30 | JUNE 25 • 2020 

Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, Israel
S

ome 6,000 people gathered on a 
Saturday evening in a peaceful 
demonstration to protest the propos-
al to annex more of the West Bank, slotted 
to be executed on July 1. Jews and Arabs 
gave heartfelt speeches about the destruc-
tive consequences of occupation; Bernie 
Sanders sent in a message from the U.S 
saying millions support the attempt to not 
give up on peace. 
It was a relatively calm night, with few 
police arrests (a Haaretz journalist among 
them) and a few counter-protesters. This 
demonstration meant something, but I’
m 
not exactly sure what.
After a 24-hour news cycle, everybody 
moved on. This is a familiar pattern: Some 
people gather in a show of solidarity and 
a burst of adrenaline; then we, the media, 
forget anybody was there. The conversa-
tion moves on to whatever crisis is cur-
rently in style. The systems we’
re protest-
ing, then, can pretend we aren’
t protesting 
at all and continue doing the same thing 
they’
ve always done. 
It seemed like this time would be dif-
ferent. The wave of protests around the 
U.S has gathered momentum around the 
world. Demands are specific and already 
bearing fruit. Jewish communities, famil-

iar with the dangers of white supremacy, 
are among those turning out to support 
black people in their fight for justice. 
But in Israel, people idly sit by with 
deadly indifference. It’
s easy to watch the 
news from America and act as if it’
s all far 
away. It’
s easy, like we forget our protests 
happened, to forget what they were about. 
Salamon Taka was an 18-year-old 
Ethiopian Israeli killed by an off-duty 
police officer who claimed to feel threat-
ened for his life in 2019. Iyad El-Hallak 
was an autistic 32-year-old Palestinian 
man killed by a police officer for holding a 
“suspicious object” (no weapon was found, 
and Iyad’
s caretaker said both she and 
Iyad tried to tell the officers there wasn’
t 
one) around the same time of George 
Floyd’
s murder. 
These two deaths were unnecessary, and 
they weren’
t the first. Yet when protests 
do happen—in Jaffa, Haifa, Jerusalem, 
Tel Aviv — there is a wall. Too many of 
us don’
t show up. Like with annexation, 
while many Israelis don’
t necessarily sup-
port it, we’
re content living with it. Too 
many of us respond, “It’
s not OK, but…”
That “but” is the crux of the matter. 
That “but” is a deeply ingrained belief that 
when a police officer or IDF soldier kills 
someone without any reason, it’
s a mistake 

they must be able to make—so when the 
time comes, they can protect the Jewish 
nation against actual threats without any 
misgivings. At the end of the day, that’
s 
why we’
re here. That’
s why we fight all 
these wars — to protect the Jewish nation. 
But at this point in history, is protect-
ing the Jewish nation really what Israel 
is doing? If we say Black Lives Matter’
s 
support of the Boycott, Divestment and 
Sanctions movement means we cannot 
support them as they “go against us,” are 
we protecting ourselves or are we refusing 
to see the connection between racism all 
over the world? We are not different. We 
are not, somehow, exempt.
Israel has come uncomfortably close 
to the very same people whom we have 
a responsibility to not only stand against, 
but also act against. This isn’
t about BDS 
nor BLM; this is about acknowledging 
racism in Israel. Regardless of what we’
ve 
experienced in terms of wars and terror 
attacks, regardless of what we think is the 
right way to solve the Israeli/Palestinian 
conflict, regardless of who we think is 
against us. Because that’
s our responsibili-
ty as a Jewish nation. 

Michael Elias is a young Jewish non-binary poet and 
writer, currently studying comparative literature and 
history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Thousands demonstrate in Tel Aviv’
s Rabin 
Square against Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu’
s plan to annex parts of the 
West Bank on June 6, 2020.

Eretz
letter from Israel

NIR KEIDAR/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA

What Is Israel
Really Protecting?

As annexation looms and police violence rears, we must refl
 ect
on Israel’
s claims to protect Jews all over the world.

MICHAEL ELIAS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

