Tel Aviv Diary - June 14-18 2013 - Karen Alkalay-Gut
June 14, 2013
At last a day of peace - a few moments at the new grocers, a little exercise, and then sleep - all day.
June 15, 2013 I still have sleeping sickness, but it seems more appropriate on the Sabbath. A short visit to the nursery for some herbs and bug spray, a long talk about mechanics of weddings, a lot of worrying about Syria and Iran and the Hizballah. The important things are beyond our control, so we concentrate on the details.
June 16, 2013 As has become a habit on Sunday evening, we are watching "The Gatekeepers." It's like the movie that's been playing in the theaters, but hours and hours more of footage. As it goes on I see more and more that there is little I didn't know before. We lived through it and were careful to evaluate. The program does not make Israel look bad at all. On the contrary. Today's chapter is about the terror in Tel Aviv, and the confusion of this period is as clear to me today as it was then. The feeling that we cannot survive if we continue to behave ethically - that we will literally be murdered on our streets - and something must be done. The only thing I regret during those times was that when I saw the demonstrations in front of Rabin's house, I laughed at their silliness. The hunger for destruction on the part of the right wing was palpable. And we did nothing. The loss remains unbearable. And now almost every night I hear the demonstrations in front of Yair Lapid's house - the same people who voted for Likkud last time and don't notice that it was Likkud not Lapid who got them into this financial mess. The parallel is clear. Not that Lapid is in danger but that we have not learned to respect and listen to our leaders. June 17, 2013 Shimon Peres is 90! Sharp as a tack and still sexy. I head he's moving back to the neighborhood when he finishes being president - a little closer to the sea but still in the area. But I'd much rather he didn't finish being president in my lifetime. June 18, 2013 Got to get home, got to get off the phone - got to watch Peres' birthday party. Why oh why wasn't I invited? I'd probably make a fool of myself there as much as Shlomo Artzi did - going just that much overboard to become a parody. But it must be the absolute apogee of the year in this country - so much love for such a great man. I think this picture is 8 years old, when I interviewed him together with Gabriel Moked. Yes, I've remained a real fan.
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Beneath is the tentative poster of the conference on June 27. And here's a sample of what I write: Poem of the Week in Haaretz
