Another View

I was in Israel January 28, 2011 to February 3, 2011. It was very interesting watching the Egypt uprising on international television. There are many television broadcasts in Israel that are broadcast in American English. Yet, even those that were in Arabic or Hebrew were pretty easy to understand. The news broadcasts lacked much of the political interpretation we always see in American news media. There was no fear mongering or Israeli or Arabic posturing.

We were able to talk to so many people in Israel to whom this news really mattered. Palestinians were nervous and interested in the news, but there was no panic or wild projections as to what all this meant. We found that Israeli’s were the same. This unrest was very close; it is only 264 miles from Jerusalem to Cairo. Yet, the people did not seem to speculate about overflow to their own neighborhoods. All were concerned about human life and human rights, but made no real political statements. My own experience was that the locals in Israel are first more concerned for earning a living and did not seem to look for things to worry about.

It was rather refreshing to see such an upheaval through the eyes of non-Americans.