Another thing that was so evident to me when I got home mid-war was the relief. No one rips signs of hostages, there's no fear in wearing the dog tags/yellow ribbon. It was immediate.
I don’t believe in boycotts either Ruth, and I stand with you. The current certainty of the far right and the far left terrify me. I believe in the gray, indeterminate, far reaching center of existence, not the crazy corners where moral outrage costs nothing and performative indignation accomplishes even less.
So well put, Lorraine! I’ve tried to say exactly this over and over and failed miserably to put it as succinctly and powerfully as you have here. Thank you!
Our family, including a 6 year old, 4 year old, & 18 month old - were terrorized on kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7,'23. Our cousin's wife's father was killed that day - bled out after being shot through the bedroom door he held shut to save himself and his wife. The texts of pleas and offers of help have been preserved. Our cousin, from a house camera, watched his next door neighbor/friend taken hostage in her nightgown and he heard and watched his friends shot dead on the dirt path outside his duplex home. He listened as the homes around him burst into flames. He held the mouth of his six year old shut when the terrorists entered their home (he had installed a lock from the inside of their bedroom). 180 of their family/friends were killed or taken hostage. Here at home we circled the kitchen and living room like caged animals waiting to hear if our beloveds would survive, including my husband's sister in Tel Aviv, our nephews, all the friends my husband grew up with, family in Rishon, Ashdod, Ashkelon. "Thank goodness" we kept saying, that we buried my husband's mother 5 months earlier - a Survivor who lived to 101. I was there. I witnessed missiles launched from Gaza that May, I went into shelter. Missiles have been constant in southern Israel (for years). Thus a sophisticated alert system exists. I'm part of the Detroit literary community. A poet. My community has been supportive to me, personally. But I have had to cringe at literary events where there are dedications to Palestinians with no mention of the massacre; the gunning down of festival goers; the rape; the grenades thrown into packed shelters; babies ripped from their parents, one parent shot to terrorize the other, children machine gunned in their bunk beds; the devastation of life in Israel. There are sideways comments at these events supporting Israel's destruction, and the boycotting of voting. There's an "Israel deserves this" attitude among some of the literati. Intellectuals that know nothing of the diversity in Israel or what they are actually calling for.
Thank you, Ruth. I am always grateful for your writing.
Another thing that was so evident to me when I got home mid-war was the relief. No one rips signs of hostages, there's no fear in wearing the dog tags/yellow ribbon. It was immediate.
I don’t believe in boycotts either Ruth, and I stand with you. The current certainty of the far right and the far left terrify me. I believe in the gray, indeterminate, far reaching center of existence, not the crazy corners where moral outrage costs nothing and performative indignation accomplishes even less.
So well put, Lorraine! I’ve tried to say exactly this over and over and failed miserably to put it as succinctly and powerfully as you have here. Thank you!
Your comment lifted me Anne! Thank you
Really liked The Parisian! and thank you for this column. We need more dialogue, not less. yes.
I read The Parisian when it was published and loved it.
Thanks Ruth! Glad you got to spent your last day in Haifa...
Thank you, Ruth! I so appreciate your contributions to a conversation that so many have simply shut down. We need more dialogue, not less.
Our family, including a 6 year old, 4 year old, & 18 month old - were terrorized on kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7,'23. Our cousin's wife's father was killed that day - bled out after being shot through the bedroom door he held shut to save himself and his wife. The texts of pleas and offers of help have been preserved. Our cousin, from a house camera, watched his next door neighbor/friend taken hostage in her nightgown and he heard and watched his friends shot dead on the dirt path outside his duplex home. He listened as the homes around him burst into flames. He held the mouth of his six year old shut when the terrorists entered their home (he had installed a lock from the inside of their bedroom). 180 of their family/friends were killed or taken hostage. Here at home we circled the kitchen and living room like caged animals waiting to hear if our beloveds would survive, including my husband's sister in Tel Aviv, our nephews, all the friends my husband grew up with, family in Rishon, Ashdod, Ashkelon. "Thank goodness" we kept saying, that we buried my husband's mother 5 months earlier - a Survivor who lived to 101. I was there. I witnessed missiles launched from Gaza that May, I went into shelter. Missiles have been constant in southern Israel (for years). Thus a sophisticated alert system exists. I'm part of the Detroit literary community. A poet. My community has been supportive to me, personally. But I have had to cringe at literary events where there are dedications to Palestinians with no mention of the massacre; the gunning down of festival goers; the rape; the grenades thrown into packed shelters; babies ripped from their parents, one parent shot to terrorize the other, children machine gunned in their bunk beds; the devastation of life in Israel. There are sideways comments at these events supporting Israel's destruction, and the boycotting of voting. There's an "Israel deserves this" attitude among some of the literati. Intellectuals that know nothing of the diversity in Israel or what they are actually calling for.
thanks for this, ruth. captures a lot of my feelings when i was there in april on a trip focused on shared society
Reading this and the comments makes me feel less alone in my views. Thank you!
I subscribed because I’m a fellow hater of censorship and then I really enjoyed your post