Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘allison kaplan sommer’

The Israeli blogosphere is already reacting to the Qana strike. Here is some of what is being said:

Allison smells a rat, sensing that not all is as it may seem:

I am waiting patiently for a logical explanation of how a building gets bombed between 12 midnight and 1 AM, remains full of people and then 7-8 hours later, collapses the next morning.

Dave asks the same question:

An IDF investigation has so far found that the building in Qana fell approximately eight hours after being hit by the IAF. Some possibilities being examined are:

Hizbullah explosives in the building were behind the explosion that caused the collapse

The rickety building remained standing for a few hours, but eventually collapsed.

And for something a little different, Sarah talks about what it’s like to mingle at a singles event during a war:

Just before the meal started, someone dropped a box with something heavy, such as silverware, and it came down with a crash. Everyone from the north jumped about six feet. Talk about being on edge. I felt so bad for them.

Then, as the meal began . . . well, normally the conversation between singles goes like this:
What’s your name?
Where do you live?
What do you do?

But this time, it was:
What’s your name?
Where do you live?
How many rockets have you been getting?
How many minutes of warning do you get?

Talk about surreal.

Well, Sarah, you know what they say about relationships that begin under tense circumstances…

From an MSN conversation last night between a local friend and her friend in Haifa (paraphrased):

“How are you?”
“I’m great!”
“Great? How can you be great?”
“Seeing a new guy and he’s amazing!”
“But how are you with what’s going on in Haifa right now?”
“A bit nervous… let me tell you about him though. I really think he’s ‘the one’.”

In the meantime, more rockets have hit Haifa and this time, there were injuries and fatalities. Not to mention the constant barrage of rockets that keeps raining down on the north. People have got to be scared.

Here are some reactions from Israeli bloggers on how they’re coping:

Allison wonders how to go on with daily life:

The government tells people from Tel Aviv northward to “be alert.”

OK, so I’m alert. Now what?

I’d love some specific instructions. Let the kids go play at their friends’ house or not? Go grocery shopping or not? Dentist appointment?

I guess I’m supposed to keep doing it as normal, but ALERTLY. Fat lot of good alert will do me if I’m in the dentist’s waiting room and hear a siren for a one-minute warning till a missile hits.

Meanwhile, Harry can’t tear himself away from the news:

Today was a bad day. I got ZERO work done today. Eight dead in Haifa. Fifty wounded. The bodies of the three missing sailors were found. And more and more missiles landing. Over 800 missiles and mortar attacks thus far.

Spent pretty much every second of the day reading news sites and blogs and watching television. I know I’m not the only one. A friend of mine who works at a fairly large corperation here IM’ed me earlier that everyone at his company must be surfing and not working because the network keeps crashing. Another friend’s company’s entire customer support system sits in Carmiel and the company is backlogged with hundreds of customer requests.

I went out briefly for some shwarma. Lots of people were out and about. Everyone of course was talking about the situation but the sense of detachment still exists. It’s just too surreal for people around here. I’m sure that will change as the missiles land even more south.

Lisa, who is angry about the whole thing, blogs about the absurdities of this war:

We watch each other’s television broadcasts, we talk to one another, and then…we bomb each other.

This morning a friend of mine called from Gaza. He’s not a journalist, not a politician – just an ordinary Palestinian guy in his twenties. He lives down the street from the offices of Hamas’s Ministry of the Interior in Gaza, which was bombed a few days ago by an Israeli fighter plane. He has about two hours of electricity a day in his house and about as much running water. But he called me to ask if I was okay, after he saw on Al Jazeera television that Nasrallah was threatening to bomb Tel Aviv. “I’m worried about you,” he said.

And late, late last night I chatted via Instant Message with this Lebanese blogger, while he sat on the roof of his apartment building and watched Israeli fighter planes bomb Beirut.

Speaking of which, here’s a post from the Lebanese blog that Lisa linked to:

A week ago, I might have told you that my heart broke because my favorite World Cup team lost – I almost cried. Now I would do anything to watch my team lose – and bring down my sense of disappointment to that level again.

What I feel now, as a citizen, and what everyone feels is disappointment, anger, anxiety, frustration. We’re scared and locked up at home. War came in a day. War in one day.

Of course, there are thousands of personal accounts from Israeli and Lebanese bloggers “from the ground”. I was only highlighting a few from some of my regular reads. But things are getting worse, and all I can do is watch in fear and hope that people stay safe, somehow.

The news on Ariel Sharon this morning is very, very bad.

Reactions, of course, run the gamut, from shock and prayer to political speculation to the expected vilification from Israel’s enemies to praise from unexpected sources.

But Allison, in one post, neatly sums up the Israeli reaction from her perspective:

Whether he lives or dies, we are all already in mourning. All of us — those who always like Sharon, those who never liked him, and the vast number of Israelis who once vilified him, but over the past several years have looked in wonderment as he embodied the definition of the word — leader.

Yes, he had flaws, yes, there was scandal, he was far from perfect. But he was a leader. We had a leader. And we no longer do.

I’ve repeatedly said that Ariel Sharon is like a cat with nine political lives. Unfortunately he’s also a human being with only one physical life. And, agree or disagree with his policies, Sharon’s loss is a real loss of a leader for all of Israel.

I know we’re heading into yet another election campaign in Canada… but, as all our elections are, it’s sure to be a real snoozer. So instead, let’s talk about the more interesting election campaign – Israel’s.

Imshin is optimistic, sort of:

There is something uplifting about what has been happening here in recent days. For years everyone has been moaning that we have no leaders. Suddenly we do. Two of them, up against each other.

Sharon and Peretz are both nasty bastards, both sly, corrupt, cynical politicians. Is Peretz any nastier than Sharon? I doubt it. Love them or hate them, the thing is that both are people who get things done, make things happen. Who would have believed the Gaza disengagement would actually happen? You had to be here to realize how absolutely incredible that was. And who would have believed anyone would be able to resurrect the Histadrut? For instance.

Here’s Allison on Shimon Peres:

We need a national referendum on whether it’s time for him to retire.

Here’s Harry’s reaction on what Sharon’s new party may mean for Shinui:

Oh, and Shinui is DONE. The creation of a centrist party without the anti-religious banter and sans a cantankerous leader is the death knell for the secular party.

That’s true, though I still contend that Shinui has been done ever since the night after the last election, when Yasser Arafat openly praised Tommy Lapid.

Finally, we have Isreality giving the ultimate reality check:

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

The outcome of this spring’s elections will undoubtedly result in another limping coalition of partners tugging each other apart at the seams, with the same old leaders making the same old back room deals.

The only aspect to look forward to actually, is the campaign commercials for the fringe parties like the taxi drivers’ party, the Green Leaf party for legalizing pot, and the sentimental favorite – the battered husbands’ party. Now that’s entertainment.

Fringe parties are probably the only things that will save the Canadian election from mind-numbing dullness as well. At least we have that in common.

We in Quebec are no strangers to colour wars in politics. Just three days after the sea of red at Canada Day, and ten days after the similar sea of blue at the St-Jean Baptiste Day celebrations, it’s hard to deny that complicated political and identity politics are too often reduced to a colour of the rainbow.

Witness what’s been going on in Israel, where a colour war of their own is raging over the disengagement issue. And it seems like it’s all anyone there can talk about these days. Here are thoughts from Allison, Imshin, Imshin again, and Brian, just to name a few. And here’s a Ynet analysis of the colour war.

The thing is, there’s nothing simple or trivial about the current situation in Israel, that seems to be leading the country to the brink of civil war. Protests are turning violent and there are even worries of potential assassination attempts on Sharon or other key members of government. To Israelis who feel that this is the only way to break the stalemate and ensure Israel’s security, the protesters are divisive extremists creating disunity at a critical time. To Israelis being asked to leave their homes, uproot their communities, and – in their view – reward terrorists for years of attacks and bloodshed, this is nothing less than a catastrophe. Are there any issues more serious than one’s home, one’s safety and security, and one’s identity?

Maybe the colour war has emerged precisely because the issues are so serious. Discussing orange or blue takes the focus off the agonizing choices and potential consequences, and places them on the often absurd things emerging from the whole issue. Humour as a defence mechanism is not exactly new for Israelis as a way of coping.

Or maybe it’s just politics. A colour is an easy symbol to represent a political view, and makes a powerful visual statement in a crowd. Perhaps this is just simply smart marketing on the part of the disengagement protesters.

One thing is for sure: this colour war is nothing like the kind we used to have in summer camp. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better. With many Israelis supporting the plan, many more vehemently opposed, and a whole host of people caught in the middle and unsure of what to think, it’s making for a long, hot summer.

(Hmmm, now that I’m ready to publish this, I notice that the button on Blogger to “save as draft” is blue and the one to “publish post” is orange. Will you take my word for it that I’m not making a political statement by choosing to publish the post?)

Allison is tired of the same old story:

We’ve seen this movie before — the Palestinian Authority does nothing, Sharon and the government have no choice politically or militarily but to root out the terror itself, going into Gaza and the West Bank, resuming targeted assassinations, etc. And while they still say they are going ahead with disengagement, the political road to getting out of Gaza will get even rockier and they may have to slow down the pace.

Then the world gets all pissed off at us, and the sparks of potential for a real agreement and progress towards peace quickly get snuffed out.

I would love it if someone would change the script.

Lisa worries about the effects of becoming numb:

I told her that I’d let my guard down. I had lost the ability to shrug off the bombings, and I didn’t think I had the energy to deal with the rollercoaster of emotions again – the adrenalin rush and the grief and the fear.

But most of all, I am afraid of the numbness. Because when unspeakable events occur on a regular basis, survival mode kicks in: you can’t deal with those constant questions about meaning, so you don’t. You become numb. And that means that you lose a bit of your humanity. Because if you cry over every person who is killed, then you go cuckoo. But if you don’t cry, then you’ve lost something important. Empathy. Humanity.

And Imshin went to the site itself and took some horrifying photos.

Allison points out this article at Israel21C about how gay Palestinians are seeking refuge in Israel:

Between Open House, its ’sister’ community center in Tel Aviv, the gay-friendly commercial spots and pick-up parks here and there around the country, the annual gay pride parades in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and a fairly indifferent street-level attitude toward open homosexuals, Israel offers a refuge for Palestinian gays.

In their everyday lives at home, they must hide their sexuality because revealing it – or having it revealed against their will – would put them in violation of one of the most forbidding taboos in Arab society. Palestinians exposed as homosexuals are liable to be killed by Islamic or nationalist activists, or by their brothers or other male relatives.

Next time you go to a left-wing rally on a university campus and see someone holding a sign reading “Queers for Palestine”, why not give them a copy of this article?

Too busy to blog at the moment, but never fear: there is so much worthwhile reading out there that you can keep plenty busy.

Allison and Imshin pointed me towards Lisa’s story of how she came to Israel. I’m completely hooked. You will be too. So far, she’s got parts one, two, three and four.

While you’re over at Imshin’s, read this post about Hannah Senesh.

Damian has this disturbing story about how Russian nationalist lawmakers want to “investigate” and ban Jewish organizations. Meryl has more.

And in case you’re still looking for more to read, check out the Jewish and Israeli blog award nominees. While you’re there, vote for your favourites and check out some of the ones you may never have heard of.

Back to regularly-scheduled programming as soon as possible.

If you’re not reading Imshin regularly these days, you should be. Here’s an example of why.

While you’re at it, you can vote for her or Allison for a BlogAward, even though it’s pretty much a lost cause for anyone in that category. And while you’re at the blog awards site, vote for Meryl Yourish, not just because she asked for endorsements, but because she’s also the source of a lot of the material you read here – and a very witty writer to boot. And the best Canadian blog category didn’t see fit to include yours truly (who am I kidding anyway?) but you can definitely kick a vote or two in for Damian.

Turns out I’m not the only lefty in the blogosphere… in a post reminiscent of this one. You just watch: one day we shall dominate.

Allison on Sharon’s firing of cabinet ministers in attempt to push through his disengagement plan over the objections of his party. Too funny.

Incidentally, I don’t agree with Sharon’s political manoeuverings. If this plan is in fact supported by the population, as he contended, he should have put it to a referendum vote from the start, instead of only a vote in the Likud party. That would have given him the mandate to go forward. Instead, he’s trying to short-circuit democracy, and on an issue as divisive as this one that can’t be a good idea.

Still, Sharon – the ultimate cat with 9 lives – is probably only on his third or fourth. He keeps bouncing back as analyst after analyst underestimates him. The world would be wise to realize this and understand the popular support he enjoys among Israelis, instead of writing him off as merely a hard-liner or yet another corrupt politician.