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I'm really debating whether to write this post. It's been written in my head for a few days now, and I'm still trying to quiet it down. My not-so-simple life here takes place on several levels, I could be the nice grandma who describes everyday life like anywhere else in the world, because there is life like that here too, but there's the extra spice that you know, the danger of life, the fear and the great sadness about what's happening to people like us in the world.
I also don't want to write from a victim's position, we're not like that. We are people that the world loves to hate, for some reason, and throughout history they have tried to make us disappear, and here we are, miraculously surviving. But that's not what's been bothering me for a long time, and it's become much stronger in recent days when I read some comments here in Blogland about the terrible massacre that happened in Australia. I saw it right after the October 7th, during the terrible massacre here, people can't stay for a moment with the terrible things that happened, they immediately seek balance, as if they share in the grief but immediately say "yes but", "yes but Gaza", "yes but Netanyahu", there is not a single moment of true and honest identification with the terrible thing that happened to innocent people, always part of the blame is immediately placed on the victim as well. And here, in my opinion, is the root of the hypocrisy. Deep within these people sits a small anti-Semite who has not developed enough, fortunately, but that repressed inner being does not give that person the ability to truly identify with the pain of the innocent victim. And it doesn't matter if you had a Jewish grandfather, if you lived in a Jewish neighborhood and they were nice to you, or if you were an educator in the past, if you still can't relate to a hate crime against Jews without trying to create a seemingly balanced equation, it says something about you, and to me it says something bad. These are my thoughts. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right, maybe not every inability to identify with human pain is anti-Semitism, maybe it's just some kind of mental disability, I don't know anything.
The situation makes me think, but I have no answers.
ReplyDeleteAnvicloud, Thank you very much, I know it's very difficult to comment on a post like this, that's the intention, to provoke thought, there is no single answer.
DeleteI don't think there is a simple, or even rational answer. How many of us are able to determine what really lies beneath our initial gut reactions to such things.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Yael.
Jaycee, I know there is no one right answer and I don't want anyone to feel guilty, people act and express opinions from a deep or superficial place, that's what they do, I just wanted to bring to the surface what has been bothering me for a long time. You have always been and remain a pure person.
DeleteAll I felt was horror at the event, and a sense that at least someone stood up to help. So often nobody does.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed encouraging that even in difficult moments there will always be someone good.
DeletePlease forgive your American friends if we don't seem to show as much empathy as this tragedy deserves. We're so steeped in gun violence and daily killings that it's easy to become numb to it all.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand anti semitism and never have. Human beings never seem to learn to be better to each other no matter how much we progress in other ways. I never knew any Jewish people growing up, but now as an adult we have a Jewish lady in our book club and we've become good friends. I'm trying to learn more about your religion from her...it's fascinating. We should celebrate our differences and make friends with all kinds of people. It makes us better humans, I think.
Anyway, sending you love. Thank you for blogging about your life and your perspective.
Jennifer, thank you. I really don't want anyone to feel guilty, and it's not the Americans I was so hurt by. At the beginning of the war here, I tried to talk to one of the American women here from whom I felt the most extreme reactions. She rudely rejected me, but I know she doesn't represent anyone, only herself. In the post here, I addressed comments I saw from other places. And thank you for understanding.
DeleteBless you, Yael. I don't understand why one set of humans wants to obliterate another set. I have no answers. I think we have to be able to look ourselves in the eye, in the mirror. We are responsible for ourselves. That is the only power we have. I choose not to hate.
ReplyDeleteTake care. Xx
Thank you Christina.
DeleteUnless we experience the trauma we can never really empathise. We can sympathise, and words are easy. Be sure there are many who do not seek to balance evil with 'what aboutery.'
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, most of the comments I've seen in a long time were ones that tried to create a kind of balance between the parties. At first I tried to argue and explain, I saw that it wasn't helping and I gave up, but it didn't reduce the pain.
DeleteHmmmm...food for thought in this post! In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7 I could not understand people who blamed that event on Israel. It was so clear to me that everyday Israelis were the victims, and in such a horrible fashion. Netanyahu's scorched-earth war of retribution gradually turned public opinion more toward sympathy for the Gazans, but that doesn't change the fact that Israelis were victims on that day.
ReplyDeleteI think people instinctively seek balance in an effort to understand "all sides" of an issue. It's meant well, but it can also be misguided. I do think whatever we do to ease the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians must consider the long-term health and welfare of both groups. (Two-state solution?)
Being gay, I identified with your line, "We are people that the world loves to hate." I could say the same.
I can only add to what Dana International said, "In Gaza they would hang you." Also food for thought. Thank you Steve for your understanding.
DeleteThank you for sharing this; I am glad you did. I'm taking it to heart.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I know you understand.
ReplyDeleteI so love to hear your perspective. I do disagree that all people love to hate Jews. I know many Christians besides myself that know no one w/that heart. It is an uncomprehensible notion, as Jesus was a Jew. Wishing you love & peace Sweet Yael!
ReplyDeleteFrances, Thank you. Of course, I don't think everyone hates Jews. I was referring here to some comments I read on blogs that bothered me, and besides, there are quite a few people in the world who hate us, but of course not all of them. There are still many good and sane ones left, fortunately for us.
DeleteI know that I have never hated Jews. I'm glad you explained your feelings. The whole world would be better if we could get rid of hate.
ReplyDeleteEllen, I think hate will not disappear from the world, it is human nature to have all the variety of emotions. My only wish is that people will make the right judgment before they direct hate at someone.
DeleteYour hard-won insights about anti-Semitism matter in our world that has been shaken so deeply in the past few days by the deadly actions taken toward the innocent people on Bondi Beach.
ReplyDeleteam, I know that anti-Semitism exists in the world, but I was surprised here in Blogland to see how embedded it is even in people who claim to be different.
DeleteWe went to the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt this week, and it was guarded like a fortress, with barriers and armed guards. And of course we had to show our identity cards. On the way there we passed a mosque, and in the streets were a lot of women with traditional muslim clothing. They don´t need any guards. Where is the balance there?
ReplyDeleteHilde in Germany
Hilde, Your comment tells the whole story. I thank you so much.
DeleteI really wanted to write something after the recent Australian massacre, but it seemed pointless. Some people just 'hate' for no logical reason. Others will always support 'the bad guys'. The whole situation goes to prove that the majority of humans don't think for themselves; they are told who to support. It won't be long before their 'friends' have become so powerful (as they have in the UK) they they will realise how very wrong they were.
ReplyDeleteCro, This is already happening in Europe, denial is a known mechanism, but as it increases, there will be no choice but to see where the mistake was.
DeleteYou are not wrong, but an awful lot of people are wrong. There is no "yes but". It makes me sick to see the horrible things done to such good people. I will never understand but I thank you for this post.
ReplyDeleteDear Bonnie, I'm the one who wants to thank you. You understood exactly what I meant. I think about you a lot.
ReplyDeleteThank you for putting your thoughts and fears down in a post. We, me, cannot know what it is like to live your life. I do not like the hatred but know it will always be there
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks to you and people like you who know how to say the kind words.
DeleteI feel very uncomfortable writing this, but all the relatives who died in horrible circumstances were:
ReplyDelete1. during the Ukrainian pogroms of 1905, leaving my grandfather and his 5 siblings without parents or a house.
2. the Holocaust in Hungary, Germany and Ukraine in 1938-45.
Even all these decades later, I still have much more love for travelling in Netherlands, Scandinavian nations, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Israel, Egypt etc etc.
There were also victims in Italy, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and more, but we forgave and moved on.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are back posting......I had stopped checking your blog after it went " invite" only, and today just thought I would look again! I think that some people get alerts for new posts, but I don't.
ReplyDeleteI am not into " politics"....I just don't understand why nations can't live in peace with others.......what is the point of all this killing?
Stay safe .
Frances, Thank you for being here for so many years. I muted the blog for a while for various reasons, it appears as if it is invite only, but it is not.
DeleteFear of attacks not withstanding, I do hope that you and yours had a lovely Hanukkah. x
ReplyDeleteBea, It was a quiet and happy Hanukkah. It's quiet here now, but we all know that everything is temporary.
DeleteHi Yael, I can totally relate to your comments. I have heard those excuses as well. I started reading lots of books (mainly about holocaust survivors) after I read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was about 12. It coincided with seeing a number on the forearm of my sewing teacher at the time.
ReplyDeleteNow I have always had a high regard for Jewish people, for the sheer numbers of extremely successful people. My husband's grandfather was himself Jewish, although he married out of his faith. Of course, now my own children have Ashkenazi Jewish heritage and when I studied my husband's DNA I was delighted and surprised to find he is related to an extremely famous Brooklyn born Jew.
The day after the Bondi attack, I wrote a post on Facebook condemning antisemitism and wasn't at all surprised I had only 1 like that was from our daughter. I wasn't surprised but I was peeved off that people are so ignorant and complacent. Most Australians and New Zealanders are so stupid they actually believe the Hamas propaganda without fact checking or researching history. The good thing is that attack at Bondi has made everyone sit up and take notice. Unfortunately, that's what it took to get attention. I stand with you Yael, and I do have some sympathies for Gazans who didn't ask for this, whoever they may be xx
Judy, Thank you for this important comment. Now the young women who were taken captive by Hamas on October 7th are starting to tell their true story, girls so young who went dancing at a party or slept in their beds on Saturday morning, they went through shocking things there, because they are young women, I don't see that this has an echo in the world. And that is another dimension of hypocrisy that I see all the time.
ReplyDeleteYes I do understand, however, it's hard to keep reading the atrocities that have happened. Now I see a lot of OZ flags planted on the sides of roads which is an indication that we are peeved off with those babarians. It's not that you don't have supporters, it's just their apathy
ReplyDeleteJudy, As long as there are people like you, who know how to express their support openly and in such a genuine way, I feel there is hope.
ReplyDeleteHi Yael, as of this moment there is a revolution going on in Iran! They want the KING back. Here's hoping!
ReplyDeleteYes, I've read about it, there is sometimes a gap between the people and the government, and sometimes it is precisely the people's protest that can cause the government to go to war, small or large, in order to silence the protesters. Unfortunately, this doesn't just happen only there... and again, thank you for your concern and encouragement.
ReplyDeleteYael, I'm so happy I can view your Blog again. I want to wish you on this New Year's Eve a Happy and Safe New Year. I will keep you in my prayers, and I pray for Peace on Earth.
ReplyDeleteGale, Thank you for this heartwarming comment. I wish you a happy new year and nothing but the best.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteI don't understand where all the hate comes from. Your blog was not going into my feed during December, wishing you a peaceful, safe New Year.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Sometimes I take the blog down for a while because I haven't been able to figure out what exactly the Singaporean bot is looking for here. I might do it again, I'll be back.
ReplyDelete