I was sitting in a lecture hall at a British university. Bored by the speaker, I began glancing around the hall. I noticed someone who looked quite familiar from an earlier academic incarnation. When the session ended, I introduced myself and wondered if, after years that could be counted in decades, he remembered me.
He said he did, at which point I commented that the years had been good to him. His response: "But you've changed a lot."
"How so?" I asked with a degree of trepidation, knowing that, self-deception aside, being 60 isn't quite the same as 30.
Looking me straight in the eye, he proclaimed, as others standing nearby listened in, "I read the things you write about Israel. I hate them. How can you defend that country? What happened to the good liberal boy I knew 30 years ago?"
I replied: "That good liberal boy hasn't changed his view. Israel is a liberal cause, and I am proud to speak up for it."
Yes, I'm proud to speak up for Israel. A recent trip once again reminded me why.
Sometimes, it's the seemingly small things, the things that many may not even notice, or just take for granted, or perhaps deliberately ignore, lest it spoil their airtight thinking.
It's the driving lesson in Jerusalem, with the student behind the wheel a devout Muslim woman, and the teacher an Israeli with a skullcap. To judge from media reports about endless inter-communal conflict, such a scene should be impossible. Yet, it was so mundane that no one, it seemed, other than me gave it a passing glance. It goes without saying that the same woman would not have had the luxury of driving lessons, much less with an Orthodox Jewish teacher, had she been living in Saudi Arabia.
It's the two gay men walking hand-in-hand along the Tel Aviv beachfront. No one looked at them, and no one questioned their right to display their affection. Try repeating the same scene in some neighboring countries.
It's the Friday crowd at a mosque in Jaffa. Muslims are free to enter as they please, to pray, to affirm their faith. The scene is repeated throughout Israel. Meanwhile, Christians in Iraq are targeted for death; Copts in Egypt face daily marginalization; Saudi Arabia bans any public display of Christianity; and Jews have been largely driven out of the Arab Middle East.
It's the central bus station in Tel Aviv. There's a free health clinic set up for the thousands of Africans who have entered Israel, some legally, others illegally. They are from Sudan, Eritrea, and elsewhere. They are Christians, Muslims, and animists. Clearly, they know something that Israel's detractors, who rant and rave about alleged "racism," don't. They know that, if they're lucky, they can make a new start in Israel. That's why they bypass Arab countries along the way, fearing imprisonment or persecution. And while tiny Israel wonders how many such refugees it can absorb, Israeli medical professionals volunteer their time in the clinic.
It's Save a Child's Heart, another Israeli institution that doesn't make it into the international media all that much, although it deserves a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Here, children in need of advanced cardiac care come, often below the radar. They arrive from Iraq, the West Bank, Gaza, and other Arab places. They receive world-class treatment. It's free, offered by doctors and nurses who wish to assert their commitment to coexistence. Yet, these very same individuals know that, in many cases, their work will go unacknowledged. The families are fearful of admitting they sought help in Israel, even as, thanks to Israelis, their children have been given a new lease on life.
It's the vibrancy of the Israeli debate on just about everything, including, centrally, the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. The story goes that U.S. President Harry Truman met Israeli President Chaim Weizmann shortly after Israel's establishment in 1948. They got into a discussion about who had the tougher job. Truman said: "With respect, I'm president of 140 million people." Weizmann retorted: "True, but I'm president of one million presidents."
Whether it's the political parties, the Knesset, the media, civil society, or the street, Israelis are assertive, self-critical, and reflective of a wide range of viewpoints.
It's the Israelis who are now planning the restoration of the Carmel Forest, after a deadly fire killed 44 people and destroyed 8,000 acres of exquisite nature. Israelis took an arid and barren land and, despite the unimaginably harsh conditions, lovingly planted one tree after another, so that Israel can justifiably claim today that it's one of the few countries with more wooded land than it had a century ago.
It's the Israelis who, with quiet resolve and courage, are determined to defend their small sliver of land against every conceivable threat - the growing Hamas arsenal in Gaza; the dangerous build-up of missiles by Hezbollah in Lebanon; nuclear-aspiring Iran's calls for a world without Israel; Syria's hospitality to Hamas leaders and transshipment of weapons to Hezbollah; and enemies that shamelessly use civilians as human shields. Or the global campaign to challenge Israel's very legitimacy and right to self-defense; the bizarre anti-Zionist coalition between the radical left and Islamic extremists; the automatic numerical majority at the UN ready to endorse, at a moment's notice, even the most far-fetched accusations against Israel; and those in the punditocracy unable - or unwilling - to grasp the immense strategic challenges facing Israel.
Yes, it's those Israelis who, after burying 21 young people murdered by terrorists at a Tel Aviv discotheque, don the uniform of the Israeli armed forces to defend their country, and proclaim, in the next breath, that, "They won't stop us from dancing, either."
That's the country I'm proud to stand up for. No, I'd never say Israel is perfect. It has its flaws and foibles. It's made its share of mistakes. But, then again, so has every democratic, liberal and peace-seeking country I know, though few of them have faced existential challenges every day since their birth.
The perfect is the enemy of the good, it's said. Israel is a good country. And seeing it up close, rather than through the filter of the BBC or the Guardian, never fails to remind me why.
as someone pointed out to me, if the residents of Greenwich Village in New York america suddenly fired missiles at Times Square and the surrounding area, would the American people just sit back and let it carry on - or would they demand Greenwich Village be closed off to secure Times Square from further attacks? What is the difference? Location and religion.
Greenwich Viollage would have to be closed off before the rockets were fired fo your comparison to make any sense.
My point is this -- you can't look at the acts of either side of the conflict in isolation. Of course, there shouldn't be missles being fired from Gaza (and recently, pretty much all the ones that have been fired are no being fired by Hamas). But there also shouln't be continuing occupation of the Palestinian Territories (yes, Gaza is still occupied).
The only way the matter is going to be resolved, however, is if people on both sides are willing to take risks and make sacrifices. If either side refuses to sacrifice for peace, it will never happen, until all the Palestinians are dead or driven away. That's not a scenario anyone should want.
We ALL SAW cast lead. WE ALL HEARD Israels generals lie about using chemical weapons while with our pown eyes we could see the daily bombardments with white phospherous on schools, houses and hospitals in Gaza.
it is AS PLAIN AS DAY that israel does not respect the lives of the Palestinians, much less their rights. IF they suffer terrorism as a result, is that not natural? Without justice there is no peace, and you are fooling nobody with your puff pieces here on Huffpo or anywhere else you write.
Good question...
Sad but informative article: "The Toxic Downfall of the Jewish Dream of a Safe Homeland.' by Lillian Rosengarten.
EXCERPT:
"Yesterday morning Salama Abu Hashish, 20 years, was herding his sheep and goats in Beit Lahya, in northern Gaza [close to the IOF - Israeli Occupation Forces - designated "buffer zone" in northern Gaza], when the Israeli Occupation Forces shot him without any warning. The bullet hit his back and went straight through one of his kidneys. He had surgery and was in the intensive care unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital, where he died at 5.30 pm. The IOF has not only taken a life away from the Abu Hashish family; it widowed a young woman and orphaned a baby that was only born the previous evening. Salama Abu Hashish had just become a father, but has not even been able to name his first born.
"In 1945 the war against the Nazis ended. I was 10 years old and had emigrated with my parents to New York. For years and well into adulthood, I had pushed the debauchery of Germany by the Nazis undergound and assumed my role as a 'good' American. I am an assimilated Jew as were so many German Jews..."
WAKE UP AMERICA!!
"In May 2010, the British daily The Guardian newspaper reported that secret South African documents revealed that in 1975, Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the then-apartheid regime in South Africa."
And from Rueters:
"...They will be ready to use their atomic weapon," Reuters quoted Robinson as stating in the newly declassified cable dated May 4, 1980
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157991.html
This and Israels treatment of the Palestinians and their invasion of Lebanon does not match the authors rosy assessment, and as a liberal, I will not defend them.
I replied: "That good liberal boy hasn't changed his view. Israel is a liberal cause, and I am proud to speak up for it." . . .
Back up right freaking now and read the definition of Liberal.
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of individual liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but most liberals support such fundamental ideas as constitutions, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, free trade, and the separation of church and state.
Israel is neither of any of the above, unless you are 'of the chosen. In simple terms it is the apotheosis of a theocracy. Until it rids itself of the 'elders' it will remain a heavily armed , backward, terrorist, state.
"constituti ons, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism , free trade, and the separation of church and state."
-For every single one of these factors, there are western european and/or north american industrialized countries that are far behind israel.
q> in israel, and you don't know what you're talking about.
Wow! visited with non Jews... I guess that makes you an expert.
Tell that to those who duly elected Hammas in a free and democratic election.
And so, the only claim left is the separation of church and state. And though it is true there is no such legal separation, there is a practical one. Those to suffer most from the lack of separation are the Jews themselves. I can't marry the way I would like in Israel because I am Jewish, while a Muslim can marry any way he or she wants. Until recently, Jews could not sell bread in passover, but Muslims could. Jews are not allowed to work on the Sabbath, and that is why you can see Arabs working in shopping malls on Saturdays.
That is the real Israel you don't see on the news.
q> can marry any way he or she wants.
A Muslim man CANNOT marry a Jewish woman in Israel.
PS: Thanks for your help in providing information that indicates that Israel is a theocracy rather than another form of government.
q> political parties in Israel, they are directly elected
q> into the Knesset and sometimes even become
q> ministers in the cabinet.
Muslims make up 20 percent of the population of Israel. They get less than 10 percent representation in the Israelis Knesset, and more recent rules are going to make it harder to get fair representation among all minority populations.
Religious minorities are treated much better in Syria than Israel , and much much worse in Saudi.
Why does saudi arabia get a free pass ?
seasonal greetings to all.
Is that a joke?
Palestinians in Syria are treated better than other Arab countries, enjoying many of the rights of Syrian citizens.
See 3.3 Rights and legal Status here:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-s-apartheid-is-worse-than-south-africa-s-1.4590
Syria's human rights record is pretty bad, that's true, but my point is that Palestinians are not treated especially badly.
Thank you for this insight.
Assuming Israel would let those people enter the country at all (see the long history of refusing entrance to Israel, and specifically to the occupied territoies of people honestly and legitimately critical of Israel), pretty much anyone could provide as much detail and insight as the author of this piece, if not more.