If you want peace, start with a heartfelt apology

It’s hard to remember ever having read an article with more potential for danger than the one written last weekend in the Jerusalem Post, by Mohammed Altooll, self-described Palestinian peace activist, currently residing in Belgium.

That’s because his well-crafted words are brimming with logic and reason, seemingly coming from a caring heart!

With a view towards the best way to make peace, to end the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Altooll offers up what he believes is the best path forward.

For him, the first step to arrive at the destination is the desire for peace. Immediately, this is where we differ, because one critical element must precede that. 

A desire for peace is usually followed by great regret for having chosen the opposite course. Accompanied by much soul-searching reflection, for the lamentable actions taken, a sackcloth and ashes moment, bathed in a heartfelt apology is required.

Up until now, no one has seen that come from the same Gazans who danced in the streets, and passed out candy on October 7.  It has taken the passage of three years for it to dawn on our neighbors, to the south, that their misplaced trust in terrorist leaders has led them to total ruin.  

Homeless, jobless and more victimized than ever, Altooll chooses to portray them as “the people who experienced the suffering.” Really? Can we fact check that assertion? 

If memory serves correctly, Gazans voted Hamas in as their government, investing 20 years’ worth of trust and belief in the promise that they would be better off than how they started. Towards that end, they volunteered their sons, allowed their homes to be used as weapons storehouses and were employed in the tunnel-building industry.

Those who had the good fortune of working in Israel, willingly transferred intelligence and information to the captors that invaded the kibbutz communities, betraying the same people who personally cared about them.

The real suffering occurred on that fateful Shabbat morning, when an army of 3,000 barbarians breached our border for the purpose of slaughtering innocents in the most heinous ways known to man. 

Consequently, any suffering imposed on the Gazan people was payback for what was first hatched by their leaders over the course of 20 years. That does not qualify as victimization but as well-deserved retaliation.

Right there, Altooll gets off on the wrong foot. But wait, there’s more! He talks about Gazans as “people who are struggling for a normal life.” Was there anything normal about outsourcing their well-being to ghouls devoid of a conscience? 

Was there anything normal about sending their beloved sons to an early grave? And was there anything normal about celebrating the slaughter of an unarmed people as they slept in their beds? 

Any scars born by Gazans are of their own doing. Because when you live life with no moral compass, it often ends up in your own tragic demise.  

It’s sad but true. Gazans displayed a callous disregard for the same compassionate and open-minded members of kibbutz communities who shared their food with them, gave them rides to clinics and tirelessly fought for their rights. Instead of being eternally grateful, they spit on their efforts by making the process of their murders just a little bit easier.

These are the people for which Altooll is advocating, envisioning a better governance for them by rejecting the usual assortment of political leaders who would like to be the heir apparent of Hamas. He offers the alternative of “imagining a political future beyond the existing party structures.”

That translates into Altooll “representing the interests of Gaza’s civilian population inside the Israeli Knesset.” And while he says the idea has drawn a great deal of discussion, why should any consideration be given to a people and their proposed leader, neither of whom lament or deplore their own despicable actions as well as those made on their behalf?

Why would anyone be agreeable to welcome them into a democratic system that values and esteems the ideals of human rights, freedom, personal choice, respect and regard for others, as well as the type of education that advances the good of societies?

Who would be willing to offer a seat at the table to anyone who first hasn’t comprehended the immensity of a tragedy which demands a heartfelt apology for the innocent blood that was ruthlessly spilled over the course of many hours? 

The fact that no deep remorse is forthcoming, only attests to the fact that such a cataclysmic devastation could occur, yet again.  Because when authentic sympathy is not expressed over such an apocalyptic darkness that befell the Jewish homeland, then no good-will can take place, inuring to the benefit of a people who possess no personal benevolence.

Nonetheless, Altooll, like so many others, are counting on a short-memory span amongst Israelis, hoping that the unfulfilled dream of true peace between Palestinians and Jews will finally be attainable, so long as Israelis go the extra mile to make it happen.

Well, here’s a news flash for Altooll. The vast majority of Israelis are unlikely to be willing to go that extra mile, and with good reason. As the real victims who suffered a massacre, and those who prayed day and night for the release of our hostages who were tortured and killed in cold blood, three years is not nearly enough time for our broken hearts to have mended.

In fact, a lifetime is not a sufficient period to close a festering wound which cannot heal, because the needed salve still remains unavailable. That healing ointment begins with the full awareness and deep regret by the perpetrators, whose evil has rivaled the worst and most tragic moments in history.

Right up there with the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, World Wars and every other horrific catastrophe, October 7 stands as a reminder of a demonic battle which sought to erase the Jewish people from the face of the earth, starting with the weakest among us – babies, children and their mothers and fathers. 

It will go down in infamy as a stark admonition of the dark abyss to which man can descend when willingly harboring hate in their souls.  Sadly, even a heartfelt apology can’t erase that evil, but the absence of one lets us know that regret is non-existent!

Consequently, an invitation to join the Knesset might be a bit premature!