A visit back to Israel | DW Documentary

Key Concepts:

• Ceasefire in Gaza (January 19, 2025)
• Hamas terror attack (October 7, 2023)
• Israeli settlers and settlements in the West Bank (illegal under international law)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Intercultural dialogue and coexistence
• Hostages in Gaza
• Radicalization and extremism in Israeli society
• Hope for peace and reconciliation

1. Introduction: A Visit Amidst Conflict

• Meron Mendel, an Israeli living in Germany and director of the Anne Frank Educational Center in Frankfurt, returns to Israel with his Muslim wife and children two weeks into the ceasefire in Gaza.
• The visit, initially planned for December but delayed due to cancelled flights, aims to experience a degree of normalcy after the October 7th Hamas attack.
• Mendel intends to meet friends affected by the attack and radical settlers in the West Bank, exploring how the attack has changed Israel and whether reconciliation is still possible.

2. Shaul Levy and the Hostage Crisis

• Mendel reunites with Shaul Levy, whose granddaughter Nama was held hostage by Hamas.
• Video footage of Nama's abduction went viral, highlighting the shock and desperation felt by the family.
• Nama was held hostage for nearly 16 months.
• Levy shares how his passion for sport, which he shared with Nama, helped him cope during the ordeal, imagining Nama feeling the energy from a race near Gaza.
• Nama was eventually released, bringing relief to the family, but Levy worries about the fragile ceasefire and the push by far-right members of the Israeli government to continue the war.
• Levy believes that wars should end with agreements, but hardliners in the Israeli government prefer confrontation.

3. West Bank: Settler Violence and Land Occupation

• Mendel travels to the occupied West Bank, where attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers have increased.
• Naomi Freiedman Suler, an economics lecturer and activist, informs Mendel about settlers on motorbikes trying to drive away shepherds.
• Settlers scatter flocks and call the army and police when animals enter land they claim, resulting in fines for farmers.
• Settlers aim to secure the entire West Bank for Jews, pushing Palestinians off their land through intimidation and violence.
• Some Palestinian shepherds have fled to Palestinian cities due to settler violence.
• Settlers establish provisional settlements with pre-fabricated homes, shacks, and Israeli flags, despite the International Court of Justice ruling them illegal.
• Activists like Naomi Freiedman Suler use cameras and night watches to protect Palestinian land from settlers.
• The video highlights the difficulty for Israelis to acknowledge their role as aggressors due to ingrained narratives of being the "good guys" and victims.

4. Hebron: Division and Extremism

• Mendel visits Hebron, a divided city where he served in the military in the 1990s.
• Hebron is divided into H2, under Israeli control with several hundred Israeli Jews and tens of thousands of Palestinians, and another part home to around 140,000 Palestinians.
• The area that was once a mixed district with Palestinian stores and a market is now gone.
• The Cave of the Patriarchs, a sacred site for Jews and Muslims, is a focal point of the conflict, with separate entrances for each group.
• Mendel meets Aaron Maruani, a Jewish settler who believes October 7th has further divided the population, leading to minimal contact between Jews and Arabs.
• Rabbi Abraham Zonenshin, a settler from Austria, believes Hebron should be entirely Jewish, reflecting a desire for complete control of the land.
• During the Jewish holiday of Purim, the Palestinian zone of Hebron is under curfew.
• Radical settler and far-right politician Bengavir, who was once arrested by Mendel, appears at the festival, highlighting the normalization of extremism in Israeli society.
• Mendel notes the conflicting ideologies: one prioritizing land and the other prioritizing human beings.

5. Be'er Sheva: A Beacon of Hope

• Mendel visits Avital Ben Shalom, head of a Jewish-Arab school in Be'er Sheva, which represents a beacon of hope for intercultural dialogue.
• The October 7th attack caused anger and loss of trust between Jews and Arabs in the community.
• The school educates Jewish and Arab children together, addressing the horrors of terror and war.
• Children sing a song about hope in Hebrew and Arabic.
• The school cultivates understanding by teaching each other's languages and celebrating festivities together.
• The principal emphasizes the importance of sharing cultures and talking to each other without focusing on divisive issues.

6. Tel Aviv: Divergent Perspectives

• In Tel Aviv, Mendel observes the city's vibrant surface but also the constant reminders of the horrors through photos of those killed.
• He meets Ari Sheru Shalikar, a former spokesman for the Israeli military, who criticizes Mendel for being too left-wing.
• Shalikar believes the main threat to peace is not on the Israeli side and sees Israel's war in Gaza as a success, weakening Hamas and Hezbollah.
• Shalikar believes that conflict is the norm.
• Shalikar hopes the army won't have to go back into Gaza if Hamas releases the remaining hostages.

7. Nativ HaAsara: Loss and Resilience

• Mendel visits Nativ HaAsara, a farming cooperative attacked by Hamas on October 7th, where 20 people were killed.
• He meets Itai Shimonovich, who survived the attack by hiding with his daughter.
• Shimonovich shows Mendel the torched home of Bila and Yakov Yinon, who died next to each other.
• Shimonovich feels a lack of hope for peace and calm.
• The border wall is covered with mosaics with the words "path to peace hope Peace".
• Shimonovich's family has returned to Germany, leaving him alone in Nativ HaAsara.
• Shimonovich says that before the attack, peace activists believed that if the Israeli government changed its policies, there would be peace, but now people no longer believe that.

8. Protests and Division

• Thousands of people gather in Tel Aviv to demand the release of hostages in Gaza.
• Mendel is moved by their pain and perseverance, but the government remains steadfast in its course.
• Israeli society is divided between those prioritizing the hostages and those wanting to continue the war.

9. Conclusion: Dashed Hopes

• Mendel returns to Germany, and shortly afterwards, the conflict escalates once more.
• Israeli forces restart strikes on Gaza, breaking the ceasefire.
• Thousands take to the streets in protest.
• Israel is again at war and deeply divided, dashing Mendel's hopes for normalcy.