Monday, October 27, 2014
Back to America
I woke up at a quarter to six in a half empty room. Boxes were stacked in the corners, beer glasses from last night cluttered the place up, and various personal items lay in a semicircle around a number of packed bags. I had had a bunch of friends over just five hours ago, and the combination of packing, reorganizing, and hosting, along with Roman and Talia's yet-unpacked boxes being piled everywhere has left the apartment as an almost comical disaster. I got out of bed. After a few minutes of orienting myself to what was happening today, I threw on a swimsuit and set out along Herzl, then up past the back of the Shuk, and up the tayellet aside the beach.
When I got to the beach lookout by Bograshov I stopped. A teenage girl in army briefs with a gun slung over her shoulder showed up at the same lookout, leaned against the banister ten meters away from me, and turned her gaze to a troupe of 10 or so young guys training on the sand for army recruitment. The moment struck me as kind of picturesque, and I wished I had a camera. Unfortunately I didn’t. The shouts of the youths barely filtered through the quiet roar of the sea, and there was no other noise to be heard.
Avishai and I had planned to come down here early in the morning to swim, so when he showed up around 7, we went down onto the beach and then into the water. We waded in side by side and then dove in, and swam out towards a break between jetties. The waves were big but even, and tranquil out past the breakers. When we got about even with the jetties we stopped.
“Should we go back?” I asked, treading water.
“No, let’s swim all the way around it”, he said, motioning to one of them.
We stroked a little further out and then made our way all the way around the jetty, not going fast, stopping here and there to tread water and chat. At the end, we swam back down to the beach, found a bit of sun, and sat down.
“I’ve never done it before,” he commented.
“Me neither.”
“I was always afraid of going past it, you know?" he continued. "But sometimes you just have to do it. There are no sea-monsters out there on the other side. You can see that now that you've done it. I wouldn’t have done it without someone there with me, but now, I think I would be fine even doing it alone. This is the way of things you know? They seem scary until you do them, and once you do, you realize that they're really not bad at all.”
We chatted a bit more while we watched the youths training, and then we walked up the beach. I took a sherut taxi home.
It was now about 8 o clock in the morning, and Roman and Talia were beginning to emerge from their room. I showered, said goodbye to Talia as she went off to work, and then loaded a few boxes with Roman into his car to drive to the post office. We said farewell and he went off. After shipping my boxes, I ran some final errands and then met Dana at our favorite café in the Shuk. We had an iced coffee, and then went to Anati’s kitchen, one of my favorite restaurants in the Yemenite quarter, for a kubeh soup.
“You’re leaving?!” asked Anati in Hebrew, after getting a quick scoop from Dana.
“Yes I’m returning to the states.” I replied in Hebrew. She looked at me accusingly. “And the last meal I wanted was your kubeh.”
Her face broke into a bashful smile and she shooed me, and then went into the kitchen to prepare the dish: a beetroot broth with meat filled dumplings, one of the best to be found in Tel Aviv. After eating Dana and I went down to the beach, took off our shoes, and took a walk on the sand.
“Are you going to write a final blog?” Dana asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean, what do you say in it? How do you sum up four years? It seems if anything like I ought to just write an entry about a small story, something in one of the final days here, or something. Trying to reflect on the whole thing seems impossible and heavy.”
“What about writing about this past weekend. You did a whole lot of things -- it was really a great one.”
“Yea, but somehow it doesn’t feel right. I prefer it as it was, as a series of events and some memories. Writing some summary won’t quite feel genuine.”
I paused for a minute, then continued, “I don’t know. I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the blog now at all. Maybe it’s served its purpose. I started it as a way for my American friends to stay up on my life here. But now… well, I guess that if I keep writing it it’ll be kind of something for my friends here to keep up on my life there. Isn’t that funny?”
We walked along, speaking about this and that, and sat on the sand for a while. When we left the beach, we passed a house covered in murals and paintings. A short, energetic man appeared, and beckoned us to come in. It turned out that this strange house was actually the man’s art studio, and he's a quite well known muralist, Rami Meiri, who has done many familiar paintings all over Tel Aviv. I bought a print off him and also a book, which he signed for me and dated: October 27, 2014. A significant date.
“How did I come past here so many times and never know about it?” I asked Dana when we left. “How strange to have really genuinely new experiences, and discover a little gem like this, on my last day.”
Dana drove me to the airport, we said adieu, and then I went in. The attendant at check-in, a young, bored guy with a clean-cut faux-hawk, declared my checked bag overweight, and told me to reduce it by three kilos. Then, when he saw that my “carry-on bag” was a completely filled daypack weighing about 15 kilos, he started laughing.
“That can’t go on. Eight kilos max for the carry-on.”
“What!” I said. “Who checks! It’s the carry-on!”
“Look, I’d let you through if it were only one flight. I don’t care. But you have 3 legs in this trip, and you’re going to get slammed somewhere along the way. You’ll have to pay the extra bag fee and check it one way or the other -- you’re better off doing it now.” He pointed at my other, totally filled backpack. “And what’s that?”
“My personal item?”
He laughed again.
The airport was practically empty and there was nobody in line, so I stooped to reorganize my bags there. While I did it, he said he was sorry I had to pay.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m mostly annoyed that I spent so much energy stressing about it this week. I should have just packed, committed to paying for an extra bag from the start, and been done with it. It's never worth it, this kind of stressing, is it?”
Soon enough I found myself in the large corridor in the airport where once, for a whole year, my own body-sized photo had stood. The ministry of tourism had put up photos depicting Israeli sports, and through a twist of fate, a photo that Roman took of me on one of our climbing excursions had been selected to represent the sport of climbing. Now, instead, there’s an exhibit about airplanes.
Walking down that hallway, I reflected that indeed, it’s been quite a long and strange journey. How funny now to leave Israel. I've had so many experiences here, positive and negative, small and large. They’ve even seemed to accelerate right up to the last minutes. It’s simply impossible for me to conceptualize that it’s over. Even getting on a flight doesn’t feel like the end. I’m just not sure when it will actually hit.
Tel Aviv is my home, my whole world, today. Tomorrow it will be, for me, but a shrinking dream. But I suppose that the consolation is what I’ll carry forth with me. Although memories fade, my personal growth from this place, if I am mindful and diligent, should only strengthen. And the friendships; well, when I arrived here I knew nobody. Now I have family. There’s not a whole lot else to be said about it.
So I’ll say nitraeh, my friends, but not farewell. Write me and I’ll write back. And if you’re coming to my part of the world, don’t be shy. I can’t wait for our next big adventures. I hope to see you all soon.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Debating the Israeli-Palestinian war
Facebook has become some kind of a warzone. Although I believe that most of what is posted there about the Israel-Gaza war, and on social media in general, is hateful, biased, and gratuitous, sometimes these platforms can foster well-intentioned debate between rational people with different legitimate opinions. Over the last week, I engaged in such a debate with an acquaintance of mine from the states, Raj, who I believe also cares for humanity and is not out for blood. If you read below, you'll see that at first I was reluctant to get into it, but in the end did engage, and I think the results were fruitful. Debate is important because, if done appropriately, it can outline the shape of the issues in a way that a single screaming person never will. Therefore, I’ve decided to post the debate, which occurred on Facebook on multiple threads over the course of the last week, on my blog. Raj agreed to the posting.
For those not interested in reading all of it, the crystallization (which Raj and I both agree on) is this:
In my words: (1) Israel is occupying the Palestinian territories, which is a problem. We both agree that there should be some two state solution that is a viable nation for the Palestinians, too. (2) There is a moral chasm between Israel and its enemies. Given the same power as Israel, most of its neighbors (including Hamas) would simply commit genocide -- true genocide -- murder of the entire nation.
In Raj’s words: (1) occupation of Palestinians, and (2) existential fear of Israel.
The debate is below, with all links, etc., intact, and with no changes except for fixes to grammar, misspellings, etc. I hope it is useful or at least instructive.
Here's the debate:
My post: WTF world??
Raj: There is more attention to Israel-Palestine perhaps because the world holds Israel to higher moral standards than bombing hospitals?
Raj: More WTF world!
Israel shells UN shelter in Gaza:
Matto: Raj--I read all the same news as you,
Raj: Sure, I wasn't trying to inform you. I am only hoping for a similar outcry against the inhumane acts against Palestinians. There is a great scope for positive change when people like you, who are in Israel and are well connected, start speaking loudly against violence irrespective of who the victims are.
Matto: You’re not educating me. But first off, this is the wrong thread-- this has, or should have, nothing to do with anti-Semitic attacks globally that aren’t even Israel related. Also, your quite biased reporting ignores the circumstances of this war, which are dictated as messy by default due to Hamas tactics alongside the dense population there. Read between the lines a little. I just spoke to a friend who’s been down in Gaza the last days. Can’t believe the things he told me about the tactics of Hamas. Israel makes mistakes, but you can’t judge it with hashtags and flippant posts-- this is a very, very complex war, not to mention the whole situation.
Raj: Again, I am not trying to educate you. If I am trying anything at all, is for you and others connected to you to look beyond the complexity and beyond the details that lead to this war alone. The problem is a chronic one.
What is the heart of the issue? Isn't it the displacement of Palestinians? That needs to be addressed. We can talk about what the bad tactics of PLO, now the Hamas, and who knows what other organization that comes to replace Hamas tomorrow. You don't think that any such organization of Palestinians is likely to be very friendly to Israel when they are living in a ghetto? Gaza has the 6th highest population density in the world.
If we are going to get caught up in the complexities of who said what and who started the conflict this time vs. the last time, I do not believe that will lead us anywhere.
Matto: I agree with you that the displacement / security / situation of the Palestinians is a major issue -- this needs to be addressed if there's going to be any peace. For sure. The question is how, and how to build trust. Again, not trivial. Wish I had solutions...
Raj: The international community has been proposing solutions since 1967. Every year since then the UN security council has passed a resolution supporting the two state settlement, Israel's return to 1967 borders, and a 'just solution' to the refugee situation. The only countries to not accept this plan are the US, Israel, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau and Nauru.
In addition, the Human Rights Watch, The International Court of Justice, Amnesty, all echo the very same solution.
The common thread in every attempt to find a resolution are irrelevant blame games like - Hamas/PLO won't recognize Israel, they won't give up violence, etc. These are irrelevant because it sidesteps the possibility of a solution. Recognition of a nation is never required to have a peace treaty and there are no precedents for that.
Everyone agrees that the solution is not trivial. But it must be recognized that Israel has to respect international law and return the land and compensate the refugees. Palestinians do not really have much to offer.
Hits it on the head.
Raj: There surely has been racist undertones in protests voiced against Israel lately. This is a distraction however from the legitimate criticisms of Israel’s actions.
There are several reasons why people (not just western liberals) are offended by Israeli militarism that this article fails to mention. Israel is the only country in the world besides the US that has called for or gone to war so many times in just the last 10 years -
2003 - Heavily supported war in Iraq
2006 - Attacked Lebanon
2008-9 Attacked Gaza
2012 - Called for war with Iran
2014 - Gaza
And every time the justification for these acts is the threat to Israel’s existence. Israel has the strongest military in the region by far and its military response on every occasion has been disproportionately larger.
This article is using the argument that everybody is doing bad things but only Israel gets blamed. This is a weak argument, almost suggesting that Israel has a license to carry out such acts because others do it too. Or perhaps it suggests that people should just stop complaining?
It would be great if there was similar outcry when other nations were committing acts of war/violence, but that doesn’t preclude Israel from the need to be criticized.
And even if you look at the numbers involved, the cumulative casualties in Palestine are non-trivial.
Matto: Raj -- you've ignored the point of this article, the other articles I posted, and my blog. Reasonable debate and argument are one thing -- especially if they take into account the interests of both sides (which your arguments don't -- for example, Israel simply following UN resolutions, despite the fact that the UN will not enforce anything if Israel is then attacked by any or all of its declared enemies, is insane & no country would do it. I’m referring here to a statement you made on another thread of mine). What we see against Israel is none of that. It's racist and anti-Semitic scree (yes, I meant that -- not just anti-Israel anymore), and has nothing to do with reality or anything Israel has done. By the way, Israel wasn't in the 2003 Iraq war, that was the US.
Raj: Matto, I have brought up the central argument of that article, which goes as follows - other countries do bad things, so why are people complaining when Israel does it. I am sure there are interests of Israel which lead it to take whatever action it takes, the question is whether or not those actions are moral and if they are good for Israel in the long term. Paul Krugman has said that "that the narrow-minded policies of the current government are basically a gradual, long-run form of national suicide". I am not happy to make such remarks, but those are the views of the outside world which one hopes the citizens of Israel will consider.
You are seeing legitimate criticisms of Israel from the outside world and it is in the best interests of Israel to not ignore all of them and count them all off as being anti-Semitic. That's all I have to say, I am not interested in attacking your views and neither do I want to or am I qualified for a scholarly debate on this subject. I want to give an honest picture of how the outside world looks at this conflict from their knowledge of the key and broadly agreed upon facts.
Raj: And speaking of debates, you never see a participant presenting both sides of the argument. The responsibility is to present your side logically and factually.
Matto: Raj --
"other countries do bad things, so why are people complaining when Israel does it" – I agree with you. Everyone should be held accountable, including Israel.. to the degree that the offensive isn’t justified, etc. (which is not so clear to me, by the way). People should be allowed to protest for Palestinians and against Israeli actions, etc., but I condemn the vitriolic tone of the protests, and I question why there are such protests against Israel and not against ISIS, or even Hamas. I wouldn't feel comfortable (morally) or safe (physically) joining a rally in Europe against Israeli actions, even if I want to show solidarity with Palestinian citizens. That is something extremely problematic and independent to the particular politics of this war, or of a larger peace deal.
“You are seeing legitimate criticisms of Israel from the outside world” –true. Israel has now and historically not acted anything near perfectly regarding the Palestinian. But you are also seeing a lot of ill informed criticism, and also a lot of criticism that is designed to appeal to a western mindset but coming from the same cynical leaders who fund/support terrorism, and are not interested at all in liberalism or democracy of any sort, anywhere. That’s the problem; it’s extremely difficult to tell these types of criticism apart. When Hamas says that they want just an opening of the blockade, for example, should Israel take them at their word that they are going to settle for anything less than the entire state of Israel?
“I am not interested in attacking your views and neither do I want to or am I qualified for a scholarly debate on this subject” – The same myself. It’s a complex topic and pretending it’s not so is disingenuous, and we’re neither of us political experts. This, actually, is why I’ve focused on an issue that I see as unambiguous – the vitriolic anti-Israeli/anti-Semitic response.
Raj: Like you, I too, as any reasonable person should, condemn the racist tones as seen in some of the protests. However it is very important to ensure that the only voices of Jewish/Israeli outrage that the world hears at this time are not squarely about with the tone of the protests itself, however despicable those are. The article does exactly this - it cites the offensive examples while leaving out the much larger proportion legitimate criticisms of Israel, giving the reader an impression that this is what all criticisms are like.
Where are the Jewish/Israeli voices of outrage about the civilian deaths in Gaza? Why is there large scale support from Israeli citizens for the government? How is the loss of life, now almost a thousand, not an unambiguous issue? The suggestions that the situation is complex, that Hamas is using bad tactics, that Israel is in a tough position - while perhaps true - are by no means any moral grounds for the attacks. Why is it expected that the Palestinians will endure an occupation without revolt and without resistance? Why is it expected that Hamas (or whoever might be the leading Palestinian group at a given time may be) will only use ‘noble’ tactics in their resistance? History regards every single instance of resistance - even violent ones - to occupiers and oppressors as honorable.
While you may not agree, the solution is clear, and at the same time difficult to achieve - Israel must respect international law, which is very clear on Israel’s responsibility.
Hypotheticals like ‘the UN won’t act if Israel is attacked’ are no grounds for avoiding that responsibility, and no grounds for pre-empting attacks. Israel has far superior defenses than any other country in the region. And the UN does not have any real powers anyway - what is it doing now about Gaza besides passing useless resolutions? That is not a legitimate reason for Israel to act illegally and defy international law.
Israel is the occupier.
Matto: I agree with you that a solution close to 1967 borders must be done (some land swaps, etc., make sense) -- this is in essence the two state solution, and there's not really another way about it for the future. I too am frustrated by the continued lack of a compromised solution (in the long term, not just in this war), which also allows self determination and a future for Palestinians. The devil is in the details, and there are people on both sides endlessly happy to derail a peace process. Right wing Israelis are equally to blame. None of that makes the virulent and non-reality-based international response to Israel okay... but you're right, also, that Israel can't use those responses as justification of an occupation, etc., and I didn't mean to imply it. By the way, I am a jewish voice that is saddened and outraged by the deaths of the Palestinians, and the displacements from their homes, etc, in this conflict -- and a lot of others in Israel feel the same. The difference is that I blame a lot of these deaths on Hamas tactics and actually on larger Hamas strategy, and I do believe that the IDF does its best to avoid casualties. We can agree to disagree on that if you'd like. Bombing of a hospital -- they saw gunshots from it (the video is online), they warned people by telephone, etc. this is war and one of the greatest weapons that Hamas has is the suffering of their people. They use it to full advantage.
Raj: It was great to see the news of thousands protesting against the war in Tel Aviv. And equally bewildering to see the right wingers.
Raj: Matt - we can agree to disagree on the details. But glad that we do agree on the larger picture. If only the both parties concerned could do the same, there could be real progress.
My post: This may stroke some people the wrong way, but I consider Sam Harris to be a very important thinker, and what he says is worth considering.
Raj: "And there’s probably little question over the course of fighting multiple wars that the Israelis have done things that amount to war crimes. They have been brutalized by this process—that is, made brutal by it. But that is largely the due to the character of their enemies."
He is literally justifying war crimes.
In summary, he acknowledges facts, then blames the brutalities on the Palestinians themselves. Maybe he expects that a group/nation of people should just sit back while they are being occupied. Is he implying that your enemies on the battlefield should only behave in a way conducive to keeping you from committing atrocities? He excuses soldiers for killing women and children in the heat of the battle, but does not excuse angry rhetoric coming from an occupied people.
I think every reasonable person can agree that people are responsible for their actions. Blaming the course of your actions on the character of others, even if they are your enemy, is illogical, and in this context irresponsible.
His arguments present nothing new, they are the same run of the mill train of 'reasoning' used by those to excuse themselves from criticizing Israel. He forgets the fundamental cause for the conflict - Israel is occupying Palestinian land.
Matto: Raj -- what do you think that Hamas would do if they had the power over Israel that Israel has over Gaza? I am seriously curious your thoughts
Raj: I think they would do really bad things.
Matto: Harris' point is that Israel may have committed war crimes, but that these are the exceptions to the rule, and it is goaded constantly to do this by its enemies. Hamas, in the position of Israel, would have done the opposite -- war crimes as the norm. Actually I personally think that it would just have murdered the entire nation, given the choice. Most of Israel's neighbors would join in given a chance. This cultural difference is also "the fundamental cause for the conflict".
Raj: What Hamas would do in the position of Israel is a hypothetical and a very unrealistic one. It can only be applied if there was some means to magically turn the situation around at the push of a button. I agree, in that case Hamas would do terrible things.
It does not matter whether or not the war crimes are exceptions to the rule or not, a war crime is a war crime is a war crime. It also does not matter if it is claimed that the enemy would have done the same or worse given the chance. None of these arguments and hypotheticals could ever stand in any court of law in defending war crimes.
It is morally reprehensible for anyone to justify war crimes on any grounds, especially if you say your enemies goaded you into doing them. Everyone is responsible for their own actions.
A war crime by definition precludes any justifications.
Matto: All war crimes should be punished, and aren't justified (although not all are equal). But how many of Israel's actions are war crimes? I would wager that few are, and that few if any are Israeli-policy driven, despite the mass outrage and vehement statements of pro-Palestinians. This was essentially the conclusion for example of the 2009 Goldstone Report, done by the UN to investigate Israel's 2008 operation in Gaza. But yes. If Israelis commit true war crimes, they should be punished like everyone else. I don't think that Sam Harris would disagree with this statement.
Matto: By the way, 'what Hamas would do in the position of Israel' is not a hypothetical -- it's a reality that Israel is deathly afraid of. Yes, Israel has the strongest military in the region right now, and there's no serious opponent that could attack it (for example, sure not Syria). But that can easily change, as it has multiple times in the past decades. can you actually pretend that taking the possibility of massive attacks by Israel's neighbors is not something it should consider??
Raj: No Israel should be considering those threats. But why are those threats there in the first place? I just read an extensive interview of Hamas leaders, and they say at least publicly, that their want Israel to go back to 1967 borders, let Palestinians return to their land, lift the Gaza blockade - all these 'demands' are very reasonable and in line with international law - nothing more. They do also say they want Israel to disarm - which is a foolish and unnecessary demand.
But as long as Israel is the occupier in terms of international law, there will be threats, there will be resistance, there is just no way around it. Once and if Israel conforms to the law, then let's see what happens! Let's see then if threats to Israel's existence continue.
I'll also say that the threats from neighbors like Iran and Syria are not 100% due to Palestine, they have their own political agendas. But if the Palestinian conflict is resolved by Israel abiding by the law the political landscape will change, I can't say what it will be like, but that's the right way to go and that's what everybody should be pushing for.
Matto: When Hamas (and most in the Arab world) say 'occupation', they mean 'the 1948 occupation' -- which is the formation of the state of Israel. They are not talking about 1967 borders, they are talking about the existence of the state of Israel. They might be using '1967' rhetoric in this war because it serves their purposes, but that's probably it. here's an example:
This is characteristic of the duplicity displayed by those on that side of the conflict. They will say one thing to their people, and quite another (even using the same word, as here) to the west, to make it sound reasonable.
Matto: Raj -- since you seem to have succeeded in drawing me into some public debate (despite my wishes not to), let's go ahead and crystallize. There are two main issues here, with you intent on the first, and me reminding you of the second: (1) Israel is occupying the Palestinian territories, which is a problem. We both agree that there should be some two state solution that is a viable nation for the Palestinians, too. (2) There is a moral chasm between Israel and its enemies. Given the same power as Israel, most of its neighbors (including Hamas) would simply commit genocide -- true genocide -- murder of the entire nation.
You seem to have no response to point 2 although you tacitly agree. This is also, as I said before, 'the fundamental issue'. Both are. Both are equally fundamental. The one will not go away because of the other, just like it didn't start with the other. Debate, and use your logic, but don't pretend that this is just an issue of international law.
Raj: About the 1948 vs. 1967 - if Hamas is claiming that Israel should retreat to 1948 they are contributing to prolonging the conflict. The world has agreed June 1967 borders and that should be that.
I responded to the moral chasm point in my previous post. You are suggesting that (2) will not go away with (1), and I am suggesting otherwise (at least in some part). I can debate more on the moral chasm point once I know what reasons lead you to your conclusion - i.e. how do you conclude that the neighbors of Israel will continue to seek its destruction even after Israel addresses the occupation and refugees' right of return. And how do you also conclude that 'one didn't start with the other'.
Matto: The Arab states, and the Palestinian leadership and/or people, were intent on the destruction of Israel long before Israel was occupying the west bank and Gaza -- ever since before the state of Israel even formed (I’m genuinely confused, by the way, about how much of the policies of, e.g., Hamas and its predecessors, are supported by Palestinian civilians. if you have good sources that demystify this, I would be happy to read them). Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of Israel. this interview I posted above with Mashaal is telling, because it shows the kind of doubletalk that Hamas will use with the west -- using words like 'occupation' to refer to both 1967 and 1948 (i.e., Israel as a whole) at the same time, and leaving it ambiguous until pressed. However, if you dig just a little, they openly state what they want, especially in their own news channels & to their own people. This is undeniable. You can argue that with the end of occupation of the west bank and the lifting of the blockade on Gaza Hamas will change its policies, but it would have to be a rather drastic change...
Raj: Okay - I have to say I am not 100% sure of those facts myself, but I wouldn't necessarily disagree with you that those are true at least in some vain. While I am not justifying the position of Israel's neighbors AT ALL, I am suggesting that this is a natural outcome when people are dispossessed in their ancestral homelands in the hundreds of thousands. It is fair to say that the Arabs reacted to the Zionist movement foreseeing the migration of Jews into Israel.
Raj: On more reflection on this issue, I agree with you on what the 2 fundamental roots of the conflict are - although I will phrase them a little differently - occupation of Palestinians, and existential fear of Israel.
Now put the two together and you get an explosive situation. The existential fear leads Israel to subjugate Palestine, the subjugation and occupation leads Palestine to revolt and resist, and those in turn raise the fear in Israel and the cycle becomes a self-sustaining one.
You can mathematically model a system of feedbacks like this one. The ONLY outcome of such a system is the eventual 'extinction' of one or the other. Now the question becomes what can be done to not go there.
As far as I see it, the occupation is the only thing where we have any control over. So I see it as the only possible option, even if it means that the fear won't be gone right away.
Raj’s post: What happens when 1.8 million people are imprisoned in an area 1/3 the size of NYC? What happens is that "eventually, the ghetto will fight back. It was true in Soweto and Belfast, and it is true in Gaza. We might not like Hamas or some of its methods, but that is not the same as accepting the proposition that Palestinians should supinely accept the denial of their right to exist as a free people in their ancestral homeland."
So keep using your old excuses of 'Israel needs to defend itself against its neighbors', and 'Palestinians are responsible for their own suffering'. The world is watching. It is truly a shame that people whose grandparents endured unimaginable brutality are now devoid of any empathy and will go to great lengths to make it appear that they are not responsible for this massacre.
Matto: " It is truly a shame that people whose grandparents endured unimaginable brutality are now devoid of any empathy" -- Raj, how can you say such a thing? Frankly, it's asinine. As you and I have discussed, there is a lot of nuance to this and saying that Israelis are simply devoid of empathy is just attacking a straw man. Israelis are not devoid of empathy. People in Israel don't want war, most of them at least. Opinions vary but many of them feel that this war is necessary, at this point, because of threats to Israeli wellbeing (such as the rocket booms I still hear most days in Tel Aviv now). Hamas built a vast network of tunnels and was planning a huge attack for the sole purpose of terrorism -- a fact that was uncovered in this war, and that Israel is now intent on destroying. Is this not relevant to you, nevermind the situation as a whole, but in this current round of violence? You seem to be mixing strategy and tactics. I want you to put yourself in the situation of Israel -- seriously -- after it had rockets sent at it. What would your response have been? Just like I make a habit of putting myself in the shoes of Hamas to understand their perspective (although I never come up with the same solutions that they do), you should do the same. It is ridiculous to make statements about people's inner feelings without having done that, and asked if there's a reasonable psychology to their actions.
Matto: Honestly, I am not sure how I feel about this war myself. But I find one-sided arguments such as yours... whatever the opposite is of "helpful"
Raj: Matto - The conflict is complicated no doubt, but it has become so after 47 years of occupation and displacement. It simply does not matter anymore what the complexities are - the humanitarian disaster ought to trump them all!
Yes, you can blame Hamas as I would too. But that does not address the root causes of this chronic conflict. In our discussion in another thread we agreed that on the 2 fundamental roots of the conflict.
Raj: The argument that Hamas is responsible for the deaths of civilians does not make much sense. Let's assume that it is in fact true that Hamas will go and house rockets where there are civilians (just ignore the fact that Gaza is one of the most densely populated placed on the planet and that realistically you can never really get very far from civilians). So in spite of knowing that Israel sends a bomb? That brings down an entire building? Somehow the tactic of strategic rocket placement has now taken the burden of responsibility off of Israel?
Why is it expected that Hamas will act in a noble way? They are resisting an occupation. History books are full of examples of resistance movements and the tactics they employed, and history looks at those favorably.
Raj: Watch the interview of IDF's Peter Lerner. When asked why did they have to respond to rocket fires when they knew it was coming from near a school.
His response, or lack thereof, is telling. It does not matter whether they intentionally hit the target or not, it does not matter what Hamas' tactics are. What matters is the direct connection between your bombings and civilian deaths. When you see this, and yet continue to support the invasion, it is a serious oversight in humanity. As of yesterday a Times of Israel poll showed more than 90% of Israelis support the invasion. If you say it’s to take away Hamas' capacity for waging war - it should be noted that (a) they are resisting an occupation, a natural human response, and (b) 'Hamas' capacity to wage war' is near ZERO in comparison to Israel's.
Conclusions: There were a few posts after this, but they aren’t in the same tone and aren’t relevant. Raj agreed to have this debate posted on my blog. In keeping with the nature of this conflict, I’ll leave it here with a sense of inconclusiveness. Unfortunately, aside from the crystallization I posted above, there is no convenient way that things wrap up.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Center Rhetoric
I thought for a long time about what to write for this blog, or whether to write it at all. The war so consuming and upsetting that taking the effort to then dive in and dissect it is an act of masochism. In this charged moment, there are also consequences to expressing any viewpoint. Jon Stewart put it the best. I also have been reading a lot of pro-Palestinian news sources, and I empathize deeply. It is easy for any viewpoint to seem ridiculous when faced with enough of the other side’s logic. But I’m an American living in Tel Aviv during a war against Gaza, and I feel it’s my imperative to say something. The best I can offer is a crystallization of my private thoughts, and that’s what you’ll find recorded below.
In the last week I’ve been glued to the news and stressed like every other person in Israel, but I don’t want to harp on the exhaustion of war, the rocket threats, even the fact that I have several close friends over in Gaza. If you read the news, you’ll know that the Gazans are suffering by far the worst in this conflict, and to pretend that Israelis suffer in a like manner would be disrespectful, whatever the cause. What has struck me and stressed me the keenest in all this, and what I do want to focus on, is the international response. It’s as if the world has gone Dracula. Analysis and comprehension aren’t sexy enough, and people want blood. This is nothing new I suppose, but I don’t believe I was ever close enough to a conflict to realize it as starkly as in this war.
I began on my current train of thought by wondering why outside of Israel there have been mass riots, protests, anti-Semitic attacks, and declarations for Jews to apologize for the actions of Israel. Is this related to the true crimes of Israel, to any sort of reality? To me, the answer is obvious, and requires just a short read of the week’s headlines.
ISIS, the supposed new ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria, murdered 270 Iraqis just three days ago, in addition to forcing out on pain of death one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, executing people in supposed shariah trials, sexually harassing women and forcing them to stay in their homes, and generally pillaging the countryside. They have certainly killed more than Israel during this latest conflict, and on no better grounds; they have terrorized some millions as well. I hate to even compare Israel to ISIS, but I do it only to emphasize that no matter one’s politics, one cannot reasonably argue that Israel is being any more immoral than them. Yet Israel gets worldwide protests, and ISIS doesn’t.
The rest of the news in past days is no prettier. A few hundred people were killed last week in Syria, adding mere dribbles to the ~130,000 reportedly killed since the start of the 3-year civil war. This includes >15000 children. Where are the protests against the various armed groups (including ISIS and the Syrian government and others) who are causing these murders? In Ukraine, a plane was shot out of the sky, killing 290, at the alleged fault of Russian separatists. Where are the protestors there?
I think it’s clear, then, that level of atrocity in Gaza is not the reason for mass worldwide protests against Israelis and Jews. What, then, is?
We all view the world through a fisheye, putting disproportionate value on our own life and our kin. However, we are also capable of activating a logical mind, which makes better decisions when faced with complicated or ambiguous data. This duality is often adaptive, but fails when we deal with issues with many human, emotional, and material factors, such as the war between Israel and Gaza. In fact, the distractibility of our logical side can be and is exploited by the media, because emotional triggers draw greater impact than facts. Worse even is that when we try to do cold accounting, we usually look at facts that support our predetermined beliefs, and we can be truly convinced that we are being totally objective when in fact we are not. Most people feel they are fairly objective; practically nobody is. I believe this illusion of objectivity is a major culprit for people's self righteous condemnation of Israel.
It is the fisheye that produces some of our most beautiful sentiments, but also that fuels Anti-Semitism and racism. You cannot fire up rioters with cold statistics; you can, though, with graphic images of dead children, because they remind you of your children. The media loves this trick. In fact, I have no idea how to fight against this -- more measured and nuanced media won’t do it, because people will only read what is exciting, and will put the careful analysts out of business. Especially with the dominance today of social media, there is a race to the bottom, with the most sensational items also garnering the most impact. In general, when confronted by a morally ambiguous landscape, it is easier to latch onto a single person’s clear narrative than to decipher some complicated data. Of course, to any one Gazan or Israeli whose family members were threatened or killed in the conflict, the narrative is as distorted as their own fisheye. Empathizing with a sufferer’s story is an easy way to make a moral call, but it is often far too simplistic.
Aside from that, there’s an attractive narrative to the pro-Palestinian cause, kind of a David vs. Goliath story. The third world underdogs are being overpowered by the Zionist Western Puppets. Particularly for Arabs and Muslims who feel disenfranchised by their unwelcoming European homes, or by their own corrupt leaders in the Middle East, this symbolic war between their culture and the Zionist entity appeals deeply to the fisheye’s victim mentality, and allows transference of the shame of a person’s own daily indignities into hate towards an enemy. If you are a Middle Eastern Arab, hating ISIS or your own Arab government can have consequences that are confusing or even dangerous; hating Israel has none, and in fact puts you in line with most of your countrymen.
I believe this same set of reasons underlie much of the Western response to Israel/Palestine, versus its underwhelming response for other atrocities such as the war in Syria. In Syria, it is Arab vs. Arab (making it confusing for Westerners to begin with), and it is not easy to determine who the ‘good’ guys are, no matter how you define ‘good.’ If you are to protest, who do you protest against? A Western aggressor is also easier to blame than an Arab aggressor in the Middle East, for to a Western observer, he is more understandable. But people forget that a David vs. Goliath narrative is only a narrative, and that the true situation in Israel/Palestine is not a narrative but a collection of facts, equally as nuanced and complicated as any other.
I guess that what I've described so far is a somewhat standard explanation for why people get so riled up by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But I personally feel that there is another, more hidden explanation, at least among the demographic of young, Western, educated audiences that I know well. To these folks, there is something alluring, almost even erotic, about the Palestinian cause. I noticed this first in college, when I attended many lectures, talks, and gatherings related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Aside from thoughtful centrists and curious onlookers, there were extremists on both sides who attended these events. I was equally struck by pro-Israeli bigots who didn’t recognize the humanity of Palestinians, and by the pro-Palestinian zealots whose life missions seemed to be the destruction of Israel. But the two types of extremists had different vibes. There was something sexy and enigmatic about the pro-Palestinians. These were not white-bread Americans, like the politico types who manned the ranks of the pro-Israeli contingent. They were hip, and the pro-Israelis were square. The pro-Palestinians hung out in cool dens, secret haunts, the most hipster places, mixing with internationals. They were edgy, perhaps dangerous. They had a spark in their eyes. Their carelessly slung Keffiyehs, eclectic, thrift shop outfits, whispered Arabic greetings, marked them with a style, a class, a whiff of exoticism. Simply put, it was cooler to support Palestine. You felt that these kids hung out in that underground bar that doesn't even have a sign over the door. I believe that the same forces are at play nowadays in social media. Everyone wants to be in the in crowd, and young, empowered, beautiful Palestinians activate something indescribable for young Westerners who are in search of a cause.
Well, these are my observations, anyway. Israeli friends of mine I’ve spoken to about it disagree. But I wonder if American or especially European friends of mine would also see this allure. There must be a reason for disproportionate outcry against Israel, there must be. Blaming it on anti-Semitism is too simplistic for me; I see anti-Semitism as a symptom, not a cause.
My final thought is this. If we are to be honest and to try and be truly objective, then how much value should we attribute a human life, a maiming, or an attempt at a human life, in judging one atrocity versus another? How, for example, can we judge unsuccessful attempts of Hamas to kill Israeli civilians versus the accidental killings of Palestinian civilians in attempts to root out Hamas operatives and infrastructure by Israel? (Even if you believe that Israel kills Palestinian civilians on purpose, which I think is not true, then you can still do an accounting). As we know, it is much more attractive to support a nation that is suffering than a nation that has taken major pains and measures and thus prevents the death of its people. But this logic would imply that Israel should merely have avoided using its sirens and Iron Dome, thus allowing Hamas rockets to kill its citizens, in order to gain the moral justification it needed to fight back. This is obviously absurd. With barely any Israeli injuries or deaths due to Hamas attacks, can Israel then morally justify a massive ground invasion, killing hundreds and injuring thousands? Obviously the question is charged, but my point is that it’s not trivial in either direction. People should think a bit before they condemn.
I have not even gotten into the much, much more complicated issue of who intended what, who actually wants peace and who wants just to inflict pain and death, what happened in the past, and how we can move forward to a better future. All I wanted to do in this post is explore why it is that there is so much virulent anti-Israel, and even worse, anti-Semitic, sentiment around the world right now. This is a war that is not morally simple, and there are plenty of other horrible things going on that people could protest. It saddens me to see this outpouring of ill-informed hatred, just as it saddens me to see the suffering of Gazans themselves. That being said, my own fisheye lens comes into play every time we have sirens in Tel Aviv or I feel my building shake from Iron Dome interceptions. Living in Israel, it is not hard to understand why rational, ordinary people eventually say enough already, and just want whatever it takes to have quiet, if not peace.
But alas, I fear that lines of thought such as mine are too boring to compete with all the rhetoric. This blog will be forgotten with the next image of a bleeding child, if anyone even bothers to read it at all.
Related Posts:
The Map of Fear (maps here, from this war)
Beyond Rockets (maps here, from the last war)
Saturday, July 12, 2014
The map of fear
Safety of Israeli citizens and anti-Israel protests go hand in hand, as if Israel ought to be ashamed to keep its people alive. This year, the Iron Dome defense and the red alert sirens are the culprits. But don't take me too seriously, because i'm just a bit irritated. I had the pleasure yesterday of ducking into stairwells and having the walls shake during 4 or 5 missile attacks, just before seeing that Europeans have embarked on yet another round of anti-Israel protests.
In my last blog I said that people in Tel Aviv seem relatively unfazed compared to the last war, and that the city is thrumming. I still feel that's true. However, some others disagree with me, so I guess it depends on where you are and who you are around. I didn't go out last night to investigate, so I can't report if the bars were full. What is for certain is that yesterday was a heavy day for rockets. We even had a loud building-shaker in the evening with no warning siren. The topic of every conversation is the war. Bits of rocket landed in the neighborhood just south of me. After a few barrages, you get in the mood for absurdity. Neighbors invited me to have late night drinks with them after we had huddled together for a few sirens, and we bonded in the lackadaisical air of war.
If you want to understand the Israeli mentality about all this, look at this map:
This is a map of fear. The numbers are the number of reported rocket attacks (most involving multiple rockets) in each city or region of Israel from the end of May up until last night (most in the last week), and they are in fact proxies for the amount that the citizens in those cities have been terrified. No Israeli citizens have died yet in this war, but they certainly have been scared, and you can easily see from this map where they've been scared the most. That is what terrorism is about. Note that the Tel Aviv area has had 28 attacks over the last days. People living anywhere in the vicinity of Gaza are not living ordinary lives, and this is the whole point of Hamas' endeavor. Their warnings are shorter, too. In Tel Aviv, we have one and a half minutes after a siren starts to seek shelter. In Ashkelon, they have 30 seconds.
This map also represents a manifestation of the capabilities of Israel's enemies. If you keep in mind that the part of Israel south of Gaza is thinly populated desert, and that the areas north and south of Jerusalem are the Palestinian-populated West Bank, you'll realize that the red circles pretty much cover the whole country. There were even a few attacks in the North from Lebanon and Syria, probably as symbolic gestures (&/or spillover from the Syrian civil war). This is what I meant in my last blog post when I said that you must huddle in the center of the country in order to (almost) avoid missiles. Most Israelis could have sketched out this map before the war ever began -- they basically know where their enemies can hit. So they take this map into consideration when they decide where to buy a house, where to send their kids to school, what they will do on vacation. It is insane to carry such a map in your brain, knowing that anywhere in your own country, whether it's from Hamas rockets or Hizbollah ones, you may not be safe.
Putting aside this general lurking fear, if you consider any country on Earth under this week's missile barrage, it is obvious that the country will retaliate. This is the spectre that haunts the holy land. Israel builds sophisticated, expensive anti-missile defense systems to keep its people safe; Hamas, in the other hand, tells its citizens to stay in their houses when they are warned they will be blown up. This is a cultural difference that you shouldn't forget when you see the numbers of casualties. If Israel attacks Gaza, it will certainly be condemned. If it refrains, it will greet internal protests once some Israeli citizens inevitably are killed from Hamas missiles. What to do?
Here are the numbers of rocket barrages against Israel on a daily basis in the last couple weeks (it's the same underlying data as in the map -- gathered from reports in the ynet news ticker). Note, the numbers refer to individual reports, and most of the reports involve multiple rockets. The purple bars represent the number of times that a rocket attack was reported on an Israeli city or region. You can see here the Israeli defenses at work: code red sirens and/or iron dome missile interceptions are mentioned in most of these reports. There were already a number of attacks against Israel each day for a week before this war began. Would that be acceptable for you, or would you bomb your enemy back? Israel's leadership actually showed some restraint before jumping in. Also, note that the last few days have seen 80 to 100 rocket barrages per day. What would you do if you were Benjamin Netanyahu? Would you stage an extended air assault, trying to blow up missile-launching targets and Hamas militants, as he's done? Would you send in ground troops?
Related Posts:
Beyond Rockets (maps here, from the last war)
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Precipitous war
It was surreal and awkward sitting with close friends in a Tel Aviv apartment, cheering as Brazil was trounced in the World Cup, and now and again shushing each other to listen as we felt a tremor that might be an intercepted rocket. If you’re outside or near an open window when a rocket is shot down, you can feel it. It’s like having a snare drum gonged nearby while you’re wearing earmuffs, or standing close to a subwoofer. More a thump in your chest than a sound. Kind of a whump.
Our host was to leave early the next morning for reserve training, so we parted ways just after the game ended. On the surface he seemed unfazed. He said that he hoped to be back before the end of the weekend. None of it seemed like it could actually be serious.
Nor had it seemed serious even when the first rocket of this war had come near Tel Aviv, earlier that same day. I actually saw it get blown up in the sky. I was at the bouldering gym when a girl yelled my name and laughed at me, because I was still climbing while everyone else had stopped. I heard it then, the air raid siren, wailing away. The ten or so people who were in the gym wandered outside on a vague instruction to move towards the next-door building’s bomb shelter. Somehow we ended up just loitering outside, though, and chatting, until a puff of smoke appeared in the sky to the south. Just after it I felt the whump.
I felt another one two hours later while I was on skype with my friend Moriel. We both immediately checked the ynet news ticker and saw that, indeed, there had been a Code Red Alert in Tel Aviv just a minute before. That means there was a siren, which I hadn’t heard. Moriel and I had probably talked all the way through it, reminiscing about the last Gaza war 2 years back, when Moriel had still lived here.
“You seem more relaxed than we were then,” he said. I agreed. Terror is about the constant bombardment from the news, not from the sky, and I don’t own a TV. Also, so far, it actually does feel different. In the last Gaza war, Tel Aviv slowed down almost the instant that the first siren sounded in the city. It was sobering, because nobody knew until then if Hamas had either the capability to hit Tel Aviv or the audacity to try. They had never managed it before, and no air siren had wailed in Tel Aviv since the first Gulf War. That was almost 24 years ago.
This time is indeed different. Tel Avivers remember the last Gaza war, 2 years ago, and we remember the proven impotence of Hamas rockets. When rockets shocked Tel Aviv back then by entering its airspace, the brand-new Iron Dome defense system was employed for the first time. The defense system hadn’t been tried under serious fire, and nobody knew whether it would actually shoot down enemy missiles as claimed. Well, it damn well did. It has been so effective at taking out Hamas missiles that it’s easy to forget that they sometimes get through. If enough missiles are fired at Tel Aviv, one will undoubtedly hit. But Hamas doesn’t seem to have the capability to launch such a serious barrage. Hence, it’s hard to take seriously these missile launches, which Hamas ought to know will be shot down. Unlike the subdued feel in the city 2 years ago, the cafes and bars in Tel Aviv have been brimming.
And I tell you truthfully, that it doesn’t feel dangerous in Tel Aviv. Hearing the news of what’s going on in other parts of the country is like reading tabloids of a terrifying alternate reality. After the murder of the Palestinian youth last week near Jerusalem, there were peaceful protests against escalation in Tel Aviv; in Jerusalem, by contrast, there were riots. Since then, a kibbutz near Ashkelon was almost infiltrated by armed Hamas navy seals. Hamas even tried to blow up an Israeli nuclear reactor (are they insane??). There has of course been a constant bombardment of the south of the country by missiles. And, worst of all, there have been calls by Hamas members for a return to the old days of suicide bombings.
Well, that’s all going on outside of Tel Aviv. But the belief that we’re safe from Hamas rockets doesn’t release the deeper gnawing and worry that this situation exposes. I could feel it as a quiver in one friend’s voice as she told me that her boyfriend, another a close friend of mine, is called for reserves. I felt it in the bombastic declaration that a coworker made against Gaza, vowing that we ought to cut off their water. Another friend told me that her mom is a nervous wreck. A cafe waitress made sarcastic remarks about yet another war, and a lovely summer to be. There is a fair bit of anxiety around, and everyone’s watching the news.
But let’s put credit where due -- Gazans have it the worst off, there is absolutely no doubt about it. However, I do believe that they have more to blame on their own leadership, including historical leadership up on through the present day, than on Israel. From Israel’s perspective, living in a country in which you must huddle in the center if you are to be (nearly) out of range of the missiles of all-too-eager enemies takes a psychological toll, and makes a country’s ‘aggression’ start to seem reasonable. The entire south of Israel is intermittently under fire. Even Tel Aviv must send counterstrike missiles in order to keep its buildings intact. Can you imagine? What would be done to Hamas if they were instead targeting New York City? It gets exhausting, and being humane has its limits.
Anyway, that’s my attempt to give a flavor of what it's like here right now. Thanks everyone back in the US for the many well wishes. I hope that this post allays some of your fears, or at least puts them in perspective. It’s a conflicted and strange time to be in Tel Aviv – rather surreal and awkward. The real worry, though, in my mind, is escalation. For example, if we start to have suicide bombings it would be a major game changer. It could also be really problematic if Israel takes out Hamas and leaves an Al Qaeda-shaped hole in its place. However, what I suspect is a war not so unlike the past few. Force will be exchanged. A truce will be reached. A new equilibrium will stand for a few years. Through it all, life here will go on. Until the next war…
Related posts (from the last Gaza war):
Beyond Rockets
Fajr Fajr, Burning Bright
Friday, April 25, 2014
Learn Hebrew in only 10,000 easy steps!!
Hasn't it already become kitsch that 10,000 of something can get you mastery over something else, or something? Well, I'm no linguist (and my friends will tell you how slow I am at learning languages), but it seems that quite less than that number of words can give you a significant chunk of a language. How many less and how much of a chunk? Read on.
I looked into this because I wanted to boost my Hebrew skills, but i didn't know which words were the most important to learn, and in what order. I was memorizing words randomly and quite arbitrarily, picked up from books, conversations, and the like, and often would never hear the words in usage again. This felt frustrating and futile. It is often said (and makes perfect sense) that the most beneficial words to study are those that are used the most often in speech. This led me to a quandary, because I couldn't find any ready resource with a list of the most common spoken words in modern Hebrew.
I was discussing this with a friend over lunch one day and we came upon an idea: text subtitles in movies are nearly 100% dialogue, so movie subtitle files are perfect candidates for looking at frequency of spoken word usage. Luckily, my friend is an avid movie hoarder, and offered me a large supply of movie subtitle files on the spot. By aggregating enough such files together, we figured it should be possible to parse out individual words and get a pretty good idea of how often different words are used in bone-fide, modern, spoken Hebrew. So that's what I went ahead and did.
Aside from being extremely useful for my own studies, I found the results of this little experiment to be rather fascinating. To see why, take a look at the most common Hebrew words that came up on my list, in order from 1st to 36th:
(the * is for the 2nd meaning of the word 'eht,' which is as an article for direct definite objects. For example, to say "I ate the banana" in Hebrew, you would say something like: "I ate eht the banana"..).
Note the last column in the table, which marks the cumulative percentage of total word usages (out of >600,000) that are accounted for by each individual word plus all the words preceding it on the list. The amazing thing is that with only 36 words, we have covered 25% of total word usages in the language!
That's 36 words. How much comprehension will we have if we dutifully study and learn, say, 10,000 words? The answer is: around 80%. If you learn words in the order they appear on my list, here's how much more Hebrew you will have gained from your effort in learning each individual new word (i.e., the marginal amount of Hebrew gained per word):
It looks pretty good up until around 100 words, at which point you're already drowning in an abyss of seemingly futile vocabulary. Of course, this is somewhat misleading, since multiple forms of the same verb will come up separately on this list, and there's also much more to learn in a language than just vocabulary. Despite usage frequencies, not all words are equal. For example, if you're visiting Israel, you'll probably be most interested in knowing how to say 'bathroom' (sheh-roo-teem) and 'food' (okhel), among many others. But even so, if you want to put in minimal effort to get maximal lingual return, you're probably best off with my list.
If you want this list for the top 10,000 words in Hebrew (actually more), you can download it as an excel file by clicking HERE.
Enjoy!
I looked into this because I wanted to boost my Hebrew skills, but i didn't know which words were the most important to learn, and in what order. I was memorizing words randomly and quite arbitrarily, picked up from books, conversations, and the like, and often would never hear the words in usage again. This felt frustrating and futile. It is often said (and makes perfect sense) that the most beneficial words to study are those that are used the most often in speech. This led me to a quandary, because I couldn't find any ready resource with a list of the most common spoken words in modern Hebrew.
I was discussing this with a friend over lunch one day and we came upon an idea: text subtitles in movies are nearly 100% dialogue, so movie subtitle files are perfect candidates for looking at frequency of spoken word usage. Luckily, my friend is an avid movie hoarder, and offered me a large supply of movie subtitle files on the spot. By aggregating enough such files together, we figured it should be possible to parse out individual words and get a pretty good idea of how often different words are used in bone-fide, modern, spoken Hebrew. So that's what I went ahead and did.
Aside from being extremely useful for my own studies, I found the results of this little experiment to be rather fascinating. To see why, take a look at the most common Hebrew words that came up on my list, in order from 1st to 36th:
| hebrew word | meaning (google translate) | pronunciation | cumulative % of word usage covered | |
| לא | Not / no | loh | 2.8 | |
| את | You (f) / * | at / eht | 5.4 | |
| אני | I | anee | 7.9 | |
| זה | It / that | zeh | 9.8 | |
| אתה | You (m) | atah | 11.1 | |
| מה | What | mah | 12.4 | |
| הוא | He | hoo | 13.2 | |
| לי | To me | lee | 14.1 | |
| על | About / On | al | 14.9 | |
| לך | To you | lekhah / lakh (m/f) | 15.5 | |
| כן | Yes | ken | 16.1 | |
| של | Of | shel | 16.7 | |
| יש | There is | yaysh | 17.2 | |
| רוצה | Want | rotzeh / rotzah (m/f) | 17.6 | |
| טוב | Good | tov | 18.1 | |
| כל | All | kol | 18.5 | |
| אבל | But | a-vahl | 19.0 | |
| בסדר | OK | beseder | 19.4 | |
| אם | If | eem | 19.8 | |
| שלי | My | shel-ee | 20.2 | |
| עם | With | eem | 20.6 | |
| יודע | Knows | yo-dey-ah | 21.0 | |
| היא | She | he | 21.4 | |
| היה | Was | hayah | 21.7 | |
| שלך | Your | shelkhah / shelakh (m/f) | 22.1 | |
| הם | They | hehm | 22.4 | |
| אותך | You | oh-takh | 22.8 | |
| אז | Then / so | ahz | 23.1 | |
| אותו | Same | oh-toh | 23.4 | |
| רק | Only | rahk | 23.7 | |
| אנחנו | We | ah-nakh-noo | 23.9 | |
| יותר | More | yoh-tair | 24.2 | |
| יכול | Might / Can | yah-kol | 24.5 | |
| אותי | Me | oh-tee | 24.7 | |
| למה | Why | lamah | 25.0 |
(the * is for the 2nd meaning of the word 'eht,' which is as an article for direct definite objects. For example, to say "I ate the banana" in Hebrew, you would say something like: "I ate eht the banana"..).
Note the last column in the table, which marks the cumulative percentage of total word usages (out of >600,000) that are accounted for by each individual word plus all the words preceding it on the list. The amazing thing is that with only 36 words, we have covered 25% of total word usages in the language!
That's 36 words. How much comprehension will we have if we dutifully study and learn, say, 10,000 words? The answer is: around 80%. If you learn words in the order they appear on my list, here's how much more Hebrew you will have gained from your effort in learning each individual new word (i.e., the marginal amount of Hebrew gained per word):
It looks pretty good up until around 100 words, at which point you're already drowning in an abyss of seemingly futile vocabulary. Of course, this is somewhat misleading, since multiple forms of the same verb will come up separately on this list, and there's also much more to learn in a language than just vocabulary. Despite usage frequencies, not all words are equal. For example, if you're visiting Israel, you'll probably be most interested in knowing how to say 'bathroom' (sheh-roo-teem) and 'food' (okhel), among many others. But even so, if you want to put in minimal effort to get maximal lingual return, you're probably best off with my list.
If you want this list for the top 10,000 words in Hebrew (actually more), you can download it as an excel file by clicking HERE.
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)