To Israel, Now Poem by Frank Bana

If Israel stood before me as a Jew
And I had the chance to interview
I would ask, why did you become
The very thing that hated you

Is this Hitler's last revenge
Wider than carnal genocide
The erasure of our Jewish souls
Reduced down to soil and blood
Draining into history's mud

And if you should protest in turn
Answer me then who was midwife
To the birth of all these wilful children
Who tear the hearts of Hillel and Buber

Who pursue the paths that lead from justice
Who silence every voice of peace
Bulldoze the hosts of olive groves
Pave them with apartheid streets

And how will an old man stand to pray
On the seared brown hills of Galilee
When the shekels that weigh down his eyes
Have all fallen, finally

So, my strong-arm blue-eyed Jew
Self-appointed, chosen few
Is the weight of all your fears
Worth the salt of all their tears?

Oh, crusts of bread you would not break
Holy rivers you would not share
The aquifers that drain so dry
While your tear gas fills the air

Now Man owes G-d an apology -
For Nazis who know precious little
For Zionists who know much better -
Or has it become vice-versa

I wrote of this 50 years ago
No, I did not stay the monstrous hand
I stand elsewhere, the years unfold -
as Israel kills the Jewish soul.

From the depths of the Dachau generation
Now hear our poet call once more:
Jews must survive in loneliness
Jews must survive as witnesses

So say with me, Amen.