Time and again, yes to peace

Time and again, yes to peace What a great Rosh Hashanah present from "Time" magazine; a cover story telling whoever is willing to listen, that Israelis are not into peace. Just like that. Why? Because Israelis are making money, they got off easy with the world economic crisis, the real estate is booming even when Hamas fires rockets in the air, and above all it’s been over two years since the last mega-suicide bombing. In short we’re all having a ball and couldn’t care less about peace. Who needs it, right?

So if for some reason you imagined that you’re bummed over the unsolvable conflict with the Palestinians, if you thought the flotilla story mattered to almost every citizen here, or if you were fantasizing that you’re worried about the well-being of the IDF soldiers, and Gilad Shalit in particular, you were totally off. According to "Time" magazine, we are all completely indifferent. It showed a photo of three guys on the beach smoking a hookah, quoted a real estate agent who said he sells apartments even when Kassam rockets are flying, and found some old survey that “proves” only 8% of Israelis are worried about the conflict, because most of them find that education and security problems are more severe.

Surprised? Probably not. Is this only one step further taken in a direction we are all familiar with? Probably so. And if someone hasn’t comprehended yet - this is the way the neo-anti-Semitism works.

It’s not open, it is sly and sophisticated. It hides behind academic lectures that choose very specific articles for their arguments, it prospers behind movies that choose to put certain things in the spotlight and ignore others, and it slithers through everyday headlines that stretch the limits a little more, and then a little more, and a little more. The neo-anti-Semitism is so intelligent, that sometimes it even catches us at a moment of however insecurity, and we ask ourselves: hey, maybe it’s true. Maybe I really don’t care.