Evil again descends on the land and Jews feel alone in a hostile world
By Justine Zwerling
I would like you to look into my eyes and my daughters’ eyes. Please.
In the darkest days of humanity, you need to make some decisions, take a deep breath, and check your moral compass
This is my voice day on day 67 of this war. I am a mother, wife, sister, daughter in a war zone with two kids, one with special needs.
Since Saturday morning 7th October; we are alive, not ok, not safe – and my husband has been serving on the front lines since that first morning saving lives. Before you form an opinion or express outrage at Israel, you need to remember the following:
- 240 innocent civilians were abducted from Israel into the Gaza Strip by HAMAS. They ranged in in age from a 9-month baby to 85 years of age, 40 children under the age of 18. These innocents were kidnapped in the midst of a vicious attack against Israel during which thousands of children, elderly, women, children with special needs, and men were slaughtered, raped, gang-raped butchered, burnt alive, and severely wounded.
- The hostages held captive by Hamas have faced not only the threat of physical harm but also the imminent risk of sexual violence, and torture – tools of terror and humiliation. We know from testimony from those released that at least 10 male and female hostages were sexually assaulted. The psychological trauma they endured is more than we can bear. 137 men and women, including 10 men over the age of 70 remain hostage.
- The international community’s failure to condemn these acts unequivocally and pressure Hamas to release all of the hostages is a gross betrayal of these innocent victims.
- Over 1,200 people have been murdered, 378 soldiers have fallen, and 5,400 people have been wounded.
- Over 20,000+ enemy rockets and countless hostile aircraft intrusions have occurred and continue to. As I type, the ground is shaking.
- Hamas terrorists are walking around Gaza with CHILDREN as human shields.
- My life and every breath have always been about co-existence and still is – this horrific war is about terrorist savages, not about Palestine and Israel. Each day I support and speak to my Palestinian, Druze, Christian, Sikh, Hindu friends, Emirati, Bahraini, Moroccan, Jordanian, and beyond not just the incredible Abraham Accords Countries.
Many of you on social media have always asked me to lean in and help on multiple campaigns from Black Lives Matter, Neurodiversity, Women’s Pay Gap, and the list goes on.
I always did.
Where are you now?
World, where is your outrage?
“Decolonization” necessarily implies a Jewish genocide, thus it is unacceptable to any reasonable person – if you do support that you are agreeing to murder me and my children.
It means you have chosen to support the dark side. The evil side.
You may be reading this while you drink your tea, comfortably, scrolling through which football game to watch, which item of clothing to wear/buy, which holiday to book, or which tickets to buy for your next theater performance.
This is not our reality.
This is not my family’s reality.
This is not the Jewish and Palestinian people’s reality right now.
You have a choice to make.
But it is not about choosing a team It’s about choosing between evil and humanity.
Now that you’ve looked into our eyes, please go to a mirror and look into yours.
And tell me whose side you’re on.
About the writer:
Justine Zwerling, Head of Middle East Shore Capital, supports companies with their growth journey and to raise capital on London Stock Exchange; listing on AIM, and the Main Market. Her career centres around entrepreneurship combined with a life purpose to develop the support structures surrounding women on their journey and neurodiversity. She founded the Jewish Women’s Business Network, Co-Founder of Gulf Israel Women’s Forum, Founding Member of UAE Israel Business Council. Volunteer for SAHI, Vibe Israel, Athena Fund, Autism awareness and Avi Solomon, blind runner, running with vision. She is a lucky mum of two lovely girls and a wonderful patient husband.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).