”I am Nir. I am Israel.”

I am Nir.

I am a free man, living in the free country of Israel.
I am Jewish. I am not religious. I am a human being.
I hate war, I hate violence, I hate prejudice and evil where ever it shows its ugly head. If you would ask me what I want right now more than anything, my answer will not be an Iphone (I hate Apple…But that’s beside the point), a new tablet or a car; it won’t be a home, money or even happiness; my one wish is for peace.
My name is Nir, and I wish for the same as all other Israelis.

In a country so fraught with violence, war and death people think we might have gotten used to it… But the truth is that we never do. Each picture of a child being hurt due to acts of war touches our hearts and sends shivers down our spine, be it a Jewish child, a Christian child, a Muslim child and any other child from any religion or ethnic group. You see world, WE do not care who you are and where you came from…We only want peace and safety.

There are many so called ”saints” who demonize us. These Hamas leaders who keep screaming ”They are evil!” While we only reply ”Please let us send your citizens aid”. They keep firing missiles at our children and we supply them with electricity, food and money, to help their innocents. They target our loved ones, in our homes, our streets and our sky scrapers and we? We let their people know when and where we are going to strike against these attacks, so their innocent citizens can stay out of harm’s way…

When I saw a video of a terrorist sending missiles on our homes, being hit by a missile shot from our air-force I felt pity for him. I know he was evil. I know his only intent was killing me and anyone else who is a Jew. And I know that there was no other way to save innocent lives. I agree with it all, and I approve of his death. But I do not take pride or happiness in it because unlike them (Hamas and other terrorist groups) I find happiness in life. Not death. Unlike them, When I see a man, woman, child or animal die, no matter what evil he might have done, I still find it in me to feel a little sad for the loss of a life from our planet. Unlike them, I DO NOT go out to the street to dance and sing about how they died. Yes, that terrorist had to die, but I am Nir, I am an Israeli and therefore I am not happy that he is dead. I am happy that other lives were saved because of it.

Many people ask what you would do, world, if your cities were bombarded by thousands of missiles. What would you do if your innocent civilians were targeted each and every day? I DON’T agree with that question because this is not a question. This is a fact. We are part of this world, just like they are. We are a part of this world just like anyone else… And we are being targeted. So I don’t ask you, world, ”What would you do?” I am asking you ”Why are you letting it happen?”

If today all the terrorist groups will say ”We want peace. We want to live for life and not death and because of it, we will not fight you” Israel will be happy, it will most likely help them build themselves and thrive alongside Israel. But if Israel would stop fighting, will open its borders and say ”we will never fight again” would there be peace in the Middle East? I think that it is clear that Israel will simply be wiped out in a matter of days, its population murdered for the sake of death.

Israel and Jews in general believe in the phrase ”To save even one life is to save a whole world” but the Hamas belief is ”We love death as much as the Jews love life”. I would gladly help a fellow Muslim if I saw him injured or hurt, would he do the same for me? I believe he might, if wasn’t brainwashed by terrorists who twist the words of their fate to support their own evil agendas.

World, I do not want war. I do not want to see anyone suffer. But I believe in the simple and most important right of any living being, the right to live. And that is why I am supporting my country and hope you will help us find a solution and resolution to this bitter situation.

I don’t believe in death. I don’t believe in terror.
I believe in life. I believe in peace. I am Nir. I am Israel.

”Not Lego sets or dolls – the children want peace!”

Hi,

I saw your request on Facebook and think it’s a great idea. Unfortunately, I do not know much about Sweden. I have never visited your country and my ideas about Sweden are purely based on the media stereotypes of blond haired blue eyed people who enjoy a high standard of living. I presume that most Swedes opinions on Israel and Israelis are based on similar misconceptions.

My name is Dalia and I have lived in Israel for over twenty years after having been born and grown up in England. Life is very different here from the one I knew in London, but although I still miss certain aspects of the UK I love it here. It has been my experience that Israelis are a very warm and caring people. I remember when my children were babies, absolute strangers would stop me and offer me advice. They did not mean to be rude. It is just their way to treat each other as family, which sometimes can be annoying , but is always assuring. Israel is a family orientated nation and cares about its children and parents. Last summer we had the social justice demonstrations. I think that we were the only country in which these demonstrations were not violent. In view that most of the year it is hot and the sun shines, we enjoy an outdoor life, whether it is in our many parks or on the beach or in outdoor coffee shops. There is less crime than in a lot of the world and therefore the kids have a freer life. I feel safe walking alone at all hours of the day and night, something I cannot do in London anymore. Most people here are worried about the same things that people worry about all over the world, work, health, family, finance, global warming etc. Most people here are busy on a day to day basis with the same things people do all over the world, school, work, bringing up their kids, computer etc.

Israel is the home to people of different faiths and in my expereience there is mutual respect for each other. When I first came to Israel I studied at the Hebrew University and nearly all the students in my department were Arabs, Christians and Moslems. There were cultural differences, but it didn’t stop us from being friends. When I have had the misfortune to be in hospital with one of my kids, he has shared a room, Israelis and Palestinians together and the children and families have got along with no problem.

Unfortunately, the outside world does not experience everyday life in Israel, but is only exposed to news items about the Israeli Arab conflict, which often are incorrect, or at least misleading. I have never met an Israeli who did not want peace. Peace with the Arabs is taught in our schools and on our television. All children learn about peace. I remember when my children were in kindergarten and they were asked what they wanted for the New Year, nearly all the children answered peace, not Lego sets or dolls as would be the case in a different country.

It would be a pity if you take isolated incidents you see on TV as being the norm in Israel. That is far from the truth. Most people here would be happy for the Palestinians to have a good and prosperous life side by side with us. However, we cannot afford to be naive and in view of the terrorist threat in which we live, security cannot be ignored. I think that tolerance is a key and this is something that must be learnt.
I hope that as here in Israel, the Palestinians succeed in educating their children to want peace with us, in order that we can live without harm or obstruction to either side in a peace based on mutual understanding and respect.

I also hope that you visit our country to see for yourself and experience the warmth and many positive aspects it has to offer. I would be surprised if you do not leave with a positive view of this much loved piece of land.

Dalia

”All over the country you can see Mosques, Churches and Synagogues”

Hi Kim
First of all I want to bless you for your initiative.

I see that people in Sweden don’t know about both sides of the Israeli-Arab problem and they have no idea about what is happening here in the everyday life. I want to help you to know more about it through sharing a few experiences.

First of all Israel is the ONLY DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY in the area (take a look at what is going in Syria). In Israel anyone can say what he wants, whenever he wants. Muslims, Jews and Christians have equals rights.

I personally studied in three institutes during my life and there were a lot of Muslims that studied in the same institutes and we didn’t have any problem to be together in the same classes, we helped each other in order to get the best scores in the exams, we gave learning material to each other, etc. etc.

All over the country you can see Mosques, Churches and Synagogues; everyone can pray in peace, according to her religion.

Unfortunately in the news you don’t see about all these daily experiences. People in Sweden are exposed just to one side of the truth, but the truth has two sides.

I invite all Swedish people to come here, we have an extremely great country.

Yesterday I went to Tel Aviv by bike and I saw a lot of tourists having a good time, the weather was excellent and comfortably warm.  The sea was blue and the mood… fantastic.

One week ago I was in Jerusalem with all my family, we saw Arabs, Jews, tourists, Christians respecting each other.

Israeli people don’t like war; we prefer to live in peace. Believe me, I live here and I know what I’m talking about.

Lis 🙂

Read this letter in Swedish.

”I’m an Israeli – to some this alone is a reason to resent me”

Hi,

My name is Adi and I’m an Israeli.
To some this alone is a reason to resent me. As if being an Israeli is a crime of some sort.
In its short life Israel has succeeded in many fields, but in some it has failed. In our 64 years of existence we could not bring peace to this territory. Some will say ’stop the occupation, stop the oppression and peace will come’ but this is not just being naive – it is to be unaware of what is going on in our world.

We tried leaving Gaza, ripping from their homes thousands of Israelis, to find peace. We got eight years of rockets attacks in return. The people of Gaza are miserable but their leaders are doing nothing at all to resolve it, they are perpetuating it by pointing the finger at Israel and saying ”fire”.  The media loves this underdog situation and these days I feel anti-semites are replaced by pro-Palestinians. ’If we can hate Israel and not appear to be racist or closed minded but instead compassionate and politically correct then this must be right.’ It is not right!

Do not let others set your mind for you, however correct or comfortable it might look. Find out things for yourself! Read about this conflict! Talk to people who are affected by it on both sides! Or at least don’t spread your misinformed opinion of a situation miles away, of which you are only fed by the media. Do not judge us because of an article you read in some newspaper. You would not have liked it if it was vice versa. While we are no angels (no one is) we are also no demons looking to oppress. We are more like you than you think, just in a different, frustrating, almost impossible reality.

Peace
Adi

Read this letter in Swedish.