Report From Israel, Part 1

The sun has risen on day 3 of my first visit to Israel.  This trip was motivated in part by my increasing participation in pro-Israel (really anti-anti-Israel) blogging and other activities.  It was time to see it for myself.

So, for starters, Tel Aviv is amazing.   I am struck by how much of a typical world city it is - jumbled, chaotic, and crowded.  It is much more reminiscent of cities in Asia and Latin America than the US  It is very much a city of apartment blocks.  There is also a strange lack of a centrally concentrated office district - rather skyscrapers spring up at random intervals. Yesterday I rode a bike all around town and quite far out into Ramat Gan - the whole thing just keeps going.

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Now that I've seen it for myself, I am happy to report that I can quickly dispense with two of the most common criticisms of Israel that one encounters from partisans in the online world:

The first is the "Apartheid" smear.  Anyone who has propagated this notion has never been to Tel Aviv, does not know what Apartheid is, or is just a complete idiot - or most likely, all three.

All I've seen here in Israel is people of all colors and backgrounds - Jews from everywhere, Arabs, tons of random Asian and African migrants, religious and secular, gays and straights - using the same streets, eating in the same restaurants, and going about their lives in exactly the same space.  In fact, things here are the opposite of Apartheid - everyone lives on top of one another and Israel is the most post-racial place I have ever been to.  After just a little while here I've stopped being able to tell who's who, in the narrow raced-obsessed sense that we Americans have.  Is the guy with the brown skin and dreadlocks a Caucasian Jew with a deep tan, or an Ethiopian Jew, or an American tourist, or a Jamaican tourist, or a Korean tourist?  Is he gay or straight?  In Israel, it all blends together.  After a day here you wouldn't be able to tell either.

The second criticism I can dispense with is one that I think may have actually been valid at one time.  And that is that this country seems "temporary".  In its most severe manifestation, the idea is that Israel is just a temporary historical anomaly before demographics destroy it.  In a less severe manifestation, as expressed by for example Christopher Hitchens, it says that Israel seems like it isn't built to last, it's just an artificial army camp in the desert. 

The thing is, I can actually picture how someone might have gotten that impression 20, 30, or 40 years ago - when the buildings were new, the trees were freshly planted saplings, the population was small, and the institutions and culture of a new nation were being invented.  But now it all looks to me like this is a real place and a real homeland for its people.  Most of the people of Israel know no other home.  This is their country, and as I said above, it really looks like any other place in the world outside of North America or Europe.  Like anywhere else, it's got its problems - lack of adequate public transportation seems to be a big one - and it has its glories, such as a major city that is right on the beach!

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So today I'm heading over to the Weizmann institute for some non-touristy work stuff.  After that, I'll be back in Tel Aviv for a day and then it's on to the rest of Israel - Jerusalem for starters, then Beersheva, the Dead Sea, and beyond.  Stay tuned.