Our book keeping between love and hate

By David Verveer

Like all normal people, the average Israeli has his list of people and ideals he hates versus a list of those he supports or loves. An European has the same problem, but the difference with the average Israeli, that his hate / love relations are less extreme, more in the type of TV armchair relation , than a idealistic fight with your neighbors and family on your convictions.

It is relative simple to choose sides, but when these opinions start to argue between them selves, the poor Israeli will have a sure identity crisis, as all these slogans and ideals will affect his direct live, and his conscience.

I will try to bring you some examples of the internal conflicts of the average Israeli, who of course supports justice to the Palestinians, but opposes their policy of terrorism to achieve it. We hate torture of prisoners, but if this will be the key in order to safe innocent victims from terrorist acts, we leave the decision to the officers in charge, as it looks different from there than here (a citation of Ariel Sharon).
We support the right of return of Jews (based on their biblical rights of 2000 year in the Diaspora, but oppose the right of return of local Palestinians, whose birthrights date only from 1948. We declare any unfriendly comments about the Jews and Israelis anti-Semitism, even when uttered by Muslim Semites such as our Palestinian cousins.

I could go on like this for a long time, but you gather my point, we live in a controversy based on a primitive survival policy, which many times looks to the outsider as inconsiderate and unfair to our neighbors but in our eyes, a form of defense and existence.

But it is even worse when we talk about our internal strives, fights and ideals from the more extremist Jews such as the zealots in Jerusalem, Hebron and, the hilltop idealists, the settlers, the ultra religious (both Arab and Jews), the rightists, the centralists, the Jewish anti Zionists, and in short, all those horrible people who do not agree with my own holy point of view, and when I think of it, only a very view think about it, just in the same way as I do, but naturally other thinkers are entirely wrong, only my way is correct.

We jump in the pen when we read a comment which opposes Israeli actions or ideas from an outsider, but when an ignorant Israeli Politician, who has the stupidity not to be on my side, writes an anti my stand article or speech, I will attack him viciously, I am allowed, I am an insider, the non Jew outside is however not allowed to interfere, and don't even dare to quote me on this, because automatically I will shout, that my words are wrongly interpreted, I meant something entirely different, but you as outsider wont understand it, nobody understand us, we are alone, everybody is against the Jews, etc..

When having said and admitted all this, I have to emphasize a few facts (in my opinion axioms) that we Israeli have the same right to live in our conquered stroke of semi desert, without having to fight non stop wars with the millions of Arabs surrounding us. There does not exist a fair war, (the purpose of warring is killing and disabling the enemy) and if you do not win, and do not use all the might you have, you have no right to survive, accusing Israel of using disproportional power is stupid and unreal, just like accusing Israel of war crimes, fighting terrorist criminals bombing Israeli towns for 8 years on the row. Allowing the Palestinians the right of return, after 80 years, is just like committing suicide, but all this, you Europeans know, but what can you do, you need the oil, which is in the hands of the Arabs, justice for Israel versus the comfort of driving your car, is an unfair comparison, because after all, we love everybody, but specially our own self, sounds harsh, but my dear reader, the fact of life.