The Truth Resists Simplicity

So I wrote the following about 6 months ago when I got back from AIPAC's Advanced Advocacy Mission to Israel. The trip was about 7-8 days long, and was geared towards college students who had not only travelled to Israel previously but who were also well versed in its history, politics, the Palestinian conflict, etc and were willing to go further in depth and engage with the nation's intricacies. On the trip, my fellow participants and I met with key Israeli and Palestinian leaders, journalists, NGO's, and more. It was a non stop week(ish) starting with our early morning walks and often going late into the night with our post-dinner sessions. I left the trip exhausted and wrote this on the bus ride to Ben Gurion Airport where we would head back to the states. I came across it the other day and thought now would be a pretty good time to share it, given everything that is going on...

'One of my favorite authors has repeatedly said "the truth resists simplicity." While I've always found it extremely profound and accurate regarding daily life, this last week has really made that statement come alive. For the past 7 days I have been in Israel as part of the AIPAC Advanced Advocacy Mission meeting with influential leaders and activists throughout the country. In each and every session I had my beliefs challenged and things that I thought I knew were both confirmed and contradicted, depending on who we were talking to. In each session I found myself doodling on the corner of my notes "the truth resists simplicity, the truth resists simplicity, the truth resists simplicity" over and over and over again. I had to constantly remind myself that everything I was hearing was a truth of some sorts, even if it wasn't my truth. Everything that I learned over the last week expanded my truth to encompass other narratives that either I had never considered or didn't really know. I still have a lot to learn, and I think I will always have a lot to learn and will never find the singular truth. Because the truth resists simplicity, and so I choose to embrace complexity and imagine the world in just that way.'

The Threat of Death

So this week I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho partially because I've heard that it's one of those books that everyone should read at some point in their life and also because I still have access to my friend Sophie's Kindle account (you're the best Sophie) and that's one of the books she has and I was looking for something to read. It was an incredible book, I can see how it has come to be known as a book everyone should read, but one line in particular jumped out at me:

"Usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware of their lives"

Pretty apt timing if you ask me. Now true, I personally am not under the threat of death seeing as Tel Aviv is pretty well protected by the Iron Dome system and we barely even hear sirens in the city, but having been in Israel during a war (2006 Lebanon War) and two operations (Pillar of Defense and Protective Edge) I can see how Israel as a nation becomes incredibly aware of their life and their unity when under the threat of attack. When I was in Beer Sheva during Pillar of Defense, all of my Israeli friends and even Israelis that I didn't know super well offered me and my American friends a place to stay that was out of rocket range. Our program provided well for us, but we still had Israelis all over the country saying that we could stay with them if we didn't feel comfortable. Even now families all over Israel have opened up their homes for families in the South (where the rocket fire is most intense) to have a quiet and restful Shabbat away from the sirens.

There is a lot about Israel that I don't like, but this is by far my favorite part about this amazing country.

Balagan Take 2

So I honestly didn't think I'd be using this blog much or ever once study abroad finished and I returned to my relatively quiet, relatively normal life in Denver. And then I came back to Israel for a summer internship at the Institute for National Security Studies....


Up until a few days ago, my couple weeks in Israel had been awesome. I had met some awesome people (shout out to Alex, Matt, and Emma), was doing really interesting research on peace education programs and the social/psychological impact on participants, exploring Tel Aviv when I could, and spending time with family on the weekends. Of course things were tense with the search for the kidnapped teens and the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah, but then they kind of imploded. The bodies of the Jewish teens were found in a field, Jewish extremists burned a Palestinian teen alive, riots broke out in several cities and it all spiraled from there. Rockets from Gaza escalated and so the Israeli response of air raids and targeted bombings throughout the Gaza Strip escalated as well, marking the beginning of Operation Protective Edge. At first, I thought this would be like Operation Pillar of Defense, there would be rockets and targeted bombings/assassinations, and it would be awful and too many civilian lives would be lost or destroyed by the violence, and then in a week or so there would be a cease fire and life would go back to normal. Now I’m not so sure. It’s clear that Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s capabilities have expanded since 2012, as they’re able to send more rockets into the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem area with a degree of accuracy. Given all the tension the last few weeks everything is escalating much, much quicker than two years ago and it seems like the balagan may last longer than just a week… I know that things will get worse, possibly much worse, before they get better it’s just a matter of how much worse and whether things even will get better or if the country will just totally implode. I haven’t talked to my uncle yet so I don’t know if I should be more worried than I am or what to expect from the next week or so. As of now I’m the only American still at my internship, which will definitely change the experience I have here, and who knows maybe I’ll end up cutting my stay in Israel short, right now it’s hard to tell. But for now all I know is that it’s the balagan take 2 and all I want to do is build a blanket fort, fill it with corgi puppies, stock it with unlimited Chipotle burritos and cupcakes, and stay in there watching Disney and Pixar movies until all of this is over. If you need me, you can find me in Fort Stump.