What I dislike about Israel

Despite being a rabid Zionist, I will occasionally admit to some of the things I strongly dislike about Israel.  They’re things that most people who have spent time here complain about: the rudeness (what Israelis charitably call “directness,” but which is more often just bad manners); the bureaucracy and Israel’s high ranking as #30 on the corruption perceptions index, after Slovenia, Cyprus, and the United Arab Emirates; the hazardous driving (you’re far more likely to be killed in a car accident here than in a terror attack); what I call “the pakeed mentality,” i.e. the outcome of any conversation with a clerk depending on the power needs of the clerk that day; the shortsightedness of the government, e.g. the fact that the Kinneret is so low is because plans to build desalination plants were on the table during a rainy winter, so the government scrapped them; the shocking comments big-mouthed pundits make in public, such as a former editor of HaAretz saying “Israel wants to be raped,” or the latest nugget from a Labor MK saying that it’s only a matter of time before the Left will be put in work camps (duh, that’s what “labor” means; otherwise they should be called the Leisure party).

But perhaps the thing that bothers me the most is the wishy-washiness of the Israeli government regarding Yehuda and Shomron (aka Yosh, aka the West Bank).  Israel won it in a war fair and square, Jordan doesn’t want it back, and the Palestinians refuse to accept any peace offer made by Israel.  I’m not sure I have a solution to the Arab population living here, but I do have a solution to the land question: annex and build.  Not everyone likes to hear that, but what’s the alternative?  Leave it in escrow for another 60 years, waiting for the leopards Arabs to change their spots attitude toward Israel?  Lotsa luck.  In the meantime, the struggle for the land continues, with both Arabs and the government destroying Jewish planting on state land, Arabs claiming and squatting on land that doesn’t belong to them, and building where they wish.  Arab towns under PA control can grow and expand at will.  Jewish towns, on the other hand, are subjected to a 10-month building freeze, after which building permits are allowed to run out and are not replenished.  That’s right; thanks to Ehud Barak (as Minister of Defense, he is officially in charge of Yosh) and his worry about attracting “negative attention” to Israel, there is a de facto housing freeze in Efrat, Maaleh Adumim, and other towns in Yosh.  The government has continued the freeze on the quiet, with the result that housing prices and rents have shot up, there is no ulpan for new immigrants in the Gush because not enough could afford the ridiculous housing prices to come here, tenants’ houses are being sold out from under them for ridiculous prices, and people have nowhere to live.  All this, and Israel isn’t even getting credit for it in the international press!

I was pushed over the edge, from irritation to utter disgust, watching this video of a young family being evicted from their home in Tekoa, with the wife having just given birth and the husband a disabled IDF veteran.

I could handle all this—I really could—if something were going right.  But it’s not.  Except for a few haredi areas in Jerusalem and Beitar Illit, there is almost no new housing going up throughout Israel (and much of the housing that is going up in Jerusalem is luxury apartments for foreigners who come once or twice a year).  Jonathan Pollard is still in prison, the PA still refuses direct talks, we are as far from peace as we’ve ever been, and we still get bludgeoned in the world press every time we move a muscle.

Like anyone who lives here, though, I’ve learned to compartmentalize, to allow myself to think about those things for only a few minutes a day, then move on.  Because the greatest thing to happen, despite all that shtus, is that we are here, and hold out hope for better days.  And most of the time, that is enough.

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