A mistake?
Noticed by Adrian. Nick Denton thinks Israel is a mistake. Jews living in Israel should move. Grrrrrrrr.

The thing is, Mr. Denton, I am not just a Jew. I am an Israeli. Your idea may have been relevant sixty years ago, but no one was offering back then. Quite the contrary. Leave Israel? Live somewhere else? I can only envision not living here as a refugee, and the thought that it might come to that scares the hell out of me. This is my home. These are my smells. I belong here. People here speak my language (even if I’m finding it difficult to write in, just now), and we understand the same jokes that don’t translate (not necessarily a language thing, more a living-together-and-having-the-same-trying-experiences-and-memories thing).

Why is it that we are so proud of the gentle little cyclamens and anemones that spring up, as by magic, every winter? Why do we go out to look for them, by the thousands, every weekend? Maybe it’s because they are a wonder we can relate to. Like Israel, they are also fragile and endangered. But there they are, every year, despite all odds. Should we pull them all up, and move them somewhere safer? I don’t think that would be a good idea. This is where they belong.