m and p

My parents finally came in (photos to come after the visit), and we are having a really great time. Fitting in as much as we can, and enjoying each other so much. I'm so happy they're here and I can show them around, especially taking them places I have never been yet. Details will come later, but for now I want to direct your attention to reactions to the article that Ari wrote in his last column at his newspaper, that I linked to earlier.

In his blog, he posted a response to the article from our incredible friend Jackie. I would just like to mention that in going to Jordan, I expected that I would have to hide my identity as a Jew so sacredly and that I would be afraid of it even coming up in conversation. Quite the opposite happened, eventually, and I was very comfortable discussing this situation with most of my friends there. However, my expectations for open-mindedness in Israel were very high, yet I find that I need to be more careful as every "leftist" comment I might make can be interpreted as a personal threat. "You don't live here, you don't know what it is like to have to worry about security..." etc. I don't, but at the same time, nothing justifies the racism that I continue to see daily.

Today, at Rosh Haniqra, or Ras An-naqourah, a beautiful grotto just snuggling the Lebanese border, these guys asked us to take their picture, fine. Then, as we were waiting in line for the cable car back up (super cool), my dad and I waited for my mom who was in the bathroom. An Arab family was there, all excited, clapping and celebrating the event, it was really cute. They were the only ones in line for the cable car. These guys were about to join the line, then they turned around and said something along the lines of, "Maybe we'd better wait a bit."

"Why?" I responded, casually.

"I don't think we should wait behind them in the line," one of them muttered, or something to that effect.

"Why, what's the problem?" I insisted; I would not budge.

"Oh, I couldn't imagine," the guy replied, dryly. Screw him.

Even a sector of the Jewish tourists are trained to know not to trust Arabs, not to get in taxis with Arabs sometimes, and not to recognize the Arab history of this land. It makes me sick that some of these people come over and stay in a tourist bubble.

This is the best part. My mom joins us, I get right up in the line with the family, and when the car comes, there isn't room for the three of us but the two of them fit quite nicely with the family. Serves them right, I hope they pissed their pants.

--Avraham

APRIL FOOL'S!

When I saw on my calendar that the first was approaching, I knew that I had to put on my thinking cap and conspire with those friends of mine across the river in Jordan. My friend Ari was the unfortunate albeit quite exposed target of this prank, and it worked perfectly. We convinced him that he had a meeting to discuss with a high level official from the State Department or someone sent by the embassy that wanted to meet with people interested in foreign service that had high level language skills. Of course he bought it and took the requests to dress for an interview very seriously.

A thousand shukrans to everyone who helped in executing this for me and especially to those who added their own creative spins on it in order to make it as believable and successful as it was! Special thanks to Rana, my co-conspirer, Allison for her incredible theatrics and improvised fine tuning, and Ahmad for capturing the spoil on video! I hope that everyone enjoys it!



--Ibrahim