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Honestly with Bari Weiss

The Free Press in Israel Part 2: Shattered Illusions

Honestly with Bari Weiss

The Free Press

Society & Culture, News

4.67.8K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2024

⏱️ 90 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When we went to Israel, we tried tirelessly to get into Gaza but Israel’s counteroffensive made it impossible for us to go to the strip during those days. Instead, we spent time in and around the West Bank. First, we went to the Qalandia checkpoint, one of the biggest in Israel, where tens of thousands of Palestinians cross from the West Bank into East Jerusalem daily. Then, we went to the key Palestinian political and cultural center of Ramallah. We wanted to hear the unfiltered voices of ordinary Palestinians and ask them what they think about October 7, about the ongoing war, and about the prospect of two states between the river and the sea. If you grew up attached to the idea of a two-state solution, what you'll hear is surprising. Over and over, people told us they supported the events of October 7. At the same time, our week in Israel revealed something else surprising about this place, and that’s how cohesive Israeli society has become, even and including among Israel's 20 percent Arab minority.  In this episode, you’ll hear from both Palestinians in the West Bank as well as one extraordinary Muslim Israeli Arab woman, who sits on the fence between these two very different worlds—and from that unique vantage point, offers a hopeful vision for the future. Today, Part 2 of The Free Press in Israel: Shattered Illusions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This kibbutz was loved, was beautiful, was full of young couples and children were running around here.

0:08.0

950 people lived here on October 6th.

0:12.0

In October 7, 63 were murdered, 18 were kidnapped, and 6 were severely injured.

0:19.0

One of the first places we went when I arrived in Israel was Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

0:27.0

So I want to welcome you to Kibbutz Far Aza and to thank you for coming here.

0:31.0

A community that was attacked on October 7th.

0:35.9

But by this time, the fires that rage that day

0:39.2

had long since burned themselves out.

0:41.6

Now we need to remember as long as we go the two sides will be better if we could call

0:47.5

it that way.

0:48.5

We won't see the body parts or the blood that was here and the smell of that is not longer here even the birds came back.

0:55.0

It will look really strange for you because it is green because the nature never stops.

1:03.7

But the citizens, the people here didn't came back home.

1:08.2

Only one couple came back and will say hi to them along the way.

1:16.0

I stood in what was once a family's home but is now just blackened walls with no roof.

1:21.0

The people who lived in this home were identified by their bones and their teeth.

1:26.5

What was once a floor is now just dust. A few blocks away, I stood in the burnt-out shell of a humble bungalow.

1:36.7

A young couple named Sivan and Naur once loved each other here.

1:41.6

They're remnants of them. A new pair of sombas, some dirty dishes

1:45.3

in the sink, some spices on the spice rack. But mostly there are holes. Hundreds

1:51.5

and hundreds of gaping bullet holes in the room where the 23-year-old

1:55.5

couple was slaughtered.

...

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