It's (You fill in the blank)'s Fault

2007-07-08T23:22:00.000+03:00

This is my first real post. I want this blog to mainly be my observations on what I see going on here in Israel.
First, I must say that I love Israel and believe in the right of a Jewish national homeland to exist. But I must also say that it can be very frustrating living here.
One of the things that really drives me crazy is how everything gets to be political, or has some "right vs. left" or "secular vs. religious" aspect, no matter what!

For those of you who may read this that live outside of Israel, you may think that an article about radio interference at the airport is about just that. The dangers of the radio interference to the airplanes and air controllers is obviously the problem. Well, not here.

A few weeks ago, Haaraetz published an article about how pirate radio stations are interfering with the air traffic controllers at Ben Gurion Airport. This seems like a strait forward issue. We should all be very concerned about this and the Ministries of Transportation and Communications should do something about it. But if you read the Talk-backs, you see a whole different story.
By the way, before I continue, I should note that the article only mentions that the radio station is operating out of the West Bank. It does not mention who or what type of radio station is interfering with the the air traffic control.
But according to some of the Talk-backs, it was a religious (Jewish) radio station and the "religious zealots" at the Communications ministry should be able to stop it. By the way this is because the current minister of communications is from one of the religious parties.
Immediately members of the right wing chimed in that it was in fact an Arab station in Ramallah that is causing the interference. The Talk-backs continued to argue about who was the cause. The fact that there was a problem at the airport was not even discussed.

I began to think. Why do we turn everything into an argument. Do we even have a common ground to stand on. What happens when peace actually does break out? Will we be able to find a common identity so we can live in peace with ourselves?

My blog will continue to present rants like these, as well as looking at things here in Israel. All of this with an eye to finding our common ground and common identity.

Just Getting Started

2007-06-10T23:12:00.001+03:00

I hope that everyone reading this blog enjoys it or gets something out of it. I am always angry and ranting to myself, so I decided to put it all down into a blog. This blog will get off the ground, but in a few weeks or so, I hope to be up and running on a regular to semi-regular basis.

I will rant about various subjects, but mostly what it is like to be Jewish, American, and Israeli and how those identites clash or complement each other within myself or within the these societies. I will rant about the societies and what I think about what is going on.

Please feel free to comment when you agree with me, and when you don't. Please be civil in your posts and they will always be welcome. I hope to open a dialog to help save ourselves.

All this in an endeavor to find common grounds and common identities.

Thanks for joining me,

Dave

Common Grounds; Common Identities

It's (You fill in the blank)'s Fault

Just Getting Started