the fortress dillusion..

many moons ago when i was a law student basking under the sun of far away lands - a dorm neighbour cast his opinion lightly about how Israelis suffer from a fortress mentality.. it was clearly a statement that carried negativity.. it was made of criticism and judgment.. even a bit of a mockery.. and it disturbed me..

and i insisted he was wrong.. describing us more like a kumbaya humming middle eastern Jamaica - island style.. what fortress..

but - now as an adult - with a family and two little girls - i couldn't agree more.. we are so heavily and tightly wrapped in the fabric of our walls and so strangled by our mental mote that nothing could be further from the truth..

we follow closely as town after syrian town is blown away.. we watch the jittery turks decide to help then not help and then yes help their terrorised neighbours.. we see egypt beg to persuade the west that 'normal' life is back on track.. digging a whole new canal because normal people dig canals.. who even cares about Iraq anymore when isis can slaughter people just about anywhere..

except for us..

here is Israel we are drunk from our false sense of security.. completely convinced that our unrivalled military edge keeps us leagues ahead of our psychotic neighbours almost organically.. the fact that our borders are shockingly porous and have flimsy fences that any private school would demand to reinforce doesn't shake us into seeing the truth..

saudi arabia has denounced the impending deal with iran (who is to terror what aviva is to tennis).. it tickles us that an arab country can openly push our agenda and even threaten to attack iran.. but not enough to move forward and lower our virtual walls and negotiate collective peace..

because we are a fortress nation.. and we like it that way..

all sarcasm aside.. i wish and hope that the violence that is sweeping our region end soon.. i wish and hope that no more people be murdered in the name of any ideology and that tonight the people of the middle east sleep safely..

good night..

unveiling the veiled europe..

i don't mean to make it sound like this post is at all about the veil.. because it isn't.. i don't think this has anything to do with religious custom - at least not in its purest form ie without the influence of politics and radicalism.. because we know that when you mix faith with extremism you don't get religion but rather a cult effect and that's a different story..

in event you needn't be a genius to see that Europe has changed.. like someone who neglected their own democratic diet for decades without any check ups it has suddenly woken up to discover that its freedom of speech has been botched.. its values constrained and its future dimmed..

i remember a different Europe.. when was a kid it was a continent associated with optimism.. with progress.. it was the humble alternative to the American inyourface-ism..

i remember once making a list of dozens of European towns - quite random ones - that i hoped to one day visit - either by cycling across the continent or maybe even hiking..

however the terrorist attacks in paris this past week certainly blew away the veil.. people all over the world stunned like mullets have been left to wonder what remains of Europe.. Germany awash with intense protests harnessed by heavy right wingers to revive old and terrifying agenda as French protesters wave pens in squares to declare their undying loyalty to their liberties.. neither strategies seem to be a genuine strategic response to the new threats that al Qaida and gang have instigated..

france now understands the limits of its freedom of speech one cleric said.. what a chilling notion..

anyway - with this in mind - we went up north this weekend to try and catch some snow time with the kids.. nearing their midday feed we pulled into an arab owned shopping strip and the hostess who seated us was very nice..

i asked her (donning her hijab) whether there was still much snow in the area and she said we should try tzfat (~20 minutes further north).. she said she studied there and that the college was shut due to the storm.. i was quite sure it was a medical college so i asked her if she was studying to become a doctor and she corrected me - it was Hebrew literature she was studying..

what?

yeah - she said she really liked it - turned out she really liked lea Goldberg..

i wished her good luck as we left.. how wonderful.. how natural.. i was almost pissed off that i was surprised..

media scaremongering?? never..

we were just on holidays in Europe and I have to say I didn't feel so hated..

so thank you media for making me feel like I would be stampeded with angry hoards of Palestinian supporters who would trample me indiscriminately as I try to cross a street - but except for one little british girl who ran away after trying to befriend my daughter as soon as she heard that we were Israeli - people were overwhelmingly nice and warm and friendly..

frankly - it didn't suck to be us at all..

the part that did suck was reading the news about Israel as the ceasefire gave way and imagining the state of our relatives.. but what to do - this is not so different from being home and doing the same..

the negotiation farce..

i get it that negotiating with terrorists is bad..

(a) it discouages the moderates.. rather than rewarding them for being cooperative - they see how violence is the only language we understand..

(b) it empowers the extremists.. the palestinian public is likely to view hamas as more effective than abbas if we give in to hamas' demands while we keep on ignoring abbas. and the palestinian authority..

(c) it sets a bad precedent.. copycat violence and terror may well follow when other groups start to view us a societ in capitulation..

(d) it benefits those that want to kill you..

now i understand good and well for these very reasons why we have avoided negotiating with hamas for so long.. it doesnt help that hamas' charter expressly includes the destruction of israel - an ambition that hamas plays out on a daily basis..

but what i dont understand is why our government needs to lie about it.. we have negotiated with hamas so many times.. whether it be previous ceasefire attempts following previous conflict breakouts or whether in connection with the release of gilad shalit..

so why did so many palestinians and israelis need to die and so many houses be destroyed and so many people rendered homeless if we could have just sat down for a chat and solved things.. why did we need an escalation that would force our respective governments to demontrate unachievable achievements when they could have quietly progressed common interests without the public following their every move as it seeks to avert a sense of meaningless loss of life..

my point is - if youre doing it anyway - then just do it.. and do it properly.. and get the best and most peaceful outcome you can for our nations.. so we can stop apologising for our existence and for the low number of israeli casulaties and the gazan deaths for which we blame hamas and they blame us.. who needs this nonsense..

and so we set sail..

the sails are up.. everything is running fine on board.. the mobile island of telaviv has once again set sail and left the shores of israel.. gaza and the israeli towns around couldnt feel further away.. they may as well be somewhere on another planet where little purple people eat little star shaped purple things..

the news is again no longer about us.. we watch it like everyone else - only that unlike everyone else - we are only a few dozen kms away.. its now about them.. and they dont really exist - theyre news people.. somewhere on another planet where little purple news people cry about purple newsy things.. while telavivs restaurants are full again and beaches overflowing..

of course i am relieved that the sirens in telaviv have gone quiet.. this summer feels truncated as we enter a state of denial regarding the past 4+ weeks and reattach the present to the time continuum somewhere just before the war commenced.. deleting the war from our minds.. permanently empty trash..

the death toll in gaza has now fully morphed into a stat.. no one really died.. its just a number near 2000 that died.. so now when we count we can skip that number - dont worry our computers and gadgets as they will do it automatically.. who ever counts that high anyway - you wont even notice that the number has gone.. so we dont need to feel guilty for not grieving..

we now await the demand for inquiries which will probably only be launched once all battle embers are out.. almost makes me wonder if the anticipation itself is prolonging the smouldering and thus allowing other developments to supersede our prevalence such as isis kidnapping hundreds of people in northern iraq or perhaps the next syrian massacre - the ebola breakout in the ivory coast works too - there is even an israeli dr who went to help = good pr for our humanitarian side.. but it would be cynical of me to say that the lack of finality is anyway supporting any political cause.. so im trying to refrain..

when the reports end up being issued we too will relate to them as a foreign nation.. telaviv will cast its judgment between having its soup and its schnitzel during one of its dinners and by desert move on to something more - how do you say - happening maybe..

the breeze is pleasant and there are no clouds on the horizon.. hoping for calm seas ahead..
 

mira awad (arab) and some musicians (jewish) making some mellow sounds that fuse arabic vocals with some worldy sounds - i felt like posting it right here..

Our relationship is a blood connection,
a bleeding connection,
a philosophical bleeding,
a bleeding with aesthetic measures.
Our relationship is distance, is intimacy,...
is contradictions,
contradictions that make me find aesthetics in a bleeding.

separation anxiety..

everyone knew the ceasefire would crash today because hamas told us so.. so many times.. they promised.. how odd is that..

it didn't stop us from ignoring its crash..

we set off further north to a little town that we love on the carmel mountain (not more than a long hill) and walked around with the girls.. on the way to the car we saw a little café/restaurant owned by a winery called tishbi.. it was nothing short of amazing.. one of those unforgettable lunch spots that you can only find by perfect accident..

imagine a pizza with crust thin enough not to take over the flavours but thick enough to remind you that youre not just eating toppings.. with a bounty of cheese that is carefully not overdone.. drizzled in olive oil with anchovies loosely scattered and a handful of juicy calamata olives sitting amongst a couple of basil leaves.. only now imagine it as perfect.. over-dramatized? maybe..

we also had a salad that for the first time impressed me more than the salad at entrecote in paris.. and that is saying something..

we drove home through the countryside.. skimming through towns like pardes hanna and benyamina.. suddenly feeling like we could be anywhere..

the radio was trying to haunt us with warnings and reminders of how to seek shelter while driving if a siren is sounded.. it was almost funny how they promised that they would let us know if a siren was sounded to make sure we remained tuned in.. but even though the radio was on - we tuned out..

the Israeli tourism board has been feverishly working overtime to urgently produce massive billboards encouraging us to get back to our lives and to stay local for our holidays and help the troubled businesses in the south..

so hamas - you might take away our ceasefire - you might decide to renew your rocket fire and who knows - we might even decide to fire back (for which we undoubtedly will be once again squarely blamed by everyone - as usual).. but i think you have exhausted our panic and exhausted our patience for safety rooms..

somehow i hope (for the sake more of the gazans than anyone else) that this is just your childish way of showing us that you don't like packing up your toys even when game time is over.. now please put down the joystick - go to your families - hug each of them - apologise for these deadly antics and start working to secure a life for each.. ruining ours has not succeeded.. we're here to stay..

here today there tomorrow..

eight years ago when i first surfed portugal a bunch of belgians told me how they had fled the big city.. how the ballooning islamification had driven them to the countryside and how they would never return to the city.. one of them had left the country for that very reason.. i was in shock.. but they had heavy predictions for belgium that to me seemed over the top and exaggerated..

watching this video now makes me cringe.. belgium of all places was nation that knew how to merge two peoples.. french speaking and flemmish got along to create an incredible little hub.. they of all people know how to get along.. maybe to a fault..

how do you feel about this.. how do you feel about radical islam pushing aside moderate islam in western europe and growing to the extent that very soon a western european country may face sharia law.. in which case belgium may have to be excluded from the EU.. belgium.. yes the country of castles and international organisations.. chocolate.. and burqas and niqabs and beards and hidden women and honour killings and who knows maybe jihad..

and then what.. will belgium try to liberate the muslims of france? will they send rockets? what next guys and gals..