September 15th, '03
Summer Round Up

It's been way too long since I've written anything in my Israel Diary, but I have an excuse: I wasn't in Israel! Following my children to pick them up at the end of a long-awaited pilgrimage to their grandparents' house, I spent two weeks reconnecting to the "Old Country"... and found myself being asked to explain Israel an average of 15 times a day.

I found it to be a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, I am anxious for people to understand - and sympathize with - the terrible burden of being part of a society that is being targeted by Palestinian terror. On the other hand, I don't want to substantiate the average TV-viewer's assumption that all of Israel is one whacked-out war zone.

In addition to my music-related appearances, I was interviewed on a political talk show (the host moonlights as a folk DJ, and has played my songs before). I talked about what it's like in Israel these days from a personal perspective, stressing that I'm neither a politician nor policy-maker, just a mother trying to raise her children to be basically normal despite the abnormal circumstances.

I contrasted this goal of mine with documented evidence of how the Palestinian Authority is steeping its children in a cult of suicide. I brought up the story of how, on International Children's Day, Yasser Arafat gathered a group of shiny-faced kids in his office for a televised photo-op. In his speech, he praised the young people for their loyalty to the cause, and told them to go out and kill themselves.

I guess the truth is a bit hard to swallow, even for this pro-Israel DJ. After the show was taped, I half-jokingly said, "I hope I didn't sound like too much of a fascist."

"That's OK," he said, not joking at all. "I stopped you."

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