israeli politics

turkey - 27.11.24

This war has really made me mess up plans all year.  Or maybe it’s just me.  So when I invited the kids for thanksgiving last week, I immediately ordered the turkey for today so I could brine it and roast it tomorrow.  But this afternoon when it didn’t arrive, I checked it out and realized I had forgotten to press the send button.  So tonight we made our way to the Russian supermarket that is always open and went for the meat counter.  There was only a 20 pound turkey, and the Russian butchers had no idea what it was or why I would buy something the size of a two year old child.  Even though I invited them over for the dinner, they laughingly refused – would never eat something like that.  They suggested I take it home on a leash.  

I should have cancelled the whole event but it’s not only Oren’s birthday, there’s no way we could avoid celebrating even a questionable ceasefire.  


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israeli politics
Skies Over IsraelDownload

some thoughts on ceasefire - 11.27.24

Actually, I don’t have that much to say.  I don’t believe it, I guess.  Already my friend from Metula says they are  seeing threatening figures on the other side of the border.  The army here fired some warning shots over their heads  and they left, but it’s clear no one really understands the terms of the ceasefire.  If only if only it leads to the release of the hostages in Gaza…. 

Every night on TV there is an interview with a different former hostage.  I can watch a minute or two and then switch to something less terrifying – like Lebanon.  War is something I can understand, but the physical and mental torture is impossible to conceive.  Elyakim Rubinstein, former head of the high court, said that each of us should conceive of himself as if he/she is one of the hostages, or a family of a hostage.  I think most of us do exactly that.

So the most important thing about the ceasefire on my mind is just that – will it further the hostage return…

And in my head is the video that David Azoulay, the mayor of Metula, sent my friend of the damages in her home.  It’s a big mess and will take much renewal – but the piece of shrapnel she saved from the Gulf War is still sitting on a doily in her cupboard – a grisly reminder of the previous damages in an earlier war.

 

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israeli politics

Ceasefire Surprise (draft) 27.11.24

Ceasefire Surprise (a draft)

 

Stop talking

Turn off the television.

Take off your clothes.

Fill up the bath.

How does it feel

to allow yourself

to be away from news

to be vulnerable

for the first time

after so long.

 

So what

if you don’t know

what evening

will bring.

So what

if the world

blames you

for being strangers

to this land –

like Abraham,

like Moses.

 

You know they

will soon be back

at your door

and who knows

perhaps

without fear

you can welcome them in.

 

Ceasefire Surprise (draft) 27.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

last night of the rockets - 26.11.24

Since a ceasefire is going into effect tomorrow at 10, we are receiving a barrage tonight.  They are drones and therefore hard to detect and disable, but if this ceasefire enables further movements toward peace, it will be very welcome.

So I decided to tell you about how we take showers – me and my friends – for the past 14 months.  First,you are dressed until the last possible moment.  You lay out your clean clothes in the order you will wear them. Then you undress and quickly soap up, rinse and dress. Shampoo rarely and only on safe nights.  Go to sleep in pajamas only if you can’t bear being dressed.  Be ready to run.

So we came back from a day in the desert with a great need to wash.  And we knew it would be dangerous tonight.  We agreed – no shower tonight.  We sat eating our soup and suddenly I ran into the bathroom and washed.

What a revelation! I would rather die than go to bed dirty.

In the desert we visited a Bedouin village named Rachma, after we saw how water is delivered to the families there –  rubber pipes with individual clocks.  The pipes go for miles along the desert sand and often get chomped by desert animals before they arrive at a home.  A family member has to come and turn off the water until the pipe gets fixed.  

Showers mean so much more in the desert.

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israeli politics

Rockets again - 24.11.24

They seem to hit whenever I’m alone in my car and when there’s no shelter in the area and my only choice is a sidewalk or a dry field.  What will happen when the rains come?  I got dirty enough today.

It started when I was driving through a short cut, a narrow road bordered by waist hight iron fences. again Some app put the siren on and I screeched to a halt.  But I was the only one hearing this siren, and it stopped suddenly.  The cars behind me started honking, making me realize it was probably a mistake to stop, so I started up again, drove around five hundred meters, and the sirens started for real, this time all over.  I stopped the car, grabbed my bag, jumped the fence and did the duck and cover shtik.  There were a couple of the guys who’d honked me a minute before in the same position.  

Now Ezi always says to lie flat until the rockets have fallen, and then go to the duck-and-cover position one minute later, but I really don’t like lieing on my stomach.  

Anyway, I got up and drove to my friend’s place, where all the other guests were late as well.  All were dust-covered and a bit shook up.  

But our country’s politics was much more captivating a subject, and within minutes we had forgotten the whole rocket attack…

 

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israeli politics

I finally put Dahn Ben Amotz’s strange story online herehttps://karenalkalay-gut.com/dohn-ben-amotz-buongiorno-valentina/

Dohn Ben Amotz – Buongiorno Valentina

Why is it important to me?  Because it was placed in a time of great crisis – when Jews are being helped out of Europe from the Holocaust – and it concentrates on an intimate erotic experience.  

I like that close-up.  Not always, but sometimes, in times of world crisis, an individual and his conscious-expanding experience has to be noted.

 

Dahn Ben Amotz – 24.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

Mahler Again – 23.11.24

I often regret things i’ve written on these pages. But since I bound myself to sponteneity from the very beginning of this journal in 2001 I don’t allow myself to rewrite or even reread my writing unless I declare it in advance.  So I review my thoughts and analyze them and understand how i came to my mistakes.  And tonight I am figuring what I bothered me about Mahler.  

I fell in love with him when I heard my dearest friend, Mira Zakai, singing a piece of his second symphony – herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxeTqo1hprE

Mira always made me feel that everything else was inferior to her.  No wonder Yehudi Menuhin chose her to sing Bach for the Pope.

and now I will stop writing about her or I will cry.

 

Mahler Again – 13.11.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

planning a day - 23.11.24

Here’s how I plan my day in Tel Aviv.  First, I figure out the chances of a rocket attack – where I’d like to go, what hours are usually safer, where I would stop on the way to hide if a rocket attack is signalled, and of course whether the destination has a safe area.  Then I forget it all and go where I feel like going.

Today we went to meet some friends on the beach – no protection whatsoever – and we stayed there for 3 hours.  That tells you something about Tel Aviv.

Not everything.

But it’s a start.

Now I’ve got to make up for two days of parting.

(By the way, there is no way you can’t enjoy yourself on the beach in Tel Aviv.  Especially if you don’t exert yourself.)

 

planning a day – 23.11.24 Read Post »