The artist speaks on the clashes in Jerusalem: “I am Jewish but the victims are the Palestinians abandoned by everyone”.
In an interview Moni Ovadia (Italian actor and musician, translator’s note), comments on the escalation of violence in the Middle East that has resulted in a long night of bombing between Israel and the Gaza Strip: “The policy of this Israeli government is the worst of the worst. It has no justification, it is nefarious and without equal. They want to drive the Palestinians out of East Jerusalem, they try in every way and with all sorts of tricks, scheming and manipulation of the law. It is ceaseless harassment that occasionally sparks the protest of the Palestinians, who are abundantly the victims, because they are the ones who die, they are the people being massacred.”
“Israel’s policy is segregationist, racist, colonialist,” punctuates the Jewish actor, musician and writer, “and the bias of the international community is repulsive. With a few rare exceptions, countries such as Sweden and some South American countries, there’s no mention that the condition of the Palestinian people is that they they are the most neglected, most abandoned people on earth, and this is because everyone gives in to [Israel’s] unjust blackmail, using the exploitation of the Shoah as justification”. Moni Ovadia continues in the explanation: “All this discussion that mentions the extermination of the Jews has nothing to do with things, mentioning it is pure instrumentalisation. Today Israel is a very powerful, very well-armed State, which has the most powerful countries on earth as its allies, and the very minute it makes a small protest, all the countries prostrate before it, starting with Germany because of its terrifying guilt”.
“I am Jewish, I too come from that people – insists the artist – But instead of seeking peace, coexistence and mutual acceptance as the answer to the horror of extermination, we see the use of this violence as a response? Where does all of this lead? The Palestinian people exist, whether Nethanyau likes it or not. There is a people who have the right to have their own land and dignity, and children have the right to have their future, and instead, they are treated as if they are enemies.”
And on the reactions of the international political community and in particular of Italy, Ovadia is clear: “There are courageous Israelis who speak out, who denounce… But the international community does no such thing, for example Italy hides behind its cowardice, it runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds. There should be a firm position taken, a boycott, starting with the goods that the Israelis produce in territories that are not theirs.”
Peace “is made between equals, it is not a diktat as the Israelis would like – concludes Moni Ovadia – I am not on anyone’s payroll, I represent myself and I fight against any form of oppression, it is my entitlement. I am with all those who suffer ill-treatment, abuse and persecution, and it was the history of the Jews that taught me to do so. I’m very Jewish, but I’m not Zionist, not in the slightest.”
Translated by Mary Rizzo. ORIGINAL IN ITALIAN Globalist
We Write What We Like 