Meet Meital Yaniv, Former Israeli Soldier Turned Anti-Zionist Organizer

this news is funded by viewers like you please support our work at democracynow.org this is democracy Now democracynow.org the Warren peace report I'm Amy Goodman we continue our coverage of Gaza as we turn to California where hundreds of Jewish activists and their allies shut down the California state capital in Sacramento Wednesday during its first floor session of the new year to demand a ceasefire in [Applause] Gaza we shut down we shut down the first session the first session California State Legislature today State legis as chance rang out the activists dropped banners that read no us funding for Israel's genocide in Palestine another Banner noted California taxpayers contribute some $600 million to US military a to Israel each year the direct action was organized by Jewish voices for peace if not now and the international Jewish anti-zionist Network among others one of the protesters was a former Israeli IDF Soldier and Israeli Defense Force soldier who will join us in a minute from San Francisco this is metal addressing their fellow demonstrators my elders State family had meticulous ly taught me how to recognize genocide from infancy how naked bodies get rounded up for torture and execution how Mass Graves smell how starvation and hate shapes a body how ethic cleansing marched entire lineages and buries the wisdom of the land caretakers the black and white images are now in color the stories are Al and in this cycle we don't need gas Chambers because we have us made bombs that's Matalan addressing Wednesday's protests that shut down the California State Assembly an organizer with shesh a new Israel anti-zionist group based in the US they were born in Tel Aviv they're a former IDF Soldier which they write about in their new book Bloodlines welcome to democracy Now matal can you talk about why you've decided to take the stand and talk about what you did as an Israeli soldier and your change of heart yes thank you Amy for having me and thank you for the work that you do um so I was raised in a very I would say extremely Zionist uh family but also very common way of being raised in Israel um I have a lot of um war heroes in my family Fallen Soldiers Le recruiters Air Force commanders um and the like mad agents um and and as um the child of my father I was um recruited into the Air Force and um after six months of serving um my base was moved from Tel Aviv to the South this was 2002 and I was asked to send planes to fuel planes that were going into Gaza to bomb Gaza um at that time I didn't have the language to understand exactly what's happening but as we returned to the base I had my first panic attack and couldn't enter the base and the next day had to come and stand trial and I was grounded to the base for three weeks and in those three weeks I understand that I have to leave the Army and that um knowing at that moment um made me want to take my life because it was so against everything I was taught um and that started a process that I will be in for the rest of my life which is the undoing of that indoctrination and that brainwashing and the way that the Israeli identity has been merged with the Zionist identity and what I'm doing with Bloodlines and and the prayer that is Bloodlines is to really bring the Israeli identity and Israeli state to a loving and caring death for the liberation of the land of Palestine what year was that what year did you bomb Gaza 2002 so 2002 we're talking about 20 he years um and you're in a very elite group the Israeli Air Force talk about that there are actually a number of dissenters within that for example uh the well-known resistor yonatan shapira um and others and what it means for you now to speak out and how much support you have publicly in Israel and maybe privately people who are afraid to speak out yeah yeah um my my need to leave the Army at the time really came from from um like my body said no and and it was it wasn't Elite situation like we all want to be in the Air Force for different reasons we're also 18year olds that um at the time you know we feel like that the the Air Force has better conditions and it is considered a perk um and and leaving Army was at that time felt an impossible decision and also there was no other decision in my body so I had to follow that um and in terms of being heard um I I I am trying to be heard as loudly as I can because I do think that the only thing that is really unique about my experience is that I was raised extremely um zionis and have walked here to the very other Shore um and I remember each step and from that place I can compassionately relate to where everyone is at um but to reach voices inside Israel is is is extremely hard I'm I'm grateful to be a member of Shores and and that is kind of like the work that we're trying to do here is really um find ways to be heard here and there um yeah I should be uh more specific um as a former IDF Soldier you were responsible for assigning planes that the Israeli offer sent to refuel the other planes that were bombing Gaza yes I was um yeah my job was to send basically fuel planes but you didn't actually fly I'm assuming no no I was on the ground um so if you can talk about the equation that some critics pro-israel Advocates make of being an anti Zionist with being anti-semitic yeah I think the the issue here you know I was raised extremely Israeli which was also meant that I wasn't raised very Jewish which is also a very common thing um the way that the assimilation into Israeli identity happened within my lineages uh was to really like remove the jewishness and really become this like sabar heroic IDF Soldier um identity and from that place um it it it's almost impossible from that place to um sorry Amy can you repeat your question I was just saying the um if you can comment on those who say to be anti-zionist is to be anti-semitic yes yes yes yes thank you um yeah um from that merging um you know the Zionist identity a part of that propaganda is to really hold hold it within um the cage of anti-Semitism like every time that we criticize Israel someone can say you're anti-semitic but in reality there's nothing anti-semitic about criticizing Israel um the the the merging of Israel with Judaism is something that Israel would like us to hold as a way to Pro to protect itself but in reality anti-Semitism is a very specific thing um that that we are not causing it and we will not undo it it and the only thing we can do is to continue to resist it and at the same time What Israel is doing right now has nothing to do with anti-Semitism what Israel is doing right now is a genocide what Israel has been doing for the past 75 years is apartheid is occupation um the techniques that are being used in the West Bank are are are clearly apar techniques that have nothing to do with anti-Semitism so criticizing that walking in in streets that are only for um for Israelis that Palestinians are not able to walk on Inon there's nothing anti-semitic antisemitic about criticizing that like that is something that we are doing as Israelis and can you talk about how you are informed by your um by the fact that you're a descendant of Holocaust Survivors yeah and that is really something that I think has really formed my identity um and that is something also that um I think really helps with the undoing of it all cuz I really feel that that trauma SE seed really started there and that is something that I'm also trying to do in bloodline where I start with the story of my great great grandma telling their Story of Survival because in that Story of Survival there's also the The Need to Escape and in that need the the the need to assimilate into a new identity of a colonizer uh of a settler colony and and in the doing of that there was a there wasn't um a moment of care to take care of what just happened in their bodies and that became a need to arm ourselves I mean I feel like I see it as a fear of of of anation also an extreme form of victimhood that is is in our bodies and from that place it's it's always been very very hard when I see my elders to to release the arms and to really tend to that original um trauma and Seed of the Holocaust Mel as we wrap up I wanted to ask you what message you have for young people like tal mitnik who is a refusenik who's refusing to um be an Israeli soldier uh in the occupied territories to these young people and here you are in the United States shutting down the California legislature to the United States your message um my message um is first of all for everyone who can to just find their heart and and to liberate themselves from this identity that we call an Israeli identity and there is no need for any one of us to serve in the IDF the IDF should not exist the state of Israel should not exist we can be free without it we can have a true connection to our heart without that identity um to the US legislators in California um you know the fact that we were even able to take a break while there's a genocide happening is an impossible idea to hold and in this moment when you're back from the break we shut it down on one day but now you really need to make decisions and you know in the federal level we are not being heard so please I beg of you make this stop in whatever way you can May tellan organizer with shesh a new us-based Israeli anti-zionist group born in Tel Aviv former IDF Soldier descendant of holocost survivors their new book is titled Bloodlines democracy Now is fun by viewers like you please give today at democracynow.org

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Length: 12min 5sec (725 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 05 2024