Prepare for Landing: Unpacking and Three Vignettes

Packing our suitcase before departure from the UK, people and places fit into piles in my mind. People we met, people we saw, places we visited, food we tasted, warmth that embraced us, fallen leaves we trampled, and snow that coated us with sparks of fantasy when starlight turned into cloudy daylight, and toasty fireplaces lit window views of country landscapes.

Mid-November 2024 could only be about Trump’s re-election if you discuss international politics. In Israel, US election results raise speculations about ceasefires and release of hostages. Issues that wrench your heart day and night. You’re abroad, in respite mode, relieving your body of trembling sensations often emanating from anger and fear about Trump serving as the president of the United States and the implications for the status of women, health and welfare, immigrants and human rights, economics and world markets.

Away from home, conservatives arguing Trump is better for Israel. My response, like a reflex: “Not for the Israel I want.” Someone informs me Trump vowed to take away accreditation of universities allowing pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic demonstrations. That resonates with the questions of the limits of democracy – what degree of freedom of expression infringes on our liberties. When does democracy generate its own demise? I did some homework. US institutions of higher education become accredited by accreditors. The president could wield power over accreditors. Less direct influence than his role in appointing Supreme Court judges.

History shows democratic leaders instituting legislation responsibly only for a successor to abuse the same legislation. Policies implemented cautiously by one leader are snowballed by another. Framing abuse of power has made greater injustices go unnoticed at times when moderate abuses of power become more widely known. Blame the media? Media manipulation? Or is it part of a bigger picture? I see Trump appointing individuals with anti-Semitic records and wonder where best interests for American values of equality, for Israel, and for Jews reverberate.

Amidst our respite, a friend texted to ask if we felt heightened tensions as Israelis abroad. Walking around Bath on a Saturday afternoon, pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched by us. Chances are they lack room in their hearts and their convictions for Israel alongside Palestine.

Chances are the pro-Palestinian demonstrators are not very knowledgeable about the history of the conflict, nor the details and nuances of the atrocities of October 7, or the complexity of the war that continues since that fateful day. They likely accuse Israel of genocide and denying Gazans humanitarian aid. Let’s say there’s a grain of truth to it – and arguments to the contrary that should be weighed into the picture. It’s likely the demonstrators don’t condemn Hamas for raping Israeli women and violating them on October 7 and after taking them hostage. It’s likely they don’t condemn Hamas for interfering with humanitarian aid distribution. It’s likely they don’t condemn Hamas, nor Hezbollah for attacking Israeli civilians. Likely they don’t condemn Hamas or Hezbollah for positioning human shields when Israel targets terrorist cells, arsenals, and operational terrorist headquarters.

Driving through Golders Green, we saw yellow ribbons symbolizing the demand to bring our hostages home and passed one poster like you see everywhere in Israel with pictures of each of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Walking through London, you occasionally see small posters with the picture of an individual Israeli hostage in Gaza who is a British citizen. At one spot, as I pointed out the poster glued to the side of a squared fixture on the pavement, Haim told me I had just missed the guy trying to tear down the same poster on the other side of this fixture. Like a scene from news reports we’ve seen from New York.

We encountered an Irishman demonstrating across from Big Ben. His sign called upon Israel to end the war and engage in a process like the Good Friday talks. I posted a photo of him and his sign, expressing agreement with his demands. Face value – I do agree. And I recognize the complexity, demanding Israeli hostages be released, expect Israel’s security be assured, and that Palestinians get their state, and assurance of their safety. But the photo and my acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the sign elicited emotional reactions. I get it. Lest others not see the complexity, talkbacks ensure the statement not stand unchallenged, isolated from context.

Bags packed. Ready to go. Landing in Israel officially terminates the respite. After biometric passport control and before collecting your luggage, one poster after another greets you on each side of the wide ramp you descend. Each poster, a photo of another hostage, name, age, and other information added by hand or stickers in some cases. You know you are home. You didn’t forget, but now you resume thinking with every step you take: 101 Israeli hostages in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

The next day I returned to work, read minutes of meetings missed and emails that weren’t pressing enough to warrant a response in my absence. Three vignettes like magnets commanded my attention. First, chronologically, a Palestinian colleague beaten by Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers at a West Bank checkpoint near his home last week.

He lost his wife over five years ago when settlers fired at their car as they drove home. He once told me how the army took their car for inspection, questioned him upon arrival at the site, then leaving him alone to wait for someone to drive him home. Israeli friends and associates came to pay their sympathies. Some Palestinian friends urged him to seek vengeance, to blame all Israelis by association. He knew that would not bring his wife back. He insisted on believing in reconciliation and peace to prevent more families from losing loved ones.

Evil, hateful Israeli citizens who indiscriminately view all Palestinians as the enemy don’t change their attitudes when they don military uniforms. I know this gentle, 50-ish year-old man. I can’t imagine he did anything to provoke Israeli soldiers attacking and bruising him last week.

Another Palestinian colleague reported her brother was attacked by police while working in Tel Aviv, with a permit. They broke his shoulder. They found his work permit after attacking. I know my colleague. I would vouch for her. I don’t know her brother. Even if his behavior aroused suspicion, knowing the vibe infiltrating the police mindset under Minister of National Security Ben-Gvir, I have doubts about justification for breaking this man’s shoulder.

The same colleague, with three other Palestinian colleagues – another woman and two men – were in a vehicle in the West Bank driving to a meeting. Soldiers bashed the car. I guess they are guilty of clinging to commitment to peace. I am guilty of declining faith in the chances, for more than one reason.

Dressing for Friday night dinner yesterday, I put on my #BringThemHomeNow tag with a plastic yellow ribbon hanging over the necklace. I recalled November 2023. Our then 7-year-old granddaughter asked me about the necklace. I cautiously explained something about the war and people we wanted to come home. She asked no further questions. This year I thought about how we worried last November what children would hear about the atrocities of October 7 and Israelis taken hostage. Yesterday, November 2024, I wondered how parents explain to their children that for 413 days Israel has failed to bring home 101 hostages from Gaza.

Harriet Gimpel, November 23, 2024