An open letter to the Israelis: rise and save the soul of your country

I have been agonizing over this appeal to every Israeli: why are you remaining silent in the face of the heinous crimes being committed in your name by your government against the masses of innocent Palestinian men, women, and children in Gaza?

No human being with a conscience can deny the excruciating pain and desolation many of you have endured stemming from Hamas' unfathomable savagery and the piercing pain you have and continue to bear about the dead and the fate of the remaining hostages.

But then, because you know how it feels and are grappling to grasp what has befallen you, and are still haunted by the memory of the Holocaust, surely you can imagine the depth of agony and the torment that so many innocent Palestinians have and continue to endure.

Imagine the unfathomable

Imagine that you are living under Palestinian rule and experiencing the unfathomable disaster and ruin being inflicted on you, on your family, on neighbors and friends, surrounded by utter ruin and desolation. Only the gates of hell are opened to engorge you.

Imagine you are a young woman who has just been pulled from underneath the rubble of your bombed home, regaining consciousness only to realize that your entire family of 22 is all dead under the wreckage.

Imagine that you are displaced time and again, with fellow Israelis who have lost everything, destined to live in a concentration camp, never to see your home again, in danger of being forcibly exiled from your country, never to set foot in it again.

Imagine being a mother watching her young son dying from a gunshot by a sniper, bleeding out in the middle of the road, while her daughter is shot as she comes to help her dying brother. Seeing your brothers, cousins, uncles, fathers, and grandfathers looking at the mutilated bodies of their children, only wishing to be buried alive with them to end their gut-wrenching grief.

Imagine that you have been ordered to vacate your home, with minutes to gather a few of your belongings. Then, you are forced to march, shambling along a dirt road, not knowing where you are going. But there will be no home to return to; only a pile of rubble that was once your hallowed sanctuary will be left behind.

Imagine being a starving child, grappling with thousands of other ravenous boys and girls for any scraps of anything-anything-to eat in piles of garbage. Often, you give up, despairing, feeling the other's insatiable hunger. You have no tears left to shed, no voice to scream, and no strength to stand on your feet.

Imagine that you strayed away from the designated area for food distribution, not armed but simply ravenous, clamoring for a meager ration to survive just for another day. You pose no threat, but are randomly shot, along with many others who are killed or injured. The soldier's only form of communication with you is gunfire.

Imagine that 15 Israeli paramedics were shot in the head when responding to an emergency call. Their Palestinian killers dug a deep trench with bulldozers and buried them along with their ambulances to hide an unspeakable atrocity.

Imagine that an Israeli militant is shooting at a few Palestinian soldiers. Instead of trying to kill or capture the fighter, the Palestinian commander ordered the bombing of the whole building from the air, knowing that over 100 innocent Israeli civilians would also be killed.