On loathing, learning and lunatics: two weeks in contemporary Israel

RALPH GENENDE finds his assumptions confused and his identity rattled as he confronts Israel's many faces.

Like many Australian Jews, I’ve visited Israel on multiple occasions. Israel excites my imagination, feeds my soul, nurtures my poetry. It also confuses my assumptions, challenges my beliefs, and rattles my identity. My most recent trip combined all these elements.

We arrived in Israel just days after the rocket bombardment, to a country that once again had to hunker down in shelters as thousands of rockets were hurled at its civilian centres. It was a time of great tension, anxiety and fear that would demoralise, if not undermine, most contemporary citizens of the modern world.

But we were greeted by a huge food festival on the iconic beach promenade. The day after the ceasefire, tens of thousands of Tel Avivians gathered to celebrate the summer and their joy of being alive in the country rated fourth in the world’s Happiness Scale (up from ninth last year). The spirit of defiance, impatience and resilience that has characterised its 75 years is alive and well - and shouting and tooting.

If the festival showed Israelis’ capacity for resilience, our first Saturday night reminded us of their capacity for anger. We attended the 20th consecutive public protest for democracy in central Tel Aviv. The protest had paused for only one Saturday night during the bombardment. The intensity was palpable, the outrage visceral with the chants of busha (shame) and bizah (disgrace) as loud as the clarion calls for demokratya (democracy).

Many people have commented on the diversity of Israelis attending the protests. I was struck by the peaceful and almost carnival atmosphere in this huge mass of humanity. The crowd of about 100,000 was pumped. It was enthralling and confronting to be there, energising to sing hatikva with so many of my people.