When the German Jew got off the plane or the ship that brought him to the Land of Israel, they told him he was one of the People, and threw him right away into the melting pot. He was wearing the same uniform, he ate the same food and shot the same Arabs. But when he took off his uniform, suddenly there was the People and there was the Yekke Potz. And when the Moroccan Jew got off the plane or the ship that brought him to the Land of Israel, they told him he was one of the People, and threw him right away into the melting pot. He was wearing the same uniform, he ate the same food and shot the same Arabs. But when he took off his uniform, suddenly there was the People, there was the Morocco the Knife and there was the Yekke Potz. And when the Romanian Jew got out of the plane or the ship that brought him to the Land of Israel, they told him he was one of the People, and threw him right away into the melting pot. He was wearing the same uniform, he ate the same food and shot the same Arabs. But when he took off his uniform, suddenly there was the People, there was the Romanian the Thief and there was the Morocco the Knife and there was the Yekke Potz. When the Ethiopian Jew got off the plane or ship that brought him to the Land of Israel, they told him he was one of the People, and threw him right away into the melting pot. He was wearing the same uniform, he ate the same food and shot the same Arabs. But when he took off his uniform, suddenly there was the People, there was the Nigger and there was the Romanian the Thief and there was the Morocco the Knife and there was the Yekke Potz. And when the Kurdish and the Russian and the Iraqi got off the plane or the ship that brought them to the Land of Israel, they were also told they were one of the People. So the thing that ties all those who came to the Land of Israel was wearing the same uniform, eating the same food and shooting the same Arabs. I do not think it is enough to become People, but maybe it is enough to become an Army of Soldiers.
Rows of fine soldiers carrying erected spears do not form a People, they form an army. And the military is an organization that is based on commands and executions, and the only thing that the army should consider itself with, by being an army, is what form of spears will provide the move to win the war. But if people are not really People, but rather an army of highly trained and disciplined soldiers, then there is no wonder why when given command they reform the line to defend the country against those Arabs who vote in droves. After all, they are accustomed to shooting them, while wearing the same uniform and eating the same food. They are not trained to seeing them as part of the People.
So it’s not a People. It is a group of well-trained soldiers incorporated under a leader to defend the land against the cruel enemy at best, or a group of well-trained soldiers incorporated under a leader who tells them that they have a cruel enemy, at worst. But the thread that binds and connects this group of soldiers is the cruel enemy, a real or an imaginary one. And People cannot define themselves through whom they have to kill, who they need to hate and who they have to be afraid of. People should define themselves through what they build, what they share, and who they include.
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Drawing: Gabriella Kave-Tcherikover