Some Second Thoughts

In this morning's English Edition of Ha-aretz, one of Israel's major newspapers, I read several articles which I found disturbing. The first appeared on the front page, and it told of a Facebook group that is calling for the boycott of Achinoam Nini, one of Israel's major singers, who sang last week at an alternative Memorial Day event for bereaved Jewish and Palestinian families. She did not take this posting lying down. She wrote her own Facebook response in which she said that she sang at an alternative ceremony at which Jews and Arabs remember and cry together for their loved ones in the ongoing war between Israel and her neighbors.

The second is a column entitled "No Joy, No Pride" written by the columnist Rachel Neiman. In her column she writes that she grew up with all the early stories about the founding of Israel. A state had been founded after a steadfast fight against our enemies, and because Israel was in the right. Not a word was ever said about what happened to the people who were forced to leave as a consequence of Israel's founding. Now, she writes, on the day of the holiday she remembers their dead. I also remember the way their refugees fled in the desert, and how they were pulled from their dwellings in south Tel Aviv. She wonders whether Israel, as a nation-state will always be based on the need to base its nationalism on its enemies at home and abroad. She would like to be happy with her Israeliness, but she feels like a stranger in this country that has walls and fences in its heart, and she can find neither joy or pride in her own heart.

I felt compelled to include these thoughts so that you can see that these days are not all flag waving and patriotism.

Frank