Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Warsaw and Gaza: Oppression Is Oppression

In an act of powerful symbolism, a group of Israeli, Palestinian and Polish activistsspray-painted "Free Gaza and Palestine" and "Liberate all ghettos" on the last remnant of an infamous one - the Warsaw Ghetto. Among them was Yonatan Shapira, a former IDF pilot, conscientious objector and descendant of Polish Holocaust victims who insisted, "The message is that people are imprisoned in a ghetto." More photos at the Polish link here.

"It may be difficult for Israelis to hear these things, but that is no reason not to say them. I was always taught growing up that the atrocities that happened to the Jewish people here happened because the world was silent. And therefore I cannot be silent. The Jewish people needed to be liberated from the ghettos, and now Israelis need to be liberated from the crimes of their own government." – Yonatan Shapira

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