War zones
My wife and I just returned from a three week visit to Israel. It was our twenty-fifth venture, with our first way back in 1971. As always, it was an emotional journey. However, this time, when we landed back in the America, it felt that we were traveling from one war zone to another.
On four occasions we had to race to a bomb shelter. Following the slowly intensifying wail of the air raid siren, we found a “PROTECTED AREA” and stayed for about ten minutes…enough time to finish your falafel or gelato. Mercifully, Israeli defenses shot down the incoming Houthi missile many miles from where we were. But, make no mistake, for those moments we felt threatened, and our imagination whisked us back to a 1940’s “Blitz” and hiding in a London “Underground.” We knew we were in a real war zone.
Since October 7, several times in a show of solidarity we flew to besieged Israel. We walked through the destroyed, bloodied Kibbutz Nir Oz perched on the Gaza Border and close enough to hear machine gun fire across the once Hamas-penetrated fence. We strolled the sad Nova Festival site, had meals with front line troops at military installations and heard expert lectures about Israel’s multi-front war. We stood shoulder to shoulder with mourners on Har Herzl and attended a lone soldier’s shivah.
On this visit, we spent time with family, friends, scholarship recipients, and associates from multiple organizations that we support. Across dining room tables, at cafes and restaurants we discussed the hostages, the conflict, Iran, the government and all that makes Israel the confounding puzzle that it is. We listened to a teenager plot her academic strategy to ensure assignment in an IDF combat unit. We learned from reservists-students how they are completing, despite the multiple call ups, their advanced degrees in law, nuclear engineering and AI computer science. We listened to a wounded IDF soldier talk about his desire to return to duty. We marveled how volunteerism is part of the Israeli culture. We reconnected with a woman who in 1999 received one of our scholarships. She went on to be Israel’s first female Ethiopian-Israeli medical doctor, an IAF Captain, and a mother of five.
Israelis live with daily challenges, and they see their children go off to war. They attend the funerals, they protest when they must, but always their Zionism is the common denominator. All the Israelis we met were patriotic, hopeful, resilient, and there to stay. Israel is one of a kind. It is a shining gem in this swamp of a world.
We also traveled nearly the full length of the country from the dramatic southern Negev desert with its impressive Ben-Gurion University to the northern volcanic hills of the Golan. We were close to the Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria borders. At an exotic resort, we watched Israelis check in carrying their automatic weapons. It added new meaning to the phrase “…packing for a vacation.”
Maybe because we are older – now into life’s “third act” – the sublime beauty of the country and the fascinating stories of the Israelis we met left us speechless as well as emotionally drained. Choking back tears was our constant task. We could appreciate their struggles and admire their iron-clad resolve. Despite political, demographic, and economic complexities their love of Israel was the big, bold headline. They were surviving and succeeding in their war zone.
During the evenings in our rented apartment, we listened to podcasts and broadcasts about the overt antisemitism infecting our country some seven thousand miles away. We were in Jerusalem at the time of the killing of the two young people in front of the Washington DC Jewish Museum by a man screaming “Free, Free, Palestine.” Our iPad flashed images of anti-Israel riots and hate-filled college graduation speeches. The despicable behavior at the Harvard and MIT graduations with their steady stream of “genocide” epithets and displays of Palestinian and Hamas flags proved that America is now awar zone for Jews. Examples of the global antisemitism spiking in Europe also came across the wire reminding us that some things, like Jew hatred, never change.
We return to America knowing that assimilation, indifference, and Jews with “trembling knees” rot at the core of American diaspora. Politics has, for too many, replaced religion. The antisemitic complicity of Hollywood and the media perplexes and disappoints. Like the outing of the Joe Biden cognitive decline coverup, maybe someone will effectively shine light on the obvious anti-Israel press bias. It’s much like the line in Casablanca about being “…shocked, shocked…” that gambling was going on at Rick’s Place. Still, too many legacy Jewish organizations adhere to progressive, woke doctrine. And they won’t accept the reality that that they helped ignite, and then fanned the flames, of the anti-Zionist and antisemitic conflagration.
We anxiously watch how President Trump treats the American-Israel relationship. His courtship of Arab nations is worrisome, and we want to believe that as part of some higher-level geopolitical chess game, he will ensure Israel’s best interests are protected. The coming showdown with Iran will be the main event and President Trump will be judged on how he eliminates missile production and uranium enrichment. Will it be via an uncompromising new “deal” or will President Trump allow the Israeli Air Force to demolish their nuclear weapons program?
An Obama JCPOA 2.0 would endanger the world, and Trump would be labeled a Neville Chamberlain. We want to believe he will support Israel because it holds the moral high ground and is the tip of the spear defending the Western civilization against truly evil forces.
Comparisons to past, harmful presidents now feels less relevant and we hope President Trump’s “common sense” will lead him to neuter Iran. Iran is vulnerable and now is the time to apply superior military assets against a blowhard, radical regime.
In a strange way, recognizing that both diaspora Jews and Israeli Jews are in war zones might bring about a strengthened Jewish peoplehood. Age-old antisemitism and prejudice might be seen as common cause for greater cooperation and understanding. Maybe, pride in the age-old treasures of Judaism will also become a connector.
Israeli Jews are on the front lines in a kinetic war fighting for their lives and they need our fullest support. American Jews must use their voices to petition leadership to stand by their best ally. Now is the time for supporters of Israel to double their philanthropy and to withhold any inappropriate criticism of Israel and her government. If you or your children aren’t wearing an IDF uniform, or you are not paying Israeli taxes, rely on the Israelis to do the right thing and keep your opinions harnessed.
If you think the two war zones are not interconnected, you are wrong. If you think you are safe in your comfy Jewish-American bubble and you can ignore Israel’s challenges, you are wrong. Stand with Israel and the Jewish people. Now is the time!
