@822-190, dear 822-190; I can tell you this, my first childhood boyfriend was a Jewish boy (Mum was from old Jewish 'gentry; her father having been army doctor in the Old Austria K.&K. Army, retired with honours and a title - she, a beauty when young, and well educated, dated one of the car barons of Italy when young etc ) - her son (who still lives in Austria and I am in regular WhatsApp contact with) is horrified by what is happening in Gaza, has no time for Netanyahu - my two younger daughters' musical education all given by wonderful Jewish piano teachers, S. in England had a Jewish violin teacher - my best friend, when we first came to live in a country town in W.A. is Jewish, still my friend, and she is distressed about what is going on, and has flashbacks to the horrors of WWII, even though she is 'only' 81 this year etc. - she lived in Israel for a while when young - I am always careful around her, but we don't discuss this much, but anyway; she is too involved in the local community in a good way - and has well integrated and Aussie grandchildren.
Yes, I do watch news, not just local, but international news - often in the middle of the night - Israel is losing friends - fast - all over the world - this has gone on too long and the violence is so obvious and unashamedly executed by the present regime in Israel - and no amount of screening concentration camp movies from WWII on SBS is going to change that impression - 'Bibi' and his friends are now the keepers of a new kind of concentration camp IMO and are bent on total destruction of its inmates.
I remember years ago, talking to a bunch of beautiful, healthy and passionately opinionated young Israelis, both boys and girls - at an International Youth Festival in Vienna and was so impressed by their strength, their enthusiasm and - then - could see this outcrop of educated 'Europeans' make a huge difference to the whole area and the people around them - could literally 'see the desert bloom' - but that was just me, stupid idealist that I am.
Look what happened - and not just Bibi - there is Putin in Russia, there is a belligerent old man trying for the White House - Africa in uproar - Asia? need I go on? the whole world seems to be beholden to horrible old men, bent on doing their best to destroy this one shining planet with life on it, the only one, as far as we know.
I am old too, but would love to see the blossoming of a new dawn for everyone, even the hopeful wanderers who keep looking for a new country.
Go well
Taurisk
