{"id":111541,"date":"2024-03-16T18:05:26","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=111541"},"modified":"2024-03-16T10:35:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T08:35:06","slug":"20-00-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=111541","title":{"rendered":"Sharansky: Oslo sowed the seeds for the October 7 massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Sharansky: Oslo sowed the seeds for the October 7 massacre<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN, ERICA SCHACHNE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

At the Table: An international icon and a local Jerusalem celebrity, often glimpsed on streets and in stores, Natan Sharansky’s presence adds to the \u201cmodern-day miracle\u201d feel of life in Israel<\/strong>.<\/h4>\n

Jerusalem resident and local celebrity Natan Sharansky. \/ (photo credit: Pamela B. Paresky)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Natan Sharansky<\/span><\/a>\u00a0arrives at lunch precisely on time, his trademark olive-green cap perched firmly atop his head, complemented by a matching sweater. He exudes a lively energy \u2013 even after all he has been through \u2013 at age 76.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cI went straight from hell to paradise, and I am still in paradise,\u201d he says of his transition from nine years in a Soviet prison, including 405 days in a punishing cell, to Jerusalem. That time was partly served in a gulag-like \u201ccorrective colony,\u201d and included hunger strikes and force-feeding. Indeed, it\u2019s surreal to be sitting down with him in the upscale Pompidou caf\u00e9 on the German Colony\u2019s main drag.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

An international icon and a local Jerusalem celebrity, often glimpsed on streets and in stores, his presence adds to the \u201cmodern-day miracle\u201d feel of life in the Jewish state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharansky orders coffee with milk but is not patient with a digitized menu. \u201cI just want a salad,\u201d he says. \u201cLots of vegetables.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

His smile is infectious as he talks about his eight grandchildren. A son-in-law was in the reserves for 147 days, and his daughter and her five sons moved in to his home in the capital.<\/span><\/p>\n

Natan Sharansky is seen greeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wife, Sara, at a party celebrating the 25th anniversary of Sharansky\u2019s liberation, Feb. 2011. (credit: Moshe Milner\/GPO)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best parts of being a grandparent is that you enjoy the kids, then they go home to their parents,\u201d he says with a laugh.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

He admits to being busy since the war started. Sharansky, a former minister and executive chair of the Jewish Agency, is chairman of five Jewish nonprofits \u2013 including two that fight antisemitism and the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, through which he is digitizing 200 years of archives.<\/span><\/p>\n

He jokes that his wife, Avital, keeps asking when he will retire: \u201cI retired five years ago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

The conversation takes us from Russia (where he was known as Anatoly) to Israel to US college campuses. Sharansky talks animatedly and with a heavy Russian accent.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

He vividly recounts the moment he stepped off the KGB airplane toward his newfound freedom. In defiance of the guards\u2019 orders to walk in a straight line, Sharansky chose to zigzag across the tarmac. Another memorable scene is his now-legendary stride across Berlin\u2019s Glienicke Bridge, where he took his first steps toward liberty clad in oversized civilian pants provided ahead of release. He leaped to freedom wearing a rope that served as a makeshift belt, causing the rope to snap. During the subsequent press conference, anxious to be reunited with his wife, he had to clutch his trousers to prevent them from slipping down.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Sharansky also talks about the first time he met Avital in Russia and how \u201cit was love at first glance.\u201d He endearingly tells of urging the young woman to join his group\u2019s Hebrew program, promising he would help her, since he \u201cknew 1,000 words in Hebrew.\u201d Happily, that was the exact amount Avital knew as well. It didn\u2019t take long to realize they both had exaggerated in their mutual eagerness to be together, each knowing \u201cmaybe 900 Hebrew words less.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Hamas-Israel War and October 7 failures<\/strong><\/h4>\n

THE DISCUSSION quickly turns to\u00a0Oct. 7<\/a>\u00a0and the \u201cshocking\u201d and \u201cterrible\u201d failure of Israel\u2019s intelligence community and of the IDF that day. He says, \u201cNo one person does not want to fight back and restore peace, but our perception of our security changed that day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

On the other hand, he says, \u201cI think so much good has come out of our people\u201d since the massacre. \u201cIn one day, we went from being a polarized society to the most united. Suddenly, it was clear that the whole year of these mutual accusations was not in the hearts of the people.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cI am sure there will be at least two new parties in the next elections: one to the left of Likud, and one to the right, with new faces for everyone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

But Sharansky cannot let go of what he believes was the catalyst for the Gaza war: the Oslo Accords, meaning that the seeds of Oct. 7 were planted 30 years ago. He says the approach essentially communicated, \u201cIt\u2019s not our business, and it\u2019s not important for us in what kind of society the Palestinians live\u201d but rather that Israel \u201cfind a dictator who can guarantee our stability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the idea of Oslo,\u201d Sharansky explains. \u201cWe are bringing [Yasser] Arafat. We know that he is a ruthless dictator. And we say to the Palestinians, \u2018Whether you want it or not, he will be your leader.\u2019 And we say to ourselves, \u2018Our prime minister said that it\u2019s good he is not restricted by democracy because that\u2019s how he will defeat Hamas much quicker than we can do it.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Sharansky opposed Oslo because he believed Arafat would quickly understand that the only way he could maintain power by force was to find an external enemy. \u201cWhat other external enemy would he have except us?\u201d Sharansky asks. \u201cA lot of public money was put into Arafat\u2019s account so he would be loyal to us. And it failed big.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Sharansky says that not only did Arafat not defeat Hamas, but \u201cHamas defeated him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Then came the Disengagement and the vision that Israel could separate from Gaza. Sharansky was the first minister to resign over the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

It\u2019s not that Sharansky does not want peace or believe it is achievable, he stresses. Rather, he does not think Israeli and world leaders have gone about obtaining it in the right way. He calls prime minister Shimon Peres \u201cprimitive and a neo-Marxist,\u201d having fully bought into a blissful vision of Mideast peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cHe was so popular because of his optimism,\u201d Sharansky says of Peres. \u201cI am also optimistic, but I am not naive.\u201d Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, he opines, was more realistic but felt it worthwhile to proceed.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

He says he does not believe Ariel Sharon really felt the Disengagement would achieve its goal. Sharon told Sharansky that he thought if Israel separated from Gaza and gave the Gazans complete independence, Israel would have 10 years of international approval \u2013 and be able to respond if Gazans carried out attacks against the Jewish state.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cI told him, \u2018We don\u2019t have 10 years; we don\u2019t have 10 days,\u2019\u201d Sharansky says. \u201cI was wrong. We had a couple of months.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cWe are paying a very big price for our attempts,\u201d Sharansky continues, speaking quickly. \u201cWe have no choice now. If we want to continue to exist as a state, we have to destroy Hamas. We have to take control over the security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

THE CONVERSATION jumps to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Sharansky believes should have had a two-term limit and needs to retire immediately after the war. But he also says Netanyahu \u201cdid great things for our people\u201d and has played \u201ca very important leadership role\u201d in the country\u2019s success.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

He cites Netanyahu\u2019s role in developing Israel\u2019s capitalist economy, ensuring the Taglit-Birthright free trip to Israel program (of which Sharansky was an early champion), and highlighting the danger of Russian weapons sales to Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cHe deserves a lot of credit,\u201d he says. \u201cNo one remembers,\u201d noting that Netanyahu also went out of his way for Sharansky and his family on a personal level.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Anyone who claims Netanyahu is prolonging the war to stay in office is spreading a blood libel, he asserts, and the notion is \u201cnuts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cI think that if [Benny] Gantz were the leader today, he would have done the same war as Bibi,\u201d Sharansky says. \u201cI don\u2019t see many choices.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

He also believes there is a second front: American college campuses, which opened up to anti-Israel movements long before this war.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cIn 2003, being a minister in the Israeli government, I had a kind of tour of all the universities because I was looking for the roots of antisemitism,\u201d Sharansky recalls. \u201cIt was the time of the Second Intifada… when hundreds of our citizens were killed by suicide bombers, and we were fighting against it.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cAnd then I heard from one student \u2013 she was a post-graduate student in Harvard business school. She explained to me that she wanted very much to sign the letter against divestment in support of Israel. But she knew for sure there will be three professors who are very important for her career who will not like it. And that\u2019s why she decided to be silent for a few years until her career was guaranteed.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cAnd I remember I thought, \u2018My God, it\u2019s not at Moscow University in my days when people were double-thinkers. Here in the free world.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Rather than blanket hasbara, Sharansky adds, the goal today should be to illustrate how antisemitism is the first warning to a society that it is becoming \u201cilliberal.\u201d He worries the Western world is betraying its liberal ideas in favor of progressive ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cThe most important struggle in America is not between Left and Right but between liberals and progressives,\u201d Sharansky says. \u201cProgressives are not allies; they are enemies of liberalism. And it was very difficult for many organizations, especially Jewish liberal organizations, to accept this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

We mention the storm of criticism against Jewish director\u00a0Jonathan Glazer\u2019s Oscar acceptance speech<\/a>\u00a0this past week, in which he \u201crefute[d his] Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation…\u201d All Jews, Sharansky points out, regardless of ideology, would be rounded up like the ethnic German Jews if it came down to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

But he believes Oct. 7 should have enlightened these Jewish organizations, along with figures like Glazer \u2013 especially given the response to the heinous sexual crimes perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli women.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cThe most awful violation of women\u2019s rights [going back hundreds of years] … and these organizations [like UN Women] are not ready to say a word. They are silent at best,\u201d Sharansky says, noting that some progressives even say the Israelis deserved it because they are \u201coppressors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s like the best proof that progressive organizations are not liberal organizations,\u201d Sharansky concludes.\u25a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/section>\n

Pamela B. Paresky<\/strong> contributed to this article.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Sharansky: Oslo sowed the seeds for the October 7 massacre MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN, ERICA SCHACHNE At the Table: An international icon and a local Jerusalem celebrity, often glimpsed on streets and in stores, Natan Sharansky’s presence adds to the \u201cmodern-day miracle\u201d feel of life in Israel. Jerusalem resident and local celebrity Natan Sharansky. \/ (photo credit: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111541"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111560,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111541\/revisions\/111560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}