• Genre
  • About
  • Contact
  • Search
Menu

Speakola

All Speeches Great and Small
  • Genre
  • About
  • Contact
  • Search

Assaf Harel: 'Apartheid has been here for ages!', last monolgue, Layla Tov with Assaf Harel - 2017

March 31, 2017

1 March 2017, Channel 10, Israel

Assaf Harel is a comedian who hosted the long running 'Good Night' program. This was his last monolgue.

I don’t want to dedicate this last monologue to a specific issue from the last few days, but to something more general: If you look at our life in Israel, it’s pretty great. Yeah, it’s expensive, and we’re far from earning what we would have liked. Clearly, the healthcare system could be better, and yeah, the politicians could be more impressive and less embarrassing, but if you look at our life from a bird’s eye view, we’re doing pretty great. Great weather, great food, great people, great beaches. It’s not so bad here, in general, and that’s exactly the point: that we’re doing great, but there are a couple of million people that we’re responsible for, and they’re in a horrible state. Infrastructure, food, healthcare, education. Millions who are living in abject poverty. Gaza is on the verge of plague. Hours on end without electricity or water. Israel controls everything that goes in or out.

“But they chose Hamas! Let them pay for it! Humanness? What does that have to do with us? What are we? Arab lovers?” Ever since the right wing took power, more and more voices are warning of apartheid. Are you kidding? Apartheid has been here for ages. Ages. It’s just that we’re on its good side, so it doesn’t really bother us. We’ve been abusing the Palestinians on a daily basis for years, denying them their basic rights. In Judea and Samaria, we’re taking their lands from them. Once, we used the Jewish National Fund to raise money to buy the lands. Today? We just pass a law saying we can just take their lands and that’s it. Soldiers shoot at stone-throwers because they’re a real threat, but if in Israel, someone throws stones, they won’t even be charged. Palestinian journalists are put on administrative detention without trial, because they wrote something. Every time we have a holiday, they’re under closure. God forbid they ruin it for us. For years, we’ve been deepening the hatred, the same hatred that we later complain about in peace talks. “Why do you incite your children against us?” “Why don’t you teach them to love us?”

Israel’s most impressive innovation, more than any high-tech project, or Rafael weapon, is our amazing ability to ignore what is happening mere kilometers away to our neighbours. A whole people, transparent, like it doesn’t exist. Not in the news, not online, not on social media, and definitely not in the hearts of the people. Nothing. We’ve got a great country, and great restaurants, and it’s fun to travel abroad. Just don’t tell us what’s really happening. We’re good. Don’t bum us out. But there are a few righteous in Sodom. People who see the Matrix and are trying to yell, to let us know what’s happening. Maybe we’ll wake up. Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Yesh Din. Dozens of organizations that are only trying to tell Israeli society what is happening, and what do people say about them in return? Extremist left. Illegitimate organizations. Now, understand, anyone who says ‘extremist left’ is trying to create an equivocation with the extreme right. And this way, the delegitimization of murderers like Baruch Goldstein, or the murderers of the Dawabshe family, will stick to organizations like Breaking the Silence of B’Tselem.

“Because we must condemn the extremists on both sides, right?” But they’re forgetting one small detail: On one side, the extremists kill, and on the other side, the “extremists” talk. On one side, the extremists burn people alive, and on the other side, the extremists demand human rights. There is no comparison between the extreme left and extreme right, because there is no such thing as extreme left. It’s fiction; an invention of the last few years. When we speak of rape, do we also speak of extremists on both sides that must be condemned? Those that rape and those who are embarrased to even touch a girl? Both are problematic, or only one side? When we speak of animal abuse, do we also condemn extremists on both sides? Those that abuse animals, and those that adopt them? No, because anyone who calls for humanness will never be extreme, but the people in the camp in which there are murderers will look for equal sides.

The human rights organizations are the most legitimate and healthy thing today in Israeli society. They are trying to wake a dormant society, a blocked society, and are benefitting our security more than any settlement or outpost, and the reason that Bennett and Bibi are so busy saying that they’re illegitimate is because they’re saying the truth about the occupation and of what’s happening, and Bibi and Bennett know that on the day Israeli citizens wake up and discover what’s happening beyond the Green Line, what it does to our soldiers, to the children that are raised there, to the elderly, to the families, to the millions of innocent people, what it costs our budget, our society, our economy. On that day, people will ask themselves if the occupied territories are really worth it. Because, from a security point of view, every Commander-in-Chief and all the generals have been saying for years that it’s nonsense. “The territories don’t defend us!”

That’s why I believe — Perhaps I’m convincing myself — that in the end, the the right wing will lose, becuase they’re afraid of the truth; of reality. They try to suppress it; to hide it; to prevent people from hearing it; prevent people from talking. But, in the end, it doesn’t take much to sedate the satiated side of the apartheid. But there’s a whole other side; a whole other people, and they’re here even if we don’t speak of them or recognize them, and we’ll pretend like it’s only us and God and the Promised Land.

If only once, we can wake up before the war, because up until now, we only wake up after. We had to have the Yom Kippur war to have peace with Egypt. We had to have the intifada for the Oslo Accords. If only for once, we could be smart enough to reach a peace agreement before the war. Worse case: after it, or another one after that, but in the end, we’ll wake up.

Source: https://medium.com/@gratliff26/translation...

Enjoyed this speech? Speakola is a labour of love and I’d be very grateful if you would share, tweet or like it. Thank you.

Facebook Twitter Facebook
In EQUALITY 2 Tags ASSAF HAREL, APARTHEID, ISRAEL, PALESTINE, GAZA, TRANSCRIPT, TV MONOLOGUE, GOOD NIGHT
← Valerie Kaur: "What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?", Interfaith Watch Night Service - 2016Martin Luther King Jr. - 'The arc of the moral universse is long, but it bends towards justice', Our God is Marching On (How Long, Not Long) - 1965 →

Featured political

Featured
Deval Patrick: 'Just words', gubernatorial campaign speech - 2006
Deval Patrick: 'Just words', gubernatorial campaign speech - 2006
Esteban Gonzalez Pons: 'Europe is not a market, it is the will to live together', speech on Brexit, European Parliament - 2017
Esteban Gonzalez Pons: 'Europe is not a market, it is the will to live together', speech on Brexit, European Parliament - 2017
Fannie Lou Hamer - 'All of this is on account of we want to register, to become first-class citizens', DNC Credentials Committee Testimony - 1964
Fannie Lou Hamer - 'All of this is on account of we want to register, to become first-class citizens', DNC Credentials Committee Testimony - 1964
Thabo Mbeki: 'I am an African', On adoption of new South African Constitution - 1996
Thabo Mbeki: 'I am an African', On adoption of new South African Constitution - 1996

Featured eulogies

Featured
For Ben Cowen: 'My husband had a magical cape', by Lahra Carey - 2016
Jan 20, 2017
For Ben Cowen: 'My husband had a magical cape', by Lahra Carey - 2016
Jan 20, 2017
Jan 20, 2017
for Michelle McNamara: 'She hasn’t left a void. She’s left a blast crater', by Patton Oswalt - 2016
May 5, 2016
for Michelle McNamara: 'She hasn’t left a void. She’s left a blast crater', by Patton Oswalt - 2016
May 5, 2016
May 5, 2016
Featured
For Keith Rule: 'Solomon in a singlet', Andrew Rule - 1998
For Keith Rule: 'Solomon in a singlet', Andrew Rule - 1998
For Chris Daffey: 'I’m not ready for goodbyes when the jokes have run out', by Tony Wilson - 2014
For Chris Daffey: 'I’m not ready for goodbyes when the jokes have run out', by Tony Wilson - 2014

Featured commencement

Featured
Larissa Martinez: 'America can be great again without the construction of a wall built on hatred and prejudice', McKinney Boyd High School - 2016
Larissa Martinez: 'America can be great again without the construction of a wall built on hatred and prejudice', McKinney Boyd High School - 2016
Ursula Le Guin:  'We are volcanoes', Bryn Mawr - 1986
Ursula Le Guin: 'We are volcanoes', Bryn Mawr - 1986
Mark Zuckerberg: 'Finding your purpose isn't enough', Harvard University - 2017
Mark Zuckerberg: 'Finding your purpose isn't enough', Harvard University - 2017
Helen Mirren: 'No good can ever come from tweeting at 3 a.m.!', Tulane University - 2017
Helen Mirren: 'No good can ever come from tweeting at 3 a.m.!', Tulane University - 2017
Peter Dinklage: 'I am happy to talk about the parallel lineages of the Targaryens and Lannisters later at the bar', Bennington College - 2012
Peter Dinklage: 'I am happy to talk about the parallel lineages of the Targaryens and Lannisters later at the bar', Bennington College - 2012
Ellen de Generes: 'You’ve already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you?', Tulane University - 2009
Ellen de Generes: 'You’ve already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you?', Tulane University - 2009

Featured sport

Featured
Bob Uecker: 'My mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934', Fricke Award, Baseball Hall of Fame - 2003
Bob Uecker: 'My mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934', Fricke Award, Baseball Hall of Fame - 2003
Scott Quinnell: 'And those dragons this year, I am convinced are going to breathe f*cking fire!' School of hard Knocks documentary - 2012
Scott Quinnell: 'And those dragons this year, I am convinced are going to breathe f*cking fire!' School of hard Knocks documentary - 2012
Alex Marcou: 'Fabulous at the Lodge', Spirit of Carlton luncheon - 2012
Alex Marcou: 'Fabulous at the Lodge', Spirit of Carlton luncheon - 2012
Angela Pippos: 'Being bad at sport doesn’t give you license to belittle it', Ian Potter Debate - 2014
Angela Pippos: 'Being bad at sport doesn’t give you license to belittle it', Ian Potter Debate - 2014

Fresh Tweets

  • Tony Wilson
    The x in AFLX stands for the yet to be quantified number of seconds the concept will survive after the first ACL.
    about 22 hours ago

Featured weddings

Featured
Bill Murray: 'Take that person and buy a plane ticket', advice to bachelor party - 2014
Bill Murray: 'Take that person and buy a plane ticket', advice to bachelor party - 2014
Kerryn Baker: 'But here tonight, in my love story, with you who surround me, there is nothing to be sorry for', Gabe and Gabi's engagement - 2016
Kerryn Baker: 'But here tonight, in my love story, with you who surround me, there is nothing to be sorry for', Gabe and Gabi's engagement - 2016
Alan Kohler: 'Likes yum cha and Chinese on Sundays, tick!', for daughter Phoebe and Leigh - 2015
Alan Kohler: 'Likes yum cha and Chinese on Sundays, tick!', for daughter Phoebe and Leigh - 2015

Featured Arts

Featured
Brian Eno: 'Singing: the key to a long life', NPR essay - 2008
Brian Eno: 'Singing: the key to a long life', NPR essay - 2008
Bette Midler:  'Shut that crap off!', Best Actress Tony Award - 2017
Bette Midler: 'Shut that crap off!', Best Actress Tony Award - 2017
Larry David: "I not only hate writing the shows, I hate all kinds of writing", WGA Awards, Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award - 2011
Larry David: "I not only hate writing the shows, I hate all kinds of writing", WGA Awards, Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award - 2011

Featured Debates

Featured
Napoleon Beazley: 'No one wins tonight. No one walks away victorious', Last words before execution -  2002
Napoleon Beazley: 'No one wins tonight. No one walks away victorious', Last words before execution - 2002
Shelli Whitehurst: 'I live in a place of constant unknowing, and that's what cancer feels like', Tour de Cure Snow Ball - 2015 ',
Shelli Whitehurst: 'I live in a place of constant unknowing, and that's what cancer feels like', Tour de Cure Snow Ball - 2015 ',
Rich Bartlett: 'The constant charade that was my life had become too much', Pride Assembly, Melbourne Grammar School - 2017
Rich Bartlett: 'The constant charade that was my life had become too much', Pride Assembly, Melbourne Grammar School - 2017
Lupita Nyongo'o: "What is fundamentally beautiful, is compassion", Black Women in Hollywood event - 2014
Lupita Nyongo'o: "What is fundamentally beautiful, is compassion", Black Women in Hollywood event - 2014