I'm a Jewish Israeli, AMA

[israelilefty]

Jewish Israeli here. I grew up in a different country but have lived and worked most of my adult life here, living a fairly normal everyday life in northern Israel. When I'm not working, I enjoy cooking and hiking, I'm religiously observant (but also feminist), I'm on the left of the political spectrum, and have everyday contact with people from quite a range of different perspectives - Israeli society is incredibly diverse.

I guess I see us portrayed in a kind of monolithic way in the English-language media, so I'm taking a deep breath and posting here...

Feel free to AMA, just remember you're asking a real person, not a government or military spokesman :) I'll try to answer from my personal standpoint. as long as it's asked in good faith.

"Maybe not the very hottest days, but sandals for at least 6 months of the year! Lemon and mango trees"

I'll never forget the impact that the smell of the orange blossom in Ramat Aviv had on me. It was everywhere and walking along with the scented air it was like magic. I never expected to see such verdant vegetation everywhere; I wrongly assumed I would be in desert terrain. I guess now 40 years later there are many more buildings everywhere.

I love the heady smell of Pine trees in the heat, always reminds me of my Savta's neighbourhood in Tel Aviv

@israelilefty thank you for the answer

It's been a while, israelilefty, but I was wondering how the move by South Africa to accuse Israel of genocide at the UN has affected the public mood in Israel.

Do you have any thoughts, please?

I hope that you are doing OK.

Sorry I didn't get to this question yesterday!

I don't think this development has significantly affected the public mood in Israel. Pretty much all Israelis from across the political spectrum, see this case as primarily a propaganda exercise by the Palestinians and their supporters, making a point in taking Israel to trial and hoping to get some kind of interim ruling against Israel (the bar of evidence needed for this is much lower than for an actual conviction of genocide - it only needs to be "plausible"). Most Israelis expect that there will be an interim order against Israel because of the low evidentiary threshold, but that there will not eventually be a finding that Israel is guilty of genocide.

In more detail: in Israel on the right, the trial is painted as hypocrisy: Israel is being singled out yet again, and is being tried for genocide when in fact it is waging a war of no choice against an enemy with genocidal intentions. In the centre to left, there is much anger at the far right and at Netanyahu for letting genocidal rhetoric by coalition politicians go unchallenged, and therefore leaving Israel vulnerable to this kind of case, even if those politicians aren't actually part of the military decision-making process. On the further left, some people are pointing out that the ICJ case actually serves Netanyahu's interests as it enables him (and generally the right) to dismiss any other claims of war crimes as being in bad faith, when in fact claims of lesser war crimes could be justified.

But in general in terms of public mood, the case is overshadowed by the marking, tomorrow, of the 100th day in which over 100 Israeli civilians are held hostage in Gaza. This is a small country and everyone knows multiple people who have friends or family among the hostages. The public mood has shifted in that there is now even more vocal support for a deal to release the hostages, even knowing that this deal will have a very high price (right now people calling for this are blocking the main highway through Tel Aviv). Anti-Netanyahu protests have also restarted. There is a wider recognition that this war isn't going to be "won". As the war drags on there is more pressure from the something like 200,000 Israelis who are still displaced from their homes on the northern border and the Gaza border, and from reservists who are stuck in ever-extending military service, away from their families, their businesses, their studies etc.

Thank you, israelilefty. I don't know what to say. It all sounds tremendously hard and wearying as if something must give somewhere soon.

There is nothing I can think of to say that does not sound trite.

Hi israelilefty just wanted to say I am en route to the London vigil taking place this afternoon. You are not forgotten. ❤️

I am just wondering how your friends/family who live in the "at risk" areas (although that definition is probably redundant in view of the ferocity of the attacks) cope with the awareness/memory of what's happened, and the threat of it happening again?

From what I hope is a very safe distance, I find myself lying awake at night, deeply distressed by the exuberant sadism of 7 October. I can't imagine how I would feel if it all affected me directly in real life.

I saw a Nova survivor expressing determination not to let Hamas define our way forward - how important it was to remember the victims as happy and lovely people, instead of that being erased by the deliberately cruel trauma of their deaths.

I'm trying to honour the luxury of being relatively safe by appreciating this privilege, instead of taking it for granted, but can't escape feeling depressed and anxious. How on earth do people in Israel cope?

How do people cope? I do know a few people who live on the Gaza border or by the northern border and have been evacuated from their homes, but I'm not close enough to them to know all about their thought processes. From the brief conversations I've had, I know that people are seriously considering whether or not to return to their communities in the border areas, and are also busy dealing with everyday life - eg having to spend months living as a displaced person in a hotel room with small kids. But there is also a lot of psychological damage among those who were directly affected by 7th October.

More generally in Israel people cope because we have to. Life goes on, and everyone is at least to some degree in the same boat, and Israeli civil society is extremely resilient - people cope with stress by channeling it into action. A lot of people have been coping by helping others, or by campaigning to free the hostages. Also events have been moving at such a fast pace that there has barely been time to stop and think. But I think the full toll on society of the last months will only be seen after the war ends.

I just saw this thread in "related threads" below another one, and I know it's been a while but I wonder if I could ask a question.

Early on, you said Israelis broadly support the objective of the war (eliminating Hamas).

I want to ask, do they broadly support the means for that aim? Do they think 30,000 innocent dead Palestinians is worth it? The highest daily death rate of any 21st conflict. Do they think that the current policy of starvation, and allowing only enough food in to keep the innocent civilians. population on the brink of famine, is worth it?

Do people actively defend this and think it's right? Or do they keep quiet because it's too hard to reckon with? Or do they genuinely not know it's happening, or else believe the misinformation that it isn't happening?

Is there truly no conversation about how the mass slaughter of Palestinians might fairly inevitably lead to the radicalisation of the younger, deeply traumatised, generation?

I know these questions sound emotional but I assure I am asking in good faith. I really want to know. I am the opposite to you in that my family is Palestinian and the only Israelis I know are anti Zionist. So I can't understand how good people, people who know suffering, can support this.

I slightly echo Yazzi's question. In the UK our news is showing us terribly emaciated starving children and babies, many with amputations and other serious injury, having seen their whole family die. In the UK many people find this shocking and not something that should happen to children who have done nothing to deserve it. Is there any call in Israel to save the children in Gaza? I do remember in 2021, when 66 children were killed in Gaza, that there was a small vigil in Tel Aviv for them, but it seemed quite a minority viewpoint.

I'm curious to know if the last two posters bothered to read any of the thread at all before shit-stirring posting.

Me too, since OP has already laid heart and soul bare answering these questions. I can only assume they haven't bothered, otherwise these questions are just a gobsmacking level of gaslighting.

Yes you're right, I only read to page 12. But the post above mine was from 15 January; it's been two months since then and the situation has only worsened for Palestinians and, from what I can see, become more entrenched for Israelis. That's the context from which I wrote. You'll note I asked about Israelis generally and not the poster specifically.

There was no need to be nasty. Nothing in my post indicates that it's asked to shit stir. In fact they're astonishing words to use when my family and friends are facing genocide and starvation, and that's the topic I'm asking about.

@Yazzi I agree with you. Things have gotten drastically worse since then.
I would also be interested to know as I can't get my head around certain things, such as people blocking aid trucks going into Gaza when they are facing starvation and famine. Majority of MSM have reported on the drastic deterioration and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, yet when I saw the protestors interviewed, they didn't believe this to be true.
Is this because it is reported differently In Israel?

Or are they just a really small group of people who hold such views

I would like to clarify that this is something that has been troubling me greatly when people i know are really suffering, and I would rather hear what a person living in Israel says about it than only relying on what is shown on the news. Especially whne the news mostly only focuses on the negative views.

Actually @YetAnotherSpartacus @Dibilnik the most recent images of famine are much worse than anything I saw at first and generally the situation has deteriorated since the hiatus in posting. Things do change over time, so it's reasonable to now enquire as to public mood.

That's how you see it, but you either accept that Israel must defend itself against terrorism from a country that has bombarded it with missiles daily for years and promises to repeat 7 October until Jews are eradicated from the land... or you don't.

Accepting a war as necessary in principle is not the same as applauding images of starving children.

Imagine asking a Jewish person what they thought of the bombing of Dresden!

@Dibilnik but you are not Jewish and nor are you Israeli as you have said yourself. So why are you answering questions on behalf of someone who is, when the questions were not aimed at you?
@israelilefty has in the post been open to answering what are difficult questions but have given me a better insight into Israeli society.
If she said the questions were inappropriate or offensive then I would accept that. From her though, not from you.

*Past

@Dibilnik You lost me there. Not sure how your comments relate to children dying of starvation. But I might wait to hear from the person who created this AMA, if that's OK with you.

Seems like you're the one doing the shit stirring as you call it. The previous posters were asking the OP questions in good faith to get a better understanding of what's happening. If OP finds the questions inappropriate/offensive (which they are not imo) then that's up to them to decide.

Perhaps (as a suggestion) it might be better to start a new thread as the OP has not been Back for a couple of months? There may be people willing or able to answer? Rather than leave them hanging.