Kategori: Israel

”60+ years in this country – and a history of over 3000 years – and people still don’t think we deserve to be here”

Hey, I am Gil, 25 years old from Israel.
For a long time I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about, so I decided just to talk about my daily life in Israel.

Well, for a long time (24 years) I lived in a town called Nazareth Illit. A nice Jewish town side by side with Nazareth – yes the town from the Bible.
I grew up there, school and stuff, used to play football with friends and I even had a nice Arab friend I used to play with.

When I turned eighteen I joined the army. Almost every Jewish boy and girl goes to the army after they finish high school. Unlike many countries in the world we have to serve in the army to protect our country.
I had a nice three-year-service in a computer unit – it passed quickly. For many of us who served in the army we feel and say that the army kinda forced us to grow up.

Anyway, after that period of time in my life I worked for a year in a mall between the two towns, many Arabs and Jews work there. A nice and friendly place.
I then moved to Tel Aviv to study computer science and work.
I can’t stop thinking about what I would have done with the three years I ”spent” when I served in the army, I could have finished college, travelled the world and so on…
But Israel is a special little place and I still wonder what is wrong with this world: after World War 2 not a lot of stuff has changed – people and countries still want the Jews to be eliminated from the world, and yes after 60+ years in this country and a history of over 3000 years they still don’t think we deserve to be here.
So yea, this is how I realize and accept that these three years in the army weren’t a waste.

I truly believe and hope that in twenty years my kids won’t have to serve in the army, but live side by side with the Arabs just like when I was little.
But if it will be needed I’ll send my kids to serve in the army, just like my father sent me, the same way he served thirty years ago.

Gil

On the Jerusalem Light Rail

I was born and raised in Israel, and live in Seattle, in the northwest corner of the United States, where I am a consultant, speaker, and educator focused on modern Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  I manage an online resource center about Israel at www.BroaderView.org, and invite you to visit!

I lived in Jerusalem for six years when I served in the Israel Defense Forces and studied at the Hebrew University.  But until last week, I had never been on the Jerusalem light rail, which only opened last year.  (On a previous visit I saw Jaffa Street torn up as the tracks and infrastructure were being built.)  You can see a video montage of the light rail at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWnEP_4hlXo.

My first ride was during a crowded rush hour on a warm July day.  I was impressed with the human landscape: men and women, young and old, Jewish and Arab, secular and Orthodox.  I observed the riders near me and took some notes….

The teenage girl standing next to me, wearing too much makeup, talking passionately on her cell phone while loudly chewing gum.

A couple sharing a set of white earbuds of a music player, one in each person’s ear. The man wore a black kippa, tzizit fringes, and a beard; the woman in long sleeves, a skirt and sandals, her hair in a scarf.  Their dress identifies them as Orthodox; they sway in unison to the music only they can hear.

Three twenty something guys with large backpacks, speaking Spanish.

A family of four: a cute little girl, maybe six years old, and a toddler boy, with their parents. The father, with a trim beard, has his Arabic-language newspaper open full spread.  The kids are so quiet and well behaved, the girl looking curiously around her just as I am, the toddler cooing on his mother’s lap.

A slender young woman gets off at the train stop.  She’s wearing jeans so tight they look like they were painted on her, a tie-dyed tank top, and strappy high heeled sandals. At the train stop, she’s warmly greeted by an older woman who lingers for a moment in her embrace. The middle aged woman—the other one’s mother?—is wearing a long skirt, opaque heavy stockings, and sensible shoes, and not a single hair is visible under her headscarf.  An interesting mother-daughter pair, if that’s indeed what it is—one quite Orthodox, the other provocatively secular.

The soldier sitting next to me looks like he’s about to fall asleep, but he’s clutching his heavy weapon, as though afraid it might drop if he nods off.

The young mother, holding a baby in one arm, is struggling to fold her stroller, one-handed. Another woman helps her, reminiscing wistfully, “I used to have one of these.”

The kid next to me, maybe seventeen or eighteen years old, is wearing cutoff jeans and a knit kippa. His large instrument case—a cello?—is front-heavy and keeps falling over. He apologizes profusely each time.

It’s my first time on Jerusalem’s new light rail, and I’m not sure where my stop is. I ask one woman where to get off for the Central Bus Station and three others chime in with helpful responses.

I love Jerusalem.

A letter from an Israeli grandma

Dear Kim,

By chance I learnt about your Blog on The Times of Israel and I am writing to thank you for taking this important initiative. Your words of love and understanding are like a beacon at the end of a very long and dark tunnel!

To me as an Israeli I feel that one of the most frightening things in our world is the appalling anti-Israel sentiment which exists throughout much of the European and British media. To that we can certainly add influential American media, like The New York Times, where the obsession with “nasty Israel” is pathological. Obviously this hasn’t happened overnight but as a result of an extensive and very expensive campaign by the Arab nations over many years. They use American and European Advertising agencies, infiltrate trade unions, the Universities and other important centres in the UK and Europe and it has reached a stage where many decent people who don’t consider themselves anti-Semitic are unable to remember how this political situation started, who caused the wars and which side refuses to negotiate a final settlement.

The Arab leaders, unwilling to take responsibility for their non acceptance of the UN Partition in 1947 and the subsequent war and refugee problem, have kept the poor refugees as pawns in a vicious political game whilst Israel welcomed nearly one million refugees from the Arab lands. The situation was worsened in 1967 which must be the classic just war, where a tiny nation faced annihiliation and won.

I can remember the 1967 war, as a young mother with a 6 month old daughter and a husband fighting in a tank unit on the front. I can remember the 1973 war, now with three small children and again the same husband serving on the Syrian and Egyptian front with the tanks. I never thought then that we would reach the year 2012 without a settlement but that is the case and it is very sad indeed.

I am not blind to Israel’s mistakes and personally am opposed to the current settlement policies and the ongoing financial funding over the green line whilst so many projects and people within Israel don’t receive the support they deserve and need. To me the indiscriminate building on the West Bank is just a waste of public money and doesn’t strengthen us one little bit. However we need to respect every government even if we didn’t vote for it!

The people opposing Israel don’t seem to understand that there are many Israelis who yearn for a peaceful solution but choose to punish anyone just because he carries Israeli nationality. The recent effort to boycott the performances of our national theatre, Habima, at the Shakespeare Festival is a perfect example of this attempt to blame every Israeli for our so-called crimes. I often wonder if the eminent actor Emma Thompson, who was a co-signer of the letter demanding the boycott, feels personally responsible for the actions of the British army in Afghanistan and Iraq, where they murdered and maimed countless Muslims. Should she be boycotted outside Britain because of the actions of her army?

Kim – again I thank you for your kind words and intentions. Even if your Blog influences only a few people and encourages them to rethink their attitude towards this political conflict, it will be worthwhile.

With best wishes,

Ruth, an Israeli grandma

”The state of Israel had to be founded in order to protect us, the Jews, from the world”

I’m writing these lines while watching the news. Listening to the reporter saying there has been a terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria. For now, it says 7 innocent people have lost their lives. The numbers will probably, unfortunately, increase.

Israelis and Jews around the world have always been a favorite target for the radical Islamic terror organizations.

I’m thinking about all the people who say: ”the terror against Jews is only because of the occupation”. They say that if the state of Israel didn’t exist (on occupied Palestinian land), there won’t be terror and hatred against Jews around the world.

Well, I guess I wasn’t aware of the fact that the Israeli occupation existed also during the holocaust, for example. Of course there had been many other events of hate towards Jews, but I’m taking the holocaust as a major argument to that claim.

I find that claim, that the existence of Israel is the reason for the hate – ridiculous, and also insulting.

The state of Israel had to be founded in order to protect us, the Jews, from the world. We needed a country that will stand up for us and protect us, because no other country did when we were being slaughtered in Europe. No other country stood up for us and shouted about one of the most horrible crimes against humanity throughout the history of mankind.

I find myself thinking a lot about the unjust hate towards us. It breaks my heart to see how Israel is being reviewed in the international media, being criticized in every opportunity.

The percentage of the Jewish people in the world is about 0.2%. The percentage of the Arab population in the world is about 23%.

And yet, Jews and Israelis are making such a big contribution to the world. Whether it’s the Nobel prizes some of us receive in medicine, science, economy, math and more; whether it’s the Israeli High-Tech companies, which contributes to the progress of technology around the world and much more.

Islam, which is supposed to be ”the religion of peace”, stands as a contradiction to the Jewish and Christian religions. They hate, they terror, the kill innocent people only because of their beliefs, their way of life and their religion.

How can the world be so blind to the truth? This thought keeps harassing me. I can’t understand that.

There is a sentence I heard once, and I believe it’s true:
”The Arabs have passion for death, as much as the Jews have for living”.

We love life. We cherish our lives and even our enemies’ lives. We think that the gift of life is the most sacred thing there is. And we will keep believing and longing for a better future for us. Because we love life and we will never give up.

I also wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for all the support you give us.
It gives us strength and optimism.

Bless you, friend.

Segev Moses.

Poem Submission from Toronto, Canada

That Kotel Moment

You long for that feeling.

That feeling.

You know, the one you are

Supposed

To feel in Israel.

Immersed in the antiquity and history of

Your people.

The feeling of harmony with the

Yemenite store owner,

Hardworking kibbutz-nik,

And random black hatter strolling on Ben Yehudah.

All enveloped under our Jewish state that we fought so hard to obtain.

These casual encounters should be enough.

Right?

You know, to have that feeling.

Truth be told: this did not truly suffice.

The Kotel was the place that defined that “expected” feeling.

Constantly reminding you that you are home.

A feeling that sends shivers up and down your body,

Reaching every last nerve,

Adequate enough to send you a startling jolt.

Making your heart palpitate as if you had just witnessed a ghost or a miracle.

But in fact, that is exactly what you have just observed.

The ghost is the spirit of your beloved lost grandfather (your Zidy to be exact).

He approaches you for that brief yet substantial moment as if he were there,

Standing with you,

Gripping onto that sacred wall with such might as if it were the

End of the world around us.

A moment so brief that when retelling the magic that just occurred,

The tale seems like an utter

Exaggeration.

But far from a fabrication it was.

A miracle did in fact ensue at the Kotel.

Those countless, ordinary stones bound together by the Jewish people’s

Past struggles.

And future celebrations,

Reunited you and your Zidy (the Yiddish word for grandfather),

For that brief,

Yet life-altering moment.

Thus,

You finally felt that feeling you were longing for.

You know, the one you are

Supposed

To feel in Israel.

Jessica Pollock