Gaza-War on Facebook
Since the beginning of the attacks on Gaza my facebook wall is flooded with comments on the Israeli-Gaza-conflict.
Some are funny, some are thoughtful, some are grotesque, some are simply shocking.
For my friends who don’t have the chance to take part in this I collected the posts, pictures, videos that in my opinion reflect the best the actual discourse.
Have fun reading it and let me know what you think about it.
(Some of the posts might be in a weird english since i google-translated them from hebrew…)
Hahaha .. How do you have time for Facebook? You kill terrorists .. For firing missiles at me here . No time to enjoy nature .. You have to go to reserve duty!
That’s war, baby!
at least we get an alarm that tells us when the bombs will hit. people in gaza and the west bank don’t get that (privilege).
“It is not only is the security threat in the air. Well as other areas of life, such as health, education and welfare are not functioning so well. Somehow it seems that everything makes complete failure. No sense of security, no health system is functioning well, social services courses clutter and budgets stop somewhere along the way.
When the cannons and shells were falling, then we are quietly sitting on the side of democracy. “
fell asleep. would someone please surprise me and say: no one died because of bombings in Palestine today?
Over 60 years of occupation Palestine land by israelis. over 60 years of ethnic cleansing by israelis. over 60 years of killing palestinians by israelis. since 2000 over 1500 children killed by israeli forces (Amnesty International). this is not defence, this is holocaust. use your savvy! Palestinians didnt start the fire
Reminder to myself for the following reserves: bring earplugs …
In the early days of the war in the south was very hard for me to write. I have three children in the army (regular and reserve), many relatives and friends with orders eight separate them these days prayer box
Sprinkle safely and quickly and so many of our citizens are under fire it’s just impossible. So I have full solidarity with IDF operations to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure rocket for close to 13 years embittered the lives of residents of the South, especially when trying to do so while minimizing harm to the innocent.
However I turns with an inner feeling is so deep and painful that despite what we are doing is justified, is no long-term strategy and has no chance to solve the problem of the residents of the South and of the State of Israel. Perhaps even the contrary it gives a sense of action and results in a momentary satisfaction but actually is only deepens the problem and eliminates the possibility of a real solution and includes complicated and complex situation we are.
If our assumption that there is no alternative, we are taking the curse of Esau and the world will live by the sword, so we walk the right way, but then must also know and accept that will never horizon and hope for a different future. I believe there is another way.
Some years the experts have told us that Arabs can never be peace? Today we celebrate the anniversary of Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, it Sat memorable and exciting by announcing “No more war” with all the upheavals and changes his declaration remains valid for 35 years.
Some years the experts have told us that if the Muslim Brotherhood (assassins that Sadat) come to power in Egypt, they are religious can never accept the existence of any Jewish entity in the Muslim region. And is president-elect by the brothers, now in the negotiations with the state of the Jewish people and the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza.
So I believe that what we need to do now is get a hudna with Hamas for several years and in that time to enter negotiations accelerated for a comprehensive and just peace based on two states for two peoples with the Palestinian leadership team. But this time, unlike the past, with the support and involvement of the space Islamic for all factions. time to share your leaders Muslim community in the Middle East in general and in the Holy Land in particular, who are willing on the basis of religion, religious thought dialectically, to a just solution for both peoples, who believe the duty to respect the will of God that we were created in His image and trampling and destroying Take bloodshed the other end only violating his name in the world.
So close your eyes for a moment, imagine how such a world might look like. Now open them, the truth is that eighty percent of Israelis and Palestinians support peace and aspire to that.
God will give strength to His people God will bless his people with peace
Just made it into the bunker before the interception. The warning does not really give you much time. All day seemed like the silence of the lambs…
- Dear Omar, a member who appreciates you personally and your activity on the social humanist, I urge you to refuse to serve in the war of Bibi and Barak. Srovc will tenfold safety of your fellow citizens of Israel. Refusal nice, do not shoot and then cry!
- Lior, from posts earlier you fully understand that I opposed this war and I did not agree to participate. What I do (or should do, now I’m not doing anything …) these reserves is to help and save my town citizens in the event of a missile attack, an act of humanitarian completely before the event belongs to the IDF … I refuse to fight in Gaza.
Bibi (Nickname for Israel’s Prime minister Netanyahu) speaks, sick bag ready.
After seeing numerous posts on FB that incite violence against either civilians in Gaza or in Israel, I just want to say that you are testing my nerves and I am about a moment away from taking a sh** on your wall with a nasty comment, and the proceeding to delete you. Oh and report you comments.
For the record:
#1. The missiles falling on Israel ARE REAL! It is not an invention or a figment of imagination. Unless a few million Israelis and foreigners alike are having a collective “bad trip”, it is real. The only positive thing about it – if one can find positives about missiles flying overhead – is that people are staying low and running to shelter and therefore managing not to get injured or to lose their lives. And yes, there were Israeli children injured in the attacks too, and no, I have not seen much footage about it in the media, or anyone posting and sharing photos of them on FB. And despite missiles flying overhead, groups of Israelis came out to protest war on Gaza. Do you get it? People’s lives are being threatened and they refuse to stoop down to the filthy level of some of you warmongers. No matter which way you turn this around, it is wrong that missiles are being shot at Israeli civilians because no one deserves to be killed indiscriminately. Missiles do not target “bad people” or policy makers, nor do they target “killers”… Please, you must be capable of understanding the rest without me needing to spell it out; otherwise I am not sure why I befriended you at first place.
#2. More than half of Gazan population are children! MORE THAN HALF! It is a densely populated area that even if everyone put their best effort into hiding out, there would be grave casualties. Furthermore, in such a densely populated area, it is hard to perform a so-called “surgical strike” and therefore to avoid killing innocent people. You should not boast and scream bloody murder of “them” because the “them” you are referring to appears obscure, and without realizing you are including innocent people (or perhaps you realize it, in which case you should do some soul searching). Be an intellectual that you are and be capable of distinguishing between extremists and the rest of the 1.5 mil of people there. Can you only imagine how many people will be killed if Israel has a ground invasion of Gaza? This is nothing to be excited about, one should only cry! There is nothing victorious about war and you should stop getting off on it. Pick another fetish such as porn, it is equally stimulating. Oh, and yes, believe it or not, the current tensions probably do have something to do with occupation or the depressing status of Gaza. I know it’s shocking, but there it goes, it’s out there now, for all of you to know, so that you are no longer confused. There will be no peace without the end of the occupations. Seriously, who still has doubts about this? I thought it obvious.
#3. For you expats, you should be more conscious of yourself. Not only are you an ambassador for your country but you come here as a guest. When it all goes to sh**, you will catch a bus to Jordan or fly home and watch the rest of this from a television set. It is people here that will be left to their faiths. This is why you should get of your righteous horse and do what you were supposed to do here, which is to promote peace and development, not to create a further rift between people. If you cannot do that, perhaps you should reevaluate your motives, and if they are no longer what they were when you arrived here, then I believe it’s time to return home or go travel through Southeast Asia. Your presence is important only because you can remain untainted by group politics. If you can no longer do that, then you are useless here.
On a final note, try to think before you speak. At least for a day, like I did before writing this comment. I’m not saying that it is perfect, but slightly improved from the casual “ass-think” that I’ve witnessed on here. These are difficult issues, and if you are capable of determining your CLEAR stance on it in no time, then you probably are wrong. If you feel anything other than sadness, fear and anger that people here (Israel & Palestine) might be experiencing yet another escalation in violence, an especially if you feel a loathing of a particular group, then I suggest you meditate and try to bring yourself to a more rational emotional state. If meditation does not work for you, try a psychologist, God, or gods, or whatever else floats your boat. That is what I will do. But stop, for f*** sake, creating more tension and promoting hatred and violence.
I wonder if some of the rockets that are fired towards #Israel come from undercover israeli agents. The government has the abilities to do that and fear keeps them in power. So, why should they not do that?
In a rapid successions of tweets, Noam Chomsky expressed his thoughts about what is happening in Gaza right now: “It hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to begin to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world’s largest open-air prison where a million and a half people, in the most densely populated area of the world, are constantly subjected to random and often savage terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade, and with the further goal of ensuring that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement that will grant these rights will be nullified.
Gazans have been selected for particularly cruel punishment. It is almost miraculous that people can sustain such an existence.
The pattern of bombing under Cast Lead was…concentrated in the north, targeting defenseless civilians in the most densely populated areas.
Sitting in a hotel near the shore, one can hear the machine gun fire of Israeli gunboats driving fishermen out of Gaza’s territorial waters and towards shore, so that they are compelled to fish in waters that are heavily polluted because of US-Israeli refusal to allow reconstruction of the sewage and power systems that they destroyed.”
I hate to say but this war becomes simply boring. Missiles – missiles – missiles, bombs and horrific images, bodies of children, cliches commentators, Roni Daniel and Ehud Yaari rubbing cock front of a camera and a powerful call to enter Gaza and behind, what is this? What is this retro? What is “Accountability” here? “Grapes of Wrath”? “Defensive Shield”? Is after 2000 years of exile did not come to us more interesting wars? Where’s the creativity? Except Sirens Tel Aviv there is nothing new, and frankly – construction – it has exhausted itself. You do not move me the foam of espresso.
I warn, and I think I’m not alone on this: or invent something new, or I switch channels.
this is Gaza…
United Nations???
Humanity???
Muslims???
Arabs???
Aman ki Asha???
There is no cease-fire without destroying Tel Aviv
I’ve never done a facebook status update before (apart from one night when I was once drunkenly searching for a girl I met in a bar and accidentally put her name in my status)… but I feel compelled to now.
I just don’t see the point in people sharing the Israeli Defence Force’s photos and status’s such as ‘This operation will bring a better tomorrow’. I just don’t believe it will… Won’t it only serve to perpetuate the ever ending cycle of terror and suffering in the Middle East? Won’t it just create even more terrorists?
Of course Israel has the right to defend itself against the hundreds of missiles aimed at innocent civilians. Any sovereign nation in the world would do the same. But unflinching support of the government and policies of Israel misses the point…
Rather than taking part in a Facebook/twitter propaganda war, can’t people just acknowledge how depressing this situation is?
I say this because I love Israel! I’ve seen how the vast majority of people want peace. But in my mind, the only real route to an everlasting peace is through dialogue!
My thoughts go out to all those, on both sides of the divide, who will be sleeping in shelters tonight.
Another interview with Yuval Steinitz (finance minister) and I go to Berlin
It amazes me that most citizens accept without question any decision of the military bodies, except one: the military censor.
I am frightend.
“Dear Friends the people in Gaza need our voices! Tell the world what’s really happening in Gaza. Words and actions can make a difference! Let’s go:
* EYE WITNESSSE direct reports from Gaza:
– @harryfear’s live broadcast in #gaza on @Ustre
am. The sound of planes is horrible! http://ustre.am/QLL5 !
– http://todayingaza.wordpress.com/
– http://asecondglance.wordpress.com/
– Follow @AnonymousPress for updates on the #Gaza.
* Let’s make #ProtestForGaza to trend more on twitter!
* Find your Local Emergency Action here: http://www.peoplesassemblies.org/2012/11/emergency-global-actions-for-gaza-gazaunderattack/
* Five ways to effectively support #Gaza through Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions #StopIsrael #Israel #Palestine http://www.bdsmovement.net/2012/five-ways-to-effectively-support-gaza-through-boycotts-divestment-and-sanctions-10051 …”
Do not misunderstand: This is absolutely a war of choice, and this war of freedom. Important and critical article on attention deficit indicate the point -” In a situation where both prime minister and defense minister on the eve of elections, and are more interested than ever to create a security agenda, so changing one or more military concept shares
R provides an easy about the real aims of the operation.”
Political leaders of Israel and Hamas games with the lives of millions of people to achieve political goals and for diverting attention from serious problems citizens on the agenda.
This game is a political game, playing dirty, cruel game and play more: not eroded. Not play the game, and ignore the facts, and not believe the lies, nor forget the sacrifices of those killed and the Palestinians and the Israelis, and we will raise flags malicious governments.
Join us and thousands of residents / s and other organizations throughout the country and territories! Get out against the war of choice and choices
More comments after the attack on a bus in Tel Aviv:
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid fucking ultra right wing extremist government!
Explosion in Tel Aviv. Happy right now probably agree ceasefire
Sure Bibi is also related to 39 thousand killed in Syria last year and half or attack twins or make thousands of victims who were killed in Iraq in recent years kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, I could go on and knock the Facebook servers with the amount of information on those you are dreaming that one day peace with them.
Bibi … you are guilty ..
Enough, really enough! Not because I want to go home … Ceasefire Now!
bus explodes in Tel Aviv. Life’s peachy, thanks for asking
There is no solution. It will be like this forever
My dear Tel Avivis,
I hope you and your beloved ones are all well and that you are not getting intimidated by those palestinian savage dogs. Sanity and civilization WILL prevail for us as they always have!
Please continue going to the beach to play matkot, the restaurants, concerts, raves – all those things that make TLV the most interesting and vibrant hotspot in the Mediterranean.
My heart cries out for you and I would do anything to be in my old midnadvut right now to help Aaretz Israel and its people.
!!!can’t believe that you just said that!!!!yes yes please everyone continue going to the beach while the army is killing those dogs and taking care of everything!!!!!!!
I guess this is the model of democracy for teh whole mid east, everyoen should look up to and learn
If Israel can do this to a young Jewish American, imagine what Palestinians face every day
The true face of the supposed “only democracy in the Middle East”. A young Ameri…Mehr anzeigen
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Konstantin L. Kasakov Okay Mana…
…normally I would erase those posts but I fuckin detest censorship.
As for your comment: yes! TLV needs to stay TLV, no matter how many of those animals blow themselves up. My people has survived thousands of pogroms and the Holocaust, we are being hated and chased forever. So those bombs will not stop us on our eternal quest for repose.
As for the American kid: this is kinda what happens when you go uninvited to demonstrations. I could show you clips from about any country in the world where protestors who belong to a minority are being taken away from the demonstrating majority. Plus, wearing an Arafat scarf is outrageously provocative in Jerusalem’s Jewish neighbourhoods and the kid probably knew that. Not knowing Hebrew whilst claiming to be a legitimate part of the world Jewry doesnt exactly help either.
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Konstantin L. Kasakov Here’s a good idea for any Muslim country, like your beloved Iran, to express their democratic ambitions:
Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade 2012 – Tel Aviv, Israel hosts 14th Gay Pride Parade
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part on Friday in Tel Aviv’s 14…Mehr anzeigen
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Konstantin L. Kasakov Secular, young and free Israel is this:
Israeli Rave Lifestyle (parties and raves in Tel Aviv, Eilat and Herzliya, Israel)
Israeli disco-rave lifestyle at: Summer 2011 events at Eilat; Acadia beach at He…
Of course TLV should stay TLV, like any other city! Do you think anyone is happy about this situation!Do you even hear yourself though talking about palestinians like that!Yes your ppl have survived Holocaust and have many great contribution to the world. No doubt about that. Why do you always have to play the Holocaust card. This is now. 21st century!stop this hatred.
You know what? delete the posts. I’m just sad to see that there is no difference between ppl growing up in my country with absolutely no access to free media and to teh rets of teh world, yet ppl like you who have traveled and live in “free and civilized” countries have teh same opinion! so sad to see.
Maybe you and any other Non-Jew has forgotten about the Holocaust, but for me and 98% of the other Jews in the world it still plays a significant role because we have to listen to the eradication fantasies of Mr Ahmadinejad and many other world leaders every day.
Plus, Palestinians were directly involved in the Holocaust and Hamas ideology is directly linked to Nazi ideology. There is no denying that. That being said, our enemy has not changed too much, his ideas have not changed too much, his methods have not changed too much.
All we want is to live in peace and go about our lives, together with about 1,7 million Arabs who are Israeli citizens. People in the Westbank are a good example that prosperity and wealth can come as soon as they lay down their weapons.
Unfortunately the people of Gaza are being held hostage by Hamas, an organization whose sole purpose is the eradication of Jews and Israel. We wont let that happen.
After the cease-fire:
After this shit is over, I throw the smartphone. Do not want more and Vision, Facebook, Twitter, Ainstgrm and shit. Who has Nokia with Snake delivery?
You may try, but you will never succeed! from Gaza Youth Breaks Out
Israel-Iran: War or no War?
Two weeks ago, my roommate received the letter.
He is expected for his reserve duty on mid September for 5 days in the north of Israel.
In Israel, men until the age of 42, and women until 24, have to complete up to one month of reserve duty for the military.
My roommate is worried. Normally, he is called to military reserve in spring. “Now they call me up in September, at the time it is supposed to start.”
He refers to the war with Iran. A lot is said about it lately, rumors say it will start in mid September.”
I can understand he is mad. He still has several papers for university to write, after that he wanted to take a couple days of vacations.
I do not think there is going to be a war or better, I do not know. I grew up in a country that hasn’t seen war for 67 years and no war is expected any time soon. My friends and I, we never talk about war, war is happening somewhere else.
But here it is omnipresent. Last weekend it was worse than ever.
On Thursday a reporter of the TV- Channel tweeted that they will launch a special broadcast on the war on the following Saturday.
Rumors started to circulate: Apparently, Prime Minister Netanyahu has invited key media representatives to an unofficial press conference on Saturday night.
“This means war,” some shouted, “Here we go!”
“You don’t start a war like this”, others say.
But all of them are worried.
My roommate is mad. He has an important exam on Sunday.
“How am I supposed to focus on my studies like this? Who knows if the exam on Sunday is even taking place? Maybe tonight I get the SMS with the secret code. Then I have to pack my things and go to this certain place where they pick up me up for the military. Then the war has started! ”
We do not know… He decides to study anyway.
On Saturday, he sits grumbling at his desk while I travel to the Dead Sea, although with no good feeling. I check my Haaretz App almost every hour.
On Saturday evening we have dinner together, Trina with pita.
“False alarm, wasn’t it?”
We are relieved.
Nevertheless, my roommate decides that we should start making thoughts about finding the closest bomb shelter to our home.
I know bomb shelters from Germany, left-overs from the 2nd World War. They are usually grey, big and made out of concrete. There is a big one in Hamburg, it hosts cool parties.
“The bomb shelter has to protect us from the rockets,” my roommate says. That is why it should be beyond the earth.
We walk past cafes where young people with retro clothes sit in front of their Apple computer.
They don’t seem so worried about finding bomb shelters.
Finally, we find a solution. The underground parking lot under Habima Square.
During normal days designed for thousand of cars of the theater visitors. It is perfect. Spacious and with several exits, only 2 minutes from us.
Then we forget about the war for a while.
And so does the media, it seems.
The daily newspaper Israel Hayom, known as the voice of prime minister Natanyahus, which printed topics related on Iran’s nuclear program on their front page during the past weeks, now seems to find interest in other topics not related to the upcoming war. (haaretz)
Is Netanyahu trying to back out?
To reassure Israel, President Obama announced a few days ago open and covert actions against Iran, including a new anti-missile-system in Qatar. (NY Times)
Reassuring news, but the best news reached me today.
A text message from my roommate: “They have cancelled my reserve duty. No explanation.”
Maybe just a coincident in which one shouldn’t put too much interpretation. Both of us, we are very happy!
The remains of a 19th century German Christian Colony now turn into Tel Aviv’s modern heart
An old agricultural colony from the 19th century built by a Christian Sect from Germany now experiences a revival as a commercial area.
Between cement mills, fences and tarpaulin banners one can spot a bunch of ancient houses. What looks like a huge construction site once used to be the living space of the Templer Society, a German Protestant sect, which settled down in Palestine in the late 19th century.
We enter one of the houses through an entrance with no doors. We walk into a room with high ceilings and two pillars in the middle. On the foot of one of the pillars sit two people scraping of the color with little trowels. On the capital of the pillars you see biblical inscriptions in German and Arabic which have recently been exposed by artists who are renovating the house.
This inconspicuous, dilapidated house has a long history to tell. Once it was the old Gemeindehaus of the Templer colony “Sarona”.
the old Gemeindehaus
In 1868 members of the Pietist movement which has its roots in Baden Wüttenberg came to Palestine and founded 7 settlements, including the colony of “Sarona” which was situated in what today is the center of Tel Aviv.
The Templers believed that their movement would help rebuild the Temple in the Holy Land and promote the second coming of Christ.
In their agricultural colony they built workshops, barns and even a winery and also sold their products. German and Arabic was taught in their schools, in order to assimilate into Palestinian society. At its height, the Templer community numbered 2,200 members.
During the 3rd Reich the settlers supported the Nazis, admiring Hitler’s Regime as the newborn Germany and hoping for a strengthening of German culture all over the world. They set up local NSDAP groups and received subsidies from the Nazi government, teachers aligned with the Nazi regime took over Templer schools.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Mandate transformed the Templer settlements of Sarona, Wilhelma, Betlehem and Waldheim into internment camps where enemies such as Italians, Hungarians and Palestian-Germans, including the Templers, were held captive. At the end of the war the prisoners were deported, many of the Templers moved to Australia where one still finds Templer communities today. Ín 2009 approximately 1000 Templers lived in Germany and Australia.
After the Israeli Independence in 1948 the old Templer Houses of Sarona were used as governmental offices – Later some of the houses were turned into offices for the Israeli military. The old Gemeindehaus of Sarona was used as a post office.
In 2008, during the widening of the Kaplan Street, 5 houses of the village were moved in a very complicated procedure, as you can see in this video:
red lines marking the cracks in the wall
On the wall of the old Gemeindehaus you can see red lines marking the cracks in the wall which resulted from the move.
At the beginning of the 21rst century the restoration of the Templer houses began and is scheduled to finish next year. Workshops, Schools and Gemeindehaus will be used, this time with a different intention:
This once agricultural colony is going to be a commercial area, with offices, cultural institutions and a shopping area.
a new commercial area in the heart of Tel Aviv
the new Sarona
“They got us stoned on this conflict”
There is no much of small talk with Honi. Starting with Argentinian Mate-Tea, the conversation slides right into a political discussion about the ongoing Social Protest in Israel. But how can you not be political in a place like this?
“There have been problems, like elsewhere,” Honi says. “We have had a lot of inner conflicts, about the message we wish to send or about people getting too strong or people always talk to the media. But this is insignificant.”
Honi’s hands go up and down while he talks. He says a lot of things, interesting, gripping things, he hardly gives me any time to take out my block and a pen. Honi has been active in the Social Protest right from the beginning, he heard about it from a friend on facebook.
” I believe, all the struggle we have within the protest, with leadership or whatever will go away and be forgotten. What remains is the message that is sent, the change in the state of mind, people wake up and stop living this reality. “
Bar Kaima- Sustainable
The green-walled bar we sit in seems different from every other bar, you can feel an industrious atmosphere.
Everybody is helping out, carrying fruit boxes, crushing ice. They all seem to know each other. It’s hard to tell who is working here and who just came as a guest. Honi shakes a lot of hands while he keeps on talking to me.
“There are all kinds of opinions. A lot of people claim, we should change the system, start a revolution. I personally don’t want a revolution, just look back into the past and see what happend with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia or what Stalin did in Russia. I think democracy is a good thing. I want the politicians to know that we are watching them, watching them on every movement they make, that we don’t accept their corruption anymore. We want justice! Stop the system to manipulate us.”
I get a menu, it is in Hebrew, a girl with a piercing explains it to me. They only offer vegan food. I go for Focaccia, Honi stays with beer.The bar is called Bar Kaima, a word play, Hebrew for “Sustainable”. It was opened as a cooperative pub by the social protesters just two weeks ago.
The Social Protest started on July 14th in 2011. Initially a group of hundred people established tents in the Rothschild Boulevard in the center of Tel Aviv. It was supposed to be a symbolic protest against the high renting prices in Tel Aviv. Soon, other protesters with different topics joined. The movement expanded and found its peak in August when over 450,000 protesters took the street. The tents on the Rothschild Boulevard charged the protest with a festival-like atmosphere. People gathered to sing, paint and discuss.
“We want our Welfare State back”
The protesters min topics are the high cost of living, for example the rising cheese-price, and the high rent. To rent a 1-room apartment in Tel Aviv you pay around 835.16 $.This goes along with the cuts on social programs like the one on public housing.
“We want our Welfare State back,” Honi states. “Israel has changed from a welfare state to a neoliberalistic one. We want regulation against high cost of living and cuts on social programs.”
Another proble
m is to growing number of contract workers. Even public institutions employ security guard, cleaners, etc. on a temporary base. These workers are not protected by labor laws. At the same time labor unions have loosened their political influence.
Somebody calls from the kitchen, interrupting us, there is no Focaccia, I get some sort of Pizza, with Zaatar, a very delicious spice, on it.
In October the protest ebbed, tents were removed by the police. It seemed like the summer of resistances died out, when winter set in.
“People got tired. They still have to work, have they families, they couldn’t stay in the tents forever,” Honi explains. “But we still are supported by large parts of the population, even though not everybody is marching with us. The last year’s protests, when up to 5% of the population took the streets, have woken up the people and politicians have to react, that is a huge success.”
There have been some achievements made
“I can sense, that there is fear. I’m telling you this as a person, who works for the government. People there are aware of what is going on in the streets. Just recently some ministers refused to take a new BMW for government vehicle, ” Honi says.
“I am not a person, I am not a human being, I am a walking money bill”
Last year during the protest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed a committee, the Trajtenberg Committee, to propose solutions to Israel’s socioeconomic problems.
And just a week ago the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) passed a law to control the high haircuts given to the big Israeli companies.
The new law includes the appointment of a commissioner to ensure that managers of public savings will not be allowed to agree to debt settlements involving discounts that serve the purposes of indebted companies at the expense of savers. One deputy called it a victory for the public against the system.
But for the protesters the problems haven’t been solved, this is why in early 2012 groups tried to revive the protest, and this time try to set up more specific demands.
In the hands of the tycoons
We’ve left the bar and are now on our way to meeting point for the new Demonstration. Sun sets, it is Saturday night, the end of the weekend, since the Israeli weekend starts with Shabbat on Friday afternoon.
On our way to the meeting point for tonight’s protest Honi explains me about the so called tycoons, about the 6 or 7 families that control the Israeli economy.
This big Israeli Business Magnate got large loans from the banks, to expand their businesses. Many of the tycoons invested the money overseas, cut into struggle due to the financial crisis. Like Nochi Dankner, who is the main owner of a large investment company called IDB Group through which he is holding many different companies like Koor Industries. Koor Industries lost 30% of the value inside three months because of speculation in Credit Suisse stock.(Check: Haaretz )
Most of the tycoons like Dankner get debt settlement. According to the Israeli Financial Newspaper Globes, there were 53 debt settlements totaling NIS 15.8 billion in the past three years. (Check: Globes)
“Our money is used for credits for these tycoons. And when they cannot pay back their money, they get haircuts. This is not fair, no one cuts our debts,” Honi complains.
Mourning for the protester, who set himself on fire
We arrive a big
group of people, gathering in front of a high building.
Tonight’s marching will be different than the ones that take part every Saturday night. Moshe Silman, the man who set himself on fire during the demonstration a week ago as a protest against being kicked out of public housing, just died the night before.
This is why the protesters meet in front of the public housing company. Although you hear voices claiming it is not fair to blame the public housing company for Silman’s death, since the company also suffers under the cuts on social budgets. You see some sad faces, some angry faces. Speeches are held, people record them with their Smartphones.
Military and violence on the protests
“This year the protests are way more violent, the police going up hard on us,” tells Honi, whowas among the 90 people that got arrested during a protest in June in accuse of pushing a police man. One of Honis friends tells me that this year the military is included. “They have high official sitting in some of the buildings close to us and have us monitored with sensors,” he adds.
Then we start walking. There is no shouting, no clapping, no drumming. The walk is supposed to be quiet to mourn the death of Silman.You see all kind of people during the marching: Students, greyheaded Ladys, young parents pushing baby strollers.
We pass a man playing Sinatra’s “I did it my way” on his trompete.
Then we arrive at the place where Silman sets himself on fire, a week ago. People put candles and flowers on a white blanket on the ground. More speeches are held, some end in yelled discussions. As Arab woman holds a speech on how the protest brought Jews and Arabs together, a man bursts out into angry shouting. Protesters try to calm him.
“They got us stoned on this conflict”
“They got us stoned on this conflict, so we don’t think about all the other stuff, and meanwhile they steal from us,” Honi says. “We feed the occupation with our money, taxes, the cuts on social budgets, everything goes to the military, to root in some settlements,” Honi explains me while we try to find our way through the crowd. (If you want to read more about it: check out this blog)
“You have to understand, that the external threats, the eventually upcoming war with Iran, is not affecting our daily life. We live this parallel live. It sounds surrealistic, but there is a political live and a daily life. The Political life affects us, every now and then, meanwhile we have other problems, like finding a job, paying the rent.”
We arrive the end of the demonstration. Soon, people start to spread. It is late, the next day is another working day.
Talking about the weather
Israelis love to talk about the weather. Every conversation starts with a little chat about current temperature. It basically goes like this.
“It’s so hot. I hate the heat; I want to leave and go somewhere, where it’s cold,” they say.
“You shouldn’t say this. You are so lucky to live here. I hate the cold,” I answer.
“Oh I would love it. When it’s cold, you just put on more clothes. But here… you can’t take of any more clothes. Even if you go naked you still sweat.”
“Not at all, there is a limitation to it. During winter you still feel cold, and it makes your fingertips numb and your face burn!”
“I would still love it. Here you sweat just by crossing the street. You have to shower all the time!”
“And it rains. It rains so much! Whenever you leave the house you have to make sure to take a warm jacket and an umbrella with you. You just put on some shorts and a shirt.”
“See, that’s the problem. You always wear a shirt and shorts, never put on any cool clothes. “
“In Germany you buy yourself a pretty dress and you never get the chance to wear it. You could combine it with a pair of tights but you still have to cover it with your stinky, grey raincoat before you leave the house. It doesn’t do any difference what you are wearing”
The debate is getting heated. It’s time to underline our points.
We take out our smartphones. They show me pictures of their vacations to the Giant Mountains in the Czech- Republic, to Seattle or some other snowy place. I show them pictures of my university gotten flooded by thunderstorms.
There is no chance one of us gives in. After a while we just give up. We shake our heads in disbelief at so much naivety. Then we order a beer. They order a Guinness, I have a Goldstar
These talks make me smile. They hold up a mirrow to me, making me realize how stubborn and alike we all are: Live is always greener on the other side.
The Promised Land 