# 364 – August 13, 2020

August 13, 2020

Just over 75 years ago, I was somehow aware of the catastrophic ending to WWII: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is as if I felt the earth shaking, rumbling. Yes, that’s the word: rumbling. August 6th and 9th. 3 days later, I decided to come out. Took some doing; eventually managed it on the 13th. Perhaps I felt that that would make my birth a little luckier; we had seen and experienced enough horror for generations to come.

2 days later, August 15, 1945, hearing about me, the Japanese felt the same way, and they also came out. They asked for peace, and that’s what they got. Looking back, it was a pretty good decision. Just as in May, the Germans succumbed, later proving to be another great decision.

The World may not have learnt that much from this horrible time, and my life has had to wade through several sad and bad periods. But it could and would have been worse, and I thank the Japanese for being finally sensible.

So, 75 years later, here I am, in the middle of another sort of WW. You would think that we all have just the one enemy: the virus. But you’d be presuming that we’re all the same (only God thinks that), that we’re all equal, that we’re all good etc. etc. Fact is, from most points of view, not only from here in Tel Aviv, we’re in a b. mess. Of course, there are some I know, my age group, who are retired to their respective homes and are now making use of the preparations for retirement they had already made.

There’s one couple we know who have their lovely apartment in a nice part of the city, but spend now most of their time on a beautiful farm about 100 km from town. They keep busy on their land, they keep social distance, almost never have the need to wear a mask, and in the evening can share a bottle of wine, gazing at the rain, sun or mist, and smile.

I am sure there are some like that here in Israel, but this country is too small to be able to escape to such miniature paradises. And then there’s the news. E.g. –

• Our unity govt. is hanging by the fingernails. If they don’t agree the new budget next week (with a slight chance of postponement) the 4th election in 2 years may be called. I think they’ll step back from that precipice, but there are more to follow. Gosh, do we need a benign dictator…

• Netanyahu’s trial on 3 counts of serious misdemeanours is due to start in January 2021, and go on for hundreds of years. Benny Gantz due to take over premiership, but predicting anything beyond that is useless.

• Israel’s 2nd spike in cases and deaths continues. The new Covid-czar, Ronnie Gamzu, seems to be making hard but correct decisions, and so far, whatever official opposition he may have, is staying quiet. One of our daughters was was fined NIS 500 (about $150) for not wearing her mask in a public place.

• But the liberals (or are they liberalists?) are swamping us with the conspiracy theories. Wow, when those vaccines start hitting the market, there’ll be absolute chaos. (The suspect Russian one, already being tested by zombies, has connection with Hadassah Hospital, which has a special research branch in Moscow. Some of the zombies will be found here…). Of course, the various vaccine side effects will likely kill us, and the chip they cleverly slip in will control us for the rest of our lives and beyond. And about Trump’s Hydroxy-poxy stuff, there’s quite a few out there who support the theory that it helps. Is Trump our saviour in disguise?

• Kamala Harris? From our extremely subjective position, she’s better for Israel than Elizabeth Warren and/or Susan Rice. But because of Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’, still warming on the coals in someone’s fireplace, many still think it’s best for Trump to continue. As you see, the quality of the US president in Israel’s eyes depends on a those 350-odd pages, recommending a new start for this little part of the region.

• Israel’s offer of help in Lebanon was rejected, to say the least. Tel Aviv is just 2 hours down the coast from Beirut; Israel’s Northern hospitals, just 1 hour. And considering the enormous number of casualties from across the Syrian border (and from Lebanon in the past), it’s sad that Lebanon’s leaders (what leaders??) cannot agree to accept our qualified assistance. And Hezbollah will find a way to benefit from this horror; they always do.

To summarise, apart from the cuckoo land existence in the Gulf States, Israel is the Middle Eastern paradise….

And may you also have a wonderful day.

Stephen