blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

Does anyone remember Walter Cronkite?  A news anchor whose morality always stirred me, he had a program that relived historical moments called “You Are There,” and it always ended like this “What kind of a day was it? A day like all days, filled with the events that alter and illuminate our times.  And you were there.”  He brought me into the Boston Massacre in 1775, the death of Socrates, the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  And he made me feel what it was like to be part of history. 

One of the many emotions I feel in this land is the involvement in history – the good and the bad times.  I feel that everything I do makes a difference. 

But in the past few years I’ve felt that my presence doesn’t matter, that this tiny country has lost the ability of the individual to influence it, to create a better history. 

But when I see the people – the way they’ve been working together supporting each other in so many ways – transcending governments, going beyond the expected of regular people –  I am overwhelmed.  It’s not just the expressions of love and care for the hostages, the generousity toward all the refugees.  Look at my day.  Well, not all day – but we had covid shots at the health clinic – 2 Arab nurses shot us up, and both made sure we were comfortable after that.  And then at the pharmacy, the grocery, the builders –  Despite everything that is going on here – the prejudices and the hatred, the bombing, the reasons for hatred, divisions – people can transcend – and I am here.

I’m going to try harder to be There.

 

you are there – nov 12, 2023 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

This is a post in progress – at least it’s a subject I think about a lot, especially as this situation deteriorates.  Right now it is a ramble and you could easily skip it today and wait until I have something more organized to say. 

today as I was talking to Oren and he introduced the subject of the need for respect for one another in this political situation, I suddenly realized what an enormous issue it is.  

Let me begin with the fact that we don’t understand the mentality of the Palestinians and they don’t understand us.  That’s the simple part.  They know how to surprise and shock us, but they have no idea about how to deal with us, how to achieve their goals and respect our lives.   Of course, they are not interested in understanding us – they just want to annihilate us, even at the cost of their own citizens.   Their savagery proves they did not see us as human beings, and the term respect is meaningless.  

At the same time, I have incredible respect for the Palestinian Israelis I have met, the way they have advanced their lives against all odds, the way they have incorporated both the West and the East, and in some ways transcended the difference between the two.

 

respect – nov 10, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

Every morning the announcement comes of what has been destroyed the night before.  Sometimes it’s 

Every morning the announcement comes of what has been destroyed the night before.  Sometimes it’s a little old folks’ apartment in Ashkelon, sometimes it’s an elegant house, sometimes a part of a hospital, something the yard of a school.  But almost every time, people are not hurt because there have been shelters built into the buildings, or people have been evacuated from the building.  Don’t blame Hamas for the small casualties here.  They have been arranged years ago – and not with cement donated by foreign countries that wound up being used for Hamas tunnels.

morning – oct 8, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

When the hospital in Gaza was bombed on October 24, it took the Gazans minutes to blame Israel and to number the dead at 500.  Soon after it became clear that it was a misfired Jihad rocket that hit the parking lot of the hospital and that the number was more like 50. 

So who can you believe?  I see pictures of kids lining up for water….  but then some of the pictures of injuries and fallen buildings I’ve seen before, and often in other places.  there is a disconnect between the photos in the papers and the subtitles.

So what I can vouch for is the number of times I’ve heard a siren in my neighborhood tonight, the number of booms I’ve heard, or the number of times the building has shook, and the evening is still young. 

 

wish i knew – nov 7, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

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The 240 hostages in Gaza, the stories of survivors, the vegetables harvested by volunteers – I want to tell you about it all – but I can only show you a tiny piece of it.

I suddenly fell apart at a memorial in the military cemetery this afternoon – after buying so many vegetables from the south I had no energy to put away, and visiting the exhibits of families of hostages.  I looked at all the graves of soldiers and saw there was room for so many more….

 

 

what is left – nov 6, 2023 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv, poetry

 

weeks after the massacre

 

1.

No one tells it yet

Not the whole story

How long would it take you

 to speak of your child

wounded in the chest

but still breathing

when her arm

is sliced off? 

 

Ah, how could you tell

since this was

the last sight you saw

 

before you were slaughtered.

 

  1.  

No one tells it yet

how it was

with the pretty dancer

that a piece of her skull

was discovered

weeks later

after she was paraded

face down, naked

 in a truck

through the streets

of Gaza

 

3.

When you find

a pair of spines

and only DNA reveals

a father and son

in a final embrace

incinerated

alive,

your mouth

cannot form

words

 

 

 

 

poem – Nov 3, 2023 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv,

Ezi thinks that they set the timers for the rockets in our neighborhood on the hour.  I think that if it true that the rockets in our neighborhood fall on the hour it is just because they’re in a rush to set the timers and run away.  

The frequent use of human shields is another sign to me that Hamas is trying to be very careful – of their own lives.  I am watching the filming from Jabalia on BBC – In Israel we can only see the catastrophe from above.  But what we see is an underground tunnel exploded and we can’t see the individuals from so far away.  These are the people who were warned again and again to leave the area and go to the south, but, the BBC says, some left and returned because conditions there were so bad.   Some had told foreign press that they had not been allowed to leave by Hamas.  When they did have choices, they were not good ones. 

I too feel I am at the front, but I feel I am being protected in every way possible.  The sirens, the shelters, the iron dome, the phone calls – all make me aware that there are major efforts made to protect me.  The people on the street at Jabalia make it clear to me that they are shields.  I pray for them – may Allah have mercy.

on the hour – nov 1, 2023 Read Post »