Najla Said wrote this and posted it on Facebook. I asked her permission to post it here:
"Here is a poem I just wrote....: "I read elie weisel's story four times, twice in French and twice in English, I read primo Levi, I learned about the holocaust, I saw your grandmothers tattoo and listened to the story and cried. I cried in all the movies. I visited the camps. I remembered, I learned i cried, I
"Here is a poem I just wrote....: "I read elie weisel's story four times, twice in French and twice in English, I read primo Levi, I learned about the holocaust, I saw your grandmothers tattoo and listened to the story and cried. I cried in all the movies. I visited the camps. I remembered, I learned i cried, I
did
all that you asked me to "never forget." I haven't forgotten. I ache
for your sadness, still. because o get it. i don't get angry that you
call my frikeh "Israeli couscous" my salata "Israeli salad," my falafel
"Israeli," my country yours. I dont want to live there anyway...I cringe
a bit knowing I'm a Semite but that word is all yours too, even though
you're from Russia. If you don't want to hear my story because its
"biased," please read the works of your own people: Ilan Pappe, Gideon
Levy, Amira Hass, anyone. Please ask those who refused to serve in the
IDF or even did serve and then spoke out against crimes of humanity
after about their lives. I have never said anything about hating you for
your faith or your religion. Most of us haven't. If I had been in
Europe in the 30s and 40s, I would have been sent to a camp too. Please
just realize that this isn't about denying your right to exist, it is
about allowing us ours."'"
