Tel Aviv Diary November 21-25, 2019 - Karen Alkalay-Gut

Tel Aviv Diary - November 21-25, 2019 - Karen Alkalay-Gut

November 21, 2019

When Ehud Olmert was running for prime minister, I asked Oren who he was voting for. "Ehud Olmert!" he said. "He's a crook1" I exclaimed. "But he's OUR crook," he answered. It is only recently that i have understood the distinction. Politicians may be crooked, but only now have we encountered politicians who do not care for the good of of their own country, no matter how dangerous the path they lead to. When Rabin was assassinated I was not ready to accept the possibility that someone could be so self-interested that he would encourage the death of his rival, but now that Gantz was accused of betraying his country by talking with our Arab parliament members, i see the difference. do you?

why am i writing so early in the day? this may be the day that the verdict is announced about Bibi's behavior.

And he is guilty.

and he is angry not apologetic.

I switch back and forth from the impeachment hearings to the discussion of our prime minister's guilt and the equatable. we all know sociopaths - they are always right and the facts don't interfere with that belief.

November 22, 2019

Aren't you tired of reading about 6 years olds who get to be autocrats? i have a feeling there is now room for some 'heroes' to show themselves. not that alshech and mendelblit aren't heroes - since after all they dared to go against their appointed roles and actually have charged their boss. but now the menders, the builders, have to appear. is Gantz up to the task? Is Elizabeth Warren? Obama? who will fill the gap? Liberman? Pence?

i hear some people are rejoicing that Trump will fall and Bibi will fall. for me it is a tragedy of major proportions that there may not be a way back to some kind of normalcy. it is also a personal shame. i don't know about Trump but I believe Bibi is in great pain - he is a perfect example of a man living in a parallel world suddenly realizing that there is a different world he has to account for. it is like the way DeQuincey describes MacBeth at the moment after he has killed the king and someone from outside knocks on the door. the sudden realization of judgment.

November 23, 2019

Every wonderful thing I did today was just overshadowed by the a "sixty minute" program about sesame street that's starting in Arabic with a focus on Syrian refugees in Jordan. The sight of little refugees is one that brings me always back to my first memories and feelings. And then suddenly i remembered that when i was eight i was sent down the street to welcome two sisters who had just come from Romania. i remember their strange smell, their weird clothes, their shamefaced smiles, and the fact that my mother sent me again and again to play with them, even though I couldn't bear the shame of being with them.

November 24, 2019

so we're pretending nothing happened. scaring us into keeping the status quo. and there's nothing we can do. "Were you at the demonstration last night?" a friend asked. why a demonstration? what good would it do? it will be ignored or turned around to show that there's a conspiracy.

My escape today was to take my grandaughter all around Dizengoff center to look for a birthday present. Our black Friday is a week-long and there's nothing to buy. so we went up and downstairs, through the labyrinthian corridors, in and out of stores - and came home with nothing. ithe mood of the land is dark, and even a soon to be seven-year old can feel it. "Crime Minister," she said. it is a crime to make children hate their leaders.

It is a crime for a leader not to remember all the time that he is a role model.

November 25, 2019

Feeling very uncomfortable about driving in Ramat Gan at night, and more about parking in Ramat Gan at night, I ordered a taxi. For some reason when Moussa picked me up I decided to sit up front. i don't usually take taxis and never sit up front, because that would result in conversation. so we started to talk about beaches and where we go swimming, We soon began talking about poetry - and he began quoting poetry in Arabic. What a ride! Jewish poets from the sixth century and modern Lebanese! What a treat! SAMUEL IBN ʿĀDIYĀ (al-Samawal b. Ghārid Ablaq) and of course Nizzar Qabbani

Easpecially after a series of lectures at Ichilov about lymphoma

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