MASH MUSINGS: THE RETURN

As Israel celebrates its 60th independence anniversary, i have opted to look at my perceived affection for the Holy land. I cant quite trace why i love Israel so much, but i know i do. When i find that i am willing to exercise bigotry knowing very well its against what i stand for-i can only attribute such moments of utter folly to that which makes me ashamed…BIGOTRY.Its defined as “stubborn and incomplete intolerance of any creed,opinion or belief that differs from one’s own”.

When it comes to Israel,i am a bigot.

How else would i explain the fact that the death of an Israeli soldier would irk me to a greater degree than that of 1000 Palestine men. I know that i have my reasons for backing Israel but that shouldn’t excuse my bigotry….The Indian poet and essayist Rabindranath Togore refers to bigotry as that which “tries to keep truth in its hand with a grip that kills it”, and i totally agree.

The israelis are truly a resilient people, i’m reminded of a tale in a book titled ” O’Jerusalem” that details what lengths the Israeli movement called Haganah went to so as to gain independence…while smuggling in small arms at the harbour, they decided to hide the arms in a container full of onions!!…not even the most hawk eyed British custom official could keep tears away in the wake of all the Onion aroma hitting the eyes..

To be continued….