blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

It has been a very difficult time for us, but somehow I’ve gotten used to rockets, used to staying home every evening, even used to the fear that I will be one of those Jews who don’t manage to find a hawthorne bush to hide behind and will get slaughtered. (i think this was this weeks chadid. more when i am not so sleepy). 

But hearing the daily news of death – of soldiers, of hostages, of babies – is too much to bear.  I can’t watch the elegies any more.

But when Biden said, hang on, I prayed he had a secret plan.   

“hang on” – Nov 14, 2023 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

How unsurprising it was to me that there were Hamas headquarters under the children’s cancer ward, that it was full of explosives and the hostages were brought there first.  The reasoning of Hamas is slowly becoming clear – the way they utilize our values against us.  So we come to understand that anything we hold dear, honorable, basic, is susceptible.  

Life, to us, is sacred, but the lives of the Gazans seem to exist because it provides the Hamas with a cover.

I know this is not true for the Moslems  I know.   It is actually not true for all the Moslems I know.  But it is true for Hamas.

 

rantisi hospital Read Post »

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 »