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.

Really interesting thread, thank you @israelilefty

In Israel government preschool is available free from age 3 (from 7:30am till 2pm; you have to pay if you want the afternoon session until 5pm, which includes a hot meal, but it's not that expensive). For younger kids there are some subsidised nurseries for families with lower incomes. In general Israel is a family friendly country which encourages working parents.

I left at 27. I moved for a job but in general was keen to move to Israel - I already had a lot of friends here. I felt that Israeli society and culture fitted me well, and as someone with an active Jewish religious life, I was excited to be part of the amazing renewal of Jewish religious and cultural life going on here. I was able to study Jewish studies and take part in congregations that were both traditional and feminist in ways that just didn't exist in my home country. I also find Israeli life less materialistic than my home country and more focused on family, mutual responsibility, appreciating being outdoors in nature etc. I continue to appreciate all these things.

I feel physically safe for now as I live in an area which has barely been affected by rocket fire from Gaza as it's beyond the range of most Hamas rockets. This would change a lot if Hezbollah gets involved in the conflict now or in the future as they are physically closer and have much greater capabilities to hit Israel from the air and cause serious damage. Like all Israeli apartments built from the 1990s onwards my house has a reinforced safe room in which we can shelter if needed (in general life it's our tv den), but I hope we don't have to. However, I'm not currently considering leaving.

Hi op. I have another question. I don't know if it's a silly one! So I apologise in advance. If someone was to move to Israel. Do they have to provide any documents to show they are of the Jewish faith/heritage?

It might be a silly question

I wasn't even alive 70 years ago. I find it problematic to request me as an individual to "justify" historic and present injustices in my country, just as I don't expect random British citizens to justify colonialism and its contemporary legacy, or Americans to justify slavery and its contemporary legacy. I take responsibility for parts of the world that I can actually change, and try to act accordingly, and I've tried to set out some of my own perspective in other posts.

War is ugly because it always involves collateral damage to innocent people. What actions are justifiable - despite the collateral damage - is for international law to determine, not me or you or anyone else on Mumsnet.

I would say that most educated Israelis speak English at least somewhat fluently. It's taught in all schools, and universities also have English language requirements, and is the main language for communicating with non-Israelis. How much English-language media young people consume really depends on the particular person. Some are more into Israeli music etc, some into American or British, and others are into something entirely different like K-pop.

I really would probably prefer to listen. But if I did ask something (of a Gazan on the AMA forum), I would be interested to know what regular Gazans really think about Hamas. Did they support the Hamas government, if they still support them then why, and if they don't support them, who they would prefer to be in power.

I don't know what line of work you're in OP, but I wish we lived in a world where you could replace Netanyahu as of tomorrow🤩

Thank you so much for this thread.

Thanks again 💐

I think that inclusion in a shared civil society and living in mixed communities aren't 100% the same thing. Also bear in mind that shared civil society takes a long time to build under the shadow of conflict.

Yes there are Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel in the judiciary including law professors and a Supreme Court judge.

There are currently 10 Arab members of Knesset (Israeli parliament) out of a total of 120, including factions from 2 parties which are wholly or mainly Arab (Hadash-Taal, which is secular and socialist, and Ra'am which is an Islamist party). Currently none of them are part of the ruling coalition, but Ra'am was part of the previous coalition. Since there is proportional representation in Israel there's no reason why there shouldn't be equal representation of Arab Israelis in the Knesset, and representation has been higher in the past. Two of the reasons for the low representation are low voter turnout in Arab communities due to disillusionment with the available parties, and also some Arab voters vote for Jewish-majority parties.

Some Arab teachers teach in non-Arab schools, particularly teaching Arabic but also sometimes other subjects too.

Majority Arab towns in Israel have a different cultural vibe to majority Jewish ones (and neither category is monolithic!) But broadly speaking, majority Arab towns have a culture more like in neighbouring countries in the Levant, in terms of lifestyle, media, music, food etc, and majority Jewish towns tend to have a more Mediterranean kind of culture. This isn't only to do with Jewish-Arab differences, it's also to do with longstanding cultural differences in historic Palestine between coastal and mountain towns that go back to the Ottoman period - see the excellent work of Palestinian sociologist Salim Tamari.

I listen to Gabor Mate, Norman Finklestein and Abby Martin quite a bit. All are Jewish / Isreali. Here are some very interesting interviews conducted over the past weeks for anyone who is interested:

Mate -

Finklestein - s

Martin -

I pray to God there will be peace for both sides and that one day Isreali and Palestinian children will be allowed to play together in joy and happiness.

Why do you spell Israeli that way?

Israeli - sorry! I'm typing too fast! You knew what I was talking about.

I'm not really sure I'm qualified to answer that question, and Israeli Arabs are a hugely diverse population from Bedouins living a traditional lifestyle to hipsters running the trendiest bars in Haifa. Here are some examples of people you could look up: author Sayed Kashua, rapper Tamer Nafar, Nas from "Nas Daily", singer Amal Murkus, legal scholar Michael Karayanni, musician Taiseer Elias.

I have never seen Muslim women living in Israel wearing niqab (face covering). Hijab is fairly common - but like Israeli Jews, the dress of Israeli Arabs varies from extremely modest and conservative to extremely trendy and revealing.

I don't know what it is about Gabor Maté, but he gives me the creeps. I'm so interested in the topics he discusses, but find myself switching off.

Edited to add: Oooh, just checked the other links you posted. What made you think these were helpful and informative?

well, you also have an agenda - just a different one. And the comparisons with apartheid are well documented by respected human right organisations. In fact, I’d ask whether OP worries about the same trajectory occurring in terms of s Africa became an international pariah with sanctions and who were eventually globally shunned. Also, OP is being very open in answering questions clearly from people across all kinds of political and religious spectrums - please stop coming on here to berate other posters. You’re policing an otherwise interesting and respectful conversation.

Yes, there are some laws in Israel that are discriminatory, directly or indirectly, including the Nation State Law which I think you are referring to. There are also problems in implementing equality where it is enshrined in the law and in Israel's Declaration of Independence which is a de facto constitution. I and many others favour abolishing the Nation State law (I was among those who protested it when it was enacted) and working for greater equality in society.

Regarding inequalities between Jewish and Arab Israeli societies as a whole, this is a really good summary:
https://en.idi.org.il/articles/38540
I found this report helpful in pointing to some of the different causes of inequality, and in pointing to fields which gaps are closing between Jewish and Arab Israelis, and to other areas which remain problematic.

Not a silly question. Yes, Jewish people seeking to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return need to prove that they are eligible for immigration under that law. Note that this is the way most people achieve Israeli citizenship but there are also other routes to citizenship eg Israelis who moved to Israel as non-Jewish spouses of Israelis, etc.

I'm flattered, though I can't think of a job I'd want less :) There are some good opposition politicians here who I'd be very happy to see replace Netanyahu, though.

(Sorry, I'm quoting your shorter post as otherwise the whole feed gets filled up with Youtube videos)

I think it's important to listen to wide perspectives about the conflict. However, with respect, I think it's also important to remember that the voices you recommend are all North American, and they all come from a political position which is not mainstream in North American Jewish communities. They also don't represent an Israeli perspective on the present conflict. For the latter, I've been recommending the Unholy podcast, because it's a rare opportunity to hear someone who is a really well known mainstream voice in Israel (Yonit Levy, who presents a prime time TV news programme in Israel) speaking to an English-language audience. I've mentioned it a few times here already, but the recent episode of that podcast in which she speaks to Ilana Dayan, another major mainstream Israeli journalist, is a really good opportunity to hear two knowledgable, mainstream Israelis reflect on the present situation.

The BDS movement has tried this tactic - to encourage sanctions and shunning of Israel. So far it hasn't really had a big impact. I think it's unlikely that it will be successful. The interconnectivity of the world today is very different from the 1980s, and also geopolitical interests of other countries means that Israel won't be isolated.

Thank you for your post, as a well rounded person it's interesting to hear your view on the question of Israeli immigrant integration. You have mentioned that you made Aliyah when you were 27 so well into your adult life with your personality already formed. How hard was it for you and can you say that you are totally integrated as an Israeli citizen. I have a great number of relatives that moved to Israel in the 90s after the collapse of Soviet Union and even after 30 years in the country I can't say that they integrated well. Many left with good professions like doctors, lawyers, engineers but found them selves in the lowest paid jobs and stayed that way to this day.

I was very lucky in that I moved here to take up a job that was a parallel of the one I was doing before. I probably lost a few years of seniority during the transition between countries, but I basically have the same income and standard of life that I would have in my country of birth. I was also lucky that my work is totally a Hebrew-speaking environment and all my colleagues were born here - so I really had to be able to function in Hebrew. It was very much jumping in the deep end, and very hard for the first three or four years, but by now I feel l function as a normal person. My friendship group includes a lot of immigrants, which is normal as we share life experiences, and also many Israelis who were born here. There are a lot of life things, from calling emergency services to dealing with building contractors to having a baby which I've only done here, so I don't even know how they work in my country of birth. The biggest thing I notice, and I guess that it's true of all immigrants, is that I don't have the cultural background that people who were born here do. I don't know the TV shows and songs they grew up with, or the back story of public figures. Also while I don't even need to think about speaking and listening to Hebrew, and I'm equally happy to consume TV, podcasts etc in Hebrew or English, I find it takes a big effort to read books or long documents in Hebrew. I think it's literally because my eyes were trained to read in the other direction (I don't have the same problem reading French, even though my French is nowhere near the level of my Hebrew).

Having said all that, my experience immigrating as an individual who already had a lot of friends and professional contacts in my field in Israel and already had very good Hebrew was very different from immigrants from the FSU who arrived as a very large wave of immigration and had much greater obstacles to progressing in their fields. I have quite a few friends and colleagues who were born in the FSU and it really depends on the person: some have integrated and are at the top of their field and speak Hebrew with almost no accent; others basically live in Russian-speaking neighbourhoods where they can do everything they need in Russian. I think that in general the younger that people arrived, the better they integrated, but it also depends on personal choices and friendship groups.

I thought of this question when getting ready for Shabbat and wanted to give you a "real" picture of how Shabbat can look in a non-Instagram home :) This week we have no guests so I am doing "lazy" Shabbat cooking.

Every week I make my own challah (Shabbat bread). Tbh making is as quick as driving to a bakery, finding parking etc. My kid also makes a small challah roll every week at preschool, which I let him eat in synagogue on Saturday morning with chocolate spread inside. It keeps him quiet for a while :)

Tonight we will have challah with 2 dips, each of which have 2-3 ingredients so not much effort there ;) Then salmon with beans and potatoes, and ice cream for dessert. This exact meal was requested by my 4-year old :)

For breakfast I got us strawberries (just coming into season, currently rather eye-waveringly expensive so that's a treat that makes Shabbat special). I'll also pull a cake out of the freezer, home-made where I did a batch of two and froze one.

For lunch I went to a place in town that does ready-made Shabbat food and bought a couple of meat dishes, rice and a quinoa salad. I wouldn't usually do that as it's pretty expensive (maybe 2/3 the price of a similar restaurant meal) but it's a cold wet weekend and I felt like treating myself to a break from cooking. One of the dishes is chicken stuffed with dried fruits, which I am excited to try.

Robot currently cleaning the floor, I'll tidy up a bit and make sure that lights and heating are on timers, then that's about it for Shabbat preparations this week.

What's your opinion on the future of Israel. From what I can see the country is in many aspects in the avant-garde of innovation and human development. You can just look at GDP per capita it's only behind Qatar in the Middle East. An absolutely remarkable success story. However the territorial dispute is one issue which is a ticking time bomb which can brake all of this. If all high tech leave the country you will be left with innovative agriculture. I just cannot understand why is it not in the national interest to resolve it. Why there isn't any national support for a two state solution?