Amos Oz's daughter: "Dad hit me, cursed and humiliated me" | Israel today

This disturbing exposure is spread by the popular children's author Galia Oz in her new book "A thing disguised as love" • "Violence was creative and therefore there was no end to punishment"

• Galia Oz, Amos Oz

  Photo: 

  Hertzi Shapira, Moshe Shai

"As a child, my father beat me, cursed and humiliated me," says the esteemed and award-winning children's author Galia Oz, the daughter of one of the greatest Hebrew literary figures, Amos Oz, in her new autobiographical book "A Thing Disguises as Love" published by Kinneret Zmora Bitan.

"The violence was creative: he dragged me out of the house and threw me on the doorstep outside," she revealed right at the beginning of the first chapter of the book.

"(He) called me filth. Not a passing fad and not a slap in the face here and there but a routine of sadistic abuse. My crime was myself, so the punishment had no end. He needed to make sure I broke."

Oz reveals the tradition of intimidation, silence and fears in her book and explains that she intends to flood the issue of domestic violence for those whose voices are not heard.

"This book is about me, but I'm not alone," she wrote.

"Houses like the house where I grew up are somehow floating in space, out of reach of social workers, out of the reach of revolutions like Mi Tu, without leaving a mark on social media. Nightmarish and isolated, they wisely encrypt their secrets like criminal organizations. "I have no choice but to overcome the silence and secrecy, the habit of keeping everything in my stomach and the fear of what they will say. I do not really overcome, of course. But I write."

The book's description states that the book "is an honest and exposed testimony to Oz's life, but also a unique document on the dynamics of tyranny within the family, beginning with physical and verbal violence, ending with threatening harassment and deliberate spread of false slander, in order to silence the victim."

On the slander spread by her father, which was revealed to her only after his death, she wrote: "Older people know, more or less, what makes slander a criminal offense in the rulebook, but only those who have been victims of harassment, boycott, social bullying or close contact with a psychopath can understand how "A deliberate lie has the power to domesticate a person and destroy him, literally. Not nearly, not maybe, not roughly, not subject to interpretation."

The book's description reads: "The insights offered by Galia Oz are based on personal experience and research, and are rooted in rich academic and poetic ground. After all, there is no anger or despair in them. Something disguised as love is a 'pocket guide for survivors of abuse', but it was written for everyone Who is willing to look directly at the shadows in human life and at a reality where the home is not always a safe place. "

Oz is considered one of the greatest Hebrew literature of all time and according to many around the world was a worthy candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature, his honor did not win.

Oz passed away on December 28, 2018 at the age of 79. Except for his daughter Galia, he is survived by his wife Nili and children Daniel and Fanya.

Galia Oz, the bride of the Art Prize and the Deborah Omer Prize, was known for the bestsellers she wrote, including "I Am Mikey" and the "Shakshuka" series of books.