This is what happens when you land in Israel: two minutes before the plane touches the ground everyone is turning on their mobile phones, when the plane touches the ground, everyone rises up to get in better position and get their stuff from the overheads, then the door opens, and after you survive the bull rush and exit the plane, there is a couple, usually mix, scanning the passengers for potential troublemakers. Or, to be less polite, looking for Arabs.

Then you start a walk toward the passport check. It is a long walk, almost a kilometer, and at some point, through a huge window on the left side, the arrivals encounter their first image of the holyland: it is a commercial painted on a lawn. A house resembling a box of cottage cheese with the slogan: “it is so good to have you back home”.

I don’t really know… weiter lesen

While making the last preparations for lunch today, I delved into this thought: what if I am entirely wrong?

I mean, what if all this block of believes, moral stands and political views that I have built for myself and conducted my life upon will not stand the wave of reality?

What if all my mechanics that call for two state for two people, for discussion about Jerusalem, 48′ lines, the right of some of the refugees and the abandonment of the settlement hallucination, what if all of these, once fulfilled with accordance to my wishes, will tackle the reality presented by very insightful people from the hawkish part of Israel? What if is it really not a territorial discussion, but an essential discussion about acknowledging the other side right to live in Israel?

There was something horrifying and relieving about that thought. It was horrifying to face, even for a moment… weiter lesen

There is a new ad campaign in Israel. It is all over the country, on huge billboards.

The posters feature football players from the national team, under the headline: Blue and white is us. The slogan, reflecting the colors of the Israeli flag, encourages people to buy products that were produced in Israel.

Naturally, the players pictures were taken while they were wearing the official Israeli team national uniforms.

It is hard to miss the Adidas symbol on their T-shirt.

One of the main differences between Israel and Germany is driving. I will make it simple: When driving in Germany, I am expecting the expected. Things will go as they should go. If you deviate, you will have to carry any consequences. The gap for adjustments is quite narrow.

In Israel, you drive with the notion that the unexpected is the norm. It is not just tired drivers or people who make innocent mistakes, it is just people who use the road and the wheel as a stress relief, a discharge for aggression. You learn to adjust to it quite fast: while driving from the north today, I kept passing cars while driving on the right lane as if this was the norm.

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In a way the road is quite a reflection for the country. Before heading north today, we went to the beach in Tel Aviv. It was perfect:… weiter lesen

This is the fifth day of our vacation. Today was a good day. We drove down with my family to the Dead Sea, covered ourselves with mud, drove back to Jerusalem, ate excellent Kurdish food in Jerusalem, walked through the market, and drove back to Tel Aviv.

It was the first day of the vacation where we didn’t mingle with Israeli people. I didn’t get upset at all, or got frustrated. It was, when I think of it, an excellenet day. We just made Shabbat dinner with prayers for the bread and the wine.

I feel that another layer of my identity is starting to fade.

Mad world. Mad, mad, mad world. It’s like 2011 had decided to act like it’s 1984. New Zealand, Japan, Alabama, Westerwelle.

Not to mention the peaceful region: the west is assisting in the fallout of Mubarak in Egypt, while standing still while official Syria is killing its own citizens (how long are we going to hear about how Europe is “deeply concerned and deliberating issuing a harsh warning toward the Assad regime?”). NATO is viciously attacking a country that decided to let go of its atomic dream while letting its neighbor to develop our atomic nightmare.

America is suicide-bombing its own allies and interests, while Europe is acting childishly. There is no strategic political wisdom to stop the Shiite, and there is definitely no ethical consistency.

Amid this chaos and madness, the international world is itching closer and closer toward a brilliant decision: recognizing a Palestine state… weiter lesen

I am not writing about the heartbreaking news from Japan. I can’t stomach what I am seeing, and anybody that knows me can tell you that I am writing from my stomach, not my head.

Therefore I would like to go back to the horrible murder of the parents and three of their children in Itamar, this past weekend.

On the same day that the victims were buried, Israeli officials were talking about the response. The option everyone took was revenge, an eye for an eye. But this revenge had nothing to do with bombs or guns. Ministers were talking about expanding the settlements, one minister suggested building 5000 new houses in the West Bank. The Prime Minister even came out with a brilliant copy-writing when he came to consul the family: “they shoot, we build.” And so Israel will build 500 new houses in the settlement.

The timing of… weiter lesen

I didn’t expect much from the media and the international community regarding the butchering of almost an entire Israeli family on Friday night. Not with the terrible news coming from Japan.

And still….

Let’s summarize: a Palestinian terrorist, probably two, invaded the settlement Itamar in the West Bank on Friday night. They wait outside the home of the Fogel Family until the Shabbat dinner is over and the guests are returning home. Then they enter the house and butcher five people in their sleep: the parents and three of their six kids, ages 11,4, and three months.

And this is how CNN had decided to report the news: “five members of an Israeli family were killed in the West Bank in what Israeli military spokesman termed as ‘terror attack’”

It is a specific and malice use of language. The family was killed and not murdered. And… weiter lesen

Talking with friends, I refrain from giving any opinion about what is going in Egypt. Mostly, it has to do with the fact that I think that no one knows what does it mean.

The fact that an Islamic leader just came back to Tunisia after 20 years, doesn’t really fill me with optimism. The cowardly reaction by the Western countries won’t encourage any future leaders to put their trust on it.

As an Israeli, I am a little bit worried that we are heading into even larger isolation.

As a human being, I hope that many of us would appreciate our freedom to gather and protest. There are hundreds of bodies that should convince us that it is not so obvious, and that the noble idea of democracy doesn’t come cheap.

It is a little confusing for me to relate to the conviction of Israel’s former president as a serial rapist. (His name, Katzav, means in “butcher” in Hebrew)

On one hand I am quite proud. There aren’t many countries that would take such step and show the strength of its legal system against such a powerful man.

On the other, it is still our former president.

When I am confused like that, I am taking sweet little Maya to my room, and we dance till the end of time. It is something you can understand without knowing the language.