Ah, the conflict of just who “we” means. When 9/11 happened and Bush got tough in his edited and second address to the nation and world, the dove in me was overshadowed by the hawk who wanted to tell the world that we won’t be a target for these terrorists. I didn’t support a war in Iraq – not at all – and in time, I made a clear line of distinction between Bush’s hawkish policies and procedures and my inherent dove philosophy. As the began, I couldn’t help feel the sting of embarrassment to be an American around the world and Obama’s election went a long way in assuaging those feelings and made me proud to be an American again.
Similarly, being brought up Jewish usually means you were told from knee high on that Israel is a country that exists to allow Jews to live in peace, but as long as I’ve been aware, Israel has rarely been in peace. When I was there thirty years ago, I met Jewish teenagers like myself, who had conflicted feelings about being conscripted into an army to fight against their neighbors as well as disagreement with the factions who tried to impose religious laws on their daily life.
In my twenties, I remember sitting in Stephen Ambrose’s history class and him saying right before an exam that Israelis behaves like Nazis and storming out of his lecture hall and then confronting him the next day. Again, conflict over whether Israel is defending or being the aggressor. And conflict over whether I’m a we, or it is us and them.
When people throw out handily that “Israel does this” or “Israel is that” – it’s the same as when they say “Americans does this or Americans do that.” What Bush does is not what America believes 100% no more than what Olmert does is backed by all Israelis.
Israel, like America, is a melting pot of a myriad of beliefs and philosophies. There are woman’s groups in Israel helping women’s groups in Palestine. There are boys and girls who don’t want to fight, and men and women who don’t want to children to be bombed. Just like in America there are people who believe gays should have the same rights as straights, and America should focus on internal affairs and participate in other countries only on an as needed basis – Am I American, Jewish, female, gay, Southern, babyboomer – yes – but who are “we” and how do I exclude “me” when my group behaves differently than me?