Live and In Person: The WP in Israel ~ Week 2

Writing from outside the US is an opportunity to explore a different perspective and, perhaps, to see my country through different eyes. That does not mean that I will understand or agree with a different perspective, but it does allow me the chance to think about my take. Nor does it mean I have to buy into the mythology of America and its politicians. Probably just the opposite. I find myself wondering how a pussy-grabbing-sexual-predator with a trail of bankrupt business can be hailed as anything but a self-serving narcissist who is bent on overturning the Constitution while he allows the most vulnerable citizens to slide further into dire poverty while lining his own pockets again and again and again. What emoluments clause?

President Felon is hailed as a hero here.. I get that. He and his team got the living hostages back and progress is being made on getting the bodies back. This is a good thing and while I do not trust his behavior nor his motives, I understand the collective sigh of relief that this part is over. This part. Not for a New York minute do I believe the conflict with Gaza is over. Not by a long shot. All this ceasefire is doing is allowing Hamas to regroup. Their continued refusal to disarm, their public execution of "traitors," and the inability to produce the rest of the hostage bodies for return to Israel are pretty big red flags that they are not exactly interested in giving up on the river to the sea concept. Trump's braggadocio is out of control because the peace he claims to have secured is just not secure. As my Israeli friend told me, "We're just waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Amit Segal

In an excellent interview with The Free Press's Rafaela Siewert, Israeli journalist Amit Segal covered a wide range of topics....and clarified for me a lot of Israeli thinking. At the end of the piece, he talks about the driving force behind all Israeli politics. (I made the transcript directly from the video)

"I would say, first of all, that politics in Israel is organized around, not economy like in the states and most countries on earth, but about security or insecurity or fear. That the very idea of Israel and this is what people …I’ll give an example JD Vance‘s book taught me a lot about America that I didn’t know, The Hillbilly Elegy ... The Israeli elegy is the fact that no matter where you are in Israel right now, you are 80 minutes, the most, from someone armed who wants to kill specifically you, if he only had the chance. And most of the times eight minutes 10 minutes, 15 minutes. This is why economy could never be the top priority for voters. So this is the number one thing. If you want to offer Israel is hope offer them security first."

The line that brought it all together is:someone armed who wants to kill specifically you. 

Just think about that for a few minutes. Specifically You. 

That's a radically different mindset from the ones most Americans carry in their pockets. Yes, I know we are beginning to shift on that. We hide our Magen David necklaces. Cover kippot with baseball caps. Eschew t-shirts in Hebrew. But I don't think we're at the point where armed terrorists are roaming the streets. Or are they? You tell me. 

We are approaching a new level of heightened awareness outside of Israel. The pro Gaza movement turned out not to be about politics, but about Jew-hatred and ancient blood libels. It's been like this for more than 2000 years and obviously, it's not going away. And if you wonder why I know that...it's because since the ceasefire all those protestors and celebrities have not said shit. Crickets from them. No anger when Hamas executed its own people in a televised event in a public square. There's a cessation from hostilities...and they're still attacking Jewish soccer fans in the UK. The call for globalization of the intifada continues. The hate preached has found new homes in the hearts and minds of those who need a scapegoat in order to exist. What better scapegoat than the one you think can't or won't fight back? Until the scapegoat fights back. Suddenly, Israel is no longer the mouse that roared...it becomes the pest that needs extermination. From the river to the sea, right?

Segal repeatedly (and correctly) makes the point that unless education in Gaza changes, nothing will change. It will take 20 to teach Gazan kids not to hate. And I imagine the road to trust will be even longer. At the same time, those same lessons have to find their way into the mainstream. I'm even less optimistic about that. 

Notes in the Wall.

And then, there's Jerusalem. I am not the world's biggest fan of that holy city. I have, like most people with a vagina, issues with misogynistic treatment of women at the Western Wall. Still, the Wall draws me to it each time. I can say a thousand times that I'm not going, yet still find my way there. I had names to put in the wall. Names of people important to me who are battling serious illness. People I say a mi sheberach for every morning at minyan. I'm not all that sure about lots of things, but I believe in the power of belief in healing. As I stood there, as I touched my forehead to the cool stone of a wall that has withstood much of our history, my heart breaks for us, for my family, my friends, for Israel, for the United States, for the world at large. Tears come, surprisingly unbidden, but I let them come. I cannot account for the draw, the connection, or the power that comes from standing at that place. My DNA is home. My heart is home. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you're in the area, make it a point to visit 

The Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem. 

The clock, watch, and music box collection is spectacular.

Seeing the Marie Antoinette Pocket Watch

in person is worth the trip.

The original Marie Antoinette Pocket watch
made by Breguet