A Middle Eastern global village

With our leaders galavanting around the world like there’s no limit to the distance they can cover in a day, it almost seems like we can assume that everyone speaks the same language – literally and in context. Building bridges in a modern world, we call it in politics. With Facebook we are all ‘friends’, and on Twitter we read each other’s thoughts-per-minute. My 5000 online friends are invited to concur.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met with newly elected US President Trump last week, stopping home for a bit of local politics and then set off first for Singapore, then as the first Israeli PM to visit Australia. Ever. That’s kind of cool. Breaking records is becoming commonplace – how long did Pete Rose’s last, or one of my favorites, SF’s Joe Montana? So why not in politics as well – “Getting to know you”…

There’s an advantage to conducting diplomacy in a global village. First, we can communicate. No more days of smoke signals or mailmen on horseback. But we can still get our signals crossed, and that’s where the worlds of CNN and Instagram get it wrong. We are still our own unique people, with cultural and ideological differences, not to mention social norms that do not come across on even the most technologically advanced medium.

This is why we appreciate President Trump’s clarity, telling Israel: The US has your back. Talk to your neighbors, reach an understanding and let us know what you guys have decided. It’s that simple. This is not an act of detachment or dismissal, but a realization that only direct contact encourages and even ensures real communication.

Thank you for this opportunity. Now it’s our turn to make the most of it, in the only little village we can really call home.