I never got past season one of Game of Thrones. I never really connected to the untethered, gory sort of fantasy, so it wasn’t all that surprising.
However, I’m a regular consumer of online culture. So it’s no wonder that, when I come across something so cringe worthy that I can’t hide my reaction, all I can think of is the iconic scene from Game of Thrones, where the nun is ringing the bell and shouting, “shame!”
That is how I felt this week at The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference.
To be sure, I do not mean that about the conference itself; rather, it was the words and actions of representatives of our own government that made me lower my head in shame.
On the eve of the conference, we hosted a private gala, where Israeli politicians, hostage families, and a handful of private organizations were invited to speak behind closed doors.
Several of these speakers verbally expressed opposition to any sort of hostage release deal, instead opting for full military domination of the Gaza Strip and an “IDF-led hostage release operation.”
This, in front of over 70 hostages’ family members in attendance.
Hostage family members step out in tears
Needless to say, they stepped out at that moment, many with tears in their eyes. How can anyone be so cruel, so insensitive? These people have lost something so precious that the people who spoke about a so-called “issue of policy” cannot even imagine a fraction of such pain. No one can.
Then they did an even more damnable thing: At a short evening event taking up two hours at most, they left before the hostage families joined onstage to speak.
Perhaps “shameful” is not the best word to describe this display of indifference to the suffering of one’s own people: Perhaps “savage” is better.
The next day, during the actual conference, the same sentiments were shared, though the cameras on location clearly had an impact since much more muted words were used this time around.
Nevertheless, protesters attended. While most were anti-Israel – and they were rightfully removed – some, namely those who cried out while Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli was being interviewed, were hostage family members or those supporting them.
When Chikli was asked by our editor-in-chief and my boss, Zvika Klein, what Israel is doing to combat antisemitism, a protester cried out from the balcony, “You’re doing nothing; that’s what you’re doing. Shame on you. I have had 100 days of reserve service since October 7. What did you do? What did you do? What have you done since October 7, you zero?”
Shortly after, he was followed by pro-Palestinian protesters crying out to “end the genocide”– in Hebrew.Later, both behind the scenes and later on X, the minister said something that shook me to my core and mortified me beyond belief.
“When there are Kaplan folk screaming ‘shame’ on the one side and pro-Palestinians on the other… there are a lot of similarities between the verbal abuses of the far Left in Israel and abroad.” “Kaplan folk” refers to the Israelis protesting for a hostage deal in Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Square.
In what world, exactly, does this minister, who had the arrogance to say such things in front of people whose family members are being held by terrorists – by Satan himself – have the gall to compare them to the anti-Israel and antisemitic protesters on college campuses?
One thing was made clear: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must rein in his ministers. He has clearly already given up on public support outside of the country in favor of forcing favor within Israel, but if his ministers continue with this despicable behavior, he will have nothing left to hide behind and no base to go back to.
The author is deputy editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post.