(Photo: VisitExeter )
Welcome back to the Holyland Update in the new, more digestible format. Today we have a small victory for hope, and a whodunit with a surprise suspect. Further bemused hilarity, from the Independence Day ceremony of last night, will wait for part 2 of this installment, so let's get to it:
OOPS, WE WUZ INACCURATE
So last night (Tuesday) was Memorial Day Eve, (at which time the Occupied Territories went into lockdown, which will be lifted only tomorrow night) and the alternative Israeli/Palestinian memorial ceremony took place as planned, with the Palestinians guests the government tried to block from attending.
David Grossman, probably Israel's greatest living novelist, and also a fallen soldier's bereaved father (Lebanon, 2006), who the fucking "proud Jews" don't think "deserves" to be a bereaved father, gave a terrific speech. In his speech, Grossman referenced a super-well-known song here, by veteran star crooner Shlomo Artzi (who 24 hours later would light a torch, incidentally), that goes "Suddenly a man wakes up in the morning, feels that he's a people, and sets out walking" - a perfect encapsulation of the collectivist mindset that created the country, but now threatens the reaping of the fruit thereof. Grossman turned this odd line on its head, saying "It's time a people wake up and feel like they're a man." Which is to day - A human being. A mensch.
In letting the guests from the Palestinian Authority attend, the Supreme Court harshly criticized the Ministry of Defense, which was forced to apologize for its "inaccurate"[1] representation to the court that some of the invitees had family connections to terrorists. Good people 1 - Corrupt and evil Minister of Defense Liberman 0.
Haaretz
[1] Bold-faced, throw-shit-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks LIE
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Grossman. Would tend to agree he didn't deserve to lose his son. (Photo: Getty)
WHO LET THE FIREWORKS OUT?!
Concurrently, as the evening siren went off in the mixed Jewish-Arab town of Lod, someone shot a some fireworks into the sky, in what was perceived as deliberate disrespect by the Arab population of the city. The Mayor, Yair Revivo, fulminated that "whoever did that will wish he'd never been born", and called to have the malefactor's house torn down (a punishment normally reserved for those declared terrorists from the Occupied Territories). But in the morning, there was a plot twist! The felonious fire-worker is Jewish! Or at least, that's how he was presented in court: Dudu[2] Avraham (a Jewish and not Arab name), 37. According to the police, his intent was to foment a rift between the Jews and Arabs in the city.
His lawyer insisted that his client was Jewish and asked that he be released so he could celebrate Independence Day. Kinda like the old Jewish joke, guy kills his parents, begs the court's mercy on account of he's an orphan... He was remanded till tomorrow (Thursday) morning. The Mayor and those parroting his line still insist the dude's totally a Muslim Arab named Daoud Muhammad Sahnin, with only tenuous ties to anyone Jewish. One version says it's a father who converted, another says a brother who married a Jewish girl.
Problem is, you don't get presented in court by the "name you go by". You're presented by the name on your ID card, which in this case is apparently Dudu Avraham. His facebook shows only comments by Jews, though one or two (Rosanna, Sophia) might be Arabs (more like Russian immigrants). What's also apparently true is that the dude lives in the Rakevet (Railorad) neighborhood, which is overwhelmingly Arab. Whole thing is strange, but illustrates how pointless it is to insist on clean lines of separation in these parts. Only a mutual civic identity can let us live together, while allowing those who so wish (cause not everyone will ever so wish) to stick mostly with their tribe.
Times of Israel
[2] I know, I know... common affectionate form for "David" in Hebrew
Yeah, the next part is just as funny, but will need its own installment. We're gonna wrap this one up with a song. It's corny and kitsch by now, but when it came out in 1969, at the height of Israel post-Six Day War euphoria, it was so radical offensive to the national ethos that it was banned from airwaves. Now, sadly, most Israelis will hum along as they continue to cling to all that makes peace impossible. And for all the corn and kitsch, the words, placed in the mouths of fallen soldiers, are just as true now:
None shall us again retrieve
from dark and deepest grave
of no avail here
are the joy of victory
or the song of praise
Let the sun pierce
through the flowers
Do not look behind in tears
let the departed be
Raise your eyes in hope
Rather than through sights
Sing a song for love
and not for war
(I could make it rhyme and meter better, but only so many hours in the day and y'all get the point. Thanks for reading and check back shortly for part 2)
Legendary Israeli vocalist Miri Aloni and fabled Palestinian singer, violinst and oud player Samir Shukri - Song For Peace
