Can you hear them, The helicopters;
I’m in New York. No need for words now;
We sit in silence. You look me;
In the eye directly, You met me;
I think it’s Wednesday, The evening;
The mess we’re in, And ooooh… (PJ Harvey, The Mess we’re in)

Israel is in a terrible mess right now. It is in a junction between two alternatives; The first alternative is becoming extremely nationalistic. Being national is what helps Israel to ease the pain and the death toll. The sacred bond between fellow israelies against a common enemy helps them to forget the troubles in israel. It helps them to forget the poverty, the corruption and the violence spread in the Israeli society. The other alternative is to call for stopping violence immediately; without any cause, without any settlement and without any demands.

None of these options are good for Israel, or for the Israelites.

As you know, Bombing kids and killing innocent people does not give Israel great public relations nor does it help that the death toll is by far greater on the other side . Moreover, The Israelites who are pro-peace are dealt severely in peace rallies worldwide (warning: hebrew link) and when the Israeli left demonstrates, it tends to be quite against Israel’s right to defend itself and calls for immediate disarmament.

I didn’t go to the Anti-war rally yesterday. I felt that it’s too early to doubt the government. I believe that it should act differently, but i don’t think that it should stop all military action. I do think that it should stop bombing where it is not sure that only terrorists exist; in hebrew it is called Statistical Bombing. (hebrew link) I do believe we should do our best to stop it.

The problem is that most demonstrators are Anti-Israel and not Pro-Peace. Were there any pro-peace actions i’d join. I don’t think that withdrawal now will save israel. Unlike signs in shown at Indymedia from the latest demonstration, Hizbullah is not acting out of self defense and Both the Hizbullah and Israel are continuously killing babies.

The left is supposed to be non violent. Non violent means that it does not believe in violent means, and that means that not only is Israel not entitled to use force, but also the Hizbullah. Being tolerant to the Hizbullah requires, from the basic decency of logic, to be equally tolerant towards israel. For me, as an Israeli it is hard to be tolerant towards an organization that wishes to kill me and eradicate me without any explination. It is really hard for me to read comments like this

“That state and anyone living under its fake constitution do not have the right to exist, not to mention “defend themselves.” And untill the Arab world wake up to this simple very basic fact, we wont stop fighting the shadows of an image created only in our minds. “

I do believe i have a right to exist, and i do have a right to defend myself. I think that taking israel as a fact and not as an image may help reach peace quicker. But if there’s no room for peace, and israel has to by annihilated in order to the Hizbullah to be satisfied I have no one to talk to.