How to Solve Israelitis

A few readers have commented that there is too much criticism and not enough praise of Israel in this blog. Given the state of the country, it is hard to see through the gloom and doom sometimes.  Mind-rending frustration is an inevitable consequence of dealing with any government office, bank, telephone company, healthcare provider, etcetera, etcetera.
The other day I went to Arlozorov station to catch a bus to Jerusalem.  Because boarding typically involves elbowing your way through a horde of travelers massed before the door of the bus, Egged (the company operating the line) recently installed a series of barriers and benches meant for people to form a queue.  

The concept is simple: line up, and when the bus pulls up to the beginning of the line, board.  No one followed this procedure and, instead, continued to crowd the sidewalk and street and bludgeon their way aboard.  I only succeeded to board the fourth bus that arrived after the better part of an hour in the sun.  

Enough my kvetching.  Now for the praise.

Nothing assuages the aches and pains of life in Israel better than leaving the city.  Getting out to the countryside, immersing oneself in the sunshine and fresh air is the best remedy for Israelitis (inflammation of the soul by prolonged exposure to Israeli society, politics, or people).  

Abu Ghosh and the Vineyards of Kiryat Anavim (click to enlarge)

I disembarked at Mevasseret Zion and hiked to Har Adar.  To be alone amidst a sea of silence was splendorously calming, especially after being crammed into a bus like a sardine in a can.  The air in the hills around Jerusalem was far more arid than the coastal plain where I reside, clearer and fresher, too.  Scaling a hill and rising above the surrounding landscape, the wooded hillsides were a pleasant change of pace from the concrete jungle of Tel Aviv.  As I mounted the crest, a bowl shaped valley spread beneath me, its sides coated in parallel rows of grapevines.  Beyond, the town of Abu Ghosh, nestled close to the side of the mountain like a child to its mother.  The sun, oppressive when combined with the humidity of Tel Aviv, was in its last quadrant, setting towards the horizon, and comfortingly warm.  Taking a refreshing quaff of my lime water, I looked out over the Judean hills and, like god at the end of six days of creation, said "הִנֵּה-טוֹב מְאֹד": "behold, it is very good."  

Har Adar, a few rises later, was perched atop the summit of a forest-capped mountain, its red-tiled roofs and whitewashed stucco walls a beacon of my arrival at my cousins' house.  

The vineyards of Kiryat Anavim

The next morning, refreshed and still sated from enough sushi to feed a small army, I descended the heights by a different route.  At a clearing in the forest I espied the barrier fence, whose concertina wire and patrol road cut a vicious and hideous scar in the deceptively tranquil panorama.  I sighed deeply and continued my way down to the wadi below.  

Leaving the city was a much needed escape from the taxing reality of life in Israel.  Thankfully, the natural beauty found outside settlements (in general, not the politically charged ones) more than makes up for it.  Praise be the natural beauty of Israel. 

The Shin Bet, Pearlman, and what it means for the rest of us

What, exactly, is more disturbing about this Haim Pearlman case?  The existence and flourishing of Jewish terrorists in our midst, bent on violent means of achieving political ends, or the Shin Bet's alleged hiring of Pearlman as a hitman?  The fact that Jewish terrorists exist in Israel or that they are not pursued with equal vigor as their Arab counterparts despite the immoral equivalence of their actions?
Pearlman, a long-time Kachnik, has been implicated in numerous violent acts in the past two decades.  He currently stands accused of seven murders in the past thirteen years, according to Yediot Acharonot.  The only thing more disturbing than the psychopathic violent streak he is accused of exhibiting is the quite overt radical religious ideology that spawned the vehement hatred and hell-bent vengeance that drove him to assault and murder Arabs. 
Whether or not he is convicted, this should be a wake up call for Israelis.  As Amir Oren put it in this week's Haaretz, "there are Jewish terrorists. They are no different from other terrorists in terms of the danger they present, except....they are part of the society against which they are plotting"and therefore constitute a less obvious threat.  Pearlman is not the first (far from it), and he undoubtedly will not be the last.  Unfortunately, between headline-grabbing incidents involving Baruch Goldsteins, Yigal Amirs, Eden Natan Zadas (remember him?), Yaakov Teitels, and Haim Pearlmans, Israelis tend to forget about violent radicals among them and often see Jewish terrorists as isolated cases; as independent actors rather than a broader trend in a greater drama.  The ideology that binds them together, combined with individual psychoses, produces bloody results.  
As for the Shin Bet, they allegedly took Pearlman on as a hitman for the assassination of, among others, Sheik Ra'ad Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in Israel.  They claim that they had no knowledge of Pearlman's involvement in the murders, and that charges that they employed Pearlman are erroneous.  
If Pearlman is found guilty, it says little about the efficacy of the Israeli FBI for anything besides cracking down on the Arab population.  As reported in Haaretz, "the Shin Bet's Jewish Division has found it difficult to track violent individuals within extreme right-wing circles".  If the Shin Bet also hired Pearlman as a thug, one has to wonder whether the Jewish Division's priorities lie in sponsoring or catching Jewish terrorists.  Either way, this whole incident casts a grim shadow on Israel's domestic security establishment and its priorities.  

Where Crude and Greed Appear

As I drive down Alabama Highway 43 South I sense that I'm approaching the scenic Mobile Bay. I pass by the familiar stands selling homegrown watermelons and boiled peanuts. In my car I hear the sound of waves crashing and birds chirping. This isn't the sound of nature though. This is a BP commercial. A man with a southern accent much like my own comes on the radio in my Toyota pick up truck assuring me that BP is doing everything it can to fix the “situation” in the Gulf of Mexico. The “situation”? What situation exactly are we talking about here? Oh yes, the one where a greedy and irresponsible multinational corporation spilled over 200,000,000 gallons of toxic crude oil into my Gulf. The Gulf where I spent my summers as a youth building sand castles on its beautiful sugar white beaches. The Gulf in whose crystal clear emerald waters I learned to boogie board. The Gulf that I pulled a behemoth red snapper out of three years ago. The Gulf where my family lives. The Gulf that provides livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of hard working Americans and foreign workers. The Gulf that is currently being destroyed by tens of thousands of barrel's of BP's toxic, disgusting crude oil spilling into it every single day destroying the ecosystem and economy one 55 gallon drum at a time. That “situation”.

All is not lost on the Gulf Coast though. The people here are a hardy bunch. The residents have built their houses and businesses to withstand the destructive winds and water of hurricanes which regularly batter the Gulf Coast. Names like Ivan, Katrina, Opal, and Frederic are notorious in this part of the world. However, this is a new type of disaster for which no one was prepared. Locals know how to batten down their windows and which evacuation route is the quickest route out of town. Such is the irony of this disaster: the only way anyone will survive on the Gulf Coast is if people do not evacuate. What this region desperately needs is for the tourists to keep streaming in to keep the economy pumping.

Enter Jimmy Buffett.

Tens of thousands of sunbathers, beer drinkers, and families recently crowded the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama to dance the disaster away. Jimmy Buffet, a Gulf Coast native whose sister operates a restaurant/bar in Gulf Shores, decided that what the Gulf needed more than anything right now is a little trip to Margaritaville. Buffett organized and headlined what has to be one of the most successful concerts this region has ever hosted this past weekend. He gave away over 35,000 concert tickets for free to try and help draw people back down to this blighted region. It worked. The beaches were full of “tourists covered in oil” and for a minute it seemed that everything was back to normal. Revelers packed the beaches all day long drinking beer, laying under beach umbrellas, building sand castles, swimming in the Gulf, and soaking in that bountiful Alabama sunshine. Buxom women clad in two piece bikinis danced alongside sunburned men swaying back and forth as Jimmy Buffet cranked out such familiar hits as “Margaritaville”, and “Cheeseburger in Paradise”. Country Music Television (CMT) broadcast the event live with no commercial interruption to a nationwide audience. As Jimmy Buffet sang an updated – and tear jerking – rendition of his song “When the Coast is Clear”, the only thing better would be if we could have been able to go “stick a wine cork in that hole”. Unfortunately, its not that simple.

As I left the Gulf Coast heading north towards my home in Tuscaloosa I reflect back on what I've observed “down at the beach”. The people there are not going to give up on their way of life. They adamantly refuse to just roll over and die. Sure, BP has managed to spill world record setting amounts of oil into one of our region's most treasured assets, but the people of the Gulf will survive. Not only that, the people of the Gulf will thrive again someday. If there is one message I think the people of the Gulf Coast would want you to hear it is “We are open for business!”. People are still on the beaches and the booms are working to a good extent keeping the oil off the beaches most days. On the days when the oil does manage to come ashore it tends to happen at night and the government has clean up crews that clean it up before most tourists ever notice. The drinks are still cold and the women are still hot! So what they really need is for y'all to come on down, have a beer or ten, get sunburned, make a fool of yourself at the world famous Florabama Lounge, buy a t-shirt from Surf Style, eat some oysters at Tacky Jack's, and see what this incredible part of the world has to offer you.

-Joseph Berman

The Following is a link to Jimmy Buffett singing "When the Coast is Clear".

http://www.cmt.com/videos/misc/536045/when-the-coast-is-clear.jhtml

*Author's note:

These are photos that I took around the Ono Island / Perdido Pass area. My family lives on Ono Island so this is very painful for me to see, but I wanted to remember this for the future. The closed signs and oil booms are not the full story though. For every photo here of a negative there are 100 positive photos of happy people partying or relaxing on the beach I could have taken. I think this is important to see though.

The Iranian Government Rains on My Parade

I breathed a great sigh of relief when I saw this morning's headlines.  No, it wasn't because LeBron James is going to the Miami Heat, or because the Israeli police busted two Haredis with ten kilos of blow at Ben Gurion.  It wasn't even because the Cold War is back on with this Russian spy ring in the US.  I exhaled with satisfaction because progress is finally being made in the Islamic Republic of Iran.  The bastion of fundamentalist Islam and the rule of shari'a law is being chipped away by international pressure.  
I speak, of course, about Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43 year old Iranian woman accused of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning.  It was announced today that she will be granted reprieve from that ancient, barbaric, yet most comedic, form of execution.  The mother of two will no longer be buried up to her neck and pelted with stones until she dies.  
Hooray for freedom and democracy!  
A successful public diplomacy campaign by international protesters brought about the successful liberation of this woman from the grips of a tyrannical Islamic regime.  The international press lauds this achievement as a triumph of reason and justice over cruelty and intolerance.  This will undoubtedly be the first in a succession of victories against the rule of the mullahs; Sakineh's salvation from stoning marks the beginning of the resurgence of liberalism in Iran.  
Wait, what's that?  She's still probably going to be hanged to death for adultery?  Even if her sentence is commuted her family will still tear her limb from limb for staining her family's honor?  
Well, when it comes to Iran: baby steps.  We shouldn't expect the Islamic regime to be reasonable about the crime of adultery after cracking down on democratic protests only a year ago.  After all, she has only suffered four years of imprisonment and only 99 lashes.  I suppose all we can hope for is that she is dispatched mercifully by some other heinous, medieval method of execution: beheading?  drawing and quartering?  burning at the stake?  
We can only hope.  Besides, change doesn't come overnight in this part of the world.  Who ever heard of an Iranian revolution?  

The land of the free, and the home of the brave

I always wanted a national anthem for myself.  I have been trying to find one for a long time with no success – and the World Cup sure isn't helping. 
Israel’s national anthem is problematic, if I may put it that way.  It was never intended to represent the Arab minority living in Israel.  Every time I attend a ceremony where the national anthem is played, I feel that sense of disappointment and frustration.  Worst thing is, I can’t blame anyone over this – I think… 
The anthem’s wording including “A Jewish soul” and “An eye still gazes toward Zion” is nothing I can relate to – even if I really try to.  Even though words like “to be a free people in our land” could soften the stiffness, it is followed by “the land of Zion and Jerusalem”. I already shared my thought about Jerusalem in a previous post and regarding Zion I need not add.  I think Zionism ended in the 70s and the broad discussion over Post-Zionism or Neo-Zionism is nothing close to my expertise. 
I never gave much attention to Hatikvah. I have never encountered a situation where I was expected by behave professionally during its playing.  In my graduation last month at Haifa University, I stood up like a “proud” Israeli while everyone was mumbling the words.  I was surprised by other Arab students standing up, behaving in an official conformist way.  Question is - would anyone reconsider those words of the national anthem? What about a version of “Shir LaShalom” or just a poem by Nathan Alterman or Alexander Penn? 
I guess with the continuing effort of the non-Jewish minorities in Israel to blend in, the national anthem is a lost case. I don’t see that changing anytime soon, if ever. All we are left with is the “La Mantovana" melody and an itch in our hearts. 

As long as in the heart, within,

A Jewish soul still yearns,

And onward, towards the ends of the east,

An eye still gazes toward Zion;

Our hope is not yet lost,

The hope of two thousand years,

To be a free people in our land,

The land of Zion and Jerusalem.