blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

Until this war, my rule in recording these events was never to reread and never to correct what I’ve declared.  But things happen so fast here, and what was considered false becomes true from minute to minute.  I have to alter what I wrote yesterday.  The UN women yesterday heard the pleas of those who are gathering the facts about October 7, and today heard eye witnesses of the mass murder and rape and mutilation.  It doesn’t bring the hundreds of those young people to life, it isn’t going to bring the hostages back home or ease the horrorible trauma so many individuals have endured, it isn’t going to change the situation of the fifty odd orphans who witnessed the murder of their parents, it isn’t going to change the minds of the millions who have been screaming hatred against Israel for wanting to erase the movement that designed this mass murder.  It isn’t going to bring back the lives of the Gazans either.  But it may give just a bit of peace to all the victims of the stupid war we have been forced into.

The UN is waking up – dec 4, 2023 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

Often I forget that the fact that I’m functioning pretty well doesn’t mean I myself am not traumatized, and that I’m not the only one.  I’ve pretty much abandoned many people I love, don’t call, don’t respond, even though I’m doing my best.  And I forget to forgive the crazy behavior of others, although I admire greatly the heroism I see all around me.  Here are some examples:  The other day Ezi was so excited showing me the new roof shades he got for his Tesla that he turned around at the traffic light and took his foot off the brake.   I know the car wasn’t supposed to move, but it did, and bumped into the car in front of us.  The other guy got out of his car, looked at the damage, came to the window where Ezi was stunned into silence, and shook his hand.  “We have worse things to worry about – there’s no damage.” Then he drove off. 

Ezi never makes mistakes. Ezi is never stunned, not even when he was informed that he was in advanced stage four lymphoma.  

He’s not the only one.  I’ve been too absorbed in a computer problem to go to sleep for weeks.  I’ve burned the dinner more than once.  and there’s a scrape on MY car I don’t know where it came from.

 

 

what was i thinking? Dec 3, 2023 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

That’s it.  We’re going to the theater.  I don’t care what is on.  We’re on our way. more to come.

so we went.  first to the demonstration for the hostages and then Ezi rushed us off because we had tickets to a play next door.  The evening was all about sharing our mood, hopes, fears, and our experiences. Ezi and I had mixed feelings about the whole thing.  We loved the actors, the songs, and the skits, but I couldn’t help feeling that it was too close to the carousel show the Kurt Gerron organized in Thereisenstadt to cheer people up.   It tried to make us the frightening situations funny, unify us with our nostalgia, and help us to feel that our sense of helplessness is shared.  It didn’t raise our spirits or our hopes.

And then as we were leaving, the demonstration too was over and the traffic was terrible.  I wanted to wait it out at the hospital cafeteria but Ezi insisted on joining the traffic jam and inching our way home.  It turned out to be not too bad and just as we arrived home, the sirens began.  Apparently there were more rockets where we were and nothing on our street.   The people who stayed there to chat and wait out the traffic found themselves in the shelters.  We had dinner.

That’s it for tonight.  

cameri – dec 2, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

Even if a rocket falls far away from here, the house shakes.  And tonight there were a few – not really close – but they made me sad that we’re back to square one.  And even though I tried to avoid the news on tv I caught a little conversation with the doctor who was taking care of the released hostages, and was blown away by his incredible respect for the fortitude and nobility of the children as well as the adults.  He said it was an honor to serve them. 

These are amazing people, the hostages who survived branding (literal), starvation, and psychological and physical brutality – and can even now begin to overcome it.  And the doctor was uplifted by them, despite the fact that he clearly went through great trauma hearing their stories.

So what can I complain about spending an evening waiting for rockets.  It’s nothing.

 

wherever they fall – dec 1, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

let me just add another part and revised yesterday’s paragraph

I assumed this information will be put together before too long, and the truth will come out. But at the moment I wanted to publish this, nobody seems to be sharing. I myself didn’t talk about a much more civilized rape for fifty odd years.

But as this piece was going to press, on the first of December, the hint of the organization of the materials began to become apparent.  Dr. Kochav Alkayam-Levi has quietly established a civil commission in the matter of “Crimes of Hamas against Women and Children” in order to collect information about the carrying out of explicit written instructions of methodical rape, torture, mutilation and murder.  The vastness and the volume of the evidence makes the accuracy of the evidence far more complex than a listing of victims can signify.  One detail, the existence of bodies whose gender could not be established, may function as a synecdoche of the entire massacre. Alkayam-Levi has not released most of the data, with the idea that the trauma is too great at the present time, and the international denial too widespread for any reasonable analysis.

rape – first addition – dec 1, 2023 Read Post »