two friend’s of mine were watching tv together, i happened to be sitting between them enjoying their company i guess. one of them flicked the channel to the news where we saw the middle off a report from an item talking about some attacks in israel. there were no details just that some palestinians had been killed, to which one of my friends said, ‘fucking jews. you would have thought the holocaust didn’t happen.’

i’ve heard this comment several times, in several different environments and it no longer hurts me or offends me, i mean i can’t expect everyone to share my perspectives. however what i find somewhat strange is their reactions when i make one of two comments.

comment one – yes it was much better for everyone when they didn’t fight back or defend themselves.

comment two – i guess if israel gives back the land to the arabs, australia can give back the land to the aboriginals etc.

silence.

last night i tried to explain that israel had given land back captured in wars it never started, for some kind of peace deal but in return were never given the security they traded it for. i also tried to explain that israel existed because the united nations created it but right now in europe, jews are targeted as much now as during the build up to the second world war and many of them escape to israel to get away from being harassed. like my parents who decided that the level of anti semitism in england had reached such a high level it had become unsafe. apparently france is even worse. it’s not something you would hear about in the media because its not good copy, but the facts are out there. jewish people all over the world are going to israel because of peoples attitudes towards them. just like any tribe they want to survive, if it means defending themselves then they should and critisism is very easy from the safe comfort of the northern beaches of sydney where the levels of danger my friends are subjected to are a double dose of caffine in their lattes and maybe the occasional comment in a blog.

so here i am sitting between two people who are my racist friends.