Shalom and Assalamu Aleikum,
When I was 19, I, as most other Jewish Israeli teenagers, joined the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). I had finished taking my matriculation exams a few months earlier and had returned from a trip to France and England. At that time, I was not really politically involved and I didn't know much about the difficulties facing both Israeli and Palestinian societies. During my army service (I was in the Givati Infantry Platoon), my unit moved from South Lebanon to the Golan Heights and finally to the Gaza Strip. I was quite oblivious to the reality surrounding me.
In August of 1996 I was finished my military service and felt that I had to get out of Israel. Although, as I have mentioned before, I was not at all politically oriented, I did feel that my army service had changed me in an unexplainable way. I felt claustrophobic and that Israel was not for me. I even thought I might never return to it. I worked for a few months and then left for the United States. I intended on staying there for a month of two and then continuing somewhere else, but ended up staying there for approximately 7 years.
In the United States, I attended two colleges. The first college, Northwest College, was located in Powell, Wyoming. Just like as when I was living on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, I was nearly the only Jew living there. Most people around me were religious, observant Christians; many were Mormons. There were hardly any Muslims on campus, and no Palestinians. I wrote about Middle Eastern issues for the college's newspaper and was never really challenged. The second College, Bates College, is located in Lewiston, Maine, about 3 hours north of Boston. That is where I really started feeling how unjustly Israel is being portrayed in a lot of the world's media outlets. It's not that I started believing that Israel is an innocent entity, never capable of making any mistakes. Not at all. There were things Israel did that I was ashamed of --I always condemned these actions. However, I did start to see that many people hated Israel only because it existed, and that many people had blatantly lied about it. I started to see that the "battle" awaiting me, as a lover and supporter of Israel, would be a harsh one.
Bates College never had a large Muslim and/or Palestinian community. But Palestinian propaganda infiltrated the campus more than once and I, as the only Israeli student, found myself in a very hard position: having to defend Israel. How can one defend a country against which so many lies have been told --so many lies, that many people actually believed it? Anti-Israeli movies were shown on the college's campus. A "stick and paste" Palestinian exhibition was brought to campus. A distorted panel-discussion took place. How could I fight against all this?
The worse thing was that most Jewish students had no desire whatsoever to defend Israel. Many of those who did want to defend Israel had no clue how to go about it because they didn't know enough. And I, truthfully speaking, also didn't know all the facts, all the details and all the information needed to "put up a good fight." And if I knew the facts, I didn't necessarily know how to present them to the public. I had all the will, and I had good intention, but I didn't have the tools. Something was lacking.
In the next few years, I became more and more aware of what was going on all over the United States and in Europe, regarding Israel's image. I remember bursting out crying more than once after attending (as an observer) an anti-Israel demonstration, gathering or a UN session. While working for one of the Jewish organizations in Manhattan and serving as a sort of UN Watch for them, I was even more discouraged. How could an organization such as the UN be so hypocritical? How could it allow the Arab and Muslim countries to control it? Why did different standards apply to Israel? Why could the Palestinians pass a resolution for the protection of Palestinian children, and the Israelis could not? Why was everyone blaming Israel all the time, and ignoring other injustices happening in the Middle East or elsewhere? Why did the The World Conference against Racism in Durban (2001) demonize and then isolate Israel while massacres in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe were ignored?
These questions were pounding in my mind.
In June 2006, I attended a PR conference with one of the Jewish American organizations in Washington DC. The aim was to provide us with the necessary tools to defend Israel. It brought everything back home, maybe for the first time. I felt more and more that I was right in my choice of a career - defending Israel.
I write about Israel because I believe it is a wonderful country, full of amazing people. Because it is making an effort to keep its democracy in spite of its geographical and political situation. I am writing about Israel because I want people to know also (not only) about Israel beyond the Israeli-Palestinian/Israeli-Arab conflict. To say that Israel is always innocent would be a lie, but to say that Israel is always wrong, that it does not desire peace and that it is not worthy of existing is every a bigger, more distorted lie which I will not stand for. I now live in Israel (after lving in the USA, Turkey and Switzerland for nearly 9 years) and can't imagine living anywhere else, especially due to growing antisemitism in Europe and other parts fo the world.
I hope to create a respectful and honest discussion here in this blog. All ideas are welcome. I hope that more people will see Israel for what it is: a beautiful country in which real people live, full of good and bad, just like any other place.
Shalom and Salam,
Smadar
When I was 19, I, as most other Jewish Israeli teenagers, joined the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). I had finished taking my matriculation exams a few months earlier and had returned from a trip to France and England. At that time, I was not really politically involved and I didn't know much about the difficulties facing both Israeli and Palestinian societies. During my army service (I was in the Givati Infantry Platoon), my unit moved from South Lebanon to the Golan Heights and finally to the Gaza Strip. I was quite oblivious to the reality surrounding me.
In August of 1996 I was finished my military service and felt that I had to get out of Israel. Although, as I have mentioned before, I was not at all politically oriented, I did feel that my army service had changed me in an unexplainable way. I felt claustrophobic and that Israel was not for me. I even thought I might never return to it. I worked for a few months and then left for the United States. I intended on staying there for a month of two and then continuing somewhere else, but ended up staying there for approximately 7 years.
In the United States, I attended two colleges. The first college, Northwest College, was located in Powell, Wyoming. Just like as when I was living on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, I was nearly the only Jew living there. Most people around me were religious, observant Christians; many were Mormons. There were hardly any Muslims on campus, and no Palestinians. I wrote about Middle Eastern issues for the college's newspaper and was never really challenged. The second College, Bates College, is located in Lewiston, Maine, about 3 hours north of Boston. That is where I really started feeling how unjustly Israel is being portrayed in a lot of the world's media outlets. It's not that I started believing that Israel is an innocent entity, never capable of making any mistakes. Not at all. There were things Israel did that I was ashamed of --I always condemned these actions. However, I did start to see that many people hated Israel only because it existed, and that many people had blatantly lied about it. I started to see that the "battle" awaiting me, as a lover and supporter of Israel, would be a harsh one.
Bates College never had a large Muslim and/or Palestinian community. But Palestinian propaganda infiltrated the campus more than once and I, as the only Israeli student, found myself in a very hard position: having to defend Israel. How can one defend a country against which so many lies have been told --so many lies, that many people actually believed it? Anti-Israeli movies were shown on the college's campus. A "stick and paste" Palestinian exhibition was brought to campus. A distorted panel-discussion took place. How could I fight against all this?
The worse thing was that most Jewish students had no desire whatsoever to defend Israel. Many of those who did want to defend Israel had no clue how to go about it because they didn't know enough. And I, truthfully speaking, also didn't know all the facts, all the details and all the information needed to "put up a good fight." And if I knew the facts, I didn't necessarily know how to present them to the public. I had all the will, and I had good intention, but I didn't have the tools. Something was lacking.
In the next few years, I became more and more aware of what was going on all over the United States and in Europe, regarding Israel's image. I remember bursting out crying more than once after attending (as an observer) an anti-Israel demonstration, gathering or a UN session. While working for one of the Jewish organizations in Manhattan and serving as a sort of UN Watch for them, I was even more discouraged. How could an organization such as the UN be so hypocritical? How could it allow the Arab and Muslim countries to control it? Why did different standards apply to Israel? Why could the Palestinians pass a resolution for the protection of Palestinian children, and the Israelis could not? Why was everyone blaming Israel all the time, and ignoring other injustices happening in the Middle East or elsewhere? Why did the The World Conference against Racism in Durban (2001) demonize and then isolate Israel while massacres in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe were ignored?
These questions were pounding in my mind.
In June 2006, I attended a PR conference with one of the Jewish American organizations in Washington DC. The aim was to provide us with the necessary tools to defend Israel. It brought everything back home, maybe for the first time. I felt more and more that I was right in my choice of a career - defending Israel.
I write about Israel because I believe it is a wonderful country, full of amazing people. Because it is making an effort to keep its democracy in spite of its geographical and political situation. I am writing about Israel because I want people to know also (not only) about Israel beyond the Israeli-Palestinian/Israeli-Arab conflict. To say that Israel is always innocent would be a lie, but to say that Israel is always wrong, that it does not desire peace and that it is not worthy of existing is every a bigger, more distorted lie which I will not stand for. I now live in Israel (after lving in the USA, Turkey and Switzerland for nearly 9 years) and can't imagine living anywhere else, especially due to growing antisemitism in Europe and other parts fo the world.
I hope to create a respectful and honest discussion here in this blog. All ideas are welcome. I hope that more people will see Israel for what it is: a beautiful country in which real people live, full of good and bad, just like any other place.
Shalom and Salam,
Smadar
posted by Annette at 4:12 AM
2 Comments:
Contrary to what some may say. I believe that your blog and your articles are very fair and reveal a lot of truth. I am an American but my parents were born and raised in Egypt. Both my parents have raised me to believe that all people are created equal no matter what race religion or sexual gender. Unfortunately sometimes in Arab countries it is acceptable for minorities and women to be treated as second class citizens. I hope for more dialogue between Israel and its neighboring countries, and more tolerance on the part of Arab/Moslem states in general.
Annette: Im a Mexican person that really loves Israel and one that sadly also sees so much hypocresy from the media against Israel, unfortunatly alot of of our people specially the Hispanic people believe a lot of those lies for lack of Information and research about what are the true facts sorrounding the arab-israeli conflict,and also because there has been a lot of antisemitism generaly from the roman-catholic church trough the years in latin america and it sadensme to see Israel being blamed most of the time for just defending itself, but theres a lot of christian evangelical people that keeps praying for the well being of the entire people of Israel
because we love Israel
and is my hope that not only the jew but also the arab would some daylive in peace, God Bless Israel !
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