which they replied, "What? What’s Darfur?" At first i sat in shock. Followed by a sick pain to my stomach. Followed by, "You don’t know what Darfur is?!?!?!?!?!"
From there words started spewing out of my mouth describing Darfur and its tragedies, the biggest tragedy being the world’s silence.
The boys said (in Hebrew of course), "Hmm. That’s horrible." Which, to most, was an appropriate way of saying "Too bad, but its Africa and there’s nothing I can do," and then continued on in other conversations. Two remained interested however. I continued to talk to them how uncomfortable it made me feel that Israelis know even less than North Americans do in this matter, and how the government has sat in silence as well.
They responded with "Well, what can Israel do? It’s a little and helpless country that can barely defend itself and its own enemies. How can you expect us to take on others? Meh, we have enough of our own problems."
I was outraged! " What do you mean its a little and helpless country! So you say that now when another country needs help, but when its your own problems you brag and brag about how strong and mighty your little country is! Maybe I can understand your argument that Israel isn’t capable of supplying enough soldiers, but what about a political stance? Have they ever stood up for Darfur? Have they ever said that its wrong or mock those that could respond and aren’t? Has the simple word "Darfur" ever crossed their minds?"
To which they responded, "We are such a small country. Why would the world or the United Nations care about what we say?"
"Hello! Your ‘little country that nobody cares about’ is on the front page of nearly every newspaper in the world almost daily!"
"There’s no point. No one will listen to what we say about Dalfur."
"IT’S DARFUR!" – I was furious.
We continued to debate further on Darfur’s similarity to the holocaust. My side of the debate was that its similar enough to be frightened that even the Jews don’t respond to this; their side of the debate was that it was just soooooooo different. How you ask? That they just couldn’t prove. The debate, by this point really an argument, ended by me blasting them away with, "Darfur is different than the holocaust because you want it to be."
[If my note (clipped from an e-mail i wrote to a Toronto Journalist) inpsired anyone to get off there butts and stop others suffering the same tragedies we did – let me know and I’ll hook you up to the right people to start making a difference. In my opinion, anyone who turns his back on bloodshed has bloodstained hands all the same. Do what G-d put us here to do – inspire the world with leadership and compassion!]
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