How I Know I'm Israeli

It's time the world wakes up and stops living the double standard of how other countries are treated and how Israel is treated.

I do not agree with all the actions of our government. In fact, I downright do not like the makeup of the current government, led by a man who failed his first time as Prime Minister and somehow got to try again. Our foreign minister is a disaster and a racist and doesn't understand that the main thing to being a diplomat is diplomacy. Avigdor Lieberman gives us a bad name and should go, but for the time being we're stuck with him. I agree with the opposition chair, Kadima leader, Tzipi Livni (who I did vote for and who got more votes than any other candidate), when she says that the "current government of Israel is not representing the state to the world."

The Israeli public is in an internal upheaval about the operation that took place on the waters off Gaza's shores a week ago. The logistics should have gone down differently, however, they didn't.

The IDF Navy commandos who boarded the ship are no strangers. They are our brothers, fathers, sons and cousins. They are not murderers and didn't land on the ship with the intention of killing anyone. However, when they came aboard, they were not met by peace activists, but rather terrorists who were interested in nothing short of martyrdom. To our great dismay, nine of the terrorists succeeded in that mission and we are now paying the heavy political price. Let there be no misunderstanding though: our soldiers bravely carried out their mission and only resorted to using their weapons when they were forced with the choice of survival.

We have a right to defend our borders and protect our population. People absolutely have the right to disagree with our actions and question our policies, but it is unacceptable to think that we do not have a fundamental right to protect ourselves from the terror structure that rules in Gaza, Hamas. They want our utter destruction and we are going to make sure they do not succeed.

This whole incident got me thinking about my life, my moving here and my identification with my fellow citizens. It's been almost three years since I made aliyah and immigrated to Israel. Today, I stand as proud as ever with that decision and with my country. I am proud because even in some of our most difficult moments, we are able to disagree and at the same time support each other. I take pride in the nameless and faceless individuals that protect us, understanding full well that without them we wouldn't be here. There are a great many things that I don't know, but one thing I know for sure, I know I'm Israeli.

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