Israel: FML! part 2

News sources are supposed to be “fair and balanced,” to quote a media conglomerate that is neither. The news should be free of bias. There are guiding principles of journalism which ensure fair coverage. But what happens when a newspaper is biased? What happens when it quotes its own staff? Nothing! People still read it! This is what happens at al-Jazeera English (AJE).

Many of the articles found on al-Jazeera English (http://english.aljazeera.net) seem fair and informative. It often runs articles which focus on more international situations, rather than domestic or regional issues. Some of AJE’s practices, however, are less than newsworthy. There are two main methods to which I object: quoting your own staff, and being ridiculous about Israel.

AJE quotes its own staff. An article will lack a by-line, and then quote the al-Jazeera correspondent in that area. Many articles follow the format of an initial presentation of the facts, followed by a quote from either an “al-Jazeera correspondent" or someone else. Here is a quote from a recent article about the Fatah conference in Bethlehem:

Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from outside the conference centre in the West Bank town, said Abbas' words were an attempt to appeal to a movement divided over how it should proceed.
"The kind of heritage that Fatah carries is based on the fact that it led armed resistance. It would have been very difficult to conceive of Mahmoud Abbas disowning that legacy," she said.
"The division in Fatah is not only generational, it is also about the tactics of the movement - where it must move forward, how it must deal with Hamas and the division, and how it must deal with Israel."

And here is another one, about Honduras’ ousted leader:

Mariana Sanchez, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Mexico City said: "Mexico is considered the big brother of Central America so it is very important for Zelaya to come here and get the support of Calderon.
"Zelaya is launching what he has called a diplomatic crusade. He needs the presidents of Latin American to continue voicing their support. He intends to go to Brazil in the next few days another very important country."

Neither of these correspondents is saying anything particularly inflammatory, but it still raises concerns that a newspaper would quote its own people.

My second main concern with AJE is its negative portrayal of Israel. Some news sources may be more pro-Palestine than pro-Israel, but AJE goes beyond the pale. I have never read an article supporting Israel in any way, or one that criticizes Palestinians or their leadership. Is it possible that Israel has never done anything good in the past year that I’ve been reading AJE? Is it possible that the Palestinians have not made a single mistake? In addition to being one-sided, AJE enjoys criticizing American politics (don’t we all!), especially as pertains to Jews.

In one alarming article, AJE reports on how the “Israel lobby” caused Charles Freeman to rescind his candidacy for a US intelligence post. Worse than quoting their own staff, AJE quotes some shmuck from The Daily Beast blog. Here’s his quote:

Max Blumenthal, a blogger and journalist for the Daily Beast website who has been following Freeman's nomination process, told Al Jazeera that his withdrawal was "a catastrophic defeat for the Obama administration".
"What happened is the Israel lobby won," he said.
"What [Freeman] said that I think is most remarkable in his statement, is that apparently the Obama administration will not be able to dictate its own Mideast policy and he places the blame for this squarely on the Israel lobby."

Blumenthal said that the Israel lobby had "been furiously emailing sympathetic reporters, smearing him [Freeman] in public" and that "political decisions came into play with respect to [Freeman's] views on Israel and essentially his appointment was torpedoed".

This was the Israel lobby's "first all-out fusillade and they succeeded because they knew that Freeman would be dispensable to political elements in the White House that needed to court the Israel lobby, needed their money for senate races", he said.

Crazy, right? It’s as if a murky group of Jews got together and had some sort of –I don’t know—conspiracy! Nowhere in the article (which you should read, if you read any of the links) does it name anyone or any organizations which might be part of this “Israel lobby.” And in case you don’t see where I’m going with this, let me spell it out for you: accusing Jews of evil conspiracies is an old form of anti-Semitism which started with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged “historical” document supposedly detailing a Jewish plot to take over the world.

Another article presents one Palestinian man’s amateur collection of Holocaust pictures as a museum. The so-called curator is called an “academic,” though no titles or information about his education are mentioned. Images of the Holocaust are juxtaposed with Palestinian suffering, and others suggest that Israel was created as a direct result of the Holocaust. One picture in the museum includes the caption “Make your final account with Hitler and the Nazi Germans, not with the Palestinians." This is an ignorant and outrageous statement to make: Hitler died in the 40’s, the Nazi party is banned in many places, and Germany and Israel have a warm diplomatic and economic relationship. The museum claims Palestinians are “paying” for the Holocaust. Presenting the Holocaust in such a way is a fraudulent and misleading account, and it cannot serve to enlighten or educate in an accurate way. Arab countries promote ignorance about the Holocaust, and many have never heard of it or think it was fabricated or exaggerated. I don’t think any countries deny or fail to acknowledge the suffering of Palestinians (especially at the hands of Israel,) though many Palestinians feel their plight is not sufficiently recognized. It is inappropriate and ignorant to merge the two situations without extensive context. In short, this Holocaust museum will not inspire tolerance. It also claims that Israelis visit the museum, but Israelis are not allowed into the West Bank.

The article—which meets no journalistic standards—about Israeli PM Netenyahu’s speech acknowledging the need for a Palestinian state was so inflammatory that I will have to exercise extreme restraint in not repeating it in its entirety. Here are six quotes, from each of the six sections, with their given subject:

In the tradition of victorious colonialists, Netanyahu's vision for the future emanates from a self-entitlement to rewrite history and to determine the fate of his defeated subjects.

Revisionist history
In other words, the presence of Palestinians in their lands is portrayed as an accident of history – thus annulling in one speech their history and stripping them of their legal, let alone their national, rights.

‘Jewish homeland’
Asking the Arabs and the Palestinians to recognise that Israel is the historic "Jewish homeland" is paramount to demanding that the Arab, Muslim and Palestinians themselves recant their own history, roots and identity.

Palestinian state
His demand for a "demilitarised state" is thus a logical demand, for how else can Netanyahu and Israel and its future leaders ensure the total subordination of future Palestinian generations who will be borne into a perpetual prison in the guise of statehood?

Breakdown of spirit
Netanyahu is after a moral and psychological breakdown of the Palestinian spirit. Breaking the spirit of a nation is not achieved solely through depriving Palestinians of the right to resist or of their right to self-defence, but by forcing the Palestinians to relinquish their memory.

‘Simple truth’
Netanyahu's narrative, long propagated by the Israeli right wing and extremist Zionists, is that the establishment of Israel was an exercise of the right of the Jewish people to their natural homeland - Israel bears no responsibility for the Palestinian refugees and finally there was never a problem of dispossession and occupation.

AJE’s complete rejection of Netenyahu’s speech is nothing short of tragic. Instead of appreciating Netenyahu making a bold step (for him,) AJE condemns Netenyahu, slams Israel, and dismisses the entire way negotiations work. His speech was not meant as a final offer, but as a first step towards peace. He had refused to acknowledge the need for two states for weeks, and this was the first time he admitted it. Without this speech, any kind of negotiations would be impossible. You don’t have to like everything he said, but you can’t deny how important it was for him to recognize the need for a Palestinian state.

In the next article that I will tear to shreds, AJE’s Jerusalem correspondent Jacky Rowland describes how Israel is manipulating history itself. It claims that Israel is using antiquities to redefine history in favor of the Jews (a Jewish plot??) Additionally, the same people who run one of the sites (supposedly) also buy land in Silwan, thereby “dispossessing” Palestinians (further evidence of a plot.) The article was listed in the commentary and analysis section, but it’s still offensive to anyone who is looking for legitimate reporting.

The Arab world is prone to believing conspiracy theories, and AJE (I don’t even want to know what the Arabic version is saying) capitalizes on that. It regularly refers to Israel as “Tel Aviv,” instead of by its capital Jerusalem. In addition to their blatant anti-Israel bias (try reading the series about the PLO—“History of a Revolution”), AJE simply fails multiple tests of journalism. And if this is what’s happening in English, what are they saying in Arabic? If articles about Israel lack credibility, what does that say about stories on other regions? My reaction to their stories on Israel ranges from disappointed to horrified.

Israel: FML! part 1

Israel was accused of many things during its 22-day war with Hamas militants in Gaza. Seven months after the fact, people still can’t agree on what actually happened—a common theme in Mid-East history. Even the disputed facts of what caused the war seem certain compared to how hazy the war looks. Israel attacked Hamas because they had been launching rockets into Israel, because they had blockaded the country, because Hamas had won the election and expelled Fatah. It’s all very simple! There is still a blockade, though Israel and Egypt send in aide daily. What Gazans want most now is construction materials like pipes and concrete, which Israel won’t allow for fear it will be made into weapons. (This fear is not without warrant—Hamas and Hezbollah have both used periods of calm to rearm themselves.)

I regret not citing a source for these, but during the war I kept a list of accusations against Israel. The first was that they used depleted uranium. This claim never went anywhere, and it’s totally ridiculous.

Next on my list is the use of white phosphorus, which proved to be true. White phosphorus is a chemical agent which creates a lot of smoke when it burns, and it is internationally allowed to be used for cover in open spaces. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many wide open spaces in Gaza, and some people were admitted to hospitals with burns suggesting a chemical agent. The IDF defended its use, saying it was using a legal substance in a legal manner.

Then there is the more general accusation of “war crimes.” Israel is a paranoid country, inhabited by paranoid people. When the UN asked to investigate the Gaza war, Israel denied them access to the Strip. The UN has a habit of passing resolutions against Israel, and there is a legitimate lack of trust on both sides. Ynet.com reported that “Berlin's Der Spiegel magazine reports that Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza is trying to get hundreds of alleged war crimes claims heard in European courts.”

Amnesty International accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes.

In an Al Jazeera article which I regret not dating, IDF soldiers reportedly “laughed as they opened fire.” Israel has one of the most humane armies in the world. They do not benefit from civilian casualties, or even militant casualties because those are celebrated as “martyrs.” The IDF dropped thousands of leaflets and alerted residents through phone calls as to which areas they should avoid. Israel sent in troops on foot—at a risk to their own soldiers—so that they could avoid loss of Palestinian life. One doesn’t have to support the political motivations for the war, or Israel’s military tactics, but the IDF deserves credit for some of its actions. Furthermore, painting Jewish soldiers as evil, murdering monsters is an old form of anti-Semitism called the Blood-Libel.

Haaretz.com reported on January 31, 2009, that “A Brussles-based research group accused Israel of enlisting child soldiers,” and “use of underage Palestinians as informants and sometimes human shields.” Those are pretty serious accusations. It was unclear whether the alleged child soldiers were Palestinian or Israeli. Israel drafts most of its citizens when they turn 18. Arabs are not required to enlist, and Haredim can do community service instead. Army service is a rite of passage in Israeli society.

Human Rights Watch blasted Israel’s use of remote-piloted vehicles, saying their indiscriminate fire killed 87 people.

(Haaretz.com’s search engine is useless, and Jpost.com makes you pay for old articles. Rip off!)

So depleted uranium did not happen, white phosphorus did, war crimes have possibly been committed—although Israel doesn’t want to cooperate with groups it know will condemn it, and laughing while killing is just ridiculous. Israel released its own report on the war, which includes details about incidents in which Gazans were injured, and when UN cites were damaged. The report was widely dismissed. I’ve been reading it, and it actually sounds pretty reasonable. On the other hand, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned Israel for everything in their reports. Israel is facing a lot of criticism—more than when US soldiers kill Iraqi civilians, more than when Mexican drug gangs kill police, etc. People (especially in NorCal, it seems) have the impression that Israel is a worse human rights violator than China. Some of the criticism is valid, but some is outlandish. I’d say about half the claims against Israel proved to be false or exaggerated.

Of course, Israel wasn’t exactly perfect in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. Israelis are paranoid and defensive (often for good reason,) and that gave off the appearance that they had something to hide. However, I don’t want to see Israel doing more apologizing, and I don’t want it to give legitimacy to groups which really have no more credibility in Israel. I find it extremely alarming when so many groups rush to condemn Israel. Why isn’t anyone rushing to blame Hamas for what it let happen in its territory? I am left with serious questions about the media, which will bring me to my next post.

7/19/09 Bottom of the Hill: Judgement Day

Judgement Day always picks eclectic bands to play with, and no exception was made at Bottom of the Hill on July 19^th. Opening the show was The Definite Articles, who want to sound like The Decemberists. They have a cellist and two violinists, accompanied by a keyboard and drums. It was their first time playing in a venue as large at BoTH, and it showed. There was some awkward stage chatter and apologies, and the singer hasn’t really come into his own. I believe The Definite Articles will sound better with practice.

In between sets, a man who looked about 60 asked me to watch his stool. “I’m going to smoke a cigarette of marijuana,” he added, perhaps as an invitation. He was pleased that his stool had not been usurped in his absence. Oh, San Francisco.

The second band, Triclops!, seemed to please our stoned gentleman at first with their weird noises. Unfortunately, they soon devolved into screaming and crack-dancing. Crack-dancing is a form of dance which mimics the motions of a crack-head. It involves rotating the body like a robot, twitching the arms like an autistic person, and generally behaving as if heavily drugged. Mid-way through Triclops!, a fellow came up behind him and took his stool, which he had not sat on yet. A few minutes later he went to pull the stool out from under the bar and what the-- ! Gone?! His eyes popped out of their sockets and his eyebrows went clear past the top of his head. He turned his head around in such a fashion as to cause his neck to become twisted. His neck was stretched out by a foot after all his neck-craning. I pointed to the dastardly fellow who had committed the crime. The man pointed at him, then made a gesture of holding the stool under the bar, then shook his fist. The young rapscallion returned the missing item. Towards the end of the set our friend asked me if I liked the band. He said he didn’t like them very much. I was trying to avoid this man who lacked a full command of American personal space customs, and he picked up on it by commenting, ‘You’re very quiet, by the way.” Right.

I will admit that despite the fact that they sound horrible, Triclops! is made up of men in their 30’s, who seem to have a experience with being in a band. The lead vocalist even had some funny stage chatter. And I don’t say that lightly- he was legitimately funny. I have no desire to see them again, but I bet they’re great if you’re into “that kind of thing.”

Judgement Day has been around for 7 years (and I’ve been there since the beginning, I might brag.) It is comprised of two Patzner brothers who play violin and cello, and a drummer. Their songs are dark and morbid, and they tell stories. Anton on violin has toured with Bright Eyes and composed a movie score. Some serious stuff here! They have two acoustic CD’s, a full-length CD called Dark Opus, and a newly-released 7” vinyl. Don’t have a record player? Then you’re not cool enough to see Judgement Day.

Besides that they are totally bad ass, Judgement Day also has a talent for attracting a wide range of people to their shows. You’ll get anything from ugly-hair hipsters who rode in on fixie bikes to very large metal heads to small, nerdy Asians with long hair rocking out. Judgement Day can fit into any bill. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like them!

3/5/09 Jerusalem: The Idan Raichel Project

The Jewish Agency runs a scholarship organization called MASA which helps fund long-term programs in Israel, like the one I was on. Most, if not all, of the peole on Career Israel (around 100) received $1000-$3000 or more towards the program. There are dozens of long term Israel programs supported by MASA, with thousands of participants. MASA had the bright idea of trying its hand at hosting a concert with the most well-known Israeli band, The Idan Raichel Project.

The parking lot was full of tour buses, and foreign Jews were running all over Jerusalem (more than usual). At the time I described it as “a paradigm of a clusterfuck.” A few MASA executives spoke before IRP was brought on, and they were booed! I don’t care if you gave me $3000 to come to Israel, you’re keeping me from seeing a band!

The Idan Raichel Project is a musical group fronted by Idan Riachel. He gets credit for the work, but he is actually not that talented. He has three main singers- a white girl, an Ethiopian girl, and an Ethiopian boy. His songs are collaborations between many artists, and they often involve many types of instruments. Jews at American summer camps sing his songs in their bunks when they wake up.

This was one of the least impressive performances I have ever seen. Everything about the situation was wrong: the audience, the room, the performers themselves. Raichel mostly jammed out at his keyboard on the side of the stage while the singers held the spotlight. The Ethiopian singers do cool Ethiopian dances and sing in Amharic and Hebrew. There was no stage-audience interaction. It was difficult to hear over the constant screaming of the crowd. My favorite part of the show was watching young adults from all around the world mangle the unfamiliar Hebrew words in the songs. My Ulpan class had learned some songs, ironically on a day when Idan—we’re on a first name basis at this point—was spotted having lunch in our gay community center on King George Street, where he lives. As the night went on, people became bolder and moved to the front of the auditorium. I used to love passionate Jew dancing where everyone jumps around together, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. A lot of the MASA participants are 18 year olds on year courses, and I felt a little sick watching the shameless flirting between busty girls in sweat pants and pre-facial hair boys who have no chance of scoring.

For all the hype surrounded the Idan Raichel Project—at least among American Jews—I was wildly unimpressed. I had seen them in Santa Cruz, and they didn’t even stay around to talk to the 50 people who came to see them. I am completely panning this performance, but I will give props to the three other singers in the Project who held the music and the performance together. Would I see the Idan Raichel Project again? Yes. Will I make sure to be drunk? Yes.

Cultural Learnings 11.0

Things got a little hectic as my stay in Israel came to a close. I spent 6 nights in a row away from Jerusalem, then moved out of my apartment two days later.

11.1 The last few days of the school year lacked any kind of educational instruction. Students and faculty had both given up. On the second to last day the school provided tents in the play yard to provide shade. Perhaps some kind of activities were going on in there, but I doubt any teachers had the motivation for that. Sarah’s 4^th graders who I read with all made me the same cards. My English-speaking 5^th grader made me a card. Tali got one out of my four 5^th graders to make me a card. He drew a picture of the Grinch. Tali got me a Michal Negrin notepad. She left the receipt in the bag, and she forgot to have Sarah sign the card. Bye!

11.2 Career Israel had an epic closing seminar in Shefayim. We were given back the goals we had written down on the first day. My first goal was to unfriend at least 3 people on Facebook. I also wrote “I want to make out with at least 2 ppl. at least. srsly.” I shared with the group first. It seems that I was my old wild self at the beginning and end of the program, but for a few months I really couldn’t be bothered. The talent show was the best part of the seminar, because I won it. Well, co-won. The MC’s did a great job, and they put together a contest for Mr. and Ms. Career Israel 2009. The winners had to collect the most points through a number of trials including making a wedding dress out of toilet paper (my contestant won by dressing me), how many pieces of Bisli they could fit in their mouths, and how long they could say “ehhh.” It was brilliant! A vote was taken to determine superlatives. I was nominated for “Career Clown” along with the freakishly tan Jersey girl and a French girl. The Frenchie one! People told me that she’s really crazy and should be medicated. I was fairly offended. In addition to all that, there were also talents performed, but clearly mine was the best since I won. I read a tribute to an artist who sucks. The idea came to me while I was in the shower. It was the first time I’d ever done comedy like that, and it seemed to work. I got a lot of laughs and compliments. Go me! The boy who also won went to UCSC with me. He drummed. He’s good at that. We split our bottle of wine- I downed my half in 10 minutes. Then we had a dance party! The next day we went to a water park, and that was the end of it all. Some suckers still had work, though.

11.3 I didn’t go home after Shefayim. Lucky picked me up in Tel Aviv, and we went to her apartment in Haifa. I stayed there three nights. We visited the Baha’i garden briefly to look for souvenirs. Apparently Baha’i don’t sell souvenirs. I had asked my mom’s cousin if I could stay with him for three days after I have to move out of my apartment. He called me back to suggest that I stay with his ex-wife instead, and to notify me that his father had passed away. Conveniently, the funeral wouldn’t mess up any of my plans.

11.3 I had one very busy Sunday. I wanted to go to the other Baha’i garden in Akko, so Lucky took me there- partially to get really good humus. Akko is a mixed city, but some of the street signs lacked Arabic, which I thought was just rude. We had very tasty humus. The Baha’i garden there also didn’t sell souvenirs. Lucky decided to save me the trouble (and shekels) of taking a bus to Nahariyya, so she drove me. That was very helpful! From there I took a sheirut (shared cab) to Ma’alot, where I met up with a friend from elementary school who got married at 19 and has a toddler. The funeral was in the evening in Netanya. I took a sheirut back to Nahariyya, but then missed the train to Haifa. If only I had known that there are toilets in each car! By then I was running late, so Lucky offered to pack my suitcase for me and pick me up at the train station. Very useful! She drove me straight to the funeral. A tour bus of old people was just unloading. Apparently my uncle Jack had been very involved in his synagogue. He had stomach cancer, and he couldn’t bear to live without his late wife, who died last year. He was 92.

Baha'i garden in Akko

Ma'alot

I had never been to a Jewish funeral before. His body lay wrapped in a talit on a gurney. A young and awkward rabbi spoke, followed by my mom’s two cousins and a shul congregant. He was wheeled to the grave, and a few Orthodox fellows pulled him into the grave. They placed heavy stones across him, then allowed people to fill the grave with dirt. I felt sad for my grandma—Jack was her big brother. A number of people went to Jack’s house for evening prayers and food. A relative—who shares great-grandparents with me—drove me to Tel Aviv, where I met Lucky at Sub Kuch, a terrible Indian restaurant and guest house. I wasn’t in the mood for open mic. I slept at Lucky’s house in Ramat Efal, which is always amazing because they have things like central air and a dishwasher.

11.4 Lucky’s mom drove me to Tel Aviv, and I took a bus to Yafo. Yafo is one of my top two favorite places in Israel. It’s so damn cute, and the shuk there is the bomb. You can see all of Tel Aviv along the beach. I had my suitcase with me, so I found a youth hostel and left it there. They didn’t really care that I didn’t have a room. I met a friend from Santa Cruz, and we bought scarves from a man in the shuk. I had been there before, and I went back specifically to him because he only has scarves and tapestries, he’s not pushy, and his prices are good. He doesn’t speak English, but he didn’t know how to say “wide,” which was really helpful. My friend is very warm, so when the merchant’s wife came in, she asked her to teach her how to wrap a head scarf. She demonstrated on both of us. I ended up buying 9 scarves for my friends! Unfortunately my camera battery died, and I didn’t have enough money to buy a new one.

In the afternoon I visited an adult friend in Ra’anana. This woman is the step-mother of a boy from my elementary school, went to my shul, and helped me write my college essay. She also gave me my first full-time job babysitting when I was 18. I really like her! We had a lovely time, and her kids were so cute that I began to want to be a teacher again. Incidentally, her stepson—my classmate from elementary school, high school, Hebrew school, and college—called while I was there. He unfriended me on facebook a while ago. Awkward!

11.5 My last real adventure was going to Nachalat Binyamin, the bi-weekly artists’ market in Tel Aviv. I bought hamsot for my grandmothers. There was a lot of cool stuff I wish I could take. I got jahnun for the last time. Then I finally went back to crazy-ass Jerusalem.

11.6 I spent my last night in Jerusalem packing and cleaning alone. All of my housemates were gone. I was starting to freak out about how much I had to do and how I was going to do it when I got a facebook message notifying me that my favorite band is going on hiatus after their last two August shows. I have seen The Matches 37 times over the past 7 years. I love their music, I love them, and above all I love the community that has grown over the years. A number of popular local bands have folded over the past few years, and each time the scene lost something. The Matches are really the core of what’s left. Additionally, I don’t even have the money for a ticket. I was more upset about The Matches than I was about leaving Israel.

11.7 My mom’s cousin’s ex-wife—hereon called “aunt”—picked me up early Friday morning, but of course the CI madricha was nowhere to be found. There was still a lot of moving out to do, and only my slow housemate Justin was around. My aunt took over like a true executive and took whatever food and kitchenware CI wasn’t going to take. There were dishes in the apartment when we moved in, but the madricha wanted the kitchen emptied. I spent Shabbat with her and her daughter who was too sick to do anything. They live across the street from an Arab village. We heard hammering in the morning, and my aunt correctly predicted a wedding—fireworks included! My aunt had over her ex-sister-in-law and her daughter and her adorable family (who I met at Passover) for dinner. The power went out because the kum-kum was broken and sucking all the power. Israelis all have electric kettles which boil water in about one minute. Americans are really missing out on this appliance. Not only did she turn the power back on (not allowed on Shabbat,) but she experimented with the circuit breaker until she figured out what the bad appliance was. The two of us had very interesting discussions about politics and religion and gender.

11.8 Lucky picked me up from my aunt’s house in East Talpiot. We went to the Old City where we failed to find a hamsa in Portuguese for my house-cleaner. The first merchant we went to handed us a hamsa in Spanish when we asked for Portuguese. I said I also needed one in Spanish, and he said he only had Portuguese. Really?? Then he changed his mind and found one in Spanish, which was of course identical to the “Portuguese” one. We left. The rest of the merchants said that I would never find on in Portuguese. We got one that says Jerusalem for our house-cleaner, and one that has the blessing for the home in Spanish for a friend from shows who has Mexican heritage. I got a necklace with a small hamsa charm for a male friend. We made one last stop in the boonies to return my phone (and Justin’s, and his friend’s), and that was the last I saw of Jerusalem.

I went to open mic at Sub Kuch with Lucky. Her dad came, which was real cute. They sang a song together. I also sang “Oasis” by Amanda Palmer with her. Leah wanted to see me before I left, so she walked to Sub Kuch. We got Japanika one last time, then went back to Beit Leni with Lucky and her boyfriend. We sang “Oasis” again, which was well-received. We went home at 2, and we had to get up at 4:30 for my flight. Goodbye, Beit Leni.

Things I Miss

The Phenomenauts


Mexican food


my sister


Saturn Café


UCSC Chabad


Neary Lagoon


The Matches


ranch dressing


KALX


concerts


cereal


paychecks


free laundry


Planned Parenthood


my twin bed

In n Out


crunchy fries (these are from Saturn Cafe!)


frosting


Beetlejuice


[thanks to the Internet for most of the pictures. Eric Neuman for Phenomenauts. Hannah Ledeen for the Matches. Daniel Schein for concerts.]

Cultural Learnings 10.0

I went on three trips over the past two weeks, and each was more insane than the one before.

10.1 First I went to Petra. This involved: a bus downtown, a bus to Tel Aviv, buses from and to the bus station since I got berekas in the extra time, a 5-hour bus ride to Eilat, and a taxi ride to the border. We crossed the border easily and got brightly colored dinars. We then took a taxi to the bus station. (Note: the bus station is a parking lot.) I wanted to pee before the 2-hour bus ride from Aqaba to Petra, so I found the bathroom. Instead of a toilet or even a Porta-Potty, there was a room with a hole in the ground. The hole was surrounded by a porcelain cover with spots for one’s feet. There was a spigot and a pitcher with which one could rinse one’s feet and the ground. Gross. We waited an hour for our bus to leave. On the way to Petra I found myself being forced to consider whether I preferred plummeting off a cliff or dying in a fiery crash. The bus took us right to our hostel.

Our hostel was the best rated in Petra. Our host was very accommodating and did everything to make us comfortable, even driving us to and from the park. The room didn’t have air conditioning, and the toilet was so close to the wall that we had to sit sideways on the toilet. There was a map of Jordan in the lobby which didn’t name Israel. We spent the rest of the day walking through the park. It was really phenomenal. Five year old children approach tourists with necklaces and postcards. Bedouin men try to sell donkey, horse, and carriage rides. I got to see a lot of different types of Muslims, including a man and two women from Saudi Arabia. I couldn’t imagine stomping around in the sun with only my eyes exposed, if that. I ended up chatting with a Bedouin vendor for a while. He and his friends really wanted us to come to a tea ceremony. None of us wanted to (I was with four friends,) but some in my group had a difficult time saying no to people. We didn’t end up going and they totally called us out on it the next day (or at least the people who suggested they would come.)

One of my friends has a giant butt and colored hair, and she got a lot of attention. The Jordanian men would glance rather than stare, which I prefer. She seemed to be mostly oblivious to it. She’s a chatty girl who speaks heavily British-accented Iraqi Arabic, so she ended up scoring us some good deals. I think her accent endeared her to the many men we spoke to. However on the bus ride into Petra, the teenager behind her slipped his hand down the back of her shirt while she was sleeping. The kid’s father was there.

Surprisingly, I found Jordanian men really attractive. The Bedouin men wear eyeliner, and most of the police and other men I noticed has chiseled features. The border guard on the way back had super curly eyelashes. I haven’t been interested in Israeli men at all this whole time. Jordanian women wear much nicer clothes than Palestinian women. The robes were nicer, and modern dresses were also way cuter. I didn’t eat much, but I was not impressed with Jordanian food.

The second day we rode horses into the park. My scout said he is a teacher and he makes 200 dinar a month. That’s about $300. He asked how much teachers made in the US, and it pained me to see the wheels turning in his head when I told him $40,000. (I completely made that figure up.) We walked for a ways, then rode donkeys up the 800 flights of stairs. It was kind of horrifying. My friends felt bad for the donkeys. I felt bad for the Bedouins. They barely even broke sweats! I had been chugging water all day, and they carried nothing with them. We saw the monastery at the top, and it was really big. We were definitely too scared to ride the donkeys down hill, so we walked. One of my friends had told a Bedouin lady selling jewelry that she’d stop by on the way down (even though she had no intention of doing so), and she totally called her out on it when my friend refused to look at the necklaces. I usually just ignore all of them.



I felt angry that the Bedouins live without dignity—exploiting their children, living in caves. I didn’t know who to be angry at, though—the Bedouins themselves or some facet of modern society which put them into that place.

We got a taxi ride straight to the border in the afternoon, and we found our hostel in Eilat. It felt like a palace! It was so clean and came with shampoo and a flat screen TV. It was 40°C outside, and it felt like sitting in front of an open oven. We tried to go to the Chabad house for dinner, but it wasn’t for tourists, and we wound up just sitting there for an hour. No one invited us, perhaps because we weren’t all modestly dressed. We spent Shabbat day on the beach. All my friends went home during Shabbat, but I waited until it was over and went by myself. I got home at 2 am.

10.2 At 8 the next day we all attended a seminar in Sderot. Sderot is the closest town to the Gaza Strip, and it gets rocketed the most, though it has been more—though not completely—quiet since the ceasefire. In a previous blog post I mentioned an article which described a caterpillar bomb shelter on a play ground. That was the first place we went. Well, we were actually going to the Chabad house across the street. The whole building is a bomb shelter. We heard a speaker talk about Gaza and Sderot. We went to the police station where some of them Qassam rockets are piled up. Some of them say “Jerusalem al-Quds,” to suggest that they will one day reach there. I used to be an anxious child and always considered how I could be trapped and killed any place I was. Almost everything is bomb shelter in Sderot, but not quite. There are plenty of places where you would not make it into a shelter within 15 seconds. Sderot is my own personal living nightmare. We drove along a street which had been hit frequently, and our guide told us stories about what had happened in those houses—stories of fantastic luck and tragic misfortune. One house was still not repaired, and the roof was shattered and the yard strewn with household items. We saw one school which was only 1/3rd covered with a steel dome—the rest was too expensive. At the Sderot Media Center (also a bomb shelter) we watched film footage of rocket attacks. One showed children at a preschool. “Tsevah adom” sounds, and they all start running into the building. The teacher calmly ushers them inside. Once in the shelter they begin to count down to 1 and then sing so they won’t hear the explosion. We saw what someone in shock looks like. In the news it will often say there was a rocket attack with no casualties, and a few people were treated for shock. I had imagined someone sitting there wrapped in a blanket saying “Wow, I am so shocked. I really didn’t expect that. I was just sitting here and then I heard a huge explosion. Just, wow. I can’t believe it.” And the paramedic is sitting there next to her nodding and handing her a hot chocolate. That is not what shock looks like.



We heard from a dialog group, and they read us poems that Israeli and Palestinian children had written. Because the Gaza Strip is sealed off, we could not speak to any Gazans directly.

In 2005 the Israeli government evacuated 9000 Jews from the Gaza Strip. Many of them are living in Nitzan in pre-fab homes. There is a climbing structure there flying a flag for the Messiah. It was taken out of Gaza by the people, piece by piece. It is the only thing that came out. We heard a speaker talk about how her husband lost an arm and some fingers in two wars, and then the Israeli government made them leave their own home. We watched a very sad video about it. Many of the people in my program thought they were crazy. I was less convinced. I couldn’t help feeling compassion for these people. I had previously supported the withdrawal, seeing it as a necessary step towards peace. But there is no peace, and these people are living with 5 or 7 kids in tiny bungalows. I felt town between practicality and ideology. It was a wild day.
The art on the bomb shelter says "We are with you!" "You expelled orange and got red!" and a verse from the Torah about how we are G-d's people.

10.3 A friend from concerts came to Israel on birthright, and I got to see her. She is in the pro-Palestinian group on campus, but she now loves Israel. She saw most of the country, met soldiers, and went to the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade. That doesn’t mean she no longer supports Palestine, but now she has an excellent perspective on the situation.

10.4 Pride was very calm. The security to get into the park was separate for men and women, which is just inappropriate. Besides some drummers, everything was quiet. There were no chants, music, or singing along the march. The light posts flew rainbow flags. There was one protester along the route, and he held a sign that said “Gays spread AIDS.” I think he’s brave for protesting alone. I’ve been the minority voice before, and it sucks. Hopefully I wasn’t as ignorant as him. There were few children at this event, unlike in SF. Two parents carried signs in Hebrew that said "My son is gay and I am proud of him!" and "My son is gay: so what?" It was peaceful and positive, and appropriate for Jerusalem. There were some mostly Haredi protesters across the street, but they weren't very visible. Their signs said "Holyland, not homoland," "for home's sake go strait," and "strait is butiful!"


10.5 My friend and I went to Bethlehem with some of her friends from birthright. We took an Arab bus to the border. The checkpoint felt a little holocausty. We went first to the Church of the Nativity, which was very beautiful. Next we went to the market. The two boys we were with felt very uncomfortable. I don’t think people noticed us much. Our last stop was the security wall. I was so surprised at how much of it was peaceful and hopeful. As we walked along, a man started chatting with us from his front yard, which faces the wall. He invited us in for Turkish coffee. (I’m just mentioning that because it sounds exotic. He gave us Sprite.) We spoke with him and his family about living across the street from the wall. The cutest old lady ever said it was like living in a prison. She spoke French as well, and she said the nuns spoke it at school. Wow! She said the houses that were in the way were taken down. Our host said he doesn’t think Israel wants peace. He asked how a country that wants peace could … and he gestured to the wall. Sitting in this family’s rose garden literally in the shadow of the wall was one of the most powerful experiences I have had in Israel. Like in Sderot, I felt torn between the ideology of security and the practicality of doing something as crazy as building a big ass wall. I will definitely write more about this after I have had time to ponder.


10.6 Both in Bethlehem and in Petra, we tried not to mention Israel or the fact that we are Jews. I felt ashamed afterwards. I don’t want to put myself into an unsafe situation, but I also feel as though I am the Jewish ambassador to the world. I—personally—have to be an example of a Jew who isn’t greedy, who isn’t a soldier, who isn’t a settler, who isn’t JAPy, and who isn’t all the things people still feel about Jews. I rarely regret things, but I should have found a way to come out as a Jew in Bethlehem. Israelis aren’t allowed into the West Bank, so they really don’t see Jews other than settlers, soldiers, and on Arab-language TV. My adventures over the past two weeks have been eye-opening and confusing for me. And I only have two weeks left here to sort it all out!