We Came to Banish the Darkness
How a Small Nation in the Middle East Became One of the Last Bastions of Freedom and National Pride in the 21st Century
How a Small Nation in the Middle East Became One of the Last Bastions of Freedom and National Pride in the 21st Century
There are big holidays, there are important holidays, and there is Hanukkah – the holiday that reinvents itself every generation: once a national heroic story, then a miracle of oil, then a children’s holiday, then a 15-shekel donut holiday.
Israel and Eurovision are not a “romance.”
It’s an addictive relationship, not healthy, but one we can’t live without. Like the cigarette after a night out, or the third Chaser on a Friday night — you know it’s not good for you, but you’re there.
Americans are now discovering what we in Israel learned a long time ago: tolerance is great – until someone takes advantage of it to take control of you.
The left has learned to exploit the channels of the giving audience: morning programs with a progressive angle, talk shows featuring commentators with ideological positions, and airtime that is tailored to high exploitation of viewers who identify with it. The result: the “leftist message” is not only heard—it is replicated within the branches of discourse (cinema, culture, education) and enters living rooms as something that is naturally “free from criticism.” Thus, a media is created that defines what is considered normal—and this is a weapon of consciousness in its political sense.
When the country is turbulent, when the news is depressing, when the people are divided, when the left and right are fighting – shawarma is waiting for us in the corner. It doesn’t ask if you voted. It doesn’t check if you are in favor of reform. It’s just there, with coleslaw, runny tahini, and a look that says: “Forget about everything, brother, one bite and you’ll understand why you were born.”
The continent that once stood up to empires, crossed oceans and brought Western culture — stands up to nothing today. Not even itself. It chose to give up: identity, borders, national pride, intellectual freedom.
Israel is the opposite of Europe: a young, lively, stressed, cynical, armed, and quite self-confident people. And even if we sometimes think we are crazy — at least we are not committing suicide in the name of tolerance.