Utterly, utterly depressing

I’ve just been watching an interview:

literally, tears in my eyes watching the interview…utterly hopeless, ‘hope, less’ – no hope – so, so depressing…’peace process’?*&^%$#@! with whom, between who, who is going to honestly, genuinely, truly desirous of a realistic, practical, respectful peace agreement sit down at the table….the future is 100% one of a lack of trust on both sides, of disdain, of exasperation…Rabbi Dov is a good man, his heart is in the right place but he can’t sit down at the table on his own! with Hamas in the mix, have the two/three sides ever been so far apart? The Fatah guy being interviewed does not want a realistic, security-backed peace with us, he will never acknowledge that Israel is a Jewish nation, our Jewish Home.

I say it again, this is the most miraculous, wonderful country in the world but, at the same time, it is surely one of the most depressing…I couldn’t be bringing my children up in a better, more wondrous country, I couldn’t be bringing them up on more fertile ground in terms of what they can as boys and girls, as men and women, grow up as and grow up to be (and it could be like that for the Palestinians if they delivered to the table for peace talks a leader who wants a genuine, security-backed two-State solution) but I have also brought them, and there can be no argument about this, I’ve brought them to a war zone, a country so full of angst, so full of stress, so full of hate, not just against us but, and it must be said, hate from Jews towards Jews and also hate directed from Jews towards Arabs.

Before the usual suspects, and no doubt others, jump on me, I repeat, I love Israel, it’s my only true and real home but living here, fulfilling the dream, comes at a heavy price and, tragically, for many who were born here and for others who made Aliyah, the price they have paid is appalling but Israel is a ‘must’, it is a matter of our survival, safety and security as Jews…without Israel, if we did not have our homeland, if we were a wandering people again, if, for our safety and security, we had to rely on other nations, on other governments, on other people, now THAT really would be frightening (at least the Palestinian Muslims are part of a brotherhood of 57 Islamic nations…not that you’d know it….a disparate and not wholly sympathetic band of brothers…the support they get, when they get it, from their brothers is not based on real sympathy but on the usual hatred of us!). I go into Shabbos hoping and praying for peace for Jews, for Palestinians, for Muslims and Christians, for all in the region, and for a secure, realistic, two-State solution and future, a future of prosperity for Jews, Muslims and Christians in the region, for people of all religions and of no religion, a future of tolerance and good will Please G-d.