”It wasn’t me, Miss, I had nothing to do with it. It was THEM!”
There’s always one, isn’t there? When the teacher comes back into the class to see what all the ruckus is about, there’s always one who turns on his classmates. The other kids glare at him in disgust and in disbelief. How can he do this to them? Wasn’t he in the thick of it with the rest of them, just a minute ago, while the teacher was gone? But now she’s back he’s suddenly turned into this insufferable little weasel, pointing his bony little finger, sanctimoniously naming names.

It’s always someone else’s fault. It’s those wicked, trigger-happy settlers; it’s the money-grabbing, Mafia- controlled Likud Center; it’s the negligent goons that run the army; it’s the stupid, brutish police; it’s that criminal Sharon and his government of thugs that civilized people don’t vote for; it’s those embarrassing, badly-dressed Neanderthals who listen to that awful Mizrahi music all the time, and vote Likud.

It’s never us. No, we’re the GOOD Israelis. Just see what we have to deal with here. Please, come and save us from these cretins.

The worst of it is that not so long ago, I was one of the GOOD Israelis too, and I was saying the exact same things that they are saying now. And I had no idea that there was anything shameful about this.

You know, I always had the feeling that the teacher was just as derisive of the turncoat as we kids were. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.

There can only be peace when those in Israel purporting to be its main advocates learn to respect the rest of Israeli society (uncivilized as it may be), its views (moronic as they may be), and its chosen leaders (depraved as they may be).

And when they stop trying to distance themselves from everything unpleasant that happens here, by pointing an accusing finger at those among their brethren that are not to their liking. As if they don't live here too, as if they don't benefit from the security these military actions bring Israeli civilians, as if they are of beings of superior morality, unlike the rest of us.