Yossi Sarid
Haaretz (Opinion)
February 3, 2012 - 1:00am
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-foul-smell-is-rising-from-hebron-...


What did you learn in school today, dear little child of ours? Well, dear parents, I learned a lot, and you should learn, too. This tour was a real eye-opener. Someone should be ashamed of all the lies we've been fed. And we're considered a good school, the Hebrew University high school, better known as Leyada. So, yada yada, just imagine what's happening in other schools, where they don't know anything this country from a hole in the ground.

All these years we were taught that it's not right to listen to just one opinion. But in Hebron, the other opinion isn't allowed in; it's barred by the police. In Hebron, the "verdict of history," as our teacher Adina calls it, is being handed down in the presence of one side only. Dad, you know what I'm talking about, because you're a lawyer.

What did Breaking the Silence think, anyway? That it would pass quietly? That they would be allowed to slander and hurl mud, without an Itamar Ben-Gvir whetting his tongue? Mom knows what I mean, because she teaches Bible and Hebrew. Anyone who wants to break something should do it somewhere else, not like a bull at Harsina ("china" ) Junction.

We learned more there in one day than we did here in eight years. Until now, we'd been told in civics class that the state is sovereign; its write runs everywhere. But they made a mockery of us: They never showed us the whole picture. That's what happens when there's not enough time for heritage studies. It's only now I understand that there are whole areas controlled by "vigilantes," as the teacher calls them, and they cleanse the surroundings as needed, like in the Book of Joshua.

They should stop telling us stories - we're not children anymore. With our own eyes we saw the settlers acting like the bosses, telling the soldiers and the policemen what to do. If only our class had that kind of discipline. Go figure why the citizens who guard the guardians of the law are called lawbreakers. It's an upside-down world.

At the last minute, the police told the principal's office that Breaking the Silence would not be allowed to meet with us. They mentioned something about a report in Haaretz, but you would know more about that, being readers of that nose-in-the-air newspaper. After that premature report, "all hell broke loose" in the "Jewish settlement," that's what they told us. I didn't exactly understand what had been holding hell down, or how the police could put it back.

Once I saw a movie called "To Hell and Back," and that's a pretty good description of the day we had. We discovered a grave new world, in which an abomination becomes a righteous deed, as long as it's performed by authority of the Torah, of course. Dad, Mom will explain it to you, as a teacher of Scripture.

I'm going to have to rethink everything, after I found out by chance - why didn't you tell me? - that God has more support than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here: at least 80 percent, and a majority is a majority. Just as murder is murder, that's what we were taught, even though that's not accurate, either. Yes, it's not nice to murder, that's obvious, but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances, as Dad knows. You must have heard about Baruch Goldstein, who was a murderer but also a physician - and a physician doesn't shoot for no reason. I know you will agree with me.

Everything has to be rethought, dear parents, and it's a good thing we have an education minister who is ensuring reeducation, and a good thing he is drawing conclusions from the results of the Likud primary and announcing the expansion of the Hebron tours to encompass all schools. He's a serious guy, this Gideon Sa'ar; he'll be prime minister here even before Moshe Feiglin.

This week I peeked at your paper - hey, you're thinking people - and saw an interesting report: Research proves that the sense of smell is stronger than other senses; smells evoke unpleasant memories more acutely than sounds. I trust our education minister will examine our memories to discover what Hebron did to us as a city that really stinks.




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