israeli politics

Why I'm Stressed - 6.14.24

At last SOMEBODY is saying what I’ve been worrying about for a year: Yahya Sinwar’s aims in rejecting and amending Biden’s hostage deal – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com) 

He doesn’t want to settle.  He’s relying on world pressure to get rid of us.  That’s why he’s sacrificed 30 thousand Gazans.

That part has been obvious, but what I didn’t realize is that I’m really stressed by this situation.  Last night I flipped out over a crazy neighbor, and only a walk on the beach could ease my mind.  Today we went to the Land of Israel Museum and wandered into an exhibit meant to calm us down – an asan moment.

It’s a good exhibit but I was infuriated, and it took me a while to realize that my anger stemmed from something familiar.  You know how someone tells you to ‘calm down’ when you thought you were calm and that instruction makes you angry?  Well, that exhibit made me realize how justifiably stressed I am.  As long as all the world believes the lies they’re planting – we’re trapped.  

I’ve been reading the New York Times for ages, but only recently has the news about Israel become so slanted that even I have noticed it.  Check it out.  Check out HaAretz or Times of Israel and see if there is any connection at all.  You’ll see that we seem to be publishing both sides, but the NYT only discusses negative elements.  Maybe some complaints might help.  But it really grieves me that my former favorite paper has betrayed me.

 

Why I’m Stressed -6.14.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Nerves - 6.13.24

We have a neighbor from hell.  I’m serious.  She is the schizophrenic daughter of a schizophrenic holocaust survivor, but much starter.  And she began stalking us, ringing the doorbell incessantly, and talking incomprehensibly but incisively.  Ezi listened to her a few times and was unnerved.  So I offered to cover for him, and I really regretted it to such a degree that I was unable to function afterward.  

Nerves – 6.13.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

publishing - 6.13.24

I took all the poems I wrote about the war and made a collection today.  Some of the poems were published in Tikkun or Maiyan – jewish publications.  Anything else I’ve tried to publish this year came back – usually very quickly and usually with no explanation.  I’m used to rejections – it’s why I don’t send out more than half a dozen poems or articles a year – but usually they take a few months to answer.  Now they’re coming back so fast I have a feeling the files have not been opened.  Maybe I should get a gmail account under another name and see what happens….

It doesn’t much matter – I’ll keep writing anyway – but it does indicate what’s going on in the world. 

It’s not easy being Jewish, right? 

 

publishing – 6.13.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Where to hide -6.13.24

This guy is pointing out that it might not be a good idea to hide hostages in a heavily populated area:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8EZAUxvFiu/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Now this is very wise advice. 

But I need to point out to you that I live in a heavily populated area, as do many others here, and I can’t be very far from a military base, right?  I mean this is a tiny country. I might as well put a bulls-eye on my t-shirt.

what’s the best place to hide -6.13.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Tiberias - 6.12.24

The rockets falling all over the north north wake my friend in Tiberias.  But by the time she manages to get her pants on, it’s over in her area.  What a holiday.

Thank goodness the people in Metula managed to get together a symbolic parade of tractors and first fruits – if only to show that a tradition of more than a century and a half is continuing.  

tiberias – 6.12.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

draft of a poem - 6.11.24

Every Day

 

Every day I see faces

I will never see alive:

a boy who could have run away,

played dumb and stayed

in some town in Thailand,

disappeared into a jungle in Brazil,

or buried his head in bible studies.

 

If he grew up in another land

he might be demonstrating

in some ivy league college

instead of hunting hostages

among desperate foes.

 

Who would have been his children?

What would they look like

and how would they have made

the world into a better place?

Every day those faces come to me,

the children of murdered soldiers,

their mothers raising them in woe.

The children that will never be.

The hopes that have been lost.

.

draft of a poem – 6.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

hag sameach - 6.11.24

The ten commandments, the story of Ruth, the parades of tractors with vegetables in Metula.  What joy this holiday once brought us.  What joy it will bring in the future!  For now, we must endure.

 

hag Sameach – 6.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

today - 6.10.24

We had one day of celebration about the 4 hostages we rescued.  Then we started worrying about the propaganda they might have heard.  And we’re beginning to pay attention to the fact that we’ve emptied out the North of people from October 7, and the damage of the incessant bombing and the human neglect is irrevocable.

My friend from Metula sits in her room in a hotel in Tiberias – her Parkinson’s isn’t improved by the fact that she doesn’t have the heart to do her exercises after hearing the daily news.  Every day the mayor tells the residents what the damage is, whose house has been bombed, what farms have been destroyed.  I have to go up there to see her but Ezi had a mole taken out of his shoulder today and can’t drive and I’m a little scared of driving myself. 

This sounds silly but not doing this one little act makes me feel like I’ve screwed up the one little task I can fulfill to alleviate a situation that is affecting hundreds of thousands of people. 

It got me thinking about Mark Twain.  He wasn’t talking about the Jews, but it suits the situation:

“Behold, the fool saith, “Put not all thine eggs in the one basket” – which is but a matter of saying, “Scatter your money and your attention”; but the wise man saith, “Pull all your eggs in the one basket and – WATCH THAT BASKET.”  

We should be watching that basket….

today – 6.10.24 Read Post »