On the Thirteenth of October
I stated Hamas
Had sealed its fate.
Now, due to the systematic
Destruction of Gaza
And inevitable slaughter
(“Collateral damage”)
Of countless innocent
Palestinians
By remotely-controlled
Hi-tech airstrikes,
I fear it’s not Hamas’ fate
But Israel’s
That is sealed.
For the latter,
Or at least its Government,
Is rapidly becoming
America’s latest
Frankenstein monster,
And Bibi the Napoleon
Of Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Unquestionably,
It was Christian-initiated
Centuries-old
Anti-Semitism,
Culminating in the Nazi Holocaust,
That had made me a Zionist.
From Nineteen Sixty-seven,
Until recently,
I had also advocated
“The two state solution”.
By Twenty Twenty-one,
However,
I could see
Netanyahu and Hamas’
Rejective policies,
The multitude
Of Jewish settlers
In the West Bank,
And the Mammonic
“Abraham Accords”
Had rendered this
All but impossible.
As for my subsequent vision
Of a democratic “Palistrael”:
Given the growing influence
Of religious fundamentalists,
It will, like the other “solution”,
Remain a dream –
Unless, that is, the truly democratic
Prophetic souls,
Here and in the West,
Ardently mobilize
And convince the confused,
If not disoriented,
Majority
That in the “Holy Land”
The alternative
To a just and durable peace
Is “Holy War”,
Culminating in Armageddon
Or another Massada.
In a word,
The time has come
For Esau and Jacob
To be at one.
Ramat Gan
17 August 2024