Benche

This is a perfect example of the way antisemites twist words. And then naive, good-hearted people are misled and repeat those versions, believing they mean something they don’t: 1) The exact Golda Meir quote is “When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons [meaning soldiers]. But it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons [meaning soldiers].” At the time, young women were not conscripted. She was speaking broadly about the wars between Israelis and Arabs (conventional wars) and specifically about the war of attrition. It is often paraphrased as “children,” sometimes understanding that the meaning is “soldiers,” who, in modern-day Israel are usually 18-21, and can collectively be referred to as “our children.” But given the contemporary version of the blood libel—a new version of the old lie that Jews intentionally kill children—the paraphrasing makes the quote seem nefarious. 2) The actual “children” quote is from 1957. “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” Today that can seem to refer to the abhorrent practices of using children as human shields and of parents wanting their children to be “martyrs,” and distributing sweets to celebrate their deaths. That was not her meaning. She was referring to how Arab governments (in recognized states) prioritized hatred of Jews and Israel, military spending, and the conscription of their young men over domestic development and civilian well-being—a problem that has plagued the Arabs who became Palestinians, (particularly in Gaza), for decades.