Yael Dayan speaks at Temple Israel, Portsmouth on November 9th 2010

Yael Dayan was the first Knesset member to meet with Yasser Arafat, in 1993 in Tunis. She is the daughter of the famous IDF general, Moshe Dayan. Diminutive in stature, she more than makes up for it in personality. A lot of what she has to say is unpopular both in Israel and the United States.

She started off by pointing out to us the irony of J Street’s slogan: “Pro Israel, Pro Peace.” The fact that this is even a slogan is sad, she said, because it implies that you can also be pro Israel and against peace. And that should never be the case. Israel must always be pro peace. We should no longer be questioning its right to exist or its ability to survive, but instead we should be asking the real questions, like:

How do you manage a democracy/theocracy?

How do you manage a democracy lacking in pluralism?

How do you manage a democracy taking in immigrants from so many different cultures?

Israel should not have to choose between being a Jewish state and being a democratic state. The Zionist dream has become an occupier while we sit silently by. Israel has to be the first to show it is pro-peace – not build settlements while bilateral talks are about to start.

The Six Day War was a very meaningful event in Israel’s statehood and in our collective minds. There was a huge sense of euphoria and of victory. We thought it was the war to end all wars. This and the Yom Kippur wars were our last no-choice, defensive wars. The two Lebanon wars and the Gaza war were disasters and delayed our chance for peace. The other extremely meaningful event in Israel’s history is the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. We must remember that his assassin was not a mad-man, but instead someone whose fanaticism had been nurtured.

The settlements were started for reasons of defense, but they are illegal. Just because you say you hear the voice of God does not make them legal.

Here in 2010 we are back at the negotiating table. And I am more interested in Israel’s rhetoric. Are we a good partner for peace? We have a foreign minister who does not want peace and a prime minister who talks peace but makes war. We have seen a regression from basic democratic values; no official should stand between you and your better judgment, between you and your sense of justice.

Yael Dayan ended by saying: We are so used to being victims; no-one can take that away from us. We say, indignantly: “They will pressure us? The only democracy in the Middle East? Survivors of the holocaust?”