It's the Jews, stupid

Thank you to the Bill Clinton/James Carver 1992 presidential candidate/campaign strategist combo for helping me to quickly explain why there is no peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the Arabs...the world?  The phrase Clinton used to divert attention from George H.W. Bush's foreign policy successes and focus on the president's neglect of the economy is more than applicable when approaching the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.  What do I mean and why am I mentioning this here in my blog?

A few reasons.  One is that there has been a lot of political developments in Israel and between Israel and its Arab neighbors and Israel and the US over the past few weeks.  Obama gave a speech about his Middle East foreign policy at the State Department a few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to travel to Washington to speak before a joint session of Congress and then get some face time with the president.  The Nakba and Naksa day stints/invasions/attacks/protests, call 'em what you want, are something never seen before and potentially a major security concern.  Pressure to seek UN support for a Palestinian state in September is building.  And finally, as I type this, there is another flotilla en route to Gaza.

With all of these developments, a few friends from home have been asking me for what the climate is like in Israel.  What do Israelis think of the Obama/Netanyahu rift and the Congress/Netanyahu understanding? How has the political upheavals in the region affected Israel?  What does it mean for my military service?  And so on.

Also, this past week wasn't too exciting and I can explain it in full in a paragraph or two.  And without any further ado, here it is:

Arrived on base Sunday afternoon and immediately my machlekah (platoon) was assigned to do shmirah (guard) duty.  My assigned times?  9-11 at night, 3-5 in the morning, 9-11 in the morning, then once more 3-5 in the afternoon.  Four times in one day!  Bottom line: not much sleep.  That evening we rotated into kitchen duty.  And by "we" I really mean everyone but me.  I had developed a bad case of, to keep it kosher I'll say, "loose stool."  If that happens, you're not allowed in the kitchen.  Makes sense, right?

The next day was Tuesday and that evening was the holiday of Shavuot (literally "weeks"), which is seven weeks after Pesach.  This is the holiday when the Jews received the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  Anyway, it is common for Jews in the Diaspora (outside Israel) to observe two days of holiday instead of just one. This was the same for Pesach; all the Israelis got a one-day vacation whereas myself and other lone soldiers had a two-day break.  However, the same was not true here; for whatever reason, the MemPay (company commander) had decided to make all of the lone soldiers stay.  Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening was fine, we were with all the Israelis, the base had shut down for the holiday, nothing was out of the ordinary.  But when the Israelis went back to "work" on Wednesday evening, the five of us lone soldiers who observe two days were still in holiday mode.  The next day, we slept a lot and walked around in workout clothes while everyone else was laboring and running around in the hot sun.  It was certainly not the best thing for the Israelis to be seeing, and I think a real fault of the MemPay to keep us for that second day.  The five of us (three from Canada, two from the States) discussed this a lot and while our disgruntled frustration certainly came out at having to stay and scramble to find a minyan for prayer, I certainly think that Tzanchanim has not been the best friend to lone soldiers.

That's a strong statement.  I've talked with buddies in other Tzanchanim units (101 and 890) and in other infantry units (Golani, Nachal, etc.), and despite the gifts we get (which really isn't from Tzanchanim), Tzanchanim doesn't treat its lone soldiers as well as other units.  Leaving early on Friday to take care of issues before Shabbat, getting Yom Siddurims, trying to see family...all of these issues are dealt with with relative easy in other units but in Tzanchanim they always seem to give us trouble.  My friend Gidon was told after our 9-11 shmirah shift on Monday night that he had a Yom Siddurim the next day.  Seriously?!  First off, we generally request a Yom Siddurim because we have personal issues to take care of.  Consequently, it takes time to plan your day, maybe you need to make an appointment with someone...bottom line, and especially since my friend lives in the north in Akko, it is not right to spring a Yom Siddurim on him mere hours before he was to leave.

Anyway, the chag (holiday) ended for us on Thursday evening and immediately after I was to go on a masa.  Right after I broke my nose, everyone had a 10+2 masa.  It's ten kilometers hiking/marching then two more carrying the stretcher.  The "makeup" masa on Thursday evening was for the guys who missed it a few weeks ago.  This masa was not fun.  We didn't go into the shetach (field); instead, we walked around the road that circles the base.  Half of it climbs uphill and then the second half is downhill.  The guy who carried the water pack was struggling the entire time, which made it harder on us because we had to push him and he wouldn't go faster.  We went at a much faster pace than usual.  Not fun.  But it ended, we went to sleep, woke up, and now I'm back at my kibbutz.

So that was my army life this week.  But there has been so much more happening outside my base than in it.  The past few weeks have been very tumultuous within the country and at its borders.  So, what's been going on?  I don't have the time or inclination right now to do the necessary research to provide you with an accurate timeline and explain the cause and effect of each incident.  However, what I can do is give you the major highlights and explain how they fit into each other and relate to the persistent problem of the Jews living in their homeland.

Let me start with something that got America all abuzz: Netanyahu's trip to Congress.  This trip had been planned months in advance; it was the prime minister's second time addressing a joint session of Congress, something that few foreign leaders have ever done.  Days before his address, Obama delivered a foundational foreign policy speech at the State Department.  It discussed many things, but focused on Israel and the Palestinians.  It was essentially a sucker punch to Netanyahu as our president outlined a plan for two states based on the 1967 borders.  Doesn't sound too radical, right?  In reality, it's not.  But the kicker is two-fold: first, although this negotiation point has often been the starter for peace talks, it has never before been publicly endorsed by an American president; second, the time is nothing short of impeccable.  A few days later, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stood before the House and Senate and gave one of the best speeches of his career, of a foreign dignitary addressing the American government, as the leader of a nation.  It was truly inspirational for Israelis across this country to see their leader travel to America and make the greatest case for their country to their greatest ally.  And I don't mean the American government; I think at this point, it's pretty clear that the Executive Branch's ties to Israel, while never exuberant, have certainly cooled as of late.

If you want to see the speech, I highly recommend it.  Netanyahu speaks perfect English, is engaging, humorous, insightful and strong:

Israelis really wonder what has happened to their ally across the world.  The past few weeks highlighted for them the close ties they have with the Legislative Branch and the fraying ties with the Oval Office.  The sheer number of times that both sides of the aisle stood to applaud Netanyahu is remarkable.  There is even one time a woman heckled the prime minister from the balcony.  He paused to let her finish her rant and, amid a chorus of boos directed at the woman, actually enthusiastically added that the house and the country should be grateful that dissent such as that woman's can take place.  That it is only in Israel that similar sentiment can be displayed.  If you travel outside the region's only democracy, you know how they handle dissent?  The governments call in the soldiers, the tear gas, the bullets, the tanks.

Now, why is it that the Jews, and not simply Israel, is the problem in the Middle East?  And before you scoff and exclaim that if I were to just read the news I would know that Israel is the issue and not the Jews, I challenge you to look past the headlines and understand the meaning behind the rhetoric and actions.

What would compel hundreds of Syrians to try and physically cross into Israel?  Is it because they are truly at odds with a democratic state?  I think not, considering thousands are protesting and dozens dying in Damascus against authoritarian rule.  Then it must be something that goes much deeper, that is much more engrained in their psyche that there is something fundamentally wrong about Israel's existence.  What's wrong, I believe, is that Israel is a country for Jews.

There are still many more who make vicious and slanderous claims against Israel.  Even Mahmoud Abbas claimed earlier this year that there is no Jewish connection to Israel, Jerusalem and the Western Wall.  For years, critics and opponents of Israel have waged a campaign to delegitimize the state.  That begins with calling into question its history, its place as the homeland for the Jewish people and the only safe place in the world for Jews, and its continued existence as a legitimate country.  The terrorists/fanatics, both Muslims and non-Muslims, who were on the flotilla last year shouted for the Jews to go back to Auschwitz.  Helen Thomas demanded the Jews "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Poland and Germany.

There are many more examples and I could easily write dozens of pages about this, but that is not my purpose or intent here.  Instead, I'll just end with a positive thought.  Read the book "Start-Up Nation".  Watch some videos on YouTube or some of the links I have posted on the right hand side.  If you do a little research, you'll realize that there are whole classes of people out there who support Israel.  I'm not just talking about people crazy enough to leave their family and their country, travel halfway around the world and join Israel's army.  Nor am I talking about Jews, Zionists, or other affiliates.  I'm talking about the people who give others an opportunity to improve their lives.  I'm talking about businesses and entrepreneurs.  The people who create jobs, ideas, and technologies.  The ones who are beholden to nothing but their innovation--and maybe shareholders.  Politicians are always at the whim of their constituents, their voters, special interests.  Somehow Abbas is considered a moderate in the West; I think his actions (forming an agreement with Hamas, which has as its sworn purpose the destruction of Israel) and words (in addition to denying the Jewish connection to Israel, he wrote a thesis denying the Holocaust) speak otherwise.  But that isn't the point.  There are thousands of people across the world who continue to invest in Israel, despite the anti-Semitism, the anti-Israel, and the wars. People like the employers who provide jobs for you to put food on your table see the merits of Israel and don't care if its a Jewish, Muslim or Zoroastrianism state.  They see a successful product when they see it.  Why can't the rest of the world?  Perhaps because there is something that is festering beneath the surface of newspaper headlines.  Perhaps people don't want to accept Israel because that would mean accepting the Jews.  Perhaps.

Like I said: "it's the Jews, stupid!"

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I planned this past week on writing a lot more and making a stronger case.  However, right now, I don't have the will to do so.  I need to get things in order for spending the next two weeks on base.  If you have any comments, questions or other arguments, please continue this in the comment box below and I'll do my best to respond.