Fitzjames

I used to hate it when people at work that I barely knew told me it was their birthday. Sure they bought cakes and stuff and I bought a funny card but basically I like to acknowledge people that I genuinely like rather than smile nicely for people who I dont care about.....because they have an exaggerated sense of their own importance and grab you by the water cooler to tell me how everyone in the office hates them and back home the neighbours are jealous about some rezoning they have done on their garden.

I used to go along with it cos for people like that ......we actually believe their paranoia....then as we know them better, we think the people who dont like people who dont like them might actually have a point........and it aint because of they are obese, too short, too black, too ginger, too pretty....too heavily accented........its cos they are assholes.
If a factory or office block contained say 195 workers........well some indeed many would be racist......and we are always relunctant to stack our rational feelings with their irrational ones.

So anyway..........whats that got to do with Israel.
Happy Birthday.

Happy birthday on barely surviving the greatest sin that mankind has seen in modern times ....the Holocaust. (and indeed a repetition of a sin dating back thousands of years). Congratulations on the achievement of setting up a state in the middle east based on your own achievements (including force of arms......dont be too bothered that on occasions you resorted to Terrorism. It certainly wouldnt bother me.) Big cheer.

Congratulations on defending that state. The original kibbutz system and unifying a nation thru education, health care and making the desert grow. Big cheer.

But ......what can I say. Israelis attitude on any criticism a friend may make of the way it lives its life.........turns off potential friends. And its understandable that in the Israeli psyche the one single truth is that History tells them they dont need friends. They are "alone" in a sea of enemies. You managed to turn the good will of the greatest sin in mankinds history into a crutch. At any inconvenient point you have pictures you can show us.

Its "friends are either for or against.......no time for any nuance, hesitation.
Alas I live my life in a whelter of muddling thru trying to do the right thing. Life is a compromise, it is nuanced.
Simpler to deal with people who recognise that.

So happy Birthday Israel but three cheers for Israel? Well at most two cheers for Israel.
And dont be offended if I pass on the birthday cake. Possibly I have a sore tummy. A sore tooth maybe. Ooops I just remembered I have a rare form of 24 hour diabetes.
Dont take it personally that I dont wanna go down the pub at lunch time. I dont drink and besides......my wife asked me to get home early.
No offence.