Critical voices from Israel
Following up on the article by Sara Roy, who will visit UTCP in March, in which she expresses a moral and political critique of the current war in Gaza, it is important to note that such a similar critical voice can also be heard from within the Israeli society itself.
This March UTCP will host Dr. Sara Roy of Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. Roy's research deals with Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it is not unlikely that her visit to the Center will be marked by the current war waging between Israel and the Hamas in Gaza. Recently, one of our fellows has published here a translation of a recent newspaper article by her, in which she expresses both a moral imperative to end the conflict as well as a critique of the policies of the Israeli government [Japanese version; original English version].
I believe it is important to note that the critical voice Roy is sounding can also be heard within Israel. It does not receive much media attention, and within Israel those voices are usually labeled as "traitors".
The following links contain a sample of only some of those voices, movements and organizations:
- Israeli human rights watch in Gaza
- B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
- Hagada Hasmalit (The Left Bank): "A Left Radical Forum"
- Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc)
- Gideon Levy: A writer in the daily Ha'aretz who voices strong opinions against the war and occupation, and who is also openly critical about other writers in his own newspaper. [English article; Japanese translation]
- Soldiers refuse to serve in Gaza: A video report on Israeli conscientious objectors (in Hebrew with English subtitles).
The writer is an Israeli student and a research fellow at UTCP