Category: news is news

  • What do Palestinians think this month? A public opinion poll

    A friend of mine at Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Jerusalem sent me these findings of a new Palestinian public opinion poll (conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, September 25-27, 2014). Coming a month after the end of the latest Gaza war, and a couple…

  • Israeli children and artistic expression: A war story in pictures

    Note: We did not ask our five-year-old to draw anything. We didn’t know what he had been up to when at around 7 this morning he came up to us holding a picture he drew. Turns out, it’s not a story about a disabled boy who has divorced parents. “Why are there two houses?” “One…

  • The facts about Gaza that we’re not saying

    For the last few days I’ve had this lump in my throat, blocking me from saying something I feel but haven’t been able to articulate. Do you know what I feel when the window’s been shut, the door is locked, and I’ve sat down on the floor of our safe room? I feel incredibly lucky.…

  • On sheep in wartime

    While driving back from Beit Shemesh, where I dropped off Tzur Hadassah’s contribution to the collection of toys and food for kids and soldiers stuck in shelters and bases in the south… I saw this scene and it took my breath away. The sound of hundreds of hooves crunching against the grass; watching hundreds of sheep…

  • Meat counter convo liz: So I guess I’m that person now

    Standing at the meat counter in the local supermarket. Guy to meat counter girl: “Yeah, everything is crazy, how are you doing?” Meat counter girl: “It’s so scary!” Me: “Hey, at least we know exactly when it’ll hit, it’s been evenings and that’s it.” Guy: “It’ll be quiet till tonight, till they’ve eaten and organized…

  • The 4th kidnapped boy: that’s called disgust – go ahead and feel it.

    The 4th kidnapped boy: that’s called disgust – go ahead and feel it.

    Disgust. There are a lot of things to be utterly disgusted with around here. I feel disgust constantly. It’s usually aimed at opinions that differ from mine; minute triggers related to lifestyles that differ from mine; ways of communicating I don’t agree with. Shame. That is something I feel less often, but it does come…

  • An Israeli lullaby.

    Sleep soundly, children of Israel, for who knows how long before your innocence is lost.

  • Never normal.

    Living here is not normal. Life here pushes through – the normal, the stubborn, the ups, the downs – the not normal, the horror, the grief, the methods, the madness. Life here is limbo. Life here is business as usual. Life here is waiting. Life here is death. Life here is moving on. Life here…

  • What’s more complicated than kidnapped teens, baby heart surgery, and life in Israel?

    What’s more complicated than kidnapped teens, baby heart surgery, and life in Israel?

    Day 10. My god. This country. What is more complicated than this goddamn country? This is a news segment on Channel 10 [Hebrew] profiling a father of a Makor Chaim schoolmate of the two 16-year-old kidnapped boys. He is also Dr. Dudi Mishali, a 20-year Tel HaShomer baby heart surgeon. He opens the chests of…

  • We’re waiting for you.

    Day 7. I believe you are alive. I believe you’ll be ok. I hope you do, too. We’re waiting for you. We’re doing the age-old Israeli dance – living a disrupted, regular life. Go to work, go to school, put the kids to bed, kiss each other goodnight. While we hope for you. We think…

  • Not normal.

    It’s sadly a familiar feeling. Refreshing the news every hour and every hour thinking, ‘fuck.’

  • Parenting in Israel sometimes.

    Parenting in Israel sometimes.

    I made it till 1:34pm today without hearing, reading, or talking about Syria, gas masks, or missiles. The biggest news, since the US didn’t strike when everyone assumed (yesterday), is the fact that Israelis are waiting hours, sometimes whole days, in line at gas mask handout points. Only 60% of Israelis are equipped with up-to-date…