Play Book Tag discussion

My review, which took me three hours to write, is too long for the Goodreads Space, although I am happy to send a copy to anyone who requests. Its a complicated issue. Here are a few paragraphs, which will likely be disjointed from my review.....

Definitely thought provoking. And I must admit it may be a guide for the curious, confused, and conflicted, but I am more confused than clear on this one.

First, Daniel Sokatch from California, Director of the New Israel Fund, he went to Brandeis, possibly when I was there, we do have the same aged kids. He went to Boston College Law School, where folks I know went. I felt an affinity. I didn’t know what the New Israel Fund was (now I do). But the first part of the book, maybe even the first half, felt fair and balanced to me. Actually, most of it did. I will describe later the part that gives me pause. The thing to notice about the first half of the book as the history is described, and is laid out, that this is the first time I really saw a book that took into account some of the social and emotional issues and put that at the forefront of the conversation, and I liked that. The whole first half (and still) had me thinking about how many displaced persons there were, and how unanswerable this question is? Who is “Right to Return” for? And whose country is it to run? And how should a Jewish Democratic Homeland integrate the Palestinians, the ones who want and wish to live peacefully together? This was a real portrait of an emotional issue that runs deep for everyone. And its not clear cut. Because the terror is real, and it has to be managed. But there is still so much unresolved.

So one thought I had, employing the Socratic method of asking questions and always being open to debate on what you think is real or that you believe, is this. Is the Israel that I remember, that I have always known, the same today? Has what I have been saying and believing, still true? Or does some of this clash against things I do believe to be true? I have always described Israel as and ethical and compassionate country, that has done its best. But there are clear moments, where while that may have been true, and may still be true, some of the time, it has not. I remember visiting communities where Israelis and Arab Israel’s live and work together peacefully and beautifully. But do those communities still exist? Are they rarer than I thought, or just few in example? I was struck by the ideological tensions not just between these two groups, but the populations coming from Africa, Russia, between the Orthodox and Reform, between Labor and Likud. Many people do not know this, but Israel’s government doesn’t look like ours. There are more than two parties, they have governing representatives from 9 to 15 of them. From labor to the more professional elite, to the varying Arab factions, as well as Muslim, and Christian, to the religious, etc. Jerusalem looks like this as well, with its four quarters of the Old City, Arab, Armenian, Jewish, and Muslim. In fact, the Dome of the Rock sits right atopthe ruins of the second, third holiest temple. When Ben-Gurion imagined this as the “ingathering of the exiles,” I believe he meant the original Palestinians too. For whom weren’t wanted in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, or Syria. They were just as excuse for war. Pawns in an area that didn’t want Jews, not to mention a Jewish Homeland. And yet this tiny country, embittered by internal and external tensions, ideological and otherwise, also has to consider world opinion as well. What a confounding thought – how are humanitarianism and ethics supposed to not only take all of that into account, while managing regular non-remitting terror? And still form a Jewish homeland, a Jewish democratic state, that also takes care of its strong and displaced Arab population. And another question I was asking myself, is what it looks like in the rest of Israel, versus the settlements and the complicated West Bank? I also thought about how African races of Jews, also Russians were considered lower class citizens, and the race issues Israel has had to face and contend with. Like our own melting pot, intermarriage has taken care of some of that, into what now Sokatch describes as an “uniquely Israeli” culture.

The author does a good job I thought, talking about the Palestinian plight, while at the same time, acknowledging that so many of our enemies never wanted an integrated existence. The Khartoum Resolution from the Arab League, also known as the Three No’s, has been active all these decades. No Peace with Israel, No Recognition with Israel, and No Negotiations with Israel. What were they supposed to do to defend and protect their right to exist? And in the face of terror, how do we make and maintain a Jewish Democratic State, and also be humanitarian to those who have been displaced. Nearly everyone, in one way or another. It’s the character of the Israel experience that nearly everyone is an immigrant who considers Israel their early ancestral home and center of religious experience. What a conundrum! Sokatch well describes many of the amazing humanitarian efforts from Israel’s inception on, including Operation Moses, airlifting all the Jews out of famine stricken Ethiopia. I am aware that they often beat the Red Cross to earthquakes and national disasters. They were first on the scene for both the Turkey Earthquake, and as well as the life saving efforts in Miami recently, although they never openly get the credit.

And when Peace would come, there would be assassinations, sometimes even from the Israel side to disrupt that peace, and tensions would begin again. There were moving parts of the book hearing about the efforts of Rabin, Pere, Ben Gurion, Moshe Dyan, Ehud Barak and others. There have been a lot of people working towards peace, and still. And yet violence gets in the way, as does politics. There has never been a clear map towards making and sustaining peace. And Sokatch brings up “mental maps,” there’s also the maps in our heads and hearts that don’t always match up. Jerusalem, being the prime example. Whose land this is is complicated. Archeology is a conflict, the language of street signs is complicated, so is food and appropriation. Whose is the origin of Hummus? There are conflicts. The Nation State Law, prioritizing Jews over Arabs for instance, does not promote peace and integration. And yet the Joint List, an Arab driven political party, is now the third largest political party in Israel. The Arab and peace representation is growing, and is not non-existent.

Much attention is paid in the book to American Israel relations and tensions, and organizations like the New Israel Fund, AIPAC, and so many others. Obama did not share the same feelings as Netanyahu about the settlements and that was the least aligned American president Israeli prime minister in history. But in terms of financial support, Obama made more money and aid and support available than any other presidential administration in US history to date. Trump and Netanyahu were greatly admiring of one another, but I don’t know if that helped either of them, and each faced battles within their own country, as their unpopularity and investigations within embattled them. The countries with their internal tensions, have never looked more alike. Meanwhile, one question I have often wondered about Israel’s relationship to the US is this. While that support is essential, does that grant the US the right to tell Israel what to do? To direct it? I thought that tension was very well illuminated on Season Six of the West Wing. Israel is not ours to direct, or even to fix. They have their own situations to manage, and now so do we.

Where the book made me uncomfortable is in the chapter about the BDS movement. Which apparently is in line with interests and values of the New Israel Fund. Now, I have always heard of the BDS and on College Campuses as a direct threat, and full organizations such as Stand With Us have emerged in response to it, to teach how to combat disinformation. Sokatch suggests these organizations comdemn violence, and I might believe his does. But I have never heard of organizations created to oppose the disinformation of the New Israel Fund. The problem of the BDS has been outcried everywhere of Jews of all denominations. So the treatment of that chapter confused me, as did the subsequent discussions of JStreet, and even the situation with the two senators, Ibhn Omar and the other. This part of the book either did not seem balanced or fair, or did not mesh with what I believe to be true. For one, I recall that these senators were invited to come to Israel and to take an Educational Tour, to learn information, to which they refused. That refusal is what had them barred from entry. And if these movements are supposed to denounce terror, why do they appear to be solely focused on what they perceive the Israeli’s to be doing to the Palestinians? The book was balanced, but the support of these organizations which do not appear to be balanced to me, felt all of a sudden off. And in this divided time, I have to ask myself. Is it because of something I don’t understand? Or is it that I possess a portion of the truth? I intuitively do not believe that the BDS is supporting a balanced view of Israel, and I have supported Stand With Us’s desire to educated teens and highschoolers to educate others, and to stand up for Israel and non-violent communication and leaders of peace. And then when J-Street and apartheid questions come in, more questions for me. I did not feel clearer after reading these sections.

Back to whether the US has the right to dictate Israel policy and action in the first place, then enters the Red Cows. So if we in an undisclosed US location birth a red heifer, why does it belong to the Christian right or the Orthodox Jews for sacrifice at the mount? Whose cow is it, is no different to me, to whose land, whose holy mecca, whose right to return?

In any case, the book ends with a case for hope, introducing is to an Israel, Palestinian, and Muslim activist, each who are making inroads for peace. Good. I believe there are many in Israel who are doing so. I have never lost hope. Nor faith in Israel as a spiritual center for Jews and all three religions. A center of spiritual life. But I don’t think our infighting or the BDS or our American opinions help. And now that I think about it, I don’t know that the book helped either. But it raised the questions, which I think is where we still sit. And the sentiments around what still needs to happen. So I think it is a helpful guide to talking about Israel. As long as there is room for all the varying points of view. Which I think is the point to begin with. So I do have hope. And faith. And tenacity. And the confidence to let Israel fulfill its destiny with ethics, compassion, and humanitarianism, and democracy.

Oh my gosh Amy! So many really really good questions. Such a difficult complex unknowable topic. You have contextualised so well so many of the more pertinent details that can be overwhelmed with typical political speeches or reporting from different sources. I have heard on the ground stories of so many people who have left this area to find a safer existence for themselves and their families. People from Israel, Palestine, Syria and everywhere in between. The problems and conflicts are as old as time and the reality, the suffering of the everyday person trying to live within such uncertainty…. Thank you for your thought provoking questions- maybe there are no real answers - but you pointed to many things that are not always considered and I appreciated being reminded of them.

I can’t believe you read the whole thing! It was actually more, but I cut those paragraphs out because I didn’t know how much good reads would let me publish. I have never spent so long on a review and thinking. So I really appreciate that you took the time.