Tel Aviv Diary - May 25-29, 2019 - Karen Alkalay-Gut
May 25, 2019
on Saturday mornings i often get a massage for my crooked back. Today my wild masseur began to rail against people who might think they could change something by going to the demonstration tonight against the proposed law legalizing exemptions of politicians from prosecutions. "It's what you deserve!" he said as he pummeled me - "where were you when Rabin was killed? you let these guys get away with murder and you've let them get stronger and stronger."
my whole body aches from his - justified - anger. So we went sailing with a rehearsal on the boat and one after. by the time we finished there was no time or energy to go to the demonstration - but anyway i'm afraid to drag Ezi to anything that might bring him in contact with many people. And there are a lot of people there, thank goodness. so are my family. thank goodness. i brought them up right - at least when the chips are down. i don't think the law proposal will be cancelled just because 50 thousand protest, but i hope it will slow it down.
May 26, 2019 amazing how long a country can go without a government. and Bibi is playing us like a piano. no matter how many people demonstrate, it's the vote count in the Knesset that counts. We were even talking about it in the concert today (an amazing concert by the way - Beethoven's Emperor Concerto and Mendelsohn's 4th symphony - that once the justice system starts working, Bibi is finished. So he's got to stop them. And he get what he's got to.
it is all consuming, the sense that the politicians are bringing us to ruin, like Nero. it affects every moment of my existence.
May 27, 2019 why don't we all learn the fine art of chess? Why is it only Avigdor Liberman who plays it? and what a player he is - trapping all the Knesset members at once. all the Elders of Zion. will we have a government in the morning? who's taking bets? if he manages to turn the likud upside down and give us a different prime minister with fewer brains than Bibi but also fewer crimes against him, what will happen? just when you think things couldn't get worse...
This isn't relevant but I enjoyed it so I'll mention it anyway - called up a help line today because I couldn't get into my account. what is your birthdate? the girl online asked. oh, I never tell anyone that. May 28, 2019 All around us in the hematology ward we heard only Russian. in our little private booth we could see nothing, but we could hear snippets of all kinds of small talk. It's the foreign patients who support this ward, I think. with our current political situation we'd never be able to afford the luxurious setup we've got now. Would Ezi be able to get the treatment he gets? Citizens complain that because of foreigners we have to wait longer for treatment, but I wonder whether we'd be able to get the treatment at all if not for the guests. bless them.
May 29, 2019 Will we have a government tonight or not? It's looking like it's the end of Bibi's career but we all know that he can spring back even at his most dire moments. so it's back to elections.
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