Coming secnd place in Eurovision was the best result for Israel. While the song may have deserved first place, Israel is in no position to host a major international event.
The boycotts it would causes are just not worth the headache and the security and logistics is just another problem that Israel doesn’t need right now.
The ballads in the song can be seen , not only as a painful love affair breaking up but possibly through the lens of the toxic political relationship Jews have and have always had with Europe .
The painful breakups of so many families forced to leave the lives they loved facing an uncertain future. The multiple languages that were spoken in so many Jewish homes. Just like broken love affairs, when one goes back thinking this time it will be different only to be heart broken again. Just what we are witnessing in Europe now.
Is there a reference to the Holocaust, the darkest period of European Jewry in J’ai plonge dans le noir?
What ever its message it was beautifully performed by Noam Bettan, and Israelis were glued to the screens. Some people even told me they were setting an alarm clock for the results !! It was certainly a late night show, but Israelis are no strangers to being up half the night.
In Eilat the weather is becoming too hot for comfort as it always does around this time of the year, so the siesta and no noise between 2-4 is very welcome. The peace is only broken by the sounds of the overhead jets. We do not know where they are going or why but just hear their roar in the skies above us.
War is once again in the air, although it has never really left the air, as the north despite the ongoing ceasefire is a terrible theatre of war. The Hezbollah have some vicious drones that are taking the lives of young soldiers , Seven have been lost in a few short weeks. Israel desperately needs to think of a different strategy as this cannot be allowed to go on.
Lebanon has always been a graveyard for the IDF . In the 1st Lebanon war thousands were injured and over 600 killed . The second Lebanon war although much shorter also saw thousands injured and many killed, . The government has a duty not to send young soldiers into a battle that is weighted against them and needs to think again how to use modern technology and weapons to destroy Hezbollah. The Lebanese government say they are committed to rid their country of this militia, , but in practical terms seem totally unable to even make a dent in the hold that Hezbollah has over the country.
Clearly, the terrorists are very well armed and seem to have enough drones and rockets to hold back the IDF despite Iran’s inability to replenish their stocks. Everyday we hear of Hezbollah militia and leaders killed but its like Whack a Mole, with more replenishing the forces.
You don’t need to be a political analyst to suspect that Trump’s visit to China and his emerging relationship with President Xi underlying motive is to rupture China’s economic and strategic ties to Iran, especially arms. It would be naive to think that Tawain is not the sweetener. Seems very cruel on the Taiwanese, but the threat of Iran may well trump the freedoms of the Taiwanese.
Meanwhile, in most of Israel schools are back and life has returned to degree of normality, but over 2,000 families life can never be normal again as they stare at the empty chairs of their loved ones . Despite all the challenges Israelis view the situation in London as untenable for Jews and cannot understand why people are not leaving in bigger numbers.
As in all situations when you look in from the outside it feels worse. Many in London think life in Israel is intolerable with thousand of rockets raining down on civilian areas, but perhaps you can tolerate things more when you feel at home and although you may be listening for the next siren you are not looking over your shoulder hiding your identity while walking the streets.
The world is very dangerous place wherever you may be and we can only pray that this war brings forth a period of stability and safety and that the terrorists organisation are knocked to their knees so they can no longer harm people who just want to live . May we all have peaceful Shavuot.