Friday November 16, 2012
Dear North American student,
First, allow me to introduce myself. I’m your Israeli counterpart. I am a student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in my second year of a degree in international relations and Middle Eastern studies. Like you, I stayed out a little too late last night with my friends, and I have a million things that I really should be doing right now. But, if you’re taking the time to read this, then you, like me, are bothered by what’s going on right now in Israel and Gaza- enough that it’s taking you away, at least for a few minutes, from the other things on your to-do list.
This might be, for the moment, where the similarities between us end. Unlike you, the song I was listening to on the radio last night on the way to meet my friends was interrupted five (five!) times for rocket alerts. Though my friends and I were glued to our smartphones last night just like you and yours, we were constantly checking the news, not just our whatsapp. My current reality is a little different from yours, and I would like to tell you a bit about it.
I moved to Israel four years ago from Canada (where I grew up, I assume, more or less like you did). I served in the Israeli Air Force as a basic training commander, doing my best to teach both basic military skills and discipline to new recruits, and also instill in them the values that the IDF has decided are necessary for its soldiers to respect. (Yes, the IDF has an official moral code, which every soldier carries with his or her army ID card.) Most of my soldiers (18- and 19-year olds- what were you doing at that age?) went on to be technicians on various air force bases throughout the country. I’m guessing they’ve been busy the past few days. Once I finished my army service, I decided to stay in Israel to study because, for better or for worse, this is the place that I have come to call home and I can’t imagine leaving, even though a part of me is still sure that Canada is the real promised land.
Life here can be pretty unbelievable sometimes.
Some background. For the past twelve years, an increasing number of residents of southern Israel have been the victims of rocket attacks from Gaza. The radius in which Hamas is capable of striking has slowly but surely grown. (Last night it reached Gush Dan, the most populous and dense area of the country. That’s Tel Aviv.) There is no way I can even convey to you how absurd this situation is- that more than a million residents of a modern, western country find themselves, on a regular basis, with less than a minute to run for shelter. In some places, the amount of time they have to get to shelter from the time the siren begins is as little as fifteen seconds. The most incredible thing is that this has become the status quo. Every few weeks, there are a few days of rocket fire, and then things go back to normal- until next time. People have adjusted their lives to this unbelievable reality.
(Have you ever had your classes cancelled because of rocket fire? Talk to any student from Ben Gurion University, a large research university in Be’er Sheva, a city of over 200,000 people that in the past few years has come into rocket range. They’ll tell you what it ‘s like.)
So since Wednesday afternoon, when Israel began Operation Defensive Pillar, you would be hard-pressed to find many people here who disagree with what the country is doing. To understand this, you have to understand a few things about Israeli society. This country is small, in terms of population and area. Nobody here is far from anything or anyone. “Six degrees of separation” are, in Israel, reduced to a maximum of two. So though no rockets have hit Jerusalem, I feel connected to what’s going on in the South. I feel like I, too, am under attack. People here are concerned and worried, and hoping that this all ends soon. But they feel it is what must be done.
To be clear- though I call this place my home, I have no shortage of criticism about the government and many decisions that have been made, especially in the past few years. I don’t give my blind support to anything or anyone here. Israelis are universally critical- they will question, and undoubtedly find fault with, almost anything. But this is an operation that I support. I wish there was another way to do this; we haven’t found it yet. Countless efforts at negotiation have failed, countless ceasefires have been broken. What I know is that the current situation is unacceptable and untenable and must be dealt with. I am pained by the price being paid on both sides, but that doesn’t mean that I disagree with what we’re doing. If anything, living here has only made the whole situation seem even more confusing. It is more complex and multi-faceted than anyone can explain. This all just means that I, like most everyone here, am living in a state of inner conflict and dissonance. The sun still shines when there’s a war; it’s a beautiful day here today, sunny and cool. I can’t believe what is happening an hour away.
What people here want is what people everywhere want- things that most of you, to be honest, probably take for granted. To be able to live a normal life in peace and quiet; to go to school, go to work, raise their children. But right now, too many people here are unable to do that, and are living under constant threat. No country can be expected to allow their citizens to live in this way. Unfortunately, circumstances have put Israel into a situation where it has been left with no other recourse but significant military action. We are fighting an enemy with values far different than ours- an enemy who calls for our destruction while denying our very existence, who deliberately aims at civilians and endangers its own innocents, an enemy that breaks agreements (for example, the agreed-upon ceasefire during today’s visit by the Egyptian prime minister) and engages in campaigns of deliberate disinformation. Hundreds of rockets have been shot at Israel since the beginning of the operation. That’s hundreds of times that the siren has gone off and innocent civilians have had to run for their lives. They’ve hit homes and schools and factories, and killed three civilians so far whose only crime was living in a building without an adequate bomb shelter, such that they had nowhere to run to when the siren rang out. This is not an easy enemy to fight.
I am not blind to the fact that life has also been difficult on the Gazan side of the border and I am regretful about the suffering of innocent people and loss of life. I also have my moral qualms about the use of force to solve problems (I am, after all, still Canadian). However, I truly believe that Israel is doing what it must, while making every effort to ensure that its strikes hit only militants and military targets.
Now let’s talk about what happens if the campaign escalates. The reserve call-up has already begun. Those aren’t faceless soldiers; those are my friends. Those are my classmates and professors who won’t be showing up for class for the next little while. They are people a whole lot like you, who want to get on with their lives and their business, but who are ready to put their lives on the line to defend their country if they are called upon to do so. And soon, they might be.
I’ve spent enough of my life in North America, including a year in college, to understand how this all probably looks to you. It looks like, once again, Israel is on the offensive, making a disproportional response and endangering an already-unfortunate population that only wants to realize its right to self-determination. The media is often hasty to take sides—and it’s usually not ours. I want to tell you that it’s not that simple. I’m not asking for your pity. I’m not even asking you to support the Israeli side. I am just asking you to use your head. Open your eyes and think critically. Look at sources from both sides. If, after doing that, you decide that you disagree with what Israel is doing- that’s your right. But at least have the decision of which side you choose to support be an educated one.
And if you aren’t willing to do that? Feel sorry for the loss of life. Feel sorry for the millions of people who have to live like this. But if you aren’t willing to look at both sides of the picture, I respectfully ask that you don’t make any sort of blanket statement about who is doing what, and why.
Sincerely,
Rebecca
