.
I am amazed….. and soooooo…..soooooo proud. Something happened that has never happened before. I don't know if it will last. I don't know if it will flourish. But it will have shown that it can happen. It will be the model every politician will need to take into account.
Last week I was returning from a five day stay at a Bedouin village down south. I dropped someone off in the sleepy town of Kfar Yona. I turned a corner at the municipal building and there they were: a bunch of tents sprawled on the green with young protesters and their even younger children. Arriving home I heard of a similar tent camp in our nearby Nahariya. Opening the radio I heard of tent camps protesting from way up north in the Upper Galilee down to Eilat in the south. The biggest encampment, daddy of them all, was up and down Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.
The first tents decried the high cost of rental apartments for students, young families, and the normal middle-class. It came right in the wake of a Facebook protest of gasoline prices (I was not that interested), and then a Facebook boycott of cottage cheese (my defense mechanism chided the protest with "how can you complain about cheese when so many greater injustices were apparent all around us".), followed by a general slap at all milk products, and then came the tents and the rental protests. My cynical skepticism was wrong. The gas and the cottage cheese and the rentals were the harbingers introducing a general protest by a new generation crying singing and chanting "We Want Social Justice". Hear that?? Social Justice….a slogan which hadn't been heard in our country for many years (except by some of us outdated crybaby lefties).
Yesterday 150,000 protesters crowded the streets of our country. With no central leadership, with no central agenda, with no specific political color or flag, they were all telling ourselves and our government that the gap between rich and poor and, even more to the point, between rich and middle class has widened beyond bearable proportions……that the privatization of many social services…..that selling off our country's resources to private tycoons……that lax taxation of the rich at the expense of the rest of us……that slicing social welfare payments of the old and the confined……have made us a country owned by the 20 or so richest families that decide the economic fate of the rest of us……all under a government economic policy compounded by Bibi Netanyahu since his first round as economic leader and Prime Minister. "Bibi Go Home" were placards next to "We Want Social Justice".
150,000 marchers yesterday with hardly a need for police regulation. No stone throwing, no burning smelly tires. Playing guitars, pushing tots in strollers, singing, reading poetry, and speaking their minds loud and clear. Probably the most peaceful mass protest captured by any media in the Western world of today. But a protest with powerful reverberations in the halls of governmental power.
Its summer, its hot….but its not raining…..its vacation season from work……Universities are dormant till October. The tent camps continue to expand and to protest…….not about cottage cheese……but about life in our country. I don't know where this will take us. Perhaps nowhere…..today. But for tomorrow??..... perhaps these tents are the first real sign of a peaceful evolutionary revolution. After yesterday I reclaimed my pride at being an Israeli, in a country with people who are perhaps able to rekindle that "Light Onto The Nations". Make room for Social Justice. Here we come. Maybe.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Our Government Is On A Roll…….
.
OK…..it took a few months, but glory-be…….we finally got the new law passed by a comfortable majority in our Knesset. Our country is now better protected from the possible ravages of our enemies.
We began with small steps to further hamper the movements and speech of our local Israeli Arabs. The existing burden of inequality was insufficient. We needed to further display our indignation at their continued existence in a country meant by God to be ours and ours alone. So we passed a law further forbidding them to live in a variety of our communities. We passed a law to essentially forbid them to mourn their disaster of 1948. We allowed rabbis who are paid Civil Servants of the Government to declare religious edicts forbidding the rental or sale of apartments and homes to our Arab citizens. We allowed rabbis who are paid Civil Servants of the Government to publicly condone a book allowing for the slaying of Arab babies because they would probably grow up to be our enemies.
We were also successful in leaving the door wide open to the promise of an expanded Greater Israel, by just about scuttling the two-state peace initiative with the Palestinian Authority. If previous governments demanded of the Palestinians to recognize and accept the legitimacy and sovereignty of our State of Israel, we added the demand that they recognize the State as purely Jewish. We were aware that this would be a dead-end street for the peace process. They couldn't openly define us as such while 20% of our population is Arab. They told us to define ourselves without their involvement, but we were stubborn and refused to accept that. What an excellent ploy on our part. (By the way, we did not insist they recognize us as "democratic".)
But we still had a problem. In the past we were able to ward off serious negotiations with the Palestinians while acts of violent terrorism continued. But for a number of years all that has changed. (set Gaza aside, as we have so successfully[?] done by our siege) The PA has succeeded in almost eradicating terrorist acts of Palestinians while adopting and encouraging peaceful means of dissent towards Statehood and independence. As a matter of fact, at last they somewhat learned the meaning and possible effectiveness of nonviolent resistance. Actually the greatest amount of violence came from our own dedicated Jewish pioneers who have sworn to aid us in the promise of a Greater Israel. How could we now continue to cry "Terrorism" as a means to delay negotiations? We found the answer. If the PA calls for a worker boycott of factories in the West Bank we will label that as "Terror" and punish it accordingly. After all, anything which disrupts our true purpose of creating an expanded Greater Israel is in fact "Terror" against our State.
And yet we had another problem….a bit more complicated. Arabs, whether Israeli citizens or Palestinians in the West Bank, can somehow be controlled and contained without causing a public furor. Jewish pests are somewhat different…..they're Jewish. Human Rights and Legal-Aid Associations in Israel are manned by Jewish citizens, and they are giving us a bad name by criticizing us in public and before judicial bodies. They are often aided by individual Jewish citizens who are obviously out to harm us by condemning many of our actions, especially those acts meant to restrict the rights of Arabs. These are dangerous Jews who are giving us a bad name. A prime example is their attempt to hamper our drive towards a Greater Israel in the West Bank by calling for a civilian boycott of goods and services offered by our dedicated pioneers in the West Bank. They call it a passive tool of political dissent. We call it civilian "terrorism" by Jews who are traitors to their country.
We also found our own legal ways of dealing with these treacherous Jewish Human Rights groups and individuals. The answer: Legally enact laws which will prohibit and punish the actions of these Human Rights groups and individuals. And so we did…….our majority in the Knesset carried the day. Those Jewish back-stabbers will now be liable to heavy court action for the slightest encouragement of West Bank boycotting. Anyone in the West Bank can sue them for heavy financial penalties without even the need to show damage. Boycott suggestioons by any non-profit group would lead to the loss of its taxation status for donations. Artists, actors and musicians who will refuse out of conscience to appear before audiences in the West Bank will be sued by our erstwhile pioneers and will also stop receiving any aid from public sources such as the Ministry of Culture.
We now have them all on the run. But we aren't stopping there. We have a few more laws waiting in the wings for prompt action and enactment by our majority in the Knesset. Jewish citizens are mostly either for us or simply apathetic. But if Jewish citizens are actually against us, and can't keep quiet about it, they are most likely traitors to their people and we will continue to find and enact legal ways of silencing their "terrorism". That's what democracy is all about, isn't it?.....We are on a roll…..and nothing can stop us now…….also, God is on our side.
......................................................................
(Remember: tongue in cheek is not the same as foot in mouth.)
P.S. in a previous addition to my blog from Monday, February 14, 2011, I gave you the Israeli internet links to lists of West Bank products and companies which we cannot legally boycott. I wanted to refer you to my article in order to know which companies and products you should "NOT BOYCOTT". Unfortunately I found the following announcement in my Gush Shalom link to the list:
http://www.whoprofits.org/Involvements.php?id=grp_inv_settlement#grp_inv_settlement_3
This link tells us which companies are based in the West Bank and cannot be boycotted. Clicking on each name will give you the info regarding where what and how of the company. Personally I am trying to study the list under "Settlements' Products" so as to know which items coming from the West Bank cannot be boycotted for fear of eternal and governmental damnation. I then intend to do the right thing.
I suggest and invite you to study the list as well, and well.
Shalom means peace,
Aaron
OK…..it took a few months, but glory-be…….we finally got the new law passed by a comfortable majority in our Knesset. Our country is now better protected from the possible ravages of our enemies.
We began with small steps to further hamper the movements and speech of our local Israeli Arabs. The existing burden of inequality was insufficient. We needed to further display our indignation at their continued existence in a country meant by God to be ours and ours alone. So we passed a law further forbidding them to live in a variety of our communities. We passed a law to essentially forbid them to mourn their disaster of 1948. We allowed rabbis who are paid Civil Servants of the Government to declare religious edicts forbidding the rental or sale of apartments and homes to our Arab citizens. We allowed rabbis who are paid Civil Servants of the Government to publicly condone a book allowing for the slaying of Arab babies because they would probably grow up to be our enemies.
We were also successful in leaving the door wide open to the promise of an expanded Greater Israel, by just about scuttling the two-state peace initiative with the Palestinian Authority. If previous governments demanded of the Palestinians to recognize and accept the legitimacy and sovereignty of our State of Israel, we added the demand that they recognize the State as purely Jewish. We were aware that this would be a dead-end street for the peace process. They couldn't openly define us as such while 20% of our population is Arab. They told us to define ourselves without their involvement, but we were stubborn and refused to accept that. What an excellent ploy on our part. (By the way, we did not insist they recognize us as "democratic".)
But we still had a problem. In the past we were able to ward off serious negotiations with the Palestinians while acts of violent terrorism continued. But for a number of years all that has changed. (set Gaza aside, as we have so successfully[?] done by our siege) The PA has succeeded in almost eradicating terrorist acts of Palestinians while adopting and encouraging peaceful means of dissent towards Statehood and independence. As a matter of fact, at last they somewhat learned the meaning and possible effectiveness of nonviolent resistance. Actually the greatest amount of violence came from our own dedicated Jewish pioneers who have sworn to aid us in the promise of a Greater Israel. How could we now continue to cry "Terrorism" as a means to delay negotiations? We found the answer. If the PA calls for a worker boycott of factories in the West Bank we will label that as "Terror" and punish it accordingly. After all, anything which disrupts our true purpose of creating an expanded Greater Israel is in fact "Terror" against our State.
And yet we had another problem….a bit more complicated. Arabs, whether Israeli citizens or Palestinians in the West Bank, can somehow be controlled and contained without causing a public furor. Jewish pests are somewhat different…..they're Jewish. Human Rights and Legal-Aid Associations in Israel are manned by Jewish citizens, and they are giving us a bad name by criticizing us in public and before judicial bodies. They are often aided by individual Jewish citizens who are obviously out to harm us by condemning many of our actions, especially those acts meant to restrict the rights of Arabs. These are dangerous Jews who are giving us a bad name. A prime example is their attempt to hamper our drive towards a Greater Israel in the West Bank by calling for a civilian boycott of goods and services offered by our dedicated pioneers in the West Bank. They call it a passive tool of political dissent. We call it civilian "terrorism" by Jews who are traitors to their country.
We also found our own legal ways of dealing with these treacherous Jewish Human Rights groups and individuals. The answer: Legally enact laws which will prohibit and punish the actions of these Human Rights groups and individuals. And so we did…….our majority in the Knesset carried the day. Those Jewish back-stabbers will now be liable to heavy court action for the slightest encouragement of West Bank boycotting. Anyone in the West Bank can sue them for heavy financial penalties without even the need to show damage. Boycott suggestioons by any non-profit group would lead to the loss of its taxation status for donations. Artists, actors and musicians who will refuse out of conscience to appear before audiences in the West Bank will be sued by our erstwhile pioneers and will also stop receiving any aid from public sources such as the Ministry of Culture.
We now have them all on the run. But we aren't stopping there. We have a few more laws waiting in the wings for prompt action and enactment by our majority in the Knesset. Jewish citizens are mostly either for us or simply apathetic. But if Jewish citizens are actually against us, and can't keep quiet about it, they are most likely traitors to their people and we will continue to find and enact legal ways of silencing their "terrorism". That's what democracy is all about, isn't it?.....We are on a roll…..and nothing can stop us now…….also, God is on our side.
......................................................................
(Remember: tongue in cheek is not the same as foot in mouth.)
P.S. in a previous addition to my blog from Monday, February 14, 2011, I gave you the Israeli internet links to lists of West Bank products and companies which we cannot legally boycott. I wanted to refer you to my article in order to know which companies and products you should "NOT BOYCOTT". Unfortunately I found the following announcement in my Gush Shalom link to the list:
"the Knesset adopted a law making the settlement products boycott campaign illegal, punishable with huge compensation claims from each and every company. We have lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court against this infringement of our democratic rights, but meanwhile we simply can't afford to continue publishing the list of products."I therefore send you to another link, supported by the "Coalition of Women for Peace" based in Tel-Aviv:
http://www.whoprofits.org/Involvements.php?id=grp_inv_settlement#grp_inv_settlement_3
This link tells us which companies are based in the West Bank and cannot be boycotted. Clicking on each name will give you the info regarding where what and how of the company. Personally I am trying to study the list under "Settlements' Products" so as to know which items coming from the West Bank cannot be boycotted for fear of eternal and governmental damnation. I then intend to do the right thing.
I suggest and invite you to study the list as well, and well.
Shalom means peace,
Aaron
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
A PRE-OBITUARY MONOLOGUE
.
(I think this is mainly another footnote to our fellow Jews in the Diaspora. Here in Israel….who knows…..)
Prophesy is left to Fools, but future reality needs to be faced by all of us fools. Anyways, in today's reality we may all be fools………so here goes…..
.
I yearn for an Israeli-Palestinian 2-State modus-vivendi. I also mourn tearfully for that possible reality which seems to be breathing its final breaths and quickly becoming a fantasy of the past.
I yearn for a two state scenario even if many in the neighboring state remain forever hostile and we are forced to continue living by the sword, building an even higher wall, and constantly retaliating against terrorist attempts.
The alternative is a devastating scenario begging the demise of the Third Jewish Democratic Republic.
The demographic statistics coupled with the globalized politics of the 21st Century, alongside the conservative no-need-to-compromise politics of my country, are ushering in both the demise of the two-state scenario and its devastating alternative.
The demography speaks for itself. In the "Greater Israel-Palestine" between the Jordan and the Mediterranean there are today approximately 5.7 million Arabs and almost 6 million Jews. In ten years at most the numbers will equal. After that…..we Jews will become more and more of a minority. Because we passed–up on the 2-State scenario, global (Western) politics will no longer be able to see us as a country fighting at the forefront of Islamic terrorism. We will simply become a minority dominating over a growing majority…..A majority seeking its rightful place in the civil rights of Greater Israel-Palestine.
Why is the 2-state scenario on its deathbed??......because the physician firmly believes that amulets and prayers are more powerful than the gangrene demanding an amputation.
Why is the 2-state scenario on its deathbed??......
1. Our government is against it. The great majority of parties forming the government, the great majority of Jewish Knesset members, the majority of Jewish voters, …..all are somewhere between fervently believing-in or fervently-wanting to remain in Greater Israel. Our government is secure in the polls.
2. "Religious Zionism" has made war on anything less than Greater Israel. Religious Zionism's activism and influence is pervasive within the halls of government and within the Israeli public. Their most honored rabbis state over and over that "the promised land is only Jewish" and "we can't give up land given to us by God." And, perhaps even more telling, they teach us that a rabbi's interpretation of God's will is way and above the law of the land, and certainly above the interpretations of liberal humanism. They do not really debate the demographic issue. They are certain that we are on the threshold of the promises for messianic days, and when we reach the pinnacle of those days all the nations of the world will know and understand that we are justified and flawless. (you probably think I'm exaggerating. If so, you have not read what they write or heard what they lecture to their public.)
3. Our Government's idea of compromise is based on publicly accepting the notion of a 2-state scenario, while placing conditions known beforehand as impossible to accept, and while continuing to make physical and demographic changes in the West Bank which we know will make any Palestinian State completely not viable.
4. The Palestinian Authority cannot be a voice proclaiming Israel as a "Jewish" state. They can recognize Israel's legitimacy and sovreignity, something we had always demanded of them…..until the present government added the Jewish issue as a condition for talks. With 20% of Israel being Arab, the PA can only guarantee its acceptance of Israel as a legitimate and sovereign neighbor. How Israel defines itself, is Israel's issue, not that of the PA. As a matter of fact, Israel can ask of the UN to accept a decision for a two state solution based on Israel as a "Jewish Democratic State" and Palestine as an "Arab Democratic State". This would free the PA of having to be part of Israeli identity issues, while once again giving international legitimacy to Israel's Jewish nature. But Israel will not ask for such a decision of the UN., because it is most likely to pass and thereby commit Israel even more to the 2-state scenario.
5. The settlements……again the settlements….and once more the settlements. These are the soldiers in the front line. While the government maneuvers constantly between global pressure for "Two States" and the need to stave off such a scenario, these are the soldiers continuing to build and expand land taken over from the Palestinian future non-state. East Jerusalem and its corridor leading towards the Jordan River are a good example of our attempt (and evidently, success) in cutting the Southern half of the West bank from the northern half as much as possible. We are doing our best to split the West Bank into two parts in order to make the Palestinian State more and more non-viable. We are succeeding.
6. The present government in the PA is probably the last government with which a territorial compromise for a 2-State scenario is possible. We are doing our best not to negotiate, while hammering in the mantra of "its them, not us." We are counting on it that the next PA government will decide to be more militant and allow us once again to say "how can we negotiate with such a militant PA?"
Enough!.........though there are many more reasons……but most of them revolve around our attempts to stave off any possibility of a 2-State scenario. And we are way ahead…. and succeeding. Therefore…….the alternative: A Greater Israel in one form or another…..a defensive need for an apartheid policy…..a religious/cultural desire for an apartheid policy……a minority ruling (not so humanly) over a growing majority…….a global and Western (including American) demand for equal rights…….some type of coercive capitulation to those demands……and an end to the "Third Jewish Republic" which could no longer call itself "Democratic".
This is not a 22nd Century scenario. With the deliberate strangulation and probable demise of the 2-State agenda, this will be part of our current Century…..feasibly within only ten years……but perhaps within 20. Time has moved quicker lately than in the past.
And yes, World Jewry…..
As a Jewish State, we in Israel see ourselves as representing the interests of all Jews around the world. Evidently World Jewry accepts our leadership and defends whatever road we take. All right…..keep supporting whatever we do…..don't criticize us……don't speak out against our policies……don't attempt to divert us from a probable self-destructive course…..finance our addictions….stay mum and defend our government's backs…….
But please…..please…..please…….keep the gates of your Diaspora countries open. When the time comes, when it is evident that the Zionist Dream has drowned, many Jewish Israelis will be streaming to your shores. I know you will take them in kindly. You will at last, with open arms, be part and parcel of the unfolding drama which will have morphed the dream into our next wandering nightmare. A little late, don't you think, but what more could we expect of you.
Some years ago I was more hopeful. The last two years, with a popular government driving down a one-way street, I've become less so. Evidently, the older I get…..the future is not what it used to be.
Recently I turned seventy. My father died at 92. One grandfather died at 96. I may live long enough to be a witness to the above scenario. No, I will not depart from my Jewish homeland for the Diaspora. My roots are glued……….but…but…., oh hell…….what do I tell my grandchildren ??
(please note: I left the 2-State scenario on its deathbed, but not quite and utterly dead. Is there a chance? Electric shock or something? Is there an alternative physician in the house ?? See you in 20 years, or so.....or before.)
(I think this is mainly another footnote to our fellow Jews in the Diaspora. Here in Israel….who knows…..)
Prophesy is left to Fools, but future reality needs to be faced by all of us fools. Anyways, in today's reality we may all be fools………so here goes…..
.
I yearn for an Israeli-Palestinian 2-State modus-vivendi. I also mourn tearfully for that possible reality which seems to be breathing its final breaths and quickly becoming a fantasy of the past.
I yearn for a two state scenario even if many in the neighboring state remain forever hostile and we are forced to continue living by the sword, building an even higher wall, and constantly retaliating against terrorist attempts.
The alternative is a devastating scenario begging the demise of the Third Jewish Democratic Republic.
The demographic statistics coupled with the globalized politics of the 21st Century, alongside the conservative no-need-to-compromise politics of my country, are ushering in both the demise of the two-state scenario and its devastating alternative.
The demography speaks for itself. In the "Greater Israel-Palestine" between the Jordan and the Mediterranean there are today approximately 5.7 million Arabs and almost 6 million Jews. In ten years at most the numbers will equal. After that…..we Jews will become more and more of a minority. Because we passed–up on the 2-State scenario, global (Western) politics will no longer be able to see us as a country fighting at the forefront of Islamic terrorism. We will simply become a minority dominating over a growing majority…..A majority seeking its rightful place in the civil rights of Greater Israel-Palestine.
Why is the 2-state scenario on its deathbed??......because the physician firmly believes that amulets and prayers are more powerful than the gangrene demanding an amputation.
Why is the 2-state scenario on its deathbed??......
1. Our government is against it. The great majority of parties forming the government, the great majority of Jewish Knesset members, the majority of Jewish voters, …..all are somewhere between fervently believing-in or fervently-wanting to remain in Greater Israel. Our government is secure in the polls.
2. "Religious Zionism" has made war on anything less than Greater Israel. Religious Zionism's activism and influence is pervasive within the halls of government and within the Israeli public. Their most honored rabbis state over and over that "the promised land is only Jewish" and "we can't give up land given to us by God." And, perhaps even more telling, they teach us that a rabbi's interpretation of God's will is way and above the law of the land, and certainly above the interpretations of liberal humanism. They do not really debate the demographic issue. They are certain that we are on the threshold of the promises for messianic days, and when we reach the pinnacle of those days all the nations of the world will know and understand that we are justified and flawless. (you probably think I'm exaggerating. If so, you have not read what they write or heard what they lecture to their public.)
3. Our Government's idea of compromise is based on publicly accepting the notion of a 2-state scenario, while placing conditions known beforehand as impossible to accept, and while continuing to make physical and demographic changes in the West Bank which we know will make any Palestinian State completely not viable.
4. The Palestinian Authority cannot be a voice proclaiming Israel as a "Jewish" state. They can recognize Israel's legitimacy and sovreignity, something we had always demanded of them…..until the present government added the Jewish issue as a condition for talks. With 20% of Israel being Arab, the PA can only guarantee its acceptance of Israel as a legitimate and sovereign neighbor. How Israel defines itself, is Israel's issue, not that of the PA. As a matter of fact, Israel can ask of the UN to accept a decision for a two state solution based on Israel as a "Jewish Democratic State" and Palestine as an "Arab Democratic State". This would free the PA of having to be part of Israeli identity issues, while once again giving international legitimacy to Israel's Jewish nature. But Israel will not ask for such a decision of the UN., because it is most likely to pass and thereby commit Israel even more to the 2-state scenario.
5. The settlements……again the settlements….and once more the settlements. These are the soldiers in the front line. While the government maneuvers constantly between global pressure for "Two States" and the need to stave off such a scenario, these are the soldiers continuing to build and expand land taken over from the Palestinian future non-state. East Jerusalem and its corridor leading towards the Jordan River are a good example of our attempt (and evidently, success) in cutting the Southern half of the West bank from the northern half as much as possible. We are doing our best to split the West Bank into two parts in order to make the Palestinian State more and more non-viable. We are succeeding.
6. The present government in the PA is probably the last government with which a territorial compromise for a 2-State scenario is possible. We are doing our best not to negotiate, while hammering in the mantra of "its them, not us." We are counting on it that the next PA government will decide to be more militant and allow us once again to say "how can we negotiate with such a militant PA?"
Enough!.........though there are many more reasons……but most of them revolve around our attempts to stave off any possibility of a 2-State scenario. And we are way ahead…. and succeeding. Therefore…….the alternative: A Greater Israel in one form or another…..a defensive need for an apartheid policy…..a religious/cultural desire for an apartheid policy……a minority ruling (not so humanly) over a growing majority…….a global and Western (including American) demand for equal rights…….some type of coercive capitulation to those demands……and an end to the "Third Jewish Republic" which could no longer call itself "Democratic".
This is not a 22nd Century scenario. With the deliberate strangulation and probable demise of the 2-State agenda, this will be part of our current Century…..feasibly within only ten years……but perhaps within 20. Time has moved quicker lately than in the past.
And yes, World Jewry…..
As a Jewish State, we in Israel see ourselves as representing the interests of all Jews around the world. Evidently World Jewry accepts our leadership and defends whatever road we take. All right…..keep supporting whatever we do…..don't criticize us……don't speak out against our policies……don't attempt to divert us from a probable self-destructive course…..finance our addictions….stay mum and defend our government's backs…….
But please…..please…..please…….keep the gates of your Diaspora countries open. When the time comes, when it is evident that the Zionist Dream has drowned, many Jewish Israelis will be streaming to your shores. I know you will take them in kindly. You will at last, with open arms, be part and parcel of the unfolding drama which will have morphed the dream into our next wandering nightmare. A little late, don't you think, but what more could we expect of you.
Some years ago I was more hopeful. The last two years, with a popular government driving down a one-way street, I've become less so. Evidently, the older I get…..the future is not what it used to be.
Recently I turned seventy. My father died at 92. One grandfather died at 96. I may live long enough to be a witness to the above scenario. No, I will not depart from my Jewish homeland for the Diaspora. My roots are glued……….but…but…., oh hell…….what do I tell my grandchildren ??
(please note: I left the 2-State scenario on its deathbed, but not quite and utterly dead. Is there a chance? Electric shock or something? Is there an alternative physician in the house ?? See you in 20 years, or so.....or before.)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Six of My Many Worries
It seems events both near and far are moving faster than in the past. At times it seems difficult to keep track of the various things to worry about, while each worry seems to have tentacles connected to every other worry. Here are six of the worries keeping me awake and troubled:
1. I worry about the "Democratic Awakening" in the Arab world….from Egypt through lands that engulf us all the way to Syria (Nor do I leave out Lybia west of us or Turkey up north). I have a great respect and awe for that part of the younger generation that started with Facebook and Twitter and ended up on the city streets demanding freedom and reform towards a democratic society. These are the rebels that are bringing down the despotism of the old order and creating the vacuum that will invite a different order. I worry about that "different" order. I fear that the rebels of the young generation who dared to stand up to despotism will, in the final analysis, be drowned out by the much better organized and well prepared wave of Muslim Radical Fundamentalism. This wave has been waiting impatiently to replace Arab despots from Egypt to Syria with their own brand of despotism. It would be a despotism much more dangerous to the entire western world, and ever more so to us in Israel. I fail to see strong organized elements steering the rebels towards a "Democratic Awakening".
2. Deja-vu in Gaza:…..I worry about the up and coming second round of "Cast Lead", a military campaign of great strength and length to demobilize and demoralize (and crush?) the Hamas in Gaza. All in the wake of the latest continuance of rocket attacks from Gaza on our civilian areas in the south. Again we see rockets being launched from populated areas in Gaza. Again the outcome will be death and destruction within civilian Gaza. We didn't need Goldstone's corrections about what happened in the first "Cast Lead". So many men and women and children will die, not intentionally, but because they are in the line of fire, and because so many bombs or bullets don't land according to plan. In January of 2009, after the first days of "Cast Lead" I wrote an answer to a friend who placed the full blame for the campaign on Israel's devious policies. I reread that letter. With a minor change of dates and and situations, I would probably write a very similar letter today . Interested ?..... Read the letter here: "Our Attack of Gaza" (click or Control+click on link) .
3. I worry about the demise of a two-state modus-vivendi to our Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A Palestinian state created through willingness and mutual agreements would be able to bolster moderate and democratic elements within the Palestinian society. A Palestinian state foisted on us unwillingly via the UN, via a Western world tired of our deliberate foot-dragging, via the loss of mediators within our region, will lose faith in the power of mutual moderation and be so much more open to the power of traditional radical and despotic fundamentalism as professed by the Hamas. I worry because of my government's expertise at foot-dragging and at creating for us the choice between a Palestinian State driven to the radical corner of the Muslim world, or a Jewish State, bi-national in nature, with a majority of belligerent non-Jews enjoying (?!) limited civil and human rights……..while we will still be brazen enough to call ourselves "the only democratic country in the Middle East".
4. I worry about the Jewish nature of our country. I embraced my Zionism as a dual-headed purpose with each head being dependant on the other. We returned to Zion in order to "solve" the problem of the wandering Jew, persecuted from generation to generation, from country to country. We returned also in order to fulfill being "a light unto the nations" according to voices of our prophets such as by Micha who encouraged us to place minor value on ceremonial religion while to excel in "justice, benevolence, and humility". On that basis, Micha adds, will "the law come forth from Zion" (Ki me-Tziyon Tetze Tora). Micha pursued a just and democratic cosmopolitan Judaism in Zion. Only on that basis can we be "a light unto the nations". A "Light" unto the nations ?? I worry that today the light is a small pocket flashlight with over depleted batteries.
5. I worry about our democratic nature. Events pile up on each other. Remember the chief rabbi of Tzfat ?...that rabbinical pillar who wrote an open letter forbidding the rental or sale of lodging to Israeli Arab citizens…… and remember the hundreds of other rabbis in our country who decided to join and countersign his letter ?....wellllll……he announced lately how proud he is that his city, Tzfat, is listening to his message and becoming more totally Jewish and "clean" of Arabs. His salary is still being paid by my taxes. My Government still lives peacefully with his message. O.K., another story: in 1976 my government confiscated great tracts of land from their Arab owners for the open purpose of "Judaizing" the Galil. In an explosion of Arab protest (not too peaceful), six protesters were shot and killed. Since then the Israeli Arab Public commemorates a yearly "Land Day" to mourn and protest the discrimination and injustice towards the Arab citizens of our country. This year, for the first time in the annals of "Land Day", our Department of Education demanded of each school a list of Arab teachers who failed to appear for classes on "Land Day" while joining their community protest. All this of course follows a series of laws that passed and some that almost passed our Knesset this year, all mainly designed to further hamper the civil rights of our Israeli Arab citizens. (So why should the chief rabbi of Tzfat and his 300 cosigners worry about their salaries being paid by our taxes ?)
6. I worry because I meet fewer and fewer Jewish Israelis who are actively and openly worried about those things which I worry about. Active "worriers" are disorganized and have no outstanding national leadership. Today's active worriers seem to have little effect on the politics and policies of our country. I worry about the kind of democratic society which will lead my grandchildren into their adult years. Will they be part of a pluralistic Jewish society or of a Jewish society cowed by the narrow fundamentalism displayed thru the chief rabbi of Tzfat. And I worry whether my grandchildren, in their adult years, will actually understand why I spend my time worrying.
1. I worry about the "Democratic Awakening" in the Arab world….from Egypt through lands that engulf us all the way to Syria (Nor do I leave out Lybia west of us or Turkey up north). I have a great respect and awe for that part of the younger generation that started with Facebook and Twitter and ended up on the city streets demanding freedom and reform towards a democratic society. These are the rebels that are bringing down the despotism of the old order and creating the vacuum that will invite a different order. I worry about that "different" order. I fear that the rebels of the young generation who dared to stand up to despotism will, in the final analysis, be drowned out by the much better organized and well prepared wave of Muslim Radical Fundamentalism. This wave has been waiting impatiently to replace Arab despots from Egypt to Syria with their own brand of despotism. It would be a despotism much more dangerous to the entire western world, and ever more so to us in Israel. I fail to see strong organized elements steering the rebels towards a "Democratic Awakening".
2. Deja-vu in Gaza:…..I worry about the up and coming second round of "Cast Lead", a military campaign of great strength and length to demobilize and demoralize (and crush?) the Hamas in Gaza. All in the wake of the latest continuance of rocket attacks from Gaza on our civilian areas in the south. Again we see rockets being launched from populated areas in Gaza. Again the outcome will be death and destruction within civilian Gaza. We didn't need Goldstone's corrections about what happened in the first "Cast Lead". So many men and women and children will die, not intentionally, but because they are in the line of fire, and because so many bombs or bullets don't land according to plan. In January of 2009, after the first days of "Cast Lead" I wrote an answer to a friend who placed the full blame for the campaign on Israel's devious policies. I reread that letter. With a minor change of dates and and situations, I would probably write a very similar letter today . Interested ?..... Read the letter here: "Our Attack of Gaza" (click or Control+click on link) .
3. I worry about the demise of a two-state modus-vivendi to our Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A Palestinian state created through willingness and mutual agreements would be able to bolster moderate and democratic elements within the Palestinian society. A Palestinian state foisted on us unwillingly via the UN, via a Western world tired of our deliberate foot-dragging, via the loss of mediators within our region, will lose faith in the power of mutual moderation and be so much more open to the power of traditional radical and despotic fundamentalism as professed by the Hamas. I worry because of my government's expertise at foot-dragging and at creating for us the choice between a Palestinian State driven to the radical corner of the Muslim world, or a Jewish State, bi-national in nature, with a majority of belligerent non-Jews enjoying (?!) limited civil and human rights……..while we will still be brazen enough to call ourselves "the only democratic country in the Middle East".
4. I worry about the Jewish nature of our country. I embraced my Zionism as a dual-headed purpose with each head being dependant on the other. We returned to Zion in order to "solve" the problem of the wandering Jew, persecuted from generation to generation, from country to country. We returned also in order to fulfill being "a light unto the nations" according to voices of our prophets such as by Micha who encouraged us to place minor value on ceremonial religion while to excel in "justice, benevolence, and humility". On that basis, Micha adds, will "the law come forth from Zion" (Ki me-Tziyon Tetze Tora). Micha pursued a just and democratic cosmopolitan Judaism in Zion. Only on that basis can we be "a light unto the nations". A "Light" unto the nations ?? I worry that today the light is a small pocket flashlight with over depleted batteries.
5. I worry about our democratic nature. Events pile up on each other. Remember the chief rabbi of Tzfat ?...that rabbinical pillar who wrote an open letter forbidding the rental or sale of lodging to Israeli Arab citizens…… and remember the hundreds of other rabbis in our country who decided to join and countersign his letter ?....wellllll……he announced lately how proud he is that his city, Tzfat, is listening to his message and becoming more totally Jewish and "clean" of Arabs. His salary is still being paid by my taxes. My Government still lives peacefully with his message. O.K., another story: in 1976 my government confiscated great tracts of land from their Arab owners for the open purpose of "Judaizing" the Galil. In an explosion of Arab protest (not too peaceful), six protesters were shot and killed. Since then the Israeli Arab Public commemorates a yearly "Land Day" to mourn and protest the discrimination and injustice towards the Arab citizens of our country. This year, for the first time in the annals of "Land Day", our Department of Education demanded of each school a list of Arab teachers who failed to appear for classes on "Land Day" while joining their community protest. All this of course follows a series of laws that passed and some that almost passed our Knesset this year, all mainly designed to further hamper the civil rights of our Israeli Arab citizens. (So why should the chief rabbi of Tzfat and his 300 cosigners worry about their salaries being paid by our taxes ?)
6. I worry because I meet fewer and fewer Jewish Israelis who are actively and openly worried about those things which I worry about. Active "worriers" are disorganized and have no outstanding national leadership. Today's active worriers seem to have little effect on the politics and policies of our country. I worry about the kind of democratic society which will lead my grandchildren into their adult years. Will they be part of a pluralistic Jewish society or of a Jewish society cowed by the narrow fundamentalism displayed thru the chief rabbi of Tzfat. And I worry whether my grandchildren, in their adult years, will actually understand why I spend my time worrying.
Monday, March 7, 2011
A Travellog....... Humans Without Borders
A few words (and then a request) about a group of devoted volunteers and about a lively jovial mother-angel who gave them all a jump-start:
I first met G'amilla a few years ago during one of my stints to a burnt out olive grove belonging to a family in the village of Kafar Salam near Shchem (Nablus). It was evident that settlers from a nearby Jewish settlement had destroyed these trees. G'amilla had recently upgraded her humanitarian activities among Palestinians in the West Bank with the creation of the Olive Tree Movement, a volunteer organization dedicated to protecting Palestinian farmers from the hostility of Jewish settlers, running summer camps with Israeli volunteers for Palestinian children, and aiding Palestinian parents to bring their sick children to Hospitals in Israel.
Eventually G'amilla evolved her work into an NGO called Humans Without Borders (HWB). "HWB was formed to assist Palestinian children who require advanced medical care that is not available under the health care system of the Palestinian Authority. Each week about 50 children and members of their families are conveyed by volunteer drivers to and from border crossing points to hospitals in Israel. In the hospitals, volunteers assist in communicating between staff and parents and make visits to children during extended periods of hospitalization. HWB also runs summer camps where Palestinian children enjoy a week of fun and creative activities. Day trips to the sea and the zoo are also organized for the families of the children under treatment (including siblings). Such events – which may seem insignificant in the midst of the awful happenings taking place in the Middle East conflict – are terribly relevant for mothers who, to mention just one example, may spend three days each week in a dialysis ward."
(G'amilla's activities remind me, of course, of work done by other volunteer-angels. Example: When I first met Buma Inbar a number of years ago it was also in one of the olive groves near Nablus. That was during the day. At night Buma was driving around to Hotels and restaurants collecting left-over food from the evening's dinner. He would then bring the food to Palestinian parents who were sitting by their very ailing children in our Israeli Hospitals. There are more Israelis like G'amilla and Buma…..but not a multitude……too few.)
Lately, for health reasons, I found myself no longer able to join those volunteers who help protect Palestinian farmers from the hostilities of our Jewish settlers in the West Bank. I was also unable to join the magnificent work of "Machsom-Watch", an NGO of Israeli women who station themselves at Army checkpoints in the West Bank to view and report possible inhumane behavior towards Palestinians crossing at these checkpoints. It's an NGO "manned" by women only. (I was not up to a sex change.). But I was able (health was not a problem) to join those volunteers who regularly drive Palestinian children from border checkpoints to Israeli hospitals. This also brought me to investigate a bit more closely the volunteer needs of G'milla's Humans Without Borders.
Humans Without Borders is financially a shoestring outfit. G'amilla and other volunteers who make the contacts between Palestinian families and Israeli assistance all work out of their homes. Volunteers use their own cars to drive parent with child to Israeli hospitals. Many of the same volunteers also contribute out of pocket for administrative costs. It turns out that it isn't enough and HWB is in desparate need of more help. What for?......in order to:
….Help meet administrative costs such as telephone bills and office supplies;
….Compensate some of the volunteers for direct expenses (such as petrol);
….Support parents who must stay over with their chronically ill children in Israeli hospitals;
….Support and expand summer camp activities for children in West Bank villages.
HWB is attempting a two-pronged adventure within our Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
1. (First and foremost) Humanitarian aid to our neighbors.
2. Showing some Palestinians that we Israelis are human.
O.K. if any of this means something to you, visit the website for Humans Without Borders:
http://humanitywithoutborders.ning.com/
If you got this far, perhaps you'll also check out the DONATE page in the website. (plastic or PayPal will do). Here I don't know what to suggest. You're on your own. (I know…..I know. I've never before promoted donations thru my blog…….call me inconsistent.)
I am evidently the northern most volunteer driving parent and child to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. I start the car before 05:30 in the morn and I have about four hours of driving before landing back home. A friend asked me "How can you do that often?". I didn't understand the question. I answered (as others have before me) "How can I not?".
I first met G'amilla a few years ago during one of my stints to a burnt out olive grove belonging to a family in the village of Kafar Salam near Shchem (Nablus). It was evident that settlers from a nearby Jewish settlement had destroyed these trees. G'amilla had recently upgraded her humanitarian activities among Palestinians in the West Bank with the creation of the Olive Tree Movement, a volunteer organization dedicated to protecting Palestinian farmers from the hostility of Jewish settlers, running summer camps with Israeli volunteers for Palestinian children, and aiding Palestinian parents to bring their sick children to Hospitals in Israel.
Eventually G'amilla evolved her work into an NGO called Humans Without Borders (HWB). "HWB was formed to assist Palestinian children who require advanced medical care that is not available under the health care system of the Palestinian Authority. Each week about 50 children and members of their families are conveyed by volunteer drivers to and from border crossing points to hospitals in Israel. In the hospitals, volunteers assist in communicating between staff and parents and make visits to children during extended periods of hospitalization. HWB also runs summer camps where Palestinian children enjoy a week of fun and creative activities. Day trips to the sea and the zoo are also organized for the families of the children under treatment (including siblings). Such events – which may seem insignificant in the midst of the awful happenings taking place in the Middle East conflict – are terribly relevant for mothers who, to mention just one example, may spend three days each week in a dialysis ward."
(G'amilla's activities remind me, of course, of work done by other volunteer-angels. Example: When I first met Buma Inbar a number of years ago it was also in one of the olive groves near Nablus. That was during the day. At night Buma was driving around to Hotels and restaurants collecting left-over food from the evening's dinner. He would then bring the food to Palestinian parents who were sitting by their very ailing children in our Israeli Hospitals. There are more Israelis like G'amilla and Buma…..but not a multitude……too few.)
Lately, for health reasons, I found myself no longer able to join those volunteers who help protect Palestinian farmers from the hostilities of our Jewish settlers in the West Bank. I was also unable to join the magnificent work of "Machsom-Watch", an NGO of Israeli women who station themselves at Army checkpoints in the West Bank to view and report possible inhumane behavior towards Palestinians crossing at these checkpoints. It's an NGO "manned" by women only. (I was not up to a sex change.). But I was able (health was not a problem) to join those volunteers who regularly drive Palestinian children from border checkpoints to Israeli hospitals. This also brought me to investigate a bit more closely the volunteer needs of G'milla's Humans Without Borders.
Humans Without Borders is financially a shoestring outfit. G'amilla and other volunteers who make the contacts between Palestinian families and Israeli assistance all work out of their homes. Volunteers use their own cars to drive parent with child to Israeli hospitals. Many of the same volunteers also contribute out of pocket for administrative costs. It turns out that it isn't enough and HWB is in desparate need of more help. What for?......in order to:
….Help meet administrative costs such as telephone bills and office supplies;
….Compensate some of the volunteers for direct expenses (such as petrol);
….Support parents who must stay over with their chronically ill children in Israeli hospitals;
….Support and expand summer camp activities for children in West Bank villages.
HWB is attempting a two-pronged adventure within our Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
1. (First and foremost) Humanitarian aid to our neighbors.
2. Showing some Palestinians that we Israelis are human.
O.K. if any of this means something to you, visit the website for Humans Without Borders:
http://humanitywithoutborders.ning.com/
If you got this far, perhaps you'll also check out the DONATE page in the website. (plastic or PayPal will do). Here I don't know what to suggest. You're on your own. (I know…..I know. I've never before promoted donations thru my blog…….call me inconsistent.)
I am evidently the northern most volunteer driving parent and child to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. I start the car before 05:30 in the morn and I have about four hours of driving before landing back home. A friend asked me "How can you do that often?". I didn't understand the question. I answered (as others have before me) "How can I not?".
Monday, February 14, 2011
Boycotts! I will remain law-abiding……
Tomorrow my Israeli Knesset will probably enact a new law declaring some of my actions (both private and public) illegal. The law will forbid me to wage a consumer boycott of products manufactured in our conquered Palestinian territories of the West Bank.
The law is of course unconstitutional in a free democratic society, but in Israel we don't have a constitution. Nevertheless, it infringes on the freedoms guaranteed to me via other laws of our country.
In a previous letter of mine I gave voice to my antagonism towards so much of the BDS movement (boycott-divestment-sanctions) among activists around the world whose struggle for Palestinian freedom is highly tainted with the principle of delegitimizing the very existence of Israel and the legitimacy of Zionism.
(see: http://aaronsharif.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html , May-2010)
Nevertheless, I supported and applauded boycotts and other sanctions as legitimate civic actions meant to pressure political situations. I therefore concluded my letter with:
Well, the knock on my door is coming closer.
According to the new law, if I advise you not to buy a certain product manufactured in the West Bank, I can expect a lawsuit from a West Bank settler. I will be fined 30,000 shekels even without the plaintiff's having to prove any link between my advice and any damage. Luckily, I'm a citizen here in Israel and can't be shiped out. Were I an American Jew writing my dissent of our settlement policies and suggesting a consumer boycott of settlement produce, our courts could deny me entry to Israel for at least ten years.
This is a continuation of intensive legislative work successfully accomplished only this past year and promoting discriminatory actions against our local Arab citizens and an old-fashioned witch-hunt after "leftist" organizations and individuals. (e.g.: two parliamentary investigative panels to examine human-rights organizations in Israel, the new loyalty law, the anti-Naqba law, the community-admissions law, and more of the same, and even more in the planning stages.)
So here's what I've decided to do:
I've decided to remain a law-abiding citizen.
I will not tell you to boycott!
I will not tell you which West-Bank "settler-products" should be boycotted !
I will only tell you which West-Bank products I cannot tell you to boycott !
For example:
I cannot tell you to download the full list of companies who produce partially or wholly out of the West Bank. Please do not surf to these sites. You may be called to task:
The English list: http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/boycott_eng.htm . Don't go there!!
The Hebrew list: http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/boycott_heb.htm . Don't go there either !!
("click" or "control+click" each site at your own risk.)
Be carefull. The list is two years old. Perhaps some have moved out of the West Bank. Are we now allowed to boycott them ?!
Another example? O.K.
I cannot tell you to boycott the company Modan, makers of fine handbags and cases, because some bags are manufactured near the settlement of Shaked in the West bank. Please take heed. In order to grab more land in the West Bank for our Jewish settlements, we need to bring industry as well. Boycotting them will make it more difficult for us to bring settlers to land that we grab. Remember: our policy is to delay any talks of a Palestinian State until we have settled as much land as politically possible. Don't spoil our intentions thru boycotts!
All right, one more.....
I will not encourage a boycott of "Soda Club", producers of home soda-water devices, situated in Edumim, West bank. Remember: if you don't heed this advice, and still boycott this firm, you may be hastening an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Shame on you!! This is not the policy of our Israeli government! Whoe-is-me….or you.
O.K.!! that's enough…..I will not help you know the entire list of companies which cannot be boycotted. But be carefull…..Do go to the above sites where you'll find a full list of companies….study it well, so you'll be familiar with the many companies which you should not boycott for fear of the new law against peaceful civil protests.
There….you see….I feel I have stated my case within the full legitimate confines of the new law….wheooh. I feel safe………I think……..
Also: "Tongue in cheek" is vastly different than "foot in mouth"
The law is of course unconstitutional in a free democratic society, but in Israel we don't have a constitution. Nevertheless, it infringes on the freedoms guaranteed to me via other laws of our country.
In a previous letter of mine I gave voice to my antagonism towards so much of the BDS movement (boycott-divestment-sanctions) among activists around the world whose struggle for Palestinian freedom is highly tainted with the principle of delegitimizing the very existence of Israel and the legitimacy of Zionism.
(see: http://aaronsharif.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html , May-2010)
Nevertheless, I supported and applauded boycotts and other sanctions as legitimate civic actions meant to pressure political situations. I therefore concluded my letter with:
"I will 'jump into bed' with any non-Jewish partner who also accepts my Zionism, and who also appreciates the complexity of both sides of the conflict. With such a partner I will B-D-S ……….. But most of all I’ll look for partners within our own people both in Israel and in the Diaspora. Mostly through these will a change of policy come via understanding rather than via coercion or arm-twisting."(see: http://aaronsharif.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-post-zionism-say-advanced-zionism.html ,August-2010)
In another letter I wrote: "……. I am not an NGO nor am I a college professor. I have only rarely attended commemorations of the Nakba (What's that? Google it.), and there are no foreign money sources that help pay my bills at the end of the month. What a relief. Were I any one of those abominations, I would be in a mess of troubles. Why, you ask??.........because I'd be waiting for the sound of boots and a knock on my door………….What a relief. I show up at one place or another in the cause of "Advanced Zionism", talk a bit to people, write a few words read by the very few, and never get in the News. So I'm not worried. No one has come to knock on my door………yet."
Well, the knock on my door is coming closer.
According to the new law, if I advise you not to buy a certain product manufactured in the West Bank, I can expect a lawsuit from a West Bank settler. I will be fined 30,000 shekels even without the plaintiff's having to prove any link between my advice and any damage. Luckily, I'm a citizen here in Israel and can't be shiped out. Were I an American Jew writing my dissent of our settlement policies and suggesting a consumer boycott of settlement produce, our courts could deny me entry to Israel for at least ten years.
This is a continuation of intensive legislative work successfully accomplished only this past year and promoting discriminatory actions against our local Arab citizens and an old-fashioned witch-hunt after "leftist" organizations and individuals. (e.g.: two parliamentary investigative panels to examine human-rights organizations in Israel, the new loyalty law, the anti-Naqba law, the community-admissions law, and more of the same, and even more in the planning stages.)
So here's what I've decided to do:
I've decided to remain a law-abiding citizen.
I will not tell you to boycott!
I will not tell you which West-Bank "settler-products" should be boycotted !
I will only tell you which West-Bank products I cannot tell you to boycott !
For example:
I cannot tell you to download the full list of companies who produce partially or wholly out of the West Bank. Please do not surf to these sites. You may be called to task:
The English list: http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/boycott_eng.htm . Don't go there!!
The Hebrew list: http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/boycott_heb.htm . Don't go there either !!
("click" or "control+click" each site at your own risk.)
Be carefull. The list is two years old. Perhaps some have moved out of the West Bank. Are we now allowed to boycott them ?!
Another example? O.K.
I cannot tell you to boycott the company Modan, makers of fine handbags and cases, because some bags are manufactured near the settlement of Shaked in the West bank. Please take heed. In order to grab more land in the West Bank for our Jewish settlements, we need to bring industry as well. Boycotting them will make it more difficult for us to bring settlers to land that we grab. Remember: our policy is to delay any talks of a Palestinian State until we have settled as much land as politically possible. Don't spoil our intentions thru boycotts!
All right, one more.....
I will not encourage a boycott of "Soda Club", producers of home soda-water devices, situated in Edumim, West bank. Remember: if you don't heed this advice, and still boycott this firm, you may be hastening an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Shame on you!! This is not the policy of our Israeli government! Whoe-is-me….or you.
O.K.!! that's enough…..I will not help you know the entire list of companies which cannot be boycotted. But be carefull…..Do go to the above sites where you'll find a full list of companies….study it well, so you'll be familiar with the many companies which you should not boycott for fear of the new law against peaceful civil protests.
There….you see….I feel I have stated my case within the full legitimate confines of the new law….wheooh. I feel safe………I think……..
Also: "Tongue in cheek" is vastly different than "foot in mouth"
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
My Public Admission of Shame
.
I'm ashamed and I need to proclaim it publicly. I can't keep it to myself. That would shame me even more.
A sizable section of my people have embraced ethnic bigotry as a legitimate political expression. Intolerant racism has become a widely acceptable and recognized manifestation of being a Jewish Israeli.
Wait a minute……..I didn't mean ALL Jewish Israelis, but only many-many-many. But some time ago I thought we just had a very large fringe element of bigots………some time ago…..no longer. I need to accept the fact that today I am the fringe element and they are right smack in the center of our Jewish Israeli environment.
A while back, the chief rabbi of Tzfat (Safed) pronounced his religious edict forbidding the rental of apartments and homes to Arabs……to Israeli Arab citizens, of course. I thought of him as a racist fringe element within our rabbinical community. I assumed that even our clearly fundamentalist religious establishment would halt before stepping over that red line of outward public intolerance of our Arab citizens. I was naively wrong. Recently a group of forty rabbis, followed by a couple of hundred more rabbis, signed a similar religious edict forbidding the rental of homes and apartments to our Israeli Arab citizens. No, these are not a group of extremist "settler" rabbis from our illegal settlements in the conquered territories of the Palestinian West Bank. So many of them are from towns and cities throughout our country, within our green border.
Nahariya is the large neighboring town where I do a good bit of my shopping .The chief rabbi of Nahariya, salaried by the government with my taxes, is a signatory to the racist edict. One of my sons and his family live in the larger town of Pardes-Chana-Karkur. Last week (and the week before) he and his family were part of a small group demonstrating in front of the home of the chief rabbi of that town. He too had signed the racist edict. His salary is also paid for by our taxes. These rabbis, along with so many other rabbinical signatories, are mainstream rabbis within mainstream Israel.
In Bat-Yam, a large city bordering Tel-Aviv, there were large anti-Arab public demonstrations. (foreign migrants and asylum seekers were of course clumped together with Israeli Arabs in one solid package of intolerance.) The chief rabbi of Bat-Yam….you guessed it…. Had also been a signatory to the anti-Arab edict. Phrases both spoken (furiously yelled, actually) and on posters started from the "mild" ones admonishing "NO RENTALS TO ARABS", upgraded themselves to "KEEP AWAY FROM OUR WOMEN", and ended up with the now familiar reverberating chants of "KILL THE ARABS". Any such demonstration by Arabs would no doubt land a few loud voices in Jail for incitement. But we Jews are immune………probably because God, through the voices of so many of our rabbis, is on our side.
Yes, there were also rabbis who spoke against the discriminatory edict. Some refuted the attempt at basing the edict on our religious Jewish Halacha. But most were concerned that such pronouncements would not look good to the "Goyim" and would cause "Tzoress" (troubles) for Jews living in the diaspora. Perhaps I had hoped for a clear rabbinical response saying that such an edict is simply immoral-discriminatory-bigoted-undemocratic and unworthy of rabbis belonging to a people who had suffered much at the hands of such edicts. No such luck…….at best we received arguments regarding the interpretation of our Jewish Halacha (O.K., O.K., there were one or two exceptions!...nuu…..so what…..).
So I'm ashamed…….and also angry and revolted and frustrated and sad…..but, unfortunately, not too surprised. I've stopped counting or remembering the variety of passed and planned laws aimed at discriminating our Arab citizens……Laws brought up by members of our Knesset, and more importantly, by members of our government. I don't know why we should be surprised when crowds in our mainstream communities reflect our government's approach to minority rights and equality. Actually, our government seems to be a fairly accurate reflection of Main Street, Israel.
O.K., I'm not only concerned with bigotry and discrimination for their own sake. Nor am I worried only about how such behavior will eventually weaken our ability to stand up to the multiple dangers surrounding us while also crippling whatever remains of Western support for our security. Along with those concerns I'm also saddened at witnessing how our behavior is strangling the moral and ethical backbone of our Jewishness. I'm saddened at our inability to learn how to stay strong and secure in our own land without losing our ability to be a moral example to the world, a "light unto the nations", as both our ancient and modern prophets have expected of us. We are losing it……..losing it……….
Hold it! Can it be that a large vocal minority is simply drowning out a dissenting but more silent majority ?? That's what many people tell me. If so, things may not be as frustrating as they seem, and there is still work to be done……..mainly:
Talk
Write
Argue
Yell
SCREAM
Even whisperrrrr…..
Just don't be silent !!
Don't hold it in your belly…..
Don't wait for someone else….
If you are ashamed, don't tell it to yourself, to your armchair in the parlor.
Tell it to many other people. Outside. And tell them why.
I'm ashamed, and I'm telling you about it.
.
.
I'm ashamed and I need to proclaim it publicly. I can't keep it to myself. That would shame me even more.
A sizable section of my people have embraced ethnic bigotry as a legitimate political expression. Intolerant racism has become a widely acceptable and recognized manifestation of being a Jewish Israeli.
Wait a minute……..I didn't mean ALL Jewish Israelis, but only many-many-many. But some time ago I thought we just had a very large fringe element of bigots………some time ago…..no longer. I need to accept the fact that today I am the fringe element and they are right smack in the center of our Jewish Israeli environment.
A while back, the chief rabbi of Tzfat (Safed) pronounced his religious edict forbidding the rental of apartments and homes to Arabs……to Israeli Arab citizens, of course. I thought of him as a racist fringe element within our rabbinical community. I assumed that even our clearly fundamentalist religious establishment would halt before stepping over that red line of outward public intolerance of our Arab citizens. I was naively wrong. Recently a group of forty rabbis, followed by a couple of hundred more rabbis, signed a similar religious edict forbidding the rental of homes and apartments to our Israeli Arab citizens. No, these are not a group of extremist "settler" rabbis from our illegal settlements in the conquered territories of the Palestinian West Bank. So many of them are from towns and cities throughout our country, within our green border.
Nahariya is the large neighboring town where I do a good bit of my shopping .The chief rabbi of Nahariya, salaried by the government with my taxes, is a signatory to the racist edict. One of my sons and his family live in the larger town of Pardes-Chana-Karkur. Last week (and the week before) he and his family were part of a small group demonstrating in front of the home of the chief rabbi of that town. He too had signed the racist edict. His salary is also paid for by our taxes. These rabbis, along with so many other rabbinical signatories, are mainstream rabbis within mainstream Israel.
In Bat-Yam, a large city bordering Tel-Aviv, there were large anti-Arab public demonstrations. (foreign migrants and asylum seekers were of course clumped together with Israeli Arabs in one solid package of intolerance.) The chief rabbi of Bat-Yam….you guessed it…. Had also been a signatory to the anti-Arab edict. Phrases both spoken (furiously yelled, actually) and on posters started from the "mild" ones admonishing "NO RENTALS TO ARABS", upgraded themselves to "KEEP AWAY FROM OUR WOMEN", and ended up with the now familiar reverberating chants of "KILL THE ARABS". Any such demonstration by Arabs would no doubt land a few loud voices in Jail for incitement. But we Jews are immune………probably because God, through the voices of so many of our rabbis, is on our side.
Yes, there were also rabbis who spoke against the discriminatory edict. Some refuted the attempt at basing the edict on our religious Jewish Halacha. But most were concerned that such pronouncements would not look good to the "Goyim" and would cause "Tzoress" (troubles) for Jews living in the diaspora. Perhaps I had hoped for a clear rabbinical response saying that such an edict is simply immoral-discriminatory-bigoted-undemocratic and unworthy of rabbis belonging to a people who had suffered much at the hands of such edicts. No such luck…….at best we received arguments regarding the interpretation of our Jewish Halacha (O.K., O.K., there were one or two exceptions!...nuu…..so what…..).
So I'm ashamed…….and also angry and revolted and frustrated and sad…..but, unfortunately, not too surprised. I've stopped counting or remembering the variety of passed and planned laws aimed at discriminating our Arab citizens……Laws brought up by members of our Knesset, and more importantly, by members of our government. I don't know why we should be surprised when crowds in our mainstream communities reflect our government's approach to minority rights and equality. Actually, our government seems to be a fairly accurate reflection of Main Street, Israel.
O.K., I'm not only concerned with bigotry and discrimination for their own sake. Nor am I worried only about how such behavior will eventually weaken our ability to stand up to the multiple dangers surrounding us while also crippling whatever remains of Western support for our security. Along with those concerns I'm also saddened at witnessing how our behavior is strangling the moral and ethical backbone of our Jewishness. I'm saddened at our inability to learn how to stay strong and secure in our own land without losing our ability to be a moral example to the world, a "light unto the nations", as both our ancient and modern prophets have expected of us. We are losing it……..losing it……….
Hold it! Can it be that a large vocal minority is simply drowning out a dissenting but more silent majority ?? That's what many people tell me. If so, things may not be as frustrating as they seem, and there is still work to be done……..mainly:
Talk
Write
Argue
Yell
SCREAM
Even whisperrrrr…..
Just don't be silent !!
Don't hold it in your belly…..
Don't wait for someone else….
If you are ashamed, don't tell it to yourself, to your armchair in the parlor.
Tell it to many other people. Outside. And tell them why.
I'm ashamed, and I'm telling you about it.
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