As Jews we are a people of the book, and we together either help to write the book or merely read it, at least this is the view held by Neil Lazarus, a world renowned expert in the middle east conflicts. Lazarus who is also the author of “The New 5 Rules of Effective Israel Advocacy,” speaks to an average of 30,000 people a year and has become one of the most influential advocates of the modern state of Israel. It was not difficult to see why this is the case as despite being the last stop after a long day of traveling Lazarus managed to gain and keep our attention for the duration of his lecture. Strangely enough, this is because he did exactly what we did not expect him to do, he approached the subject with humor. As it turns out all that is necessary to keep people focused on a talk about the middle east is a few jokes about Obama, Canada, and Fox news.
Despite this unique and unexpected approach Lazarus also managed to convey what were some of the most important ideas that we have learned this far on our trip. Lazarus focused primarily on two aspects of the conflict. First he went to great lengths to ensure that we understood the size of the middle east and just how complicated the situation was. Though the crisis in Gaza is indeed important there is a whole web of politics and conflicts that needs to be untangled and resolved long before true peace is ever to be attained. Claims that “There could be peace if only Israel would do…” are incorrect as they neglect to adress the massive amount of other conflicts in the area, such as the civil war in Syria, Iran and the bomb, and ISIS. All of these conflicts, though they may seem different and very specific to a single country, are in fact connected.
The second aspect that Lazarus made sure to address was the effect of wars on the daily lives of Israelis. This is something we have been trying to understand already with our visit to Sderot and trip to the Gaza border. Yet there was still something very chilling about the video we were shown in which Israeli children memorized a song and games to learn how to take cover in case of rocket attacks. Even writing about this video will not convey the emotions we felt upon first viewing it, for there is something truly disturbing about the idea of little children having to run and hide to stay alive.
Lastly, Lazarus ended with a story about an Israeli who had received news that the city in which her family lived had been hit by a recent rocket attack. Shortly after hearing the news she was invited by a group of Americans to a party they were having that same night. Crying, she remarked that the Americans didn’t understand the situation in Israel. It is for this reason that it is all the more important for us to ensure that we really do understand everything the Israelis go through on a daily basis. I believe that we have learned some today, and that is the reason for us being here in Israel learning and traveling across the country. For without this knowledge how could we hope to do anything?