Don’t be an ostrich

I love Israel deeply. More than anything, I want it to succeed as a country, a people, and, above all else, to be a light unto the nations. What happens to and in Israel has an impact on me, and I’ll go as far as to say it has an impact on every one of us in the South African Jewish community.

I consider myself to be a South African Jew, and I have no intention of leaving my home. I love this country, and want to live out my life here. All the tsorres that goes with this country upsets and angers me, but it’s 100% my problem and yours.

But though I don’t live in Israel and have no aliya plans, what happens there also feels personal. I accept that my views on Israel aren’t as relevant as my views are on local, South African, issues because I live here.

But do I have a right to have an opinion on what’s going on in Israel? I believe I do. I also believe that everyone of us Jews living on the southern tip of Africa is entitled to our opinion about what happens in Israel, just as we are entitled to love the country deeply and want it to succeed.

And it’s not strange that the very basis of this newspaper is fundamentally Zionist in its ethos. Zionism means believing in the state of Israel. It doesn’t necessarily mean that as Zionists, we believe that everything and anything that takes place in Israel is 100% correct. It also doesn’t mean that we have to support every decision the government makes there.

Again, we’re entitled to our opinion. The truth is, as Jews, we’re opinionated, and have lots to say about what we think and feel.

And though we have lots to say about a lot of things, many of us believe that we daren’t say anything critical about Israel. I understand that some people were upset about our extensive portrayal of Israel over the past few weeks.

We’ve tried our best to get as many views as possible from all sides. But it’s often the case that when we ask experts, they aren’t happy to put their opinions out in public. This is particularly in the case when we are dealing with such a controversial situation.

And as things in Israel seems to worsen, there are fewer truly logical experts who are willing to be open about their perspectives in public. There are some folk who are happy to put forward their somewhat libellous views – attacking those who have put forward their views – who would do damage to the newspaper and themselves. They aren’t what we’re looking for.

Suffice to say that from a newspaper perspective, we aren’t giving you necessarily what you want to read but views that might potentially challenge you but are still worth reading.

What we won’t do is ignore the issues in Israel. We won’t be quiet about them. We’ll keep on writing about them because what happens in the Jewish state is personal to us.

We’re intrinsically joined at the hip to Israel. And when Israel sneezes, our eyes tear up. When Israel loses a leg, we get phantom limb pains. It’s as simple as that.

In our lead story last week, we spoke of how the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) had joined international Jewish organisations in calling on Israel not to change the Law of Return. Many criticised the SAJBD for doing this and disapproved of us reporting on it on our front page.

The critics’ sentiments were – and I’m simplifying here – that if Israel does make changes to its laws and policies, it obviously must have excellent reasons to do so, and it’s not for us to criticise or challenge.

I agree that every person in power believes that what they are doing is right and ultimately for the benefit of their citizens. But are they always right? It depends on the impact it has on the country. It depends on how it affects the people concerned. And when someone makes decisions, no matter their power base, they make them as humans who are fallible.

I know South African Jewry have views from the far right to the far left and all along the spectrum in between. The pendulum also swings both ways when it comes to religion and other beliefs. So, at any given time, there will be a host of people disagreeing with something, not least of all in Israel. We surely can’t ignore that.

I believe it’s incumbent on us to keep telling you as much as we can about anything that has an impact on our community.

We dare not ignore Israel’s problems, much like we can’t ignore the load shedding and water issues that have changed the way we live our lives here.

In the same way, as much as I would love to wish away the anti-Israel lobby in this country and the ugly taste it leaves in our mouths, we can’t. Again, we dare not.

Sometimes we write about them reluctantly because we believe you have a right to know.

To be honest, on this newspaper, we spend an inordinate amount of time searching for good news stories, stories that will uplift you and us, stories that will bring us naches and joy.

They’re generally quite hard to find, but we keep looking.

However, we can’t ignore the tough stories that we don’t necessarily want to accept or believe. That’s part of our job and commitment to you.

And as we head towards the festival of Purim (on Monday and Tuesday), we must consider the importance of remaining aware of the threats to our nation. We dare not ignore the Hamans out there. We must ensure that we don’t become ostriches, put our heads in the sand, and wish them away, because it won’t happen.

We have to stand up for our rights, here and in Israel, and ensure that we’re heard. We also need to stay abreast of what is happening so we remain on our toes and ready for anything.

Chag Purim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor