The rift will not be closed with a speech, nor a reconciliation post, nor a fake hug in the studio.
It will only be closed when one side stops lying or when the other side stops apologizing.
The historical irony that the โAl-Aqsa Floodโ ended in the flood of the Byron rainstorm in Gaza – without embellishment, without apology, moral irony, bitter satire, and the Israeli feeling that reality itself is responding to the terrible crime of October 7th.
The poetic-symbolic revenge of reality / history / nature and the believers – revenge that came from forces above …
If there is an institution that was once a beacon of knowledge, and now looks more like a broken lantern in a park in southern Tel Aviv – it is the academy.
Because what was once a place where truth was sought, today is a place where your identity is sought – to know if you are allowed to speak.
And this time, a satirical column, sharp but not inflammatory, that seeks to address one of the popular slogans of the humanist-relativist era.
Once upon a time, when you said โintellectual,โ you imagined someone sitting in a library with a mustache, opening thick volumes, asking deep questions and trying to understand the human soul.
Today, an intellectual is someone who has a subscription to Haaretz, three articles in the Open University – and a solid opinion on why you, who lives in Netivot, simply donโt understand complexities.
America discovered Hamas isnโt a folk-dance troupe.
It wants to ban entry to anyone who supported the massacre.
There is such a concept in Israel: “unity.”
It is like summer stew – everyone talks about it, no one is really willing to pay the price for it.
Real protest is a powerful force in a democracy, but when every Monday and Thursday your roads are blocked in the name of values โโwritten in Arabic – it’s worth asking: “Who is really protesting here – and who is just trying to engineer you?”
There are certain things in the world: the sun rises in the east, the IDF is delayed in a briefing, and the Haaretz editorial team presents Israel to its readers โ but only after it has been put through an industrial guilt grinder.
Like gefilte fish: grind, add ironic sauce, and be careful not to make it feel a little too Jewish.
It is a myth, it is a brand, it is the national calling card, it is our cynicism, our audacity, our audacity.
And it is the reason all our enemies wake up at night and make sure their vehicle doesn’t start speaking with an Israeli accent.
What Are They Trying to Sell Us in the Name of โThe Protestโ
November 30, 2025
