Li Pony from the "Pink Suitcases" affair breaks her silence: "The act I committed was not driven by evil"
Li Pony, involved in the notorious "Pink Suitcases" drug smuggling case, has broken her long silence. She explains her decision to avoid the recent docu-drama series and takes full responsibility for her past actions.
The "Pink Suitcases" affair resonated in Israeli society as a serious drug smuggling case, in which four young Israeli women from normative homes were manipulated into smuggling dangerous drugs in innocent-looking suitcases from abroad to Israel. The affair received extensive media coverage and recently stood at the center of a successful docu-drama series that recounted the events of the past. While the media chose to give a wide platform to some of those involved, Li Pony kept a long silence until now.
Why not participate in the series? "Choosing to invest in the life I am building"
In a revealing post on her new Instagram page, Pony opened her remarks with an explanation for why she chose not to take part in the series and not to be exposed in the media: "So yes, I am Li Pony, and I am part of the Pink Suitcases affair. It took me quite a while to decide whether to write this post. It is not intended to tell my whole life story, nor my past traumas. This post is intended mainly to shed some light."
"Many ask me why I chose not to participate in the series. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that I prefer to keep my private life. I never aspired to be known because of what happened, and I also believe that everyone has their own way to cope, and there is no one way that is more correct than another."
In addition, she shares: "I also feel that my story has already happened. Today I choose to invest my energy in the life I am building, in my family, and in the person I continue to be every day anew."
Responsibility and regret: "This understanding does not erase my responsibility"
Pony did not try to evade criticism or shift the blame to others, but presented a mature position and took full responsibility for her actions: "People who have not experienced periods of deep confusion, mental distress, and insanity sometimes find it difficult to understand how one can reach such destructive decisions. In retrospect, I know that the act I committed did not stem from evil, but from a deeper place of searching, of a desire to belong, to receive approval, and to feel that I am seen. But it is important for me to say clearly: this understanding does not erase my responsibility. I chose to do what I did, and I regret it with all my heart. I am not proud of my past, but I am also not ashamed of who I am today and thank the Creator of the world for the woman I have become thanks to this. Thanks to everything I went through, I learned to appreciate things that were once taken for granted."
Dealing with reactions online and a call for compassion
Later, she also addressed the struggle with the harsh and strengthening reactions on social networks, and the phenomenon of young people falling into risk situations: "I believe that every person in the world, whether famous or not, woman or man, adult or child — there is no person in the world who knows that something is being written about them and does not read the comments, and I also read comments; there are comments that hurt and there are comments that strengthen. We live in a generation of children without boundaries and post-traumatic; the case that happened to me, a girl from an absolutely normative home, could have happened in any home, it could have been your daughter, your sister, or your brother."
She further adds: "I am not trying to educate anyone. I want to believe that as the most amazing people in the world, we will know how to learn to accept the other, that we will be in compassion and mutual giving, and remember that every person deserves a second chance to be a better person. I am not asking to be justified, and I am not asking to forget what was, I only hope that people will be able to see beyond."
