Dateline: Tel Aviv
You can click on each photo for an enlarged view.
This first photo (on the right) is a man walking alone with a talit (prayer shawl) probably going to his synagogue. With anti-Semitism rising in Europe, parts of San Francisco and Berkeley, this is a reminder that the Jewish State exists so that Jews can safely be Jews in at least one place in the world. Someday Tibetans in exile may wish to buy such a place to preserve their history and culture.
This second photo shows the protectors of the Jewish State. These soldiers are young draftees who work on the borders of an Arab sea of hatred and deception. The Arab hatred has kept growing over 100 years from the seeds of envy and vengeance. The envy comes from the very people who sold their land to the Jews in the first place.
The third photo (on the left) shows that children in Tel Aviv walk as free safe human beings. This freedom is also found in Tokyo. To me, this safe childhood is the definition of a civilized society. In the background of this photo is a strange yellow vehicle. It is the local version of a tow truck. It has a side-mounted forklift that picks up cars from the side and puts them on the truck bed. It then drives off to the impound.
The thousands of Palestinians who used to work in Israel, before Palestinians started murdering Jews in buses and at cafes, have been replaced by several hundred thousand immigrants. Chinese immigrants seem to have taken jobs in construction work (as they do in San Francisco) and Philippinos do the health and home care (as these also do in San Francisco). See the fourth photo of a Philippina pushing an elderly woman in a wheel chair.
There are three small photos. One, on the left, shows the typical new building next to an old building – again like Tokyo. Another, right, shows a few of the 50-60 Israeli’s line dancing on Saturday afternoon at the beach. The last is a beggar. Yes there are a few beggars and people are surprisingly (to me) generous.
My overseas Israeli friends will see all the tiny details that will probably make them homesick.