Newsflash: Gaza situation normal; Israel now back to 'snafu'

(essay written before 0900 Sunday morning (Israel time), October 21, 2018)



Back in World War Two, ( called, WW2--1939-45), soldiers in combat lost their identity. They became, simply, just another 'GI Joe'. 'GI' wasn't a name. It meant, 'Government Issue'. That meant that a soldier in combat wasn't a human being, with a name and individual personality. He was an object--just another piece of 'government-issued property' the army used to kill its enemy.

That nameless, human-less condition hasn't changed for combat participants. If you listen to enough Israeli combat soldiers, especially during one of Israel's cyclic wars, you'll intuit the same self-identification issue. As in WW2, the only reality these young men have in combat focuses exclusively on their battlefield comrades. Everything else around them is confused, confusing--and dangerous.

Soldiers in war come ultimately to understand not only their nameless state. They also come to realize the deeper, perhaps 'psychic', reality of life as 'cannon fodder': the world around them devolves into chaos. As these humans try to understand their combat  environment, they seem all to come to the same conclusion. Their world is a complete mixed-up mess; or, as those WW2 soldiers used to say, everything was 'snafu'ed': "Situation Normal, All Messed Up".

Okay, so that one word, "Messed" wasn't in the acronym 'snafu'. The word they meant in 'snafu' was the proverbial 'F' word. Yes, that 'F' word. 

For combat soldiers everywhere, the deepest reality of life comes down to: 'Normal = F'd up'. Indeed, if you started reading Israel's mainstream media this morning at breakfast (0830 in Israel), you might  come to the same conclusion. Yes, you might conclude, the Gaza 'crisis' appears to be 'over'. Now, at last, everything in Israel is back to normal, which means, in essence, all messed up.

Is that too harsh a conclusion? Judge for yourself. Here are some top news stories from pre-0900 in Israel, Sunday morning, October 21, 2018  . Some of these stories were published before this morning, but still appeared at Sunday breakfast-time:

-Rioters tear down sections of Gaza border fence; rioters breach border fence at three locations; Israeli fighter jet fires at an incendiary balloon cell attempting to launch fire-balloons into Israel; Israeli soldiers wound more than 100 Arabs at Gaza fence riots, using live-fire (here).

-Israel reopens Gaza crossing station as relative calm prevails at the Gaza-Israel fence (here). See previous headline just above for definition of 'relative calm'. 

-Hamas rejects Egyptian demand to stop border riots (here).

-After international condemnations of Israel for issuing an order to demolish a small Bedouin community called Khan al-Ahmar, Israel announced today-late yesterday it will delay that demolition indefinitely (here).

-Oh, wait. Netanyahu has also announced that this encampment will be evacuated and demolished ("Netanyahu: Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated" arutzshevanewsbriefs, October 21, 2018). 

-An Israeli NGO that fights to stop illegal Arab construction in Judea-Samaria (such as Khan al-Ahmar, above) attacked Netanyahu for capitulating to international pressure to stop the Khan al-Ahmar evacuation/demolition (here).

-Opposition leader Tzipi Livni scorches Netanyahu for policies that, she says, help keep Hamas strong--and the border fence rioting strong (here).

-Yair Netanyahu, the PM's son, gets himself into trouble because he's called an apparently anti-Netanyahu female TV newscaster a 'fat cow' (here).

-A story in the timesofisrael asks if Hamas and Israel can truly maintain 'calm' at the border fence (here).

-Hamas appears to answer this question above by warning Israel that if Israel continues to act 'aggressively' (presumably towards border fence rioters), Hamas will make certain that Israelis won't be able leave their bomb shelters (here).



 These stories are what's typically normal in Israel's daily media. If you spend too much time reading such reports, you might easily conclude that Israel is all messed up. 

What's going on over there in Israel? Nothing is right. The government is always wrong. Nothing is good.

Why is Israel so messed up? The answer is obvious. Israel lives with an existential threat. Every day, someone hates, attacks or wants to 'kill' Israel. Every hour of every day, Israel faces some kind of combat--terrorism, diplomatic war, economic war, legal war.

Our media, flawed that it is, is no different than any combat participant. It gets all messed up because the very air it breathes has been made toxic. 

At best, everything is confused. Sometimes, it becomes chaotic.

Our 'normal' isn't normal. It's 'snafu'd'. 

That's what life is like before the Final Redemption. We live with a daily battle with those who wish to condemn us, threaten us and/or destroy us. 

Get used to it. If you're in exile, keep your bags packed. If you're in Israel, make sure you keep your lines of communication with the Creator open.

For both of you, make sure you know what's expected of you. If you ignore this part of your life, you may find it difficult to reserve a seat for your trip home.