israeli politics

busy, busy, busy - 20.11.24

Most of us have been a bit catatonic for the past year.   Few people I know were able to function in any way except to support the return of the hostages and help the soldiers in any way they could,  Stories abound about old women cooking for the soldiers, kids knitting scarves, etc. etc. Volunteers in hospitals, volunteers helping students catch up while on leave. 

We suddenly find ourselves accompanying friends and partners on their errands –  just in case it is necessary to escape a rocket and help is needed.

This is not my life I’m talking about – it seems to be the life of many of the people I know.

But now we are at the point where we are beginning to make up the time lost – with friends, with work.  We are still not travelling – since it is dangerous and expensive – but we will find a way soon enough.

So I’m back to finishing the books that I was writing before this rotten war began.  Not that it is over, but I’m fed up.

 

busy busy busy – 20.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Tonight - 18.11.24

we picked Oren up at the airport, dropped him off at his flat, assured him that all was well, and went home. We walked in the door and I asked Ezi if he was sure it was going to be quiet tonight. Then I took off my clothes to take a shower and the sirens started. 

So much for our ability to figure out the enemy.  

tonight – 18.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

lebanon - 18.11.24

It used to be a given around here that Lebanon would be the second Arab country to make peace with us.  I always imagined sitting in a cafe in Beirut, chatting with some of the professors of the American University I’ve met along the way in conferences and parties.  Twenty years ago I imagined skiing among the cedars, and could smell the trees as I descended.  I knew women who were the epitome of taste and dreamt of shopping with them in the elegant shops there, dancing with them in the sophisticated night clubs.

That dream died a few years ago when I watched Nasrallah mocking us, and is only waking up now – when I hope again – that Lebanon is the second country.  First, I want Gaza to bring us the hostages.  That’s the most important dream I have now.

 

lebanon – 18.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

I keep doing five things at a time – and very little gets done.  It’s silly to blame the ‘situation’ – we’ve been in worse situations, believe me.  This evening I went by a local hangout and saw all these young people I didn’t know chattering and laughing – and suddenly I had a vision of all the refugees who would picnic together in the park.  They too chattered and laughed – putting all the horror behind them.  

It was just a momentary vision, but there were the same expressions, the same little groups of men and women, the same excessive emotion.  

Ezi said something like it that about the hyperbaric chamber – you see injured men and you don’t know if the injuries come from battle or crime or something else….

Mixing it up – 17.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Proportions - 11.15.24

The strain of the war has made us lose our proportions entirely.  It’s visible everywhere, from the military pressure we’re putting on Lebanon to the amount of damage we’re discovering has been wreaked on our deserted villages.  Even our reactions are crazy.  Here’s a conversation:  My friend calls up to complain that she can’t have a meeting with me because her internet has been down since yesterday.  It’s Iran, I respond languidly.  They’ve been playing with our  computers for months.  A few days ago in the hospital, they couldn’t call up my financial records, and I can’t tell you how many other examples I could call up.  Iran? She exclaims! May their names be erased!

My word!  We’re so full of hatred we can’t think straight.  I don’t mean our foes don’t deserve our anger, but we don’t deserve to lose our heads.

 

 

Proportions – 15.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Caught Laughing - 13.11.24

Last time I was there the dental hygienist announced that she was fed up with my writhings and was going to try laughing gas.  Today, as she fitted the mask on me I asked, what happens if there’s an attack?  We decided upon a list of things that have to be done – she has to take the mask off me, and then help me get up and to the safe area because I might be a bit wobbly.  Where’s the safe room? I asked her, and made her show it to me.  Then she went to work on my teeth.   

I was relaxed but still did the math and realized I wouldn’t get to the safe area in time.  

As soon as we finished, and walked into the house we heard the sirens go off in the area of our dentist. 

How do you like that luck? 

forgot to mention the laughing gas worked.  I stopped writhing.

Caught Laughing – 13.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Caught - 12.11.24

This afternoon was the first time I was really caught – alone, in my car, in a traffic jam, with no shelter nearby.  And it was no big deal.  Not compared to my friends, who were just landing and had to circle around in the air for part of an hour.  I’ll find out when they find their luggage and get in touch.

And certainly not compared to the guys in Nahariya who got wiped out.

For some reason I don’t see anything about this in the press abroad – over 200 rockets falling on urban areas, with the Arab villages the least protected and prepared – almost every day.

What the press abroad seems to be focussing on is the number of food trucks that arrive in Gaza every day.  We don’t talk about it much here.  One of the reasons is that we’re really really angry at the Gazans for celebrating every murder of Israelis there.  As much as I cannot bear that lack of sympathy, I understand it.  The Gazans started this war with a very bloody attack that did not endear them to us, they still bomb us whenever they can,  and are aligned with Hizballah who are clearly trying to kill me…

But you know all this.  

 

caught -12.11.24 Read Post »