Moving to Israel

This being a blog about moving to Israel and the country of Israel in general, I’ll often comb the Internet for news about Israel and comment on the various stories. I won’t necessarily read the sites that I personally rely on for news but will frequently check out the big international sites to see what the average person is seeing. Today I checked out cnn.com - one of the most popular destinations for news in the world - and noticed something very interesting. I noticed that Israel was not on the front page.

This may not sound like that big of a deal, but to me it was. I was pleasantly surprised. Some of you may ask why? Why would a pro Zionist like myself, who writes about the country on a regular basis trying to encourage people to move here, be happy about the lack of exposure of Israel on one of the most popular sites in the world?

The answer, as many of you are probably aware, is that, unfortunately, Israel is in the news way too often and is usually painted in a less than flattering light (to say the least). The fact that the country is so often demonized is bad enough but to me one of the biggest signs of anti Semitism and anti Zionism is the fact that Israel is so often front page news at all.

All over the world catastrophe reigns. Masses are slaughtered while countries are run by murdering tyrants yet it is the Jews and Israel that are always leading the news. Did Israel build a wall? Are they humiliating the “Palestinians” today? Have they used any “disproportionate responses” to murdering “militants” lately?

How is it that such a tiny country (Israel) can have such a profound effect on the day to day news? How is it that a people (Jews) so miniscule in number can possibly be the obsession of news outlets that has a whole rest of the world to report on?

The answer to these questions, of course, is that Israel does not have such a profound effect and the Jewish people are not worthy of the news obsessions. They receive the attention they do and will continue to do so because of the same old reasons. There is anti Semitism. There is a hatred for Israel and everything Jewish. It may sometimes be passed off as legitimate news and often is. However, the underlying story is usually the same: a negative story about Israel that would not have even made the fringe pieces of the Internet if it were a country of any other people.

Here’s hoping to see more days of Israel not making the news.

Ari

As we move ahead towards another new year, all the big news stories have been reporting and analyzing the looming financial crisis hovering around the world. With predictions forecasting the worst, the usual scapegoats are being mentioned. As Jews we unfortunately know what this means. A common reaction during times of crisis is to look for people to blame and, especially when the source is monetary, the Jewish people are often the designated targets.

We’ve seen this happen many times over the years (9/11 immediately springs to mind) and this is always a wake up call for me to remember how lucky I am to be living in Israel. As we all know, things are never perfect in the Holy Land. That is an understatement. However, one thing we can always be sure of is that the phrase “because of the Jews” will not be uttered. Not that there are not haters in Israel. However, as we remain a Jewish state we can safely assume that our neighbors will not be whispering when our backs are turned that “the Jews love money nothing else, no faith or religion can be so heartless to their victims etc…”

The sad truth is that outside of Israel this is what many of our peers are thinking (or saying) and only by more of us making Aliyah and moving to Israel can we stand united and proudly reply to the haters that Israel and the Jewish people are not only not the source of the worlds’ problems but are a light unto the nations that will always do its utmost to help mankind and the civilized world through tough times with a belief in G-d and a yearning to fulfill his wishes which will carry us through any crisis we face, be it financial or otherwise.

 Ari