Motti Fogel's brotherly love
![]() | By Joe Millis
March 25, 2011 | Share |
I came across this piece in Haaretz
It's important to pay attention to what Motti Fogel said, rather than dismiss him as another "self-hating" Jew, whatever that is.
Against this background, the voice of Motti Fogel, Udi's older brother, stood out. "If I could, I would get rid of everyone here and whisper to you, 'Let's go play soccer one last time,'" he said. "All the slogans about Torah and land settlement, the Land of Israel and the Jewish people try to make us forget the simple fact that you are dead. A person is born to himself, to his parents and his siblings, and he dies to himself, to his children, and in very bad cases also to his parents and his siblings. You are not a symbol or a national event, your life bore a purpose unto itself and we must not let your terrible death become a tool, no matter what for."
A few days later, Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, one of the most important and most extreme of the settler rabbis, came to the home of the Fogel parents in the settlement of Neve Tzuf, near Beit El, where the family was observing the week of mourning. Levanon spent time with the parents and as he was leaving, he said to Motti, "It won't help. It's not private, it's public." A heated conversation ensued. Finally, Motti Fogel said, "Maybe Udi was also punished for the disengagement [from Gaza]?" alluding to Levanon's comment that former president Moshe Katsav had been punished for not speaking out against the disengagement. In the end, Levanon left after Fogel threw a chair at him.
That has been Motti Fogel's only confrontation since the murder and his eulogy, despite the ideological abyss that separates him from his family and the society he grew up in.
"I admit I was apprehensive about how people would respond to what I said at the funeral. But a few people from my parents' area told me they deeply related to what I said and that it was important to say it. The settlers, in quotation marks, are first of all human beings. It sounds very dumb to say this, but they have private lives, and it was important for them to have a private element at the funeral. Levanon is the exception," he says.
COMMENTS
25 March, 2011 - 11:40 Rate this: 0 points | Motti Fogel fulfils all the criteria for what the far right call a self-hating Jew. He demonstrates with Palestinians, thinks the settlements are poisonous and realises that his brother was being used as a tool. |
25 March, 2011 - 11:47 Rate this: 0 points | Please tell us who has dismissed Motti Fogel as a 'self-hating Jew' - if you cannot then we will be tempted to say that you are setting up a 'straw man' To demand my formula for Middle East Peace is diversionary and off-topic. Whena are you gong to come clean and admit that you were T-Sam and as T-Sam pursued a vindictive and hate-filled campaign of demonisation against me? How about some honesty? |
25 March, 2011 - 11:58 Rate this: 0 points | You aren't the topic here, Jonathan. I am not now, nor have I ever been T-Sam, and there are plenty in the community in general and thye pro-Israel paret of it in particular who would love to see you gone for all the damage you have caused. And as I suspected, you either do not have any idea how to solve the conflict or you are too scared to say it for fear of alienating the majority in the ZF. |
25 March, 2011 - 12:58 Rate this: 0 points | Avoiding the question as always and responding with vituperation and vilification, just like you did as T-Sam. Repeat: Who has dismissed Motti Fogel as a 'self-hating Jew'? |
25 March, 2011 - 13:13 Rate this: 0 points | Jonathan, if there is any vituperation or vilification, you have brought it upon yourself. Don't try and turn yourself into some kind of martyr, it ill behoves you. I repeat: I am not now nor have I ever been T-Sam. Live with it and get used to the idea that you are not universally adored by the pro-Israel movement. To say the very least in the most understated way possible. |
25 March, 2011 - 13:41 Rate this: 0 points | Thought so. No-one has ever called Fogel a SHJ, in stark contrast to your phrase "rather than dismiss him as another "self-hating" Jew". Seems that truth can go hang when it comes to vilifying Israel advocates. |
25 March, 2011 - 13:49 Rate this: 0 points | So, Jonathan, what did you think of the hesped? Your friends outside Ahava would have vilified Motti Fogel as a "self-hating" Jew. Your acolytes here -- some of them now sadly departed -- would have done so for far less than demonstrating with the Palestinians or saying that his brother's tragic and awful death was being used/abused. |
25 March, 2011 - 15:34 Rate this: 6 points | I am very intrigued to know the answer to Mr Millis's question. Mr Hoffman what, in general terms, is your favoured solution, to what you must admit is a serious problem? What would you do with the Arabs of the West Bank ? Thank you. Katie |
25 March, 2011 - 17:49 Rate this: 0 points | I guess we'll have to wait till after the weekend to discover what Mr Hoffman believes is the right way to resolve the conflict or, indeed, what he thinks about Motti Fogel's beautiful eulogy for his murdered brother. |
28 March, 2011 - 16:22 Rate this: 0 points | And yet this is what Mr Fogel's father had to say: |
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Jonathan Hoffman
25 March, 2011 - 11:21
Rate this:
Who's dismissing him as a "SHJ"?
Your fevered imagination has set up a Straw Man, T-Sam