Below is a blog, well worth reading, written from Israel yesterday, by Rabbi Andy Bachman, of Congregation Beth Elohim, a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn, NY.

Rabbi Bachman's blog


*****

Just the Nasty Business
December 29th, 2008

Every time conflict breaks out among Israelis and Palestinians, the whole world watches, everyone's an expert, opinions and righteous condemnation abounds from all directions, we start the damn thing all over again.

So on my last night here for this leg of the journey in life, I leave Jerusalem with a few impressions.

1. I am not forgetting that when Israel pulled out of Gaza a few years ago, Hamas made the insane decision to destroy and burn the greenhouse facilities that the Israelis left for them, cursed as they were by the Zionist entity. We have still today in the Israeli papers stories of the disengagement, the claims of unjust treatment of Israeli citizens by their own army and their own government, and, in the extreme, ludicrous statements that the architect of this disengagement, Ariel Sharon, is three years into his stroke precisely because the Jewish God punished him for making Jews give up the Jewish land. (So we have our outlandish theories, too.) But Hamas burned greenhouses, whose soul crime was in serving as a tool for the production of food, sustenance and life due to Israeli scientific ingenuity. To add to that: hundreds upon hundreds of rockets have been launched over the borders in varying temperatures of cease-fires–hot, warm and cold–these last few years.

So Israel pulls out, even leaves you with homes and facilities, secured and guaranteed by American dollars (remember James Wolfson's making sure that millions would go to aid Gaza after the pullout?) and it all went up in flames because Hamas took the position that despite the withdrawal, this algebra would be all or nothing. Bombs, bombs, bombs. No acceptance, no peace.

Summer two years ago; Gilad Shalit; the predictable calls for the death of Israel.

What did the paper say today? Nearly 90% of the country says 'enough is enough?' You don't get to those numbers by yourself.

2. We were safe traveling around but went through a few checkpoints. At least from what I could see around Jerusalem, everyone was being VERY cooperative. I saw lots of Palestinians get checked, cooperate, and saw the civil interactions between young Israeli soldiers–male and female–and Palestinians, go off without a hitch. It was just a slice of life–I fully admit–but one had the sense watching that beyond the dramas that are ready like tried and true one act shows (the burning tires, the hurling of stones, the demonstrations) there is a palpable seriousness to this campaign and if you follow Egypt and Jordan and many others, Hamas doesn't seem to have a whole lot of support.

When Ehud Barak stands in the Knesset and invokes the name of Barack Obama

From Haaretz today: Barak also cited a comment made by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who visited Sderot during his election campaign earlier this year.

"Obama said that if rockets were being fired at his home while his two daughters were sleeping, he would do everything he could to prevent it," Barack told the plenum.

it made for an interesting moment to say the least.

3. Israelis I spoke to throughout the day conveyed that same unified feeling mentioned above. No other country would tolerate the rocket attacks and just in the last few hours, two Israelis have been killed by attacks in the south. Those attacks, unlike the Israeli aerial assault since Sunday, have been going on for three years. Far be it from the world to jump to any meaningful condemnation of those attacks, or have any real solution for convincing Hamas to stop. Instead, the lack of progress has emboldened Hamas, allied them further with Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and Iran, and only made things worse.

I did not hear from the Israelis I spoke to today, "Kill the Arabs," or "get rid of them all." Rather, I hear, "What are you going to do?" with the typical shrug of the shoulders. As if to say, "We are usually alone in this and we have to defend ourselves."

I will leave for others to debate for now questions of history, rightful and unrightful claims, legitimacy and illegitimacy. Instead, I leave Israel this morning as I usually do: sad to have to say goodbye, despite the mess. Worried deeply for its safety and future and pained deeply that Palestinians and Israelis have yet to make peace.

But no great pronouncements. Just the nasty business of what one must do, and what one must sometimes sacrifice, in order to live.

===