What can we do for Israel?

By: Michal Levine, Areyvut

Every morning, I read the morning briefing in the New York Times, and I check the WhatsApp thread with my siblings. And right now, my heart is truly aching for what I read in both places.

My sister-in-law was driving to Jerusalem. She was going there to learn how to better help people outside of Israel aid their family members who are elderly in Israel. She was taking a highway that was her second choice, because the first one has been closed because of it being such a target for terror. She was scared for her life on that drive, but she kept going because life continues, then that road was closed too. She told us of seeing a sixty year old man crying in the makolet (mini-market). Last week, she said she crossed the road when she was walking next to an Arab worker carrying a hammer, because an Arab with a screwdriver had attacked someone earlier that week. Other friends tell me there are teachers standing with guns outside of her childrens’ school.

I shared a Wall Street Journal story earlier this morning, and one reason I did was because it was from the “mainstream” media. The only place where you hear about the true terror in Israel is from Israeli or Jewish news. I don’t think I am someone who thinks that every time something unkind happens to someone Jewish that it is anti-Semitic. I tend to think the best of the New York Times, and other papers. The article today was pretty even handed. Here’s some of what Jodi Rudoren quoted in her article, ‘4 Attacks by Palestinians Leave at Least 3 Israelis Dead’: “Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, called the killing of the 15-year-old a “heinous crime” and compared it to an episode widely seen as having helped incite the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 2000.

“If the Israeli government continues with this escalation of this dangerous method of executions, the region will be in a position that cannot be controlled, and everyone will pay a heavy price,” Mr. Rudeineh said in a statement reported by Palestinian news outlets.”

This 15 year old had just stabbed a 13 year old boy riding his bicycle.

It followed by quoting a letter from Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, “Each day that passes, more innocent lives are lost, as is any hope to reach a peaceful two-state solution in the future,” the letter says. “The violations mentioned above should trigger immediate action by the international community, including the Security Council, to finally take measures to provide the Palestinian civilian population with immediate protection.”

The Los Angeles Times headline reads ‘6 Palestinians dead as violence grips Gaza, Jerusalem.’ In Gaza, Hamas uses residential homes to store and fire their weapons. The people who need protection are those children who have been indoctrinated with hate. Oh, and the Israelis who can’t go to meetings. Or soccer. Or school without feeling scared for their lives.

I teach about the Holocaust every year, and I have for over 15 years. One thing I like to emphasize is that you can’t say “all Jewish people are…” You can’t even say “all Nazis were evil.” We should remember that not all Arabs/Palestinians/Muslims are bad, but you can say that the world should pay attention to what is happening in Israel. That the actions of these terrorists and the call for violence against Jewish people tarnishes the gift that Israel was to the Jewish people. This isn’t happening only in “occupied territories.” This is a land that is supposed to be safe for Jewish people, and it should be for the Arabs who live there it is too. But when someone feels they have to cross the street because a person who looks a certain way is carrying a hammer, it damages the very fabric of this land.

What can we do?? Call and write your family and friends in Israel. Write to the media when you think it’s biased. Talk with your family and friends about events in the Middle East. Some of these ideas can be found at www.camera.org. Some of these are mine. Your Israeli family and friends want to know you are thinking about them when you are safely driving home from work, and the only thing that you have to worry about is what to make for dinner.

Here are some ways, A-Z, that you and your family can relate to, help and support Israel. http://areyvut1.blogspot.com/2012/11/israel-from-z_19.html?m=1