Maybe it's not so easy to talk about it after all. What could normalize the situation? Don't ask me. Schoolchildren were just murdered in France for the crime of being Jewish.
I can't think about Israel or Palestine or discuss them without feeling terrible. I hate seeing what is going on. I am sick of the whole matter.
Therefore I am not going to report on it any more.
More: here is intelligent commentary from Noam Sheizaf. (Page isn't loading for some reason. Will check later.) This is a link to his blog. I am making his blog my go-to place for news and commentary about Israel and putting a link on my sidebar.
So here is a tale of an innocent young Christian girl taken to court by the ACLU for citing the words of Jesus in public school. This is available in booklet form if you want to distribute it to your friends and neighbors. You can get it in several languages. I got my copy from a street corner ranter at the Hilo Farmer's Market.
(revised and enlarged)
I have absolutely no desire to tour Israel, though my mother made several trips to the region.
Posted by: gigi-hawaii | March 23, 2012 at 01:31 PM
Well, I guess you could not exactly call it a tourist spot these days.
Posted by: Hattie | March 23, 2012 at 01:36 PM
Churches in Hawaii continue to organize tours of the Holy Land. My cousins recently completed one.
Posted by: gigi-hawaii | March 23, 2012 at 03:55 PM
Gigi: guess I'm out of touch. It has to be a fascinating experience, but I guess I won't get there in my lifetime.
Posted by: Hattie | March 23, 2012 at 04:42 PM
I remember when you talked about this Chick tract.
http://hattie.typepad.com/hatties_web/2009/06/chick-comics.html
Is the street preacher there every day or only on certain ones?
Posted by: Brandon | March 23, 2012 at 06:22 PM
I see him every once in a while on Saturday. To be entirely accurate, he stands on the corner of Kilauea and Mamo and rants, and his wife stands across the street from the KTA and hands out tracts to passersby and people waiting for the light to change.
Posted by: Hattie | March 23, 2012 at 09:34 PM
Marianna, Think it is a sensible idea on your part not to report on the Israel dilemma--an inadequate noun for the terrible reality. As an American Jew who lives an entirely secular life and identifies as anti-war, I live in some place of pain that is difficult to describe. Like many similar to me, I focus on the maybe-possible domestically.
Thanks for the link to 972 blog where this statement could have been about the U.S.: "The initiative to tell Iranians that Israelis refuse to go to war with them is creative, important and moving – but, like so many other great initiatives here, it is tainted by the fact that we are a society at war, a society whose art cannot be appreciated simply for what it is."
Posted by: naomi dagen bloom | March 26, 2012 at 09:19 AM
Naomi: Well put.
Posted by: Hattie | March 26, 2012 at 09:34 AM
http://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-cuts-ties-to-un/
"Israel is cutting off all relations with the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Foreign Ministry announced. The move comes as a response to the council’s decision to establish a fact-finding mission into Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a decision that was condemned by the government."
Posted by: Brandon | March 27, 2012 at 12:03 PM