Only Israelis Laugh at the Same Joke Ten Times

By Dr. Nasser Al-Laham

Only in Israel do people watch the film ten times and expect a different ending. They have the same reactions and refuse to believe that this film, in the same hall and the same cinema, will produce the same result.

Unable to move on, they are stuck in an imaginary bottleneck called ”security”, which leads only to fields of disappointment. Strangely, the rest of the world enjoys security and safety: people walk the streets, go out at night and attend schools freely. In Israel, however, you see a mother in the morning taking her child to kindergarten while carrying an automatic rifle, or a family going to swim at the beach carrying ammunition and M16s; yet they do not feel secure and spend their treasuries on spying, ambushes and fighting.

Indeed, it is strange that this society believes a minister who did not serve in the army when he tells them they must arm themselves and bring weapons with them to studios and universities.

Now, with Trump’s proposal completely biased toward Israel, there is a historic political opportunity for Israel to end the war and perhaps freeze the bloody conflict that has gone on for a hundred years. But statements by Israeli officials and parties revolve in the same circle (a circle of Byzantine argument and drowning in details that add no strategic value).

Politicians in Israel immerse themselves in questions about the names of Palestinian prisoners — who will be released and who will remain for sadistic revenge — about the withdrawal distance and how many centimeters a tank will pull back, and about who leads the Palestinian people and who rules Gaza. They behave as if Israel must decide who governs Gaza, Ramallah, Damascus, Baghdad, Khartoum, Cairo and Asmara…

They forget that their problem is: who governs Tel Aviv? Who governs Israel? How are they governed? And where are they being taken?