"It's just a test," Dr. Litvak said placidly. "They told us this morning about it. It's just a test."
And how will we know when it's not...?
Not wanting to follow my own thought to its logical conclusion, I turned back to the front of the classroom. The discussion restarted, albeit slowly, and soon the sirens died down and normalcy returned.
The rays of sunlight coming through the window illuminated a small mosquito buzzing near the side wall in front of Dustin and I. The recent words of Iranian President Ahmadinejad rumbled through my mind.
"...they [West] are like a mosquito."
The girl in front of us leaned against the wall where the mosquito rested.
I think I'll just pretend I didn't see that one.
***
When classes let out for us at 2:00 in the afternoon, Dustin, Tatianna, and myself walked back to the dorms. Yesterday we had learned that Hamas had successfully test-fired an Iranian missile up to 60 kilometers--far enough, distressing as it is to say, to finally reach Tel Aviv. This of course had explained the warning system drills.
Hamas Rockets Capable of Hitting Tel Aviv
What Dustin mentioned next took me by surprise.
"Did you see the ship Israel interdicted earlier today?" he posited to Tatianna. "It contained tons of weapons for use by Hezbollah."
Independent confirmation verified this to be true. It was sixty tons of weapons to be precise.
When I sat down to read Jerusalem Post, the headline article was focused on the incident. Apparently an Iranian vessel flying the Antiguan flag had been boarded by Israeli naval and special forces. The boat was intended to unload its cargo in Lebanon. Hidden behind a facade of civilian containers were sixty tons of anti-aircraft batteries, 122mm katyusha rockets, long-range missiles, anti-tank weapons, mortar systems, and other sophisticated weaponry.
Holy terrorist mother lode, Batman!
As of this moment the vessel is docked in Ashdod, some thirty kilometers to our south. Israeli personnel are plying through the vessel and cataloging the weaponry. News outlets reported that Israel had gone to its "highest level of alert" for fear of terrorist infiltration.
Israeli Navy Seizes Weapons Bound for Hezbollah
All of this information is of considerable interest given that today is the thirtieth anniversary of the Iranian hostage crisis when radical Shi'ite Islamists kidnapped American embassy workers and began their 444 day hostage nightmare.
Government-sponsored celebrations occurred throughout Iran today. But so did riots and anti-government protests by Iran's opposition youth movements. Reports are sketchy, as they always are, but early indicators suggest the regime is brutally cracking down on the protesters.
Filtering the information and sifting through for the meaning and implications of these events is tricky enough as it is. But now that I am physically over here and have been for three months, the lens is even murkier due to self-imposed mental restrictions.
On the one hand it is easy to become fixated on these developments in relation to how they affect you on a personal level. On the other hand it is equally as easy to divorce yourself from these events as a necessary precondition for maintaining your sanity. This seems to be a phenomenon that isn't exclusive to any geographic region, but rather to the circumstances associated with war or the potential for war. Or perhaps narrowed down even further, a phenomenon associated with bodily harm or the potential for bodily harm.
People recognize that things are growing more dangerous. And when information concerning one's security and safety is gleaned that potentially bodes ill for it, several things occur. First, one logically places it in his brain's "filing cabinet." It cements the reality of the situation and serves as a storage bin to remind one of the danger lest he forgets. The second thing one does is disassociate himself from it. It is impossible not to imagine a scenario where one is in the middle of a conflict given the information at one's disposal. So what happens is one starts reassuring himself, subconsciously or in some cases consciously, that regardless of what happens he will be fine.
It's a sort of mental embodiment of the passage from Psalms 91:5-7.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
This is a common human reaction--the application of a belief in personal invincibility. Despite the fact that I recognize this trait in myself, it is nevertheless something I can scarcely avoid.
Following an afternoon of homework and reading up on these breaking developments, a group of us decided to go listen to Ambassador James Cunningham. He is the U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Tel Aviv University hosted him for a speech followed by a Q & A session.
What transpired during this event was interesting. After three months abroad living with Israelis, it is occasionally easy to forget that their approach is not the same as our approach. And their mindset is not the same as our mindset.
***
Ambassador Cunningham stood tall and lean at the podium. It was a packed room in the Social Sciences building. Dustin, Ryan, Tyler, and I sat near the back. A few other OSP students, including a Norwegian and a Brit, also sat nearby. Israeli students littered the auditorium with notebooks and writing pads in hand. One Israeli girl who sat in front of us seemed to be thoroughly engrossed in her Japanese workbook. And an older Israeli woman a few rows up literally brought her knitting kit should the speech become a bit of a bore.
As Ambassador Cunningham began his speech on "U.S.-Israeli Relations a Year Into the Obama Administration," I couldn't help but notice that the vast majority of those in the room were middle-aged adults or senior citizens. There were plenty of students, but it was apparent that the forum had been designed more as a community event than one exclusive to the university.
The speech was around twenty minutes long. It detailed the inherited problems of President Obama (doesn't every speech?) and the events that have unfolded in the Middle East since his arrival in office. The Ambassador mentioned the importance of a contiguous Palestinian state as part of a permanent and lasting peace. And he characterized the recent rocky relations between the Obama and Netanyahu Administrations as disputes amongst friends. According to the ambassador, it is a testament of the lasting friendship between Israel and the United States that the two nations can have such arguments.
He addressed what he considered a series of crises spanning from the Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean. And he hit all the right talking points on the "difficulties" in bringing everyone to the negotiating table.
For the most part, I found the speech to be incredibly lackluster and the message to be as dry and broad as one could imagine. For the first few minutes it seemed as if the ambassador wanted to be anywhere else other than speaking to the crowd gathered at TAU.
But then the Q & A session hit. And if there's one thing that everyone should remember about Israelis, it is their blunt disposition. A total of thirteen questions were asked. All except for three of them dealt with Iran, the appearance of U.S. impotence, and the concern over the direction of U.S. policy in the region.
"Tough crowd," Tyler whispered after about the fifth question.
"Did you really expect anything else?"
The questions were delivered with passion and forcefulness.
"When are you going to learn that the policies of Sharon, who gave away all of Gaza, brought us nothing but war? When are you going to see these madmen for who they are?"
"It seems like Obama is trying to negotiate with a fire without a hose or an axe--a fire that is rapidly growing. I'm obviously talking about Iran's nuclear program. Is there a "red line" that the U.S. will reach when enough is enough?"
"There is widespread concern that the U.S. is showing weakness in its foreign policy. You are more friendly with your enemies than with your friends! Will this policy of "talk to talk" ever change?"
Etc, etc, etc.
When one questioner, a young man, proceeded to interrupt the ambassador with a barrage of questions concerning the occupation, the crowd literally starting yelling at him to "Sheket!" (Quiet!) and "Regah!" (Wait!)
The Ambassador, despite possessing miasma instead of charisma, handled most of the questions deftly. And there were very few of his responses that I thought were worth challenging. His response to the young man lambasting his own country concerning settlements was solid. The kid suggested that Israel wasn't a real democracy because of the occupation of the Palestinian territories--an assessment that the ambassador slapped down. I'm paraphrasing but the response was something very similar to this:
"The government of Israel is beholden to the will of its citizens. Its citizens elect the government in free elections. This is democracy. And its citizens have security concerns. The implication that an occupation suddenly erases these facts is simply incorrect," Ambassador Cunningham responded.
Word. Under that "logic," the United States would have ceased being a democratic republic decades ago.
The last question revolved around Iraq and the fact that many entities (i.e. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, jihadists, etc.) are watching closely how the U.S. handles the situation and how Iraq turns out. And Ambassador Cunningham's response was heartening. He pointed out the importance of a free and secure Iraq and his belief that a democratic state in Iraq is of immense value to the peace of the region. He then, in my view, took a very somber and sincere stance that it was the burden of the United States to defeat radical ideologies and secure peace in this region as it was not only in our interest but also part of our moral obligation.
The crowd wasn't mollified when the event ended. My assessment is that this had less to do with their opinion of the ambassador and more to do with the burgeoning uncertainty they have concerning our Commander-in-Chief. Despite reassuring words and placating gestures from lower level figures, the actions of the United States as a whole are not putting Israelis at ease.
They want to believe our President has their back. But thus far they don't believe it. Ambassador Cunningham acknowledged this fact and stressed the importance of the "friendly dispute" between two allies.
Walking home with Ryan I rambled aloud about my thoughts on the matter. And I verbalized precisely what it was, what it is, that I see as the common denominator in Israeli thinking.
Fear.
"Are you fearful?" Ryan asked.
I thought about it for a moment. Anxiety has reared its ugly head of late. But was that the same thing as fear?
I thought about the ship full of weapons, the missile tests, the weapons smuggling, the entire Iranian threat, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, everything. I thought about the deception of personal invincibility. And I thought about God and His promises.
"No," I finally answered. "I know how this one ends."
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