An Israeli reserve soldier who served in the recent attack on Gaza wrote a letter to the people whose house he stayed in.
Hello,
While the world watches the ruins in Gaza, you return to your home which remains standing. However, I am sure that it is clear to you that someone was in your home while you were away.
I am that someone.
I spent long hours imagining how you would react when you walked into your home. How you would feel when you understood that IDF soldiers had slept on your mattresses and used your blankets to keep warm.
I knew that it would make you angry and sad and that you would feel this violation of the most intimate areas of your life by those defined as your enemies, with stinging humiliation. I am convinced that you hate me with unbridled hatred, and you do not have even the tiniest desire to hear what I have to say. At the same time, it is important for me to say the following in the hope that there is even the minutest chance that you will hear me.
I spent many days in your home. You and your family’s presence was felt in every corner. I saw your family portraits on the wall, and I thought of my family. I saw your wife’s perfume bottles on the bureau, and I thought of my wife. I saw your children’s toys and their English language schoolbooks. I saw your personal computer and how you set up the modem and wireless phone next to the screen, just as I do.
I wanted you to know that despite the immense disorder you found in your house that was created during a search for explosives and tunnels (which were indeed found in other homes), we did our best to treat your possessions with respect. When I moved the computer table, I disconnected the cables and lay them down neatly on the floor, as I would do with my own computer. I even covered the computer from dust with a piece of cloth. I tried to put back the clothes that fell when we moved the closet although not the same as you would have done, but at least in such a way that nothing would get lost.
The rest of the letter is here.
Wow!!!
You have to wonder if that letter is real (I’m sure Snopes will give the answer one way or the other soon enough.), but even if it is not, I think it really sums up the sentiments of many, many people around the world.
Parts of that letter are very moving, but to be honest…he could have kept the lecture a whole lot shorter. Still, what that part of the world needs is a whole lot more empathy and this is a step in the right direction.
what a great letter (lectures and all). Not to sound cynical, but is it real? was it really left in the home of a gaza resident? That’s a great letter for ost Americans to read too…to help us understand the cost of freedom. Thanx, Todd….that’s getting linked!
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The letter is real. It was published (in Hebrew) in a major Israeli newspaper (Maariv). I don’t know if it was left in the home or sent by mail later.