The joy and the pain

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

As I scanned possible T-shirts to grab yesterday morning, Yom HaAtzamut (Israel Independence Day), I spotted my very worn blue Israel Association of Baseball shirt with Israel in big clear letters emblazoned on it along with a fairly contemporary, artsy drawing of a couple of baseball bats.

A thought ran quickly through my mind:  How many places in the U.S. would someone feel uncomfortable or unsafe wearing that shirt?  Or perhaps it would be simpler to ask: how many places would you feel safe and comfortable wearing it?

Questions I would never have thought to ask a mere 20 years ago seem very prudent and reasonable given the reports of demonization, harassment, and violence.  Tree of Life in Pittsburgh. Temple Israel in West Bloomington.  Boulder, Colorado. The 2nd Avenue Deli just a week or so ago. Synagogues and other Jewish institutions throughout America vandalized, graffitied, shot at.

Friends and relatives hiding their Stars of David, moving their Mezuahs inside the door.  Gatherings taken indoors, addresses of events not publicized.  My father and grandfathers–outspoken, proud, loud Jews–are spinning in their graves.

I wrote a while back about the dangers of American Jews receding from public life, ceding the public square, restricting their identites as Jews to private spaces.  I am afraid it is happening.  

How different it is here in Israel. We wear our Jewish identity–T-shirts, tallises, jewelry, kippas, you name it–without a thought, unabashed.  We discuss and argue Jewishly in public, loudly.  We live by the Jewish clock and the Jewish calendar.  The destinations on the bus are in the same language Jews prayed in a thousand years ago (as well as Arabic and English). Israeli/Jewish identity is baked into every aspect of life.

It is a liberating, joyful experience.  It is also often a heavy burden.  Israelis, often rated among the happiest people on earth, also pay a terribly high price for living as unself-conscious Jews/Israelis in control of their destiny.  Running to shelters. Burying young soldiers. Feeling alone. Worrying. And worrying some more.

Monday night through sundown Tuesday was Yom Hazikaron, Rememberance Day.  It is not like Memorial Day in the U.S. with sales, boats, and picnics.  It is solemn.  We went to a ceremony at the Jerusalem Theater, a three minute walk from our apartment.  It was one of the hundreds if not thousands of ceremonies held throughout the country, in every neighborhood of every community.  It focused on “lone soldiers,” young people who come from abroad to serve, who fell in battle.

The videos went into some detail describing them, where they grew up, how they cared about their friends, about being Jewish, about supporting Israel, about their girlfriends and boyfriends, wives and husbands, the children they left behind.  Some of the families were there; others watched the streaming from abroad.  Many of the deaths were in just the last few weeks and months.  Very tough.

The wounds are raw. Very raw.

One would think, or hope, that it would put all of the concern about the price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. in perspective.  One would hope that Americans, particularly American Jews and the Democratic Party of which an overwhelming majority of Jews have long been loyal supporters, would recognize and appreciate that Israel is not some warmongering ogre that just loves fighting in Gaza and Lebanon and killing innocent people.

Israelis are paying an awful price in a myriad of ways, the most devastating of which are the deaths and the wounds, physical and emotional, of their young people.  In some ways, it is a scarred and traumatized society.

Israelis take no pleasure in fighting devastating battles with their neighbors and in being treated like 19th century lepers by much of the world for doing it. They are willing to do it because they are convinced it is necessary for their lives, the lives of their children, and for the future of the Jewish people, here and in the Diaspora.

Tuesday night we transitioned into Independence Day.  Lots of celebrations, barbecues, music,  although it appeared to be somewhat muted this year.  As I have noted before, the  timing of having Independence Day right on top of Remembrance Day has been the subject of some discussion for years. The current situation really brings the difficulties with it into focus.   

A great majority of Israelis, including those who otherwise are not fans of President Trump, are appreciative of the fact that he, unlike any prior President, took action alongside Israel to do what they feel is a dire necessity, i.e. try to prevent the existential threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran, destroy Iran's capabilities to manufacture and to use ballistic missiles, and stop Iran's proxies Hezbelloh and Hamas from making Israel's north and south uninhabitable.

However, it is fair to say that many are now feeling disappointed, unsettled, and pessimistic.  Many fear that Trump, lacking allies and losing what little support for the war he had among Americans at the outset, has lost the appetite for the military action necessary to completely prevent Iran from menacing Israel and other nations in the region.

It is hard to know what is happening at any given moment.  Trump says that Iran has agreed to turn over its uranium.  The Iranians say they have not.  The Strait of Hormuz is open.  Then it is not. The U.S. has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.  Then a ship has gotten through.  The ceasefire will expire.  Then it has been extended.  Vice-President Vance is not going to the negotiations.  Then he is.  The Iranians are not going to the negotiations.  Then they are.  Maybe.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is a Palestinian American who moved from Gaza to the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of 15. A non-resident fellow of the Atlantic Council, he founded and leads Realign For Palestine, which rejects violence, advocates for two states and peaceful co-existence, and argues that many of the pro-Palestine groups and much of their activities are counter-productive and self-serving.

Alkhatib takes a lot of abuse and is subject to efforts at censorship from Western leftists and American and European-based Arabs who have never lived in Gaza or the West Bank.  Here is what he has to say about ending the war before finishing the job:

“A ceasefire that freezes the conflicts in Lebanon and Iran, just as it did in the Gaza Strip, without addressing the perpetual and catastrophic risk that Hezbollah, the Iranian regime, and Hamas pose to their people, neighbors, and the entire world, is a tried-and-tested formula for more war, future destruction, and stagnation in the Middle East. Kicking the can down the road and failing to turn ceasefires into new and transformative beginnings cast serious doubt on claims of total victory or grand proclamations of success and achievement.

“Most are interested in sparing lives and preventing further uncalculated escalations that can destroy the global economy and cause serious harm to US interests and those of its allies. However, those who scream for ceasefires are the first to move on once conflicts are no longer in headlines or impacting them personally, allowing for conflicts to be frozen, transitions to be paralyzed, and for terror agents of chaos to continue posing a threat and preparing for the next round of fighting. Caring about Lebanese, Iranian, and Gazans means being concerned with Hezbollah, the regime, and Hamas, and how these three have caused unimaginable levels of harm and devastation to their populations and nations.”

Israel and the U.S. have inflicted significant damage on Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. That alone is a victory for the U.S., Israel, and the region.  To a large degree, the U.S. and Israel have re-established and reinforced deterrence, which goes a long way in this part of the world.

But it is a damn shame that Trump will not, and apparently will not allow Israel, to finish the job.  Now is likely the best opportunity in decades to significantly disable if not eliminate some of the most dangerous and destructive forces in the Middle East, forces that are an existential threat to Israel and could be such a threat to Europe and the rest of the world in the foreseeable future.

I am afraid this spells more blood and death and, for Israel, more condemnation and isolation and despair, in the future.