Etikett: Sweden

”I had a pretty normal childhood, apart from the fact that I spent my last year in kindergarten carrying a gas mask”

Hello,

If you are reading this, first of all thank you! It means you care, and it means you show interest in what I have to say.
I’m thanking you because it’s so hard to find people willing to listen. Today everyone thinks they know everything, and then they don’t want to listen, or even worse, they don’t want to talk.

I will not mention my name for privacy reasons but I will tell my story. I am an Israeli, I love Israel, it is my home, I was born here and so were my parents. My grandparents however were born in Poland, running away from the horrors of the holocaust. They made it to Israel to rebuild their ancestors’ home again (yes! Israelis are originally from Israel!!!). When I was young my mom told me: ”I hope that by the time you’ll be 18 there will be peace and you won’t need to go to the army”, she told that to my brothers as well and my grandparents told it to my parents, and we are still hoping.
Hoping for peace.

I had a pretty normal childhood, apart from the fact that I spent my last year in kindergarten carrying a gas mask and running for shelter from missiles shot at my city (Iraq bombarding Israel in the Gulf War) needless to say this still occurs in many cities in Israel, only this time the missiles are coming from Gaza and Lebanon. As a teenager I was afraid to take the bus because so many people have lost their lives in terror attacks on buses. In high school our class trips have been secured by security men and sometimes even canceled due to terror threats.

When I was recruited to the army I first encountered the conflict, from the first moment we were taught what it means to be a solider, to protect, to serve and and to be responsible for the safety of the people around you: soldiers and civilians, Israelis and Palestinians, I never shot or hurt anyone, but I was shot at, bombs left on my way and terrorist have tried passing our posts only to attack or explode innocents in Israel. I hated every moment of it, I mean, who would like it? But I did it, because I had to protect my family and loved ones.

I, like many others in Israel, want peace, I don’t want to fear taking the bus, or run to shelters every time I hear a siren, I want to be able to visit Arab countries and live next to an Arab family without being afraid for my safety.

De senaste 4 år bor jag med min flickvän som är svenska, på den här tiden jag besökt Sverige massa gånger. Och jag älskar Sverige, men varje gång när jag försöker prata med en svensk om Israel känner jag att han/hon vill inte prata eller tror att Israel är en fruktansvärt plats. Jag bara ber er, försök lyssna till israeler också, läs nyheter på israelska websidor, inte bara på Aftonbladet och DN. Och om ni träffar någon från Israel, bli inte rädd – vi är ganska snälla. Och om du vill ha en semester, kom till Israel ni kommer inte ångra det.

[The past four years I have been living with my Swedish girlfriend and during this time I have visited Sweden many times. And I love Sweden, but every time I try to talk to a Swede about Israel, I feel that he/she doesn’t want to talk, or believes that Israel is a horrible place. I beg of you, try to listen also to the Israelis and read news on Israeli news sites, not just Aftonbladet and DN. And if you meet someone from Israel, don’t be afraid – we are pretty friendly. And if you need a vacation – come to Israel. You won’t regret it.]

An Israeli

”Before you say one more thing about Israel – come here!”

Hej kära vänner!

So… Originally I wanted to write this letter in Swedish, but I gave up on the idea since my Swedish is far from being perfect and since I want to convey my message as coherent as I can.

I read some of the letters here, and they’re very touching letters about the conflicts here in Israel and about the terror attacks and all of the threats we are dealing with from all of our neighbors. Unfortunately, our neighbors are not Norway, Finland and Denmark, to say the least :-).
I do have a lot to say about the political aspects, about the European hypocrisy and the ”human rights” activists, who are falling into the trap of Hamas and terror organizations. I have a family in the South of Israel, and my brother spent his birthday in a shelter, and in general I have much to say about the conflict.

But!

I don’t want to focus on the negative and problematic sides, but on the positive ones. Because that’s how I am. I guess that most Israelis and Jews are like that – ”everything will be alright” (”Allt ordnar sig”). Maybe because my people have been through so much…

In order to truly understand the mentality, the way of thinking, the culture, the conflict and all what you might thought or heard in the news about Israel – you just have to come here. There were so many people who completely changed their mind about Israel after visiting. There is so much ignorance in the Western world in the Israeli subject, it’s just unbelievable. In my four visits in Sweden, there were Swedes who thought the language we speak is Jerusalem, some thought that Israel is in Africa and were surprised to see that I’m white; others thought women have to work with their faces covered, and so on. The only way to fight that ignorance is to come, see by yourselves and tell your friends the truth. Så kom!

Before I tell you what Israel is for me, I’ll tell you a bit about myself. My name is Dan, I’m 21 years old and I live in Tel Aviv. I was born in Moscow and my parents immigrated to Israel when I was one year old. I grew up in Be’er Sheva, a city in the South of Israel. I moved to Tel Aviv just after high school because I got accepted to Law studies at Tel Aviv University. This year I’m finishing the fourth and last year of my degree, and afterwards I go to the army to work in the law unit there. I speak Hebrew, English, Russian, Spanish (from TV shows I watched when I was a kid) and some Swedish. My romance with Sweden started a long time ago, in the beginning with the Eurovision and the Melodifestivalen. Since March 2009, I visited Sweden 4 times and also started studying the language. I really like your country, the culture, the people, the music and even the weather (probably it’s the Russian genes…).

But anyway, we are here to talk about Israel. Do you remember Mika’s song, ”Grace Kelly”? It has a sentence – ”I could be brown, I could be blue…”- If someone would ask me what the magic of Israel is, and why people fall in love with it, I would answer, without any doubt, that it is its diversity.

Israel can be the Holy Land, with all of the sacred places for Jews, Christians and Muslim people and you can feel the Holy Spirit in the different holidays, as well as during the weekends in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Safed, and more. Jewish Rabbis are praying in the Western Wall, Priests and nuns are walking down Via Dolorosa road in the old city of Jerusalem, and Muslims are looking at the beauty of the Dome of the Rock. If there is a G-d watching us from above, he is definitely overlooking at Jerusalem and the holy places.

But at the same time, alongside with the religion and the tradition, we can see at the same Jerusalem city bars and pubs and night clubs, celebrating the miracle of life until dawn. If you go a bit west you will find Tel Aviv, the most liberal city in the Middle East. With endless night life, it earned the name ”the city that never sleeps”. Pride parades, amazing beaches and a beautiful port, big club scene, Parties – all of those contributed to the image that Tel Aviv got – young, funky and maybe a bit of a crazy city!

Israel is known for also other unique places: The Dead Sea, where you can lie down and relax. Go in the footsteps of the heroes in Masada, explore the Negev desert (and the craters there – a night walk in the desert with all the stars above is an amazing experience!), look at what is left in Caesarea, use Israel’s ski resort (yes, we also have snowy mountains) in the Hermon Mountain, swim in the sea of Galilee, enjoy the water in the Mediterranean sea all across it’s shore – including Haifa and the outstanding Baha’i gardens, dive and swim with dolphins in the Red Sea, in the beach of Eilat, Israel’s southern city, and much more.

It has everything for everyone: different religions trips, families, young travelers, adventurous people, straight, gay, and practically – each and every one of you will fall in love with Israel and will find what he likes. We truly made the desert blossom. Once you also meet the people and communicate and listen – you can understand the truth and the beauty of it. You can find a lot of information and pictures once you search the stuff I put in bold online, but I also made a collage that shows the different extraordinary places in Israel.

This is Israel

Other than the different cities and religions in Israel, another aspect of this diversity is the diversity in languages, people and ethnicities from all around the world. In every corner you will find a mix of a truly Moroccan spirit, the Polish or ”Yiddishe Mame”, French accent, flags of Russia, Hungarian Kiortosh, Egyptian pride, American youngsters, Argentinian meat and ”Assado”, and much more. The reason is of course the gathering of all of the Jews around the world in this small country. I think that makes life much more interesting. People from different backgrounds, with different mentalities meet, know each other and even get together. It can also be very funny and amusing, when for example a Russian lady tries to find her way in the line to a Falafel store. No wonder it’s called the ”Melting Pot” of the Israeli society!

The diversity is also shown in political views; from very right political parties, to the most left. There is a joke about Jews – ”Two Jews, three opinions”. It seems that you can’t describe the Israeli inner political conflicts in a better way. As a democracy, Israel allows all inoffensive opinions to be expressed (with Arab Muslims in the parliament). That’s why also a lot of political parties rise and fall; because they had the illusion they could unite most of the people into one opinion. Due to the different background and mentality of every person, it’s almost impossible.

In any case, please, before you say one more thing about Israel, or before you judge Israel because of something you heard in the media, come here. We’ll show you around. 🙂

I will be happy to get in contact with you, if someone also plans to come or just to ask any question – you can find me on Facebook (Dan Erukhimovich).

Shalom och hej,

Dan.

A letter to the Swedish Media

I love Sweden. My friend Ann, who’s like a sister to me, lives in Stockholm, and I visit her often. I admire many things in Sweden, which I would like Israel to embrace, mostly your tolerance and acceptance of different cultures, the way you combine free economy with care for the less fortunate. I admire the fact that you have a Ministry for the sole purpose of giving financial aid to poor countries – SIDA.

One thing I cannot comprehend is the Swedish media. None of the above is applicable when Israel is concerned. In fact, when it comes to Israel, the Swedish Media turns into a dogmatic, self-righteous crusader, fueled by ego and zero compassion.

There are 7 million citizens in Israel, Jews, Arabs, and other minorities, a colorful vibrant tapestry of religions, cultures, opinions and feelings. True, we have our fanatics, as do our neighbors. We have ego motivated, loud mouth politicians, so do our neighbors. But between the poles live good honest people, trying to share a life in a highly volatile area, creating, building and working towards a better place.

A social change can occur only when a critical mass is accumulated. While the politicians play their games, the economic and social relations with Palestinian companies, schools and other good people are being woven. It took England, France, Holland and Spain 400 years to stop fighting. I hope it takes far less here… but when you put a seed in the ground, you do not expect a tree in a fortnight.

7 million people, creative entrepreneurships, nothing in the Swedish media. All of us categorized superficially as aggressive, blood thirsty human rights destroyers. Like in a bad Western, we are always the ”bad guys”, the Palestinians are always the ”good guys”. Strangely enough, almost no reference to the fact that our southern cities are constantly bombed by Hamas, no discussion of the fact that the millions of dollars given to the Palestinians by your government, were used to buy weapons and found their way to the private bank accounts of Hamas leaders (but this is more of an internal issue and does not really concern me).

Aggressive actions manifest out of fear and pain and both Jews and Arabs carry a lot of it in their collective memory. It is easy to hold high morals, noble sentiments, while living a quiet life, but in that split second, when one sits in the shelter, waiting for the missile to fall, all noble sentiments fly away, replaced by fear, followed by anger. And yet, we collect ourselves again and again, and go back to rebuilding our lives, our mutual relations. It takes time and patience, but slowly the seeds are planted.

Compassion, that’s all we ask of you. You have every right, a duty in fact, to criticize, to report the many injustices that take place in this region, but be fair. Show our colors, our fears, our pain, our frustration, the good and the bad. And be compassionate. You cannot judge someone until you stand in his place. If you want to take part in transforming our Middle East into haven, if you want to be the voice of Human Rights and free society, be compassionate, be fair. We will listen.

Iris Toister

Read this letter in Swedish.

”So many stories about Scandinavian girls falling for Israelis…”

Hi Kim,

My name is Tomer and I am an Israeli.
I am neither a peace activist nor a religious settler.
I am just like you, a tax payer.

Being the fact that I love Sweden and I have read your article that was published in Ynet, I just wanted to share some more light on the relationship between Swedes and Israelis and how Israelis are foreseen in Sweden.

I used to have a friend whom I met via couch surfing, she is Swedish and she was, at that time living in Biet-Lehem.

When she was coming to visit me in Tel Aviv, almost no conversation went without me being accused of being the occupier and the root of all evil. Of course it was related to the Palestinians.

And this is not only her – this is every single tourist that I meet in Israel or abroad.

Having this been said – when they come (everyone – especially women) to Israel, they love it here! They enjoy hanging out, going to bars, clubs, travelling across the country, eating delicious food and what not!
Don’t even get me started on the “love” part.
So many stories about Scandinavian girls falling for Israelis…

I am saying this from experience, being a host for a number of such people.

All of these people have one thing In common – they love Israel when they are here!
They love Israelis for what we represent and on the other hand it is so comfortable for them to criticize us about out “actions” because they know that we won’t react with drastic measures, why? Because we understand right from wrong!
I want to see those people say something nice about their Israeli friends when they encounter an Arab in or outside of the Middle East.

I think these people are fake.

I know the situation in Sweden. I have many Swedish friends, real friends, who tell me that there are certain streets that you don’t want to visit.
That you are afraid to say what’s on your mind about certain people, in a fear that you’ll get beaten up or whatever and that you always see the Israelis as the bad people although in your heart you love us and stand behind us.

I don’t know if it falls on deaf ears or not but if there’s something that I can do to help the brand of “Israel” and “Israelis” to flourish in your beautiful country, let me know.

Cheers
Tomer