Anti-Zionist Israeli activist vows return to Israel when Palestine is free

​​​​​​By Selen Valente

BRUSSELS (AA) - Eitan Bronstein Aparicio, an Israeli activist opposed to Zionism, believes Israel's apartheid regime will one day collapse and he will return to Israel when Palestine is free.

Aparicio emphasized that other countries should take Türkiye's commercial restrictions as an example.

Aparicio was born in Argentina in the 1960s, the child of a Jewish family that migrated to Israel when he was 5 years old.

After completing his mandatory military service in the Israeli army, Aparicio refused to serve as a reservist in Lebanon and the West Bank.

Five years ago, deciding that he no longer wanted to live under the control of the Zionist regime, he moved with his family to Brussels.

In Brussels, Aparicio operates under the umbrella of the "Anti-Zionist Jewish Alliance in Belgium."

Participating in a demonstration organized by EU personnel to protest the one-year mark of Israel's attacks against the Gaza Strip, Aparicio delivered a speech in front of the EU Commission building, when he said his country has transformed into a genocidal state.

"When I understood that the problem of the violence -- the core issue is Zionism, is the project of Israel, is a Jewish nation-state -- and that this will be impossible to have peace and justice for everyone in Palestine, Israel unless we overcome Zionism. Since then, I worked a lot in Israel on the Nakba, on the rights of return of Palestinian refugees," the author of "Nakba: The Struggle to Decolonise Israel," told Anadolu. "I see a future that Israel will collapse one day.”

He said Israel resembles other colonial or apartheid regimes as he drew a comparison to South Africa’s apartheid, which was established the same day as Israel and eventually fell under the weight of international pressure, boycotts and sanctions.

As the apartheid regime collapsed, most Israelis, having a colonial mindset, would not want to live equally with Palestinians, according to Aparicio.

"I really hope that there will be people there to live with the Palestinians. My wife and I promised ourselves that the day Palestine is free, we will return," he said.

- International pressure

Stressing that "the key to reaching this end is international pressure," Aparicio emphasized the need for sanctions and a weapons embargo from all countries, UN bodies and EU countries.

Referring to Türkiye's export restrictions with Israel, Aparicio said, "I think what he did (Turkish President Erdogan) is very valuable -- completely boycotting, closing the commerce with Israel. He has, it's very strong sanction I know in Israel, and I talk to people, even people that work in commerce and that import from Türkiye that -- and I read about it -- it causes big problems for the Israeli market."

"Sanctions are important everywhere, at every level. Because only pressure can stop Israel," he added.

- West's stance

Highlighting that Western countries have a historical responsibility due to the Jewish genocide, "They take the wrong side of this responsibility. Instead of saying, ‘Yes, we had here a racist regime who killed people only because some identities have been Jews.’ No, they and then the racist regime should be encountered. And the lesson is that should be that never again we have such a racist regime, murder regime like the Nazi regime," he said.

Pointing out that the EU is Israel's largest trading partner, Aparicio compared sanctions imposed on Russia following attacks on Ukraine to what Israel is doing in Gaza, noting that the scale of casualties and destruction in Gaza is incomparable.

He said, however, the EU remains silent against Israel. "I believe this is part of racism. Just as in Israel, in the EU, the lives of Palestinians are much less important than the lives of Israelis, Jews, and white Europeans."

-Israel is conducting genocide

Regarding the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Aparicio said it represented a significant defeat for Israel.

He said that the events that followed the attacks stemmed from two main factors: Israel's defeat and the rise of far-right and fascist tendencies within its society.

"This combination that brought Israelis and the Israeli army and the Israeli government to simply take revenge against the Palestinians,” he said. “What Israel is doing is destroying all that is just for a matter of revenge. It's not about killing Hamas. Israelis knew since the beginning that Hamas would not - it's not possible to destroy it completely."

"A great revenge has turned into a great massacre, a genocide," he said.

Aparicio noted that the year-long genocide is not only being witnessed by Israel.

"Israelis only know the numbers. They know abstract information. They have never seen bombed people, babies dying trembling, bodies in plastic bags—these horrible images that we all see," said Aparicio.

Expressing disapproval of government policies, support for Palestinian rights, and the genocide experienced by anti-Zionist Jews, he said: "Seeing this horrific massacre done in our name is terrible. Every day we hear that this is being done for the Jewish people. It feels like the crime is being doubled."

"You are killing a nation and claiming that you are doing it for the good of your own people, the Jews in the world. Instead of saying, 'We are doing this for Israel,' they say, 'We are doing this for all Jews.' Thus, people around the world understand that this is being done in the name of the Jews. This is horrible, and we are very worried about it," he added.