2005-11-02—Sonic Booms |
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jewishsightseeing.com, November 2, 2005 |
By Ira Sharkansky
In case any of you thought that Israelis were insensitive to
the needs of the Palestinians, here is some news. Physicians for Civil
Rights have filed a case with the Supreme Court demanding an end to sonic
booms over Gaza. From their perspective, the booms are collective
punishment, rather than being targeted against those who do harmful things.
According to the appellants, the sonic booms are frightening, and especially
harmful to the children of Gaza.
I presume they mean children too young to throw stones, or to
color their hands red in commemoration of heroes who have killed Israelis
and dipped hands in their blood.
I have heard from other sources that some children throughout
Israeli fear getting on buses, while some of those living near Gaza are
afraid of rockets landing nearby.
It is not only Physicians for Civil Rights among Israelis who
criticize ourselves, and seek to direct their own instruments of government
and foreign bodies against the evils they see. It is common to say that
Israel's income gap between rich and poor is among the largest in the world,
and that Israel is a world leader in traffic accidents and labor unrest.
None of this is true, even if such claims appear in reports of National
Insurance, the State Auditor, and the former Minister of Finance.
A political scientist at the University of Haifa and a number
of other academics have urged their colleagues at overseas universities to
organize boycotts against Israeli applications for research grants, and
against Israeli article submissions to scientific journals. Brit Tzedek
(Treaty for Justice) has Israeli and overseas branches supporting the Geneva
Accords, put together by Israeli and Palestinians activists. We all got
copies of the Accords in our mailboxes, financed by the European Union. The
Israeli partners claimed to reach a framework of a peace agreement that
included Palestinian renunciation of the right of return (of 1948 refugees
to their homes). When I read the document, I found an endorsement of
resolutions that support the right of return.
Israelis are also prominent, along with Palestinians, in
opposing the defense barrier on what they call Palestinian land, targeted
killings of individuals involved in violence against Israelis, roadblocks
designed to limit penetration of Israel by individuals intent on
killing, and all activity of Israeli security forces beyond the 1967
borders.
Perhaps this tendency of tireless self-criticism has
something to do with being the Chosen People who live in the Promised Land.
If we take the promises of the Bible and early Zionists too seriously,
Israel should be a paradise on earth. It is not. Our distant ancestors
entered the works of the prophets into Holy Scripture. They, too, were
intense critics. They claimed to hear the word of the Lord, and seldom
tolerated what the king, his ministers, or the common people were doing. Perhaps
intolerance toward one's people is somewhere in our genes, along with higher
than average tendencies toward
Tay-Sachs,
Cystic Fibrosis, Crohn's Disease, and a few other biological lovelies.
Not all Jewish hyperbole is negative. I do not know how
many times I have received a list of Israeli accomplishments that credits
us with being world leaders in a number of good traits, like college
graduates, and for inventing a fair number of the world's marvels. I once
tried, but gave up, tracing the list to its origin. I filed it under the
heading of "Jewish junk." At least some of its items are not
correct.
I have heard that Jews are just like other people, only mor
eso. I have never been able to determine if that is praise or criticism.
Sharkansky is a member of the political science department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem |