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Of course, after the horrors of WWII, many Jews went to the Middle East as Communists, or anarchists. They wanted to build a new world. They wanted to turn deserts into gardens, and to live in harmony with the Palestinians and other Arabs, in a wonderful and tolerant state. This dream never came through. Communism in Israel was defeated, and so was internationalism.
Militarism, nationalism and religious extremism (conservative religious parties in Israel are always a political minority, but no government, it appears, can be formed, without taking them into a coalition).
Then came the tsunami of the anti-Communist Soviet Jews, (and those who claimed to be Jews, but often weren't). Accepting them was clearly a political decision of the Israeli elites - they moved Israel towards the right, and 'rejuvenated' "the Israeli struggle for 'exclusive Jewish rights', and against the rights of the Arab population. Cynical; tremendously cynical, but it all worked perfectly well - for the nationalists and the conservatives.
For the Palestinians, it was yet another disaster; the end of all hopes.
Like in Europe and North America, the Israeli political landscape has become fully re-defined: extreme right, right, and center-right. The left - Communists, internationalists and real socialists - can only be found in a few avant-garde theatres and at the 'margins of society'.
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So, back to the Israeli life. Its Human Development Index (HDI) is the 22nd highest in the world, above that of France, South Korea and Italy. Not bad, is it?
The question is again - for whom?
The interesting thing was that whenever I tried to discuss Palestine, Golan Heights, Syria, Iran, I encountered no anger. Do the white, European Israelis really hate Palestinians, Arabs, Iranians? My conclusion is: no, they don't! They don't, because these people do not exist. You cannot hate what doesn't exist, can you?
The bombing of Syrians, shooting at Palestinians - it all has become like a video game. Nothing personal - something that 'has to be done' in order to preserve privileged status of European Jews. The same as building the settlements.
You know, when I was there, Tel Aviv was obsessed with new electric pushbikes. Bicycle lanes were full of them. Who gives a damn about the Palestinians?
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