What it really means to be Israeli....

They say, if you really want to get to know someone, really really know them, meet them at their worst. After six weeks in Israel, (Thank you Hamas for giving me the opportunity to explore) I have travelled, North, South, Central during very stressful times. Its a very narrow country so East is central, and west is The West Bank, and although I have been there in previous visits, now is not the time to revisit. 

I have talked to people on buses, read comments on facebook posts, spoken to people in elevators and the stairwells of buildings during red alarms while we wait to see if the Iron Dome gets the incoming rockets or not. I have had tea with someone who survived the holocaust. I have spoken to a reporter in the parks of Tel Aviv and sat around a big table with a family in Shabbat in the South of Israel. I have had heated debates with my boyfriend who is far more "right" (in his thinking...not in arguments. In arguments I am always right) than I am and I have read articles from very left pages and articles... 

And not once, in all those conversations, despite the images to the contrary on the news and social media and in the minds of people who are not in Israel or Gaza, did I hear animosity towards Arabs as a whole. I have heard Hamas mentioned a lot on Social media... but Hamas is not all Arabs, Hamas is not all Muslims. Not once did I see someone smile about the situation in Gaza, or not look heartbroken at the notion of children dieing. That's not to say there is no racism here, there is racism everywhere. I to, after  9/11 succumbed to the fear (and racial profiling as did the FAA and most people due to the media) that the Muslim sitting next to me on the plane may be carrying a bomb. In Israel there is left wing and right wing politics like any country, and with that comes extremest on both sides, and those minorities is what you see on the news. But in majority, people are anonymous about their distaste for the killing of children. For the deaths of soldiers. For a situation where civilian life is under threat, from both sides. No matter what you think you know....Israeli's don't want war.

Israeli people are the most community and family oriented people I have ever come across. In which other country would  40000 (yes that's forty thousand) people attend a funeral of a Soldier they didn't know, a soldier who had no family in Israel? In which other country do people post on community pages that they found someones Iphone and can someone help them identify the people in the pictures that they can return it to them? In what other country does a stranger, working at the post office, or from facebook, or community websites, offer you a place to stay in their homes when you are in need? Complete strangers who don't know you from pita.  Which other country in the world, within just one small community, raised $24000 dollars for items needed by soldiers, in just 24 hours? The money was raised and given by both right and left supported. The Israelis are warm hearted people, who put family first. Who have a love for life and their country, who work hard and eat very well.

 

I have seen pictures of soldiers, helping Children during war, and memoir pages people put up for the dog units. I have seen people at their most vulnerable as they stand in the hall ways in their towels during alarms. I have never seen so many fathers walking with strollers, and looking after and playing with their kids, than in Israel. I mean actively involved with raising of children, I don't mean watching the kids so mom can have her first pedicure in six months. I have seen photos of strangers using his body to protect a father and his toddler son from incoming rocket fire. And religious men, who are not supposed to touch woman, push ladies into bomb shelters. I have watched Israeli's support each other, no matter their political beliefs, religious beliefs or what their mother tongue language is. It would be so easy for people, like 27 year old ex South African living near Gaza who recorded a video diary, to be full of hatred. To be cold, and worry about their own survival. To be consumed with hatred. To loose joy. But here, in the worst of times, I have seen the opposite. Israelis have a great sense of humour, and through it all, they keep smiling.

When I had tea with our new land lady who arrived with her parents after the Holocaust. On the TV behind us, played the news of anti-Israeli protesters carrying signs about Hitler. You would expect anger and hatred and racism from her. Instead she asked Yair how we met, when we were getting married, where I had travelled. She welcomed me warmly to Israel and said as a way of apology that Israel is lovely, in quieter times. When the conversation went towards politics, like it always does when rocket alarms are going off, and people behind you on the TV are saying "Hitler was right", She did not say things (like the news suggests and many ignorant people imagine) "Muslims are evil" "Lets kick all the Arabs out"...she said, that Hamas. Causing problems for everyone.

People keep asking me why I don't get on a plane and come home. But after 6 weeks here, being around Israelis, this is home. I won't lie and say that even if iron dome wasn't here I would stay, because I am a big old chicken and I don't feel strongly enough yet for this country to die for it. But I can understand the need to. I can understand the need to defend it and protect it. To protect families of all religions and cultures within its borders. I better understand that there is something incredible to protect.

After my tea with our land lord, I made a decision, that I am not going to be ashamed of being pro Israel any more. Despite the loss of a few facebook friends and some close friends I feel who have drifted due to our difference of opinions on this. Just as everyone keeps saying to be anti-Israel doesn't make them anti-Semite(Even though that is not always true but that is a story for another blog). Just so, being pro-Israel doesn't make  me pro war, or pro the killing of anyone. If Johannesberg were under attack, how many of you  in Cape Town would open your homes to strangers from the North? If Canada had built tunnels into America, how would you react? I am proud to be amongst people who value life and support each other as a community and I am not afraid to admit it. Being an Israeli, means being apart of one big family, that is what it really means to be Israeli.