Friends who read the newspaper and watch CNN didn’t want me to come to Israel, which as far as they can tell is the world’s most dangerous country. If this is true, someone forgot to tell the Israelis. They gather in huge crowds at beachside restaurants. They stroll around Tel Aviv at all hours of the day and night. They pack the highways and shopping malls. They meet at huge dinner parties with friends and extended family. In short, they are sitting ducks.
When I go back to the U.S. tomorrow morning I’ll be risking getting eaten by a Mountain Lion in a Colorado suburb (it happens), being killed by a Grizzly Bear almost anywhere in the West, getting swept away by violent rivers and waves, being mugged in Cambridge by local kids who aren’t grateful for a lifetime of taxpayer support, being blown up on Amtrak or in NYC by Islamic terrorists while attempting to go to a Broadway play, being killed in a post office by an angry worker with a high-powered rifle, etc. And then there is my first helicopter lesson on Monday morning….
Anyway the bottom line is that Israel seems to be at least as safe as most densely populated parts of the U.S. and Europe. The obsession with violence in Israel is a foreign obsession. The world would be a much safer place if people focussed more on reducing violence in their own backyards.
When I lived in Israel, the violence was sobering. There was the orthodox Jewish school girl who was at a bus stop, kidnapped, killed and left by the side of the road a few KM away. Then there were the Russian immigrant soldiers who didn’t obey orders, kept a fire burning late into the night and generally made a lot of noise. They were all dead by the morning, killed by terrorists.
All of this happened within a few KM of where I was staying. Everyone was briefly saddened by these news stories, but moved on after a few seconds pause. Just like the reactions Americans have for car jackings, muggings, armed robberies, murder, and pretty much every other violent crime. And in the midst of all this violence, everyone pretty much got along. It was a treat to visit Daliat-al-Karmel, the nearby Druze village on Saturdays (where the shops were still open, and the Falafel and Pita were just a smidgeon more authentic).
Oh, and don’t get me started about the shellings in Kiryat S’hmone. Every night, the shelling from the Golan heights would begin. Everyone would hunker down for the evening, turn off the lights and wait for the shells to land. It got to be an everyday part of life there. And it became a game, waiting to see who’s house got hit next: “Hey! Shlomi got one! Yay Shlomi!” Of course, the casualties were few and far between. And the area was safe enough that American volunteers were frequently sent to that kibbutz. So while shelling from a neighboring country is unacceptable, no one was exactly being slaughtered by the Syrians here. It’s probably safer than driving in New York City.
> being killed in a post office by an angry worker with a high-powered rifle[…]
> The world would be a much
I suspect that the Israelis are perfectly aware of the danger, and that what you’re seeing IS the reaction to it. They’re used to it, and they have internalized the notion that you have to live your life DESPITE the terrorism, otherwise the terrorism is MORE successful.
Hope you had a safe trip home.As a father of 2 sons leaving in Boston and Tel Aviv I keep on asking myself is it safer there or here.
rgds
Oded
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