Posts
Things Lost
Each week these posts are becoming harder to write.
Not from a lack of material, mind you. Quite the opposite. Just as occurred with COVID, mutations in the war and the way people see it are constantly developing, fracturing our reality. The view from here is that we have lost so much, in so many ways.
To a large extent, the world seems to have lost sight of the underlying motivation for Israel to have a clear victory in the Gaza war: the events of October 7, and Hamas’s threats to repeat them.
The Australian government has just announced that it could recognise a Palestinian State in order to end the war. “Here you go,” they seem to be saying, “you massacred Jews in order to establish yourselves a state. Well done, you deserve one!”
Of course, the
reason Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, despite the constant acts of terror against Israelis, was to give the Palestinians
a chance to set up a state of their own. I was one of the many at the
time who were hopeful, but skeptical. Give them a chance, our leaders
told us. If they don’t forsake terror, we’ll go back in and take
over again.
That was then. Our response now to the Australian government, and to other likeminded entities, must be loud and clear:
Rewarding terror will not stop terror. Been there, done that.
The more immediate concern for Israelis has been our lack of success in finding live hostages held captive by Hamas. Each day, these hostages seem ever more lost to us.
And, I’m certain, we to them.
A growing number of protestors believe the Israeli government is self-interested and has lost its way, prompting them to clamour for a change of government. Our decision-makers, who speak with typical Israeli bravado, appear less believable as time passes. According to them, everything we do, and have done, in this war is necessary, and we have the upper hand.
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Hamas is fighting for its life. Nonetheless, it has the luxury of intransigence in negotiating a ceasefire. Advances are only made when Israel relaxes its position, which it does repeatedly. Hamas just needs to hold tight, as pressure on Israel from America and a frustrated domestic electorate does its work. Who, then, has the upper hand in this conflict?
Even from the early days of the war, I personally found the Gaza death toll difficult to stomach. But sitting in my home, far from the action and with no military background, I am not in a position to second guess the experts who have experience. As always with these things, we become increasingly disheartened as the campaign drags on. It is always been the same. During each confrontation with Hamas since 2009, Israel fought until a significant collateral casualty occurred to the other side. In the face of world distaste Israel has always retreated, and Hamas lived on to fight another day. Lost opportunities for sure.
I suspect that we all want the war over at this stage. But stopping now, with Hamas intact, would be equivalent to fighting only three-quarters of a fire. If you don’t want your home to burn down, you don’t stop firefighting until the entire blaze is extinguished. (We won’t discuss the remaining embers of course.)
I know things are tough for the Israeli military in Gaza, constantly battling what is more than just a guerilla army in very difficult circumstances. This fact is clearly lost on the international media. In my humble opinion, the West should be assisting Israel in its efforts to battle Hamas and protect Gazans.
Maybe they are. Maybe we won’t let them.
All media manicure their reports, and Israel is no different. Little exposure is given to the many thousands of our soldiers injured in Gaza. I constantly try to conjure up the numerous amputees who will lose the next few months, if not years, of their lives in therapy, trying to regain their physical faculties. Let alone the PTSD of our soldiers, who will not join their future grandchildren at Independence Day celebrations, because the fireworks will bring them flashbacks from the battlefront. We all have PTSD of a kind at this stage.
The Gazans will suffer intense PTSD in a way I cannot even imagine. But then again, they have been taught that their whole purpose in life is to massacre Jews, in the most horrific and degrading ways. I have been told by soldiers that, apart from children's books and TV shows glorifying the murder of Jews, children's bedrooms in Gaza have a surprising lack of normal toys. It is difficult on our side of the fence to have sympathy for what appear to us as bloodthirsty automatons.
The US Biden administration has been threatening Israel with a change of policy (read: withdrawal of military aid where it might be used in Gaza). I believe that our unwavering relationship with the US is under threat of becoming tenuous. Internal US politics is playing no small part in that development, and I’m sure that, in years to come, future Israeli policymakers will need to take that into account. Are we losing a lifelong friend, or just losing part of our trust in it?
So what have we woken to this morning?
Since Iranian threats of retaliation to Israel’s attack last week on the former’s embassy in Syria, GPS signals in Jerusalem have been lost. Well, not exactly LOST, but jammed, so as to disrupt guidance systems on Iranian drones. So if you visit here, I suggest you exercise caution when Google Maps sends you to the local grocery store via some random street in Beirut.
Israel has pulled out the majority of its forces from Gaza, leaving one battalion. Is this a result of US pressure? Is this to prepare our troops for an assault on Rafah, where Hamas head Yihye Sinwar and his cronies are hiding, presumably surrounded by hostages who themselves are just as likely dead as alive?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-hostages-dead.html
Operations in Khan Yunis have ended successfully, announced the Defence Minister, as salvos of missiles continued flopping over the border into Israel from that neighbourhood in Gaza’s south.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/07/middleeast/israel-khan-younis-withdrawal-gaza-intl/index.html
A friend from Haifa called me. Her voice sounded deflated. “It’s getting worse up here”, she said. “The north is empty. Missiles just keep coming in from Lebanon.” Being south of Haifa but north of Gaza, I tried to calm her. I have a spare bedroom she can stay in, if it comes to that.
30% of evacuees from the southern border have not yet returned home, and with evacuation instructions still in force, none from the northern border area have returned. The lack of comfortable accommodation and a stable home life for more than six months is taking its toll on those Israeli families who are effectively domestic refugees. One commentator mentioned that the divorce courts will have a record number of files opened this year.
About 5 years ago I visited the beautiful small town of Metulla on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Cyclone fencing skirted some of the Israeli neighbourhoods. Over the fence, a scruffy-looking guy rode a motorcycle down an adjacent road. “Hezbollah”, announced the friend who was with me, following the bike with her eyes as it passed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68231543
Some years earlier, another friend of mine bought a cheap rental apartment in the nearby Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, 15 minutes away. He was happy with the small passive income it gave him, but since hostilities broke out last year he can’t rely on it. When Hezbollah started shelling northern Israel, all residents of the town were instructed by the government to evacuate and were provided rental assistance. Some residents, however, decided to stay put and pocket the money instead, along with a daily dose of missiles. This includes my friend’s tenant who also stopped paying rent. Does my friend have any recourse against the tenant? On one hand, the tenant is receiving a government subsidy, far in excess of the rent he owes. On the other hand, if pressure is put on the tenant to pay he decides to skedaddle, no one else will come to replace him. Ipso facto, the rent is lost. And with the raindrops of war with Hezbollah increasing daily to a full-blown storm, the prognosis for the absent residents of the north remains a mystery.
If I lived in Israel’s north I would pretend I was in Catania, Italy. Catania is located at the base of Mt Etna, a live volcano that constantly exudes smoke. Just like Hezbollah, it could bring destruction at any time.
Things Learned
Last night I made a cup of tea and sat in front of the TV to wind down. A guest on a talk-show was saying how, before the war, he was fearful of this generation of Israeli kids: always partying, smoking pot, or simply glued to their phones. They are utterly spoilt and don’t take life seriously. What parent hasn’t felt that about their kids at some time or another? To him, the kids of today have always appeared lost.
But things changed on 7/10 (also known locally as Black Saturday).
On that day, young Israelis showed courage and ingenuity in the face of the Hamas onslaught against their families and fellow countryfolk. In an effort to survive, pre-teens negotiated with the Gazan attackers (often civilians) who stormed into their houses to kill every living thing in sight.
A 12-year-old was recently interviewed on TV, explaining how he opened Google Translate to plead in Arabic with his attackers, who ultimately left him and his little brother alive after murdering their dad in front of them. Security footage bore witness to the incident, as did a film of his barmitzvah, which took place a couple of months later, everyone forcing a smile to the camera except for the now fatherless boy and his brother.
A young Israeli girl sat with her family for hours in her home shelter, directing security forces around her village as gunmen rampaged, destroying the houses around them. After the forces withdrew, they realised that the little voice that had guided them on the other end of the phone was still in the midst of the storm. They fought their way back through the carnage to extricate her and her family.
Others, traveling around the world to decompress after 3 years of military service, or having moved abroad for work or studies, heard the news and made herculean efforts to get back home to rejoin their units.
https://time.com/6322503/israel-diaspora-war-return-military/
The stories go on and on.
It was then that the man on the television made his point:
We have always been taught that Israel’s heroes only existed in the past. But that’s not true, he said. ‘I fought in the ‘73 war, and my compatriots and I feel humbled by the youth of today, who are giants compared to us.’
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-785982
2 weeks ago, at the invitation of the Hadassah Womens’ Organisation, I spoke to an audience in Tel Aviv about ‘Photography and the nuances of life during conflict.’ I planned to discuss photography as a tool and to show examples of how I have used it to bring to light the experience of being Jewish in Australia, as well as of life in Israel, in the shadow of the current conflict.
Instead of bringing a new perspective to the attentive audience, they suddenly discovered they had a forum to share their own experiences, and a number of discussions ensued. It was a powerful experience.
Insights
World protests against Israel, overtly based on falsehoods and skewed perspectives, have exposed problems with the current generation and its upbringing. Jews worldwide have been shaken out of the stupor that overtook them during the unusual period of tolerance that has coddled us in the last 70 years. Israel is learning the importance of publicity and public relations, as well as of not relying on others. In addition, it has strong advocates, such as the charismatic Douglas Murray, over whom so many Jews justifiably swoon for his poise, clear thinking and eloquence. At great expense, we have learned that the bloated national powers have become ineffective and must be overhauled.
All these are important developments that will anchor Israelis in the days ahead.
Once again I have put pen to paper to write a particular story, but have produced something else entirely.
And that, my friends, is the fog of war.
2 comments:
Fog of war... perfect phrasing
Hardly fog! Instead a truly useful way of taking the pulse of the Jewish people in a dark and yet inspiring moment! Like the eclipse. With none of the hoopla 🙏🇮🇱
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