# 202 – It’s Not All Roses

January 16, 2012

Before I mention any negative about Israel, including its current weather, which has temporarily stopped my tennis,

A quick glance upwards and you can see some of the (cormorants? storks? geese?) that visit every year…

A visit to our local mall, will bring you a glimpse of natural niceties….

And this image was taken last week when I was on my bike, just coming from the tennis club, showing part of the hedge surrounding the Land of Israel Museum…

Yair Lapid is one of Israel’s leading journalists. He has his own TV programme. He has Clooney-like good looks. His father, Tommy, was also a leading journalist, outspoken, known for being aggressively against the power of the religious parties. He created the Shinui (Change) Party, temporarily garnered strong support, then it all died, including Tommy.

Yair intends to do the same, although he is less ‘anti’. I’ve a feeling he’s bared his teeth too early. PM Netanyahu did threaten to have elections even as early as now, but actually will likely postpone them as long as possible, which means late 2013. In the meantime, Yair’s charisma may wane.

This is he…

Why am I mentioning this? I’m fed up with every ‘crisis’ or political change’ in Israel creating yet another political party. It is normal to have right and left-wings in a party. So what’s the point of splitting the votes even more? It only creates power to the small parties, and Coalition becomes the norm.

They say that Yair’s power will mostly come at the expense of the Kadima Party, which itself was a new party.

Israel has enough arguments with the outside world. It’s time they united internally.

With friends like these….Israel’s being strangled by its own left-wingers. No matter what, in a democracy such as Israel’s the extremists will be allowed to say what they like. And the left-wingers (not only writers, academics and hippies) are saying it:

Prof. Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion Uni (in Beersheba) accuses Israel of being an apartheid state, and supports international boycotts and sanctions against the country.

Prof Ayal Gross from Tel Aviv Uni accuses Israel of being a society where “shooting at children of the other is the norm”.

Poet, writer and lecturer, Yitzhak Laor: “Israel’s apartheid is worse… more ruthless than seen in S. Africa. We have to get rid of Zionism”.

Prof Oren Yiftachel, again from B-Gurion Uni: “Palestinian shelling from Gaza should be perceived as a prison uprising…suppressed with terror by the Israeli state”.

Journalist, Gideon Levy, re Israel’s attack on Gaza: “Israel’s violent responses, which cross every line of morality, international law”, asserting “What began yesterday in Gaza is a war crime. . “

And so on…

Well, one response is that we are a society which tolerates such criticism…There’s a lot of inward investigation going on.

Then we had some trouble with the ultra-religious, and their treatment of women. It IS trouble and it IS serious. But the way the international media has highlighted it was quite shocking. Report on it. Yes. Make it look like the country is ablaze with macho black-coated monsters is going over the top.

Same thing with the Ethiopian Jews, some of whom are complaining of racism. Typical case concerns the complaints that ‘when they move into our area. They bring their habits and the value of our property goes down’. Heard that somewhere before? I believe this has happened in most, if not all developed countries – in fact in most countries, when there are new waves of immigrants.

In this case, the Ethiopians happen to have a darker colour, which ‘intensifies’ the subject, and most happen to come from a society so different, so under-privileged, that it cannot but take generations to integrate fully. Most Israelis, including many from Ethiopia, are actually very proud of the enormous achievements reached by the community.

We are having ‘bad’ winter weather. Yes, we have that, too. And again, we say it’s not so bad. We certainly need the rain, and a reminder that not all is sunshine.

This morning on the front…

Stephen