In Rememberance

In Israel, today (from sunset yesterday until sunset today) is known as Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Memorial day. While many Jews around the world have buried the holocaust into the deepest recess of their memories, preferring to dwell on it as little as possible, the Jews in Israel clasp firmly to the memories of the Holocaust as a piece of history and self affirmation – that the state of Israel needs to exist in order to safeguard the Jewish people because no one else will. During the day, the entire country will stop for two minutes when the sirens sound for a steady two minutes. It is differentiated from the sound of the incoming missiles in that the missile alarm fluctuates in frequency (getting higher and lower), whereas today and on Yom Hazikaron the siren carries a steady note.

I wrote about this last year, but in a year a lot occurs, and a lot is forgotten. Today, a lot of people are exposed to incredible posturing and empty threats. In every day conversations, people might say ‘ I could kill... you are so dead...’ without any real meaning. Indeed North Korea appears to be antagonizing for war, and in Iran the leaders have been threatening to wipe Israel off the face of the earth without much apparent follow-through.  In Israel, this phrase is cemented into the conscious and is taken as a very literal threat . This morning, for the fourth time in a week, rockets have shot across the border from Gaza into Israel. Despite this, The hackers known as Anonymous have made a concerted effort over the past few days to ‘remove Israel from the internet.’ Among their complaints is that Israel has not complied with the ceasefire . While Israel has indeed conducted air strikes since the ceasefire, these have been in retaliation for rocket attacks (which continued hours after the ceasefire).

The timing of this act, like any act of terrorism, is not left to chance. It is specifically chosen for its importance and symbolic significance. While I think many will disregard this, in light of other attacks that people praise (the Westboro Baptist Church), the connection between attacking the Yad Vashem site, facebook or ‘Larger than Life’ (a charity fund for children with cancer), and the Palestinian cause eludes me. But as I said, I don’t think any inconsistency will bother most people since what affects them most directly will always trump something completely unrelated.

On a much more personal note, my trip in Israel is drawing to a close. I have finally received word that I have completed all the necessary requirements to graduate, so just a bit more time of work (and travel I hope), and I’ll be coming home.

Sirens

Today the sirens will call

not as the alarm

of missiles as they fall

the sirens will sing

a pierced silence

echoing nightmares of hiding

blaring, roaring, howling on the desolate wind

the country stops at the warning bells of our destruction

bringing memories of the past

Solemn, silent the people stand

mourning for those

dashed in the rubble of their labor

the sirens remind us of cold bitter memories

starvation, gunshots and impossible darkness

all the pages of our history

today many will reflect

on the evil of inaction

and the lives it wrecked

today the sirens wailed

to remind us all of a time when the world stood still

and humanity failed.

 

Events and their Shadows

A lot has occurred in the past three weeks globally, much less so locally, and one personal achievement that I cannot address in this iteration. One the one hand you could say that there has been a complete direction change of a nation posed on the brink of war, to one that has returned to a state of normalcy; however, to assume that is completely inaccurate.

While it is true that the reservists that were called up came from all over the country, and for the first time in quite a while sirens blared in in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, sending people running in confusion, moments after normalcy had already returned. Despite a bus being bombed on the final day of the escalation, major operations did not change. Busses continued to run, trains still bolted about. There are three groups who were truly affected by the shelling and rocket fire:

• The Israel’s who live in the south (Jewish, Muslim, and others), who were forced to live essentially the duration of the operation out of a bomb shelter. The same people who the world acknowledges in passing everyone in a while over the past decade.
• No attempt can be made to be fair without addressing the population of the Gaza Strip, who suffered from Israeli Air Strikes, and a power outage caused by fire from Gaza.
• The last party that was significantly affected was Hamas, but unlike the other two, they did not suffer. Rather, if anything they have been emboldened by the compromise. Claiming victory, with celebratory gunfire, and a rocket or two sent across the border, their grip of power has likely been strengthened, and the lack of a significant Israeli response has perhaps given them an air of deterrence.

But for all intents and purposes, a semblance of tense peace has returned to Israel while many thousands of people are killed unrecognized in Syria, continuing hostilities in the Congo, hundreds of thousands of displaced peoples in Mali, a suicide bomber attacking a church in Nigeria, and the Jobbik Party of Hungary calling for lists to be made up of its Jews. So while the world focuses on individual topics of interest (and not necessarily by importance), the rest of the world burns.

I do not mean to say that tragedies are unimportant, but rather I critique the international news networks, and its viewer base. I suppose some people may be a bit surprised that I have not addressed the recent tragedy in the United States specifically; however, this is specifically what I mean to critique. There have been enough pictures and rants, interviews with children and quotes relating to the shooting flooding every open space of the ignoble and contemptible sensationalist media, and twisted and purveyed at times with hidden agendas across the social networking sites. All I have to add to the overfilled pool is that may peace find all in need of solace, and a comforting hand to all those who tremble.

I fear that I had not intended to write all of that. But in the words of the Doctor, it got away from me, yeah. Next time a more selfish post with news about my first conference.

Until then,

Your Traveler