ISRAEL

My oldest friend Danny is passionate about Israel and most importantly the ways in which the media misrepresents the situation there. I’ve always been more concerned about my land of birth and especially the way that compassion has become a dirty word in some quarters in the U.S. - most notably amongst so-called Christians.

I asked Danny months ago to send me links to articles he’s reading about Israel. Many of them come from the Jerusalem Post. Many reflect a society in turmoil, unsure of how to proceed, with a burgeoning faction that wants conciliation as opposed to those who see hypocrisy and lies on the pro -Palestinian side mostly ignored by worldwide media. He sent a link to a documentary that reveals Palestinians faking attacks by Jewish military...handy ambulances showing up to pick up “injured” Palestinians who are shown later to have been acting. He sends links to articles showing how most Palestinians and Arabs want Israel destroyed, links to articles speaking to how the world seems to blame Israel for hostilities but mostly ignores the relentless rocket and mortar attacks from Palestinian groups.

I look at this map and I see a tiny nation, a homeland for the Jewish people, surrounded by so many larger and hostile nations.

Danny reminds me that the Arab nations have the power and wealth to help the Palestinian people but over decades have chosen to leave them hanging in the balance, a useful propaganda tool against Israel.

I had a dream the other night where I was in some German town and at the end of the dream I was with my sister and I said to her something like “just imagine if we had lived here then....”. And we both started to cry and I woke up with tear-stained eyes.