For a long time Israelis have long stopped going to Gaza even if they have continued to carry out their military obligations. They are not even able to pinpoint these famous settlements on a map. |
He enjoys the status of a father figure. He's not anymore conceived of as a normal politician but a larger-than-life figure. He's almost like a museum-type of man. There's a feeling that the last tycoon is gone now. |
He took the Holocaust out of its Jewish limitations and made it a source of energy in the universal struggle against racism and for human rights. That's probably more important than his role in locating Nazi criminals. |
I don't think he worked as a Nazi hunter as the Hollywood image would like it to be the case. He cultivated that myth because it gave a lot of weight to himself as a symbol, and also to his work. |
I don't think we've ever had a situation where so much of our politics depends on one person. |
It was a time when Israel was in a mood of looking down at everything that was Jewish, especially what was considered Jewish weakness. |
It's like everybody's a relative: the whole country's glued to the radio or the TV, waiting for details from the hospital. |
Most Israelis are tired of the big decision. It is as if they're saying to the politicians do your thing and leave me alone. This used to be a very deeply divided society. For 40 years, we have been debating about the future of the territories, and people now feel that question has been decided. |
So I think the reaction to this is people saying, 'Here, politicians, divide the country and leave me alone. |
That's a deep change in priorities. People are much less political today. They have found other values of life. We are developing normal attitudes, a normal set of priorities. We are growing out of our childhood. |
The conspiracy theories have never had it better. |
The truth is that deep down, the Israelis are still convinced that the presence of thousands of settlers of a hostile population of 1.3 million Palestinians is a situation that could not last. |
We were always told we cannot use them, we cannot publish them because it would help Holocaust deniers. Now suddenly these papers are being released to fight the Holocaust deniers. |
Yes, Hitler is in Tel Aviv and the sky isn't falling. No, this doesn't mean that Israeli hearts are coarsened to the memory of the Holocaust; on the contrary ? the Holocaust is planted so deep in the components of Israeli identity that almost nothing can get to it. |
You can only take so much drama. |