Israeli friends call to complain about mutual Arab friends. Some Arab friends won’t talk to me because I’m Jewish. Arab and Israeli friends are sniping at each other using their MSN online names since they don’t have the courage to contact one another directly: “David’s mother is … “, “Ahmed = … “. One Arab friend who does talk to me wants all Israelis chased into the sea. An Israeli friend says he doesn’t care what happens to anyone who lives in Lebanon. A Lebanese friend is calling for the execution of all Jews all over the world (including me, I suppose).
I don’t live in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or Haifa. I live in Toronto. Multicultural Toronto.
With very rare exception, political and military leaders are incapable of looking out from beyond their bubbles of arrogance and false power with the aim of achieving a world stable enough for a dignified life. I had hoped, buoyed by my multi-ethnic friends, that our future lay with little people constantly working to iron out the ideological differences our apparent leaders shove into us.
Weakened by 9/11, buffeted by Intifadas, suicide bombers, arrogant American foreign policy, arrogant Israeli policy, covert anti-semitism, Abu Ghraib, and Gitmo, this still survived. Until now. I am now completely free from illusion as to exactly what humanity is.
