Alone and Together
BEING AN ISRAELI MEANS BEING direct and impatient, not following protocol or respecting hierarchy. We call this directness 'chutzpah', a Yiddish word that means audacity and self-confidence. For Indians, we are too direct. Being an Israeli means when you are 18, it's mandatory to go into the army and serve wherever you are stationed. The service is for two to three years, based on your role and rank. After the army, many take a gap year. A year in which they go on a backpacking trip, usually to India or South America. In India, Israelis follow the 'Hummus Trail' where you meet other Israelis and find restaurants that offer Israeli dishes, such as hummus (chickpea spread) and falafel. The trail includes places like Goa, Manali and some other hill stations. In Israel, university is typically reached at the age of 22-23, which is later than in many other countries. Being an Israeli means thinking that your technology is the best because you are part of the 'Start-up Nation'. Being an Israeli means that founding a startup with your fellows from the army is a natural career path, and being jealous of your cousin who made 'an exit' is the driver of your success. Delegations from all over the world come to Israel to look for cutting-edge technologies. They call it a candy store of technologies. Last year alone, I hosted over 50 delegations. They come for 'Innovation Tours'. Not just to find technologies but also to find the secret sauce.
What makes the innovation ecosystem so unique with entrepreneurship in every corner? Even my hairdresser had his own startup company that developed a hair colour-matching algorithm. It is okay to fail. Thus, people are not afraid to try. Israel, a tiny country of less than 10 million people is the bed of technologies being used by everyone. From drip irrigation to cherry tomato, Mobileye autonomous car application which is installed in most cars to the navigation system Waze (now part of Google Maps), the USB memory-on-key, and the newest chips of Intel and Apple, instant messaging, cloud computing technologies, new drugs, and much more. It is no wonder that hundreds of multinational companies have opened their research and development centres in Israel. Presenting all of that in my lectures, I always feel so proud of what we have achieved since the country's establishment 75 years ago, turning a desert into an oasis.
The volume titled 'Year 2023' in our history book will be voluminous. Exactly a year ago, a new government headed by a veteran prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was sworn in. He has been prime minister off-and-on since 1996. The new government included rightwing parties that pulled towards a more religious and less liberal agenda. The right set the tone. Early into 2023 they initiated changes that they called "Judicial Reform". For many others it was "Judicial Revolution". The proposed changes brought onto the streets the liberal centre-left public. On January 7, 2023, the first protest took place in Tel Aviv, with only a few thousand people. Each week thereafter, the protest saw increased numbers. At its peak, over 300,000 people participated in the central rally in Tel Aviv. In July 2023, the protesters marched over a few days from Tel Aviv to the Knesset building in Jerusalem. The protest was against a new amendment, aiming to cancel the provision for 'reasonable cause'. Eliminating the reasonable cause provision, according to the protesters, meant judges would lose their ability to criticise the reasonableness of the government's acts. The law was approved. The protest lasted 40 weeks and was led by social movements. The leaders of the protest were not politicians. They were worried citizens, such as a physics professor from the Weizmann Institute of Science, tech entrepreneurs who founded the 'Brothers in Arms' movement, and 'Women Building Alternative' group, which protested in favour of women's rights. The protest gained momentum week-to-week. If there were no October 7, the protest was to continue, grow, and eventually make the change it aspired for. One of the first statements of Netanyahu after October 7 was that this reform-revolution had halted.
The first three quarters of 2023 emphasised the differences between the various tribes of our nation. In the last quarter, the external threats united us, Jews and Arabs, the Left and the Right. When Hamas killed people on October 7, they killed Jews and Arabs, lefties and righties, without discrimination. They killed Israelis.
Being Israeli in 2023, we are reliving the Holocaust trauma. Recent events have reminded us that although 80 years have passed since the Holocaust and World War II, there is still strong anti-Semitism around the world. And now more than ever we understand that the safest place for Jews in the world is Israel. Some ignorant people wrote articles titled 'Will Israel Survive?' I will reply to them with a counter question: "Will the sun shine tomorrow?" Of course.
An Israeli in 2023 feels a very strong solidarity with his fellows. We call it the "Israeli spirit". In times of need, we put aside our differences. The Hamas attack came at a time of a great rift in society. They did not realise that their act would have a counter-effect; it united us back. People drafted into the reserve, even without being called up (my husband, for example). Backpackers who had travelled during their gap year begged to get on a flight back home to join their units. Everyone is looking to volunteer and contribute. As mentioned in one of my earlier stories, 'Brothers in Arms' built a huge logistics centre that caters to every need. Everything is based on volunteer work and donations. A unique initiative that draws lots of attention is a laundry-on-wheels service that travels in the outskirts of Gaza and provides free service to soldiers.
The people of my village prepared meals for a unit that craved for homemade food. Thousands of volunteers help farmers daily on the fields. Agricultural labour in Israel consisted of mainly Thai workers, who left right after the massacre when the king of Thailand called them back, and Gazans who are not welcome for the time being. I joined my girlfriends one fine Friday to help at a packaging centre of vegetables. When compared to the field work, I got an easy job. My salary was a box with an assortment of vegetables. The south is known as the food basket of Israel. It is also known for its amazing red blossom of anemone flowers. 'Red South' is the nickname given to the carpets of red flowers flourishing in February. A project initiated by clay artists created thousands of clay anemones that will be installed in cemeteries, hospitals, and other memorials to the massacre. Before the anemones reach their final destinations, they are being exhibited in various places. Last week, they were installed on the Dead Sea which is considered the lowest point on Earth—the analogy being our nation reaching one of its lowest points in history. This week, there was an installation in Kibbutz Be'eri that was destroyed and burnt during the massacre. The bright red colour on the one hand reminds us that rivers of blood had flowed there; on the other hand, it symbolises rejuvenation, hoping that this kibbutz will rise from its ashes and blossom again.
The solidarity with the families of the 138 hostages is very apparent. The Tel Aviv Museum plaza is now named Hostages' Square. The families of the hostages spend their time there, supporting each other and arranging special programmes to make sure that getting the hostages released continues to be priority No 1 for the government. Every day, hundreds of people visit the square to provide the families with moral support, showing them they are not alone. Many Israelis are wearing a metal dog-tag engraved with the words "My heart is in Gaza—Bring them home now". Dog-tags are given to soldiers on their drafting. A dog-tag includes the name and the soldier's ID number. The logic behind this is that in case of death, the tag will identify the deceased. The 'Bring them Back' dog-tag has a new meaning of life; we will wear the tags until the last hostage is released.
To conclude, here's an anecdote connecting Hamas and Hummus. In October 2015, then Indian President Pranab Mukherjee visited Israel and was invited to speak at the Knesset. The hall was full of guests, including me. Mukherjee spoke about the close ties between India and Israel. He wanted to compliment Israel and said, "We Indians love H-a-m-a-s". The members of the Knesset looked at each other puzzled: "What did he say?" After a moment they started to laugh. Mukherjee meant Indians love hummus. In his Bengali accent, it had sounded more like Hamas.