Israel and The Magic Far Away Tree

To suggest that this has been a bizarre week in Israel news would be to imply that other weeks are not. But indeed, a week that saw a dolphin arrested by Hamas for (allegedly) spying for Israel, and a former Chassid get expelled by a former Inquisitor, only to have the latter “Former” repeal the current expulsion, but the prior “Former” remaining such, leaves one reeling. And a little dazed. And this is not to mention that Iran has released an animated video showing how they and their buddies will be destroying Israel in the not too distant future. All whilst the ink on the so-called peace Agreement is not yet dry.

As a child, one of my favourite series of books was Enid Blyton’s The Far Away Tree. It tells the story of children who live on the edge of a magical forest and in which resides the tree. Various characters inhabit its boughs but at the very top exists strange and wondrous lands. One never knows which land will be found at the top of the tree when the children climb there, and whereas some of the lands are fun and exciting and make us smile and cheer, some are not, and do not. Some are downright scary.

The arrest of the dolphin for (allegedly) spying on Hamas is perplexing and very unnerving. Given this story, perhaps we need to reexamine some of the more recent events to determine if all is what it seemed. Could it be that Cecil the Zimbabwean lion was not Zimbabwean at all but was a (deep) undercover operative in the African bush? And was on assignment for Israel? Robert Mugabe has never trusted the Jewish State and this might well prove his suspicions to be founded. Could “The Dentist” not have been the oral kind but in fact just someone, given this handle, because he just enjoyed inflicting pain? And what about Hannes the South African shark with a penchant for attacking Australian surfers (while they surf)? Was he perhaps a relic from a pre-post Apartheid South Africa, now gone rogue? The magical minds boggles as the lands of madness rotate and rotate at the tree’s very top.

The dark world of the BDS rotate with the evil world of Iran, which makes way for Hamas, for Obama and for the circus he leads. They alternate and they spin, leaving us, the children of the Far Away Tree, confused by what is real, what is fantasy and what will do us real harm, in a world that is real. And where real people die. Images of Iran and Hamas marching on Jerusalem as released in a video interspersed with Spanish anti-Semites who didn’t realize that banning an American Jewish singer only because he is Jewish was racist, whilst allowing homo phobic hate artists to attend the festival, flash before us.

And all while an innocent dolphin suffers imprisonment (and torture) as a suspected Israeli spy. One wonders if water boarding will get him to confess all, and if we will soon see him (or her) dressed in an orange jump suit pleading for his very watery life. Of course the question as to what he could actually be spying on under waters off the Gazan coast, and is yet to be answered, and I personally look forward to next week where no doubt all will be revealed.

Israel news enthusiasts are never left wanting. From the people who brought you the “Mossad Stole my Shoe” to the Spying Birds of Prey revelations, and just released The Dolphins of Gaza, one has to wonder if it’s the intense and maddening heat of the Middle East that contributes to this fantasy, or if its just the fact that we live in the very magical world of the Far Away Tree. Where anything can happen.