Tel Aviv Diary - February 1, 2009 Karen Alkalay-Gut

February 1, 2009

it isn't easy to be an Israeli in a foreign country right now. The people who were against us were always against us, but the people who were with us are chicken-shit scared and want Israelis to reassure them.

So here's my reassurance. Not everything and everyone has to be pro-israeli policies. but it is really up to the people who do support Israel to make sure that information gets out. These issues should be discussed.

I find that what with all the information overload people tend to have less information immediately available to them. That is, unless they know where to access it, they don't know what is going on, and accept what they are told. I used to watch the people in the subways in NY reading their newspapers, but now they seem to read novels, and go to the internet for their news. That way they get only the news they're looking for.

Believe it or not we are watching the superbowl. Having twisted my knee in some wierd dance movement yesterday I am better off resting with potato chips and dip and waiting for the commercials. The streets of NY are empty, so we didn't even have to wait in line at the grocers' for our chips. We are not reading about the rockets fired into Israel today or the strike of Israel in Gaza. We're learning about America.

February 2, 2009

Talked to people on the stock market today - brokers, investment counsellors, etc - the panic is apparent everywhere. But even though we all know the stock market has to be reinvented, we're all thinking in the same modes. I wonder if in Israel they are thinking that way -somehow i think Israelis are more creative. Probably I'm prejudiced.

February 3, 2009

Since the last war began i've been sure that when facts come out they will be very different from what the claims were in Gaza. First the number of casualities, then the types of victims, and now the targets. But, as they say in Israel: After your sister has been called a whore, you aren't going to believed when you say you don't have a sister.

Here's another item Robert Whitehill just sent me about torture on the west bank: here.

February 5, 2009

The NYTimes, Newsweek, Time - everybody's got a story about how bad we are. I'm not reading them because I'm on 'vacation' but no one lets me ignore the bad propaganda we're getting. As if it is my duty to counter the details. True? I don't know. But I doubt 90%.

Of course I'll be back for elections. Of course I will do my best to make sure that if 'my team' doesn't win it will be influential enough to balance things. Of course I feel responsible that i have to do as much as I can to strengthen the system. And of course I will be doing as much as I can to find out what's wrong and what's true about all this nonsense i keep hearing about.

Some of the greatest kvetches I've been hearing are from Israelis who are angry with Israel. If you go on with the conversation you discover that there worse kvetches about the US and as for the rest of the world, they don't even want to think about going there. I might add that all this kvetching doesn't help with living. Why not do the best we can and shut up?