My kids and I were watching "42 , The Jackie Robinson Story" the other day. It took place in the 60's when black Americans were segregated from the whites. They watched the baseball games from their own section of the stadium marked "Colored". As I was watching this movie, I couldn't help notice the comparison of Israeli vax vs unvaxed rights.
We became second class citizens over night. We are either sent to a separate section or not allowed at all. At sporting events, resturaunts, museums, concerts, travel and an increasing host of other places.
Will we be made to use separate bathrooms? Separate planes? Live in separate neighborhoods? Use separate public pools? Will we create a separate army? Will intermarriage be allowed? Will there be signs? Police to enforce our segregation? Will it begin to branch off, just as there are separate branches of religious observance, will "vax" become branched? Each with it's own level of acceptance? (I can assume the answer to these questions, I'm just wondering if anyone else has thought that far ahead?)
How did we get here? How did we go along with this up until now? For years we've had groups fighting for equal rights for Arabs and gay rights groups. To make sure that they have citizenship, work, due process, education, land rights, government representatives, free speech etc the exact same as the Jews who live here. Where are these groups who fight for the minorities against oppression. Do they choose who they fight for? Or is it chosen for them? Aren't we all worth fighting for?
This is how hate begins. One group puts themselves on an upper tier of society while oppressing another. In this case , it's not color of skin, it's technology under the skin. Do you have it? (good) Or don't you? (bad) Israeli touts itself as "democratic" . Yet there is nothing democratic in Israeli's continued response to "corona".
Jews have been segregated over and over and over again in many countries throughout history. From Egypt to Rome, from Greece to Europe. Jews have been exploited, segregated and singled out to be the blame for one thing or another.
We came to Israel to start a new with Jewish pride and knowing we had nothing to hide here. We contribute our know-how to build a nation where we're free to be Jewish however we each choose to express that.
But here we find ourselves in 2021 not free, but once again segregated. Apart from our Jewish brothers because we choose not to inject experimental poisons into our body. We choose to see health in our own individual way and take care of ourselves and our families' differently, but just as or even more effective (and proven effectiveness) than mystery ingredients.
Throughout the history of the world, this has always been the case. each person is responsible for his or her own health and has never been punished or segregated for their decisions. Jews have always been independent thinkers. We think critically and creatively and we come up with solutions. This has served us well and has put many Jews in positions of power and influence.
If we had just followed leaders and followed orders, we wouldn't have scientific breakthroughs, innovative ideas, Nobel prizes, or our own country built on Jewish brain and brawn.
So why segregate Jewish citizens from their own society? We pay our taxes, send our kids to the army and uphold the law. we are supposed to have every right a free person in Israel is entitled to . And yet we don't. Because many of us chose to research this new technology and we are not happy with what we see. This is our inalienable right to choose what's best for our body.
We fight together, we learn together, we pray together, we shop together, we attend ceremonies together. We are Jewish, One nation under God . Equality for all. Respect is also inalienable. I respect your decisions, you respect mine. This is how we have lived together, this is how we keep the peace.
This segregation is teaching us to distrust each other, dislike each other, and ultimately separate from each other.
As Israelis we cannot agree on almost anything. We are very passionate about the issues we choose to get behind. We argue , we talk over each other, we raise our voices, we use our hands and arms to express ourselves and we get in each other's faces. But in the end we respect each other and an argument remains an argument . Never overreaching to destroy a relationship.
But this "vax/mask" issue has put a divide between the "haves and the Have-nots" that is creating an abyss between us by our own government and media. Many of us feel like we're reliving the 1960's in America or apartheid in South Africa. The segregation/Nazi Germany/apartheid /Inquisition, however you'd like to label it, is the same.
This time it's Jews segregating other Jews. It's a bio-apartheid which is just another excuse to pull people apart and tear our close knit society into pieces.
At this point, there are Arabs who are "vaxed" who have more rights than me in my own Jewish homeland. For the most part, the Arab sector doesn't not attend the army, and does not pay taxes, yet as soon as they get the "vax" they are free to roam amongst society. Whereas and other Jews who do pay our taxes and send our kids to the army, cannot.
This is not rhetoric. This is happening now in real time. The only one to save us, is us. We must fight this at every step. We do not accept a "green Pass". We do not accept segregation. Our government and media have overstepped, to learned from history and do not care about their citizens' well being. This move is leading us to civil unrest. Does the government not see this coming? Or is it being done deliberately ?
Our government and media have violated the 10 Nuremberg Codes, but has anyone noticed that they have also violated all 10 commandments as well?
We are Jews in our Jewish nation, under God. We are here in numbers , we have pride, power and truth on our side. We all need to wake up and see where this is heading and together put a stop to it.
I refuse to allow my children to grow up an a Mississippi, circa 1960-like country where the government , media, police, army and other leaders push, support, or condone any form of apartheid. There is no place in a Jewish democratic society for segregation.
We must learn to get along with all of our differences just like we always have. If our leaders can't see the forest for the trees, we must stand together and not let them destroy our free society.
Tear up the "green pass". Ignore it . Instead, accept everyone. Treat each other , once again, as human beings. To recognize that we are one nation, brought together from all over the world for the purpose of living free and equal as Jews in our own Jewish democratic homeland.
