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I want not only that they not slaughter my people, but also that they not spit on them.

When the war began, and the whole world was divided into two camps, the "School of Khavas-Lenis" had the upper hand precisely in that part of the world to which our bonds of memory and our hopes are tied. But the most saddening thing is this: that we do nothing, that in general there are no plans, not even any intentions. Since there was no pogrom, and the Turks were forced to stop the expulsions, there are now some "good Zionists" who say that all this is a trivial matter. And the persecutions against the Jewish settlement, calculated and systematic persecutions whose goal is to destroy at once all the foundations of self-rule, the language, the school, the "regime"—all this the Zionist Organization sees as a trivial matter; because they did not beat us, and as long as they are not beating us, we are not "angry," and it is proper that one must look at things with strange eyes, in order to think and feel this way, with those "eyes covered with film" of which Bialik speaks; I admit and confess that I do not belong to the type of people who walk around with such eyes. I want not only that they not slaughter my people, but also that they not spit on them; I do not permit even the slightest spit towards them. I want them not to touch their soul, their possessions—and especially not to touch their Land of Israel. — And as an individual of Israel: whoever permits himself such things—he is my enemy, and I am also his enemy, despite all the arguments one could search and search for in order to justify him... So I think, and so think several other people. In education, such a viewpoint is important in the Land of Israel, at a time when we stand exposed before the "forum" of the entire world and demand our rights. A person cannot defend his rights unless he believes that it is forbidden to harm him. The Yishuv is holy, like the Torah; whoever raises his hand against it—is a transgressor. We will yet stand tall one day for the judgment of nations. Do not accustom the nations to the thought that if they inflict "light blows" upon us, with a small slap, we will not cry out, because we are used to it... This matter is important in general, and all the more so concerning the Land of Israel;

/From the article in "Di Shtime" in October 1916/