The writing on the walls

Last night Zahava, Gilad and I attended a party for a friend's son in Jerusalem.  It was a beautiful affair in a stunning location overlooking the illuminated stone ramparts of the old city. 

However, in the middle of the party I had to sneak off to the Jerusalem offices of Sky News to do a short live interview via Satellite hook-up to their London studios.  And by the time I returned and slipped into the seat beside my wife, I was a little shaken (although I tried very hard not to show it).

The interview was between a female anchor in Sky's London studio, an articulate blogger in Gaza and me.  The interview itself lasted no more than four or five minutes and was sort of surreal for it's lack of substance or point.  But it wasn't the interview that shook me up.  What really turned my head around was my short wait in the Sky News' offices before the interview began. 

On the walls of their Jerusalem office are ten or twelve beautifully framed black & white photographs that are clearly supposed to demonstrate to a guest, the space's occupant's appreciation for the rich, multi-cultural tapestry that is Israel. 

There are photos of Christians in and near the ancient Churches of Jerusalem... Muslims (including crying children) near mosques and in pastoral settings, and of course Jews... mostly in prayer:

Jew photo #1-  A close-up of a hand holding an open siddur (Hebrew prayer book) with a sub-machine gun in soft focus on a table in the near background, within easy reach.

Jew photo #2- An Israeli soldier wrapped in tallit and tefillin praying in front of an enormous battle tank (not the famous one from sukkot taken during the Yom Kippur war).

Jew photo #3 - An Israeli soldier wearing a helmet and holding an assault rifle next to his face, peering around a corner of a stone building as if trying to line up a difficult shot.

After viewing the first two images of Jewish Israelis, an observer could be forgiven for assuming that the soldiers were praying, not to G-d, but to the tools of war before them.  And the third photograph does nothing to dispel the notion of Jewish Israelis as an entirely militaristic society.

There are no images of Jewish women, children or civilians of any kind.  And the only other photograph showing anything approaching a warlike/violent pose is of a young masked Palestinian winding up a rock in a slingshot just before the moment of release.  His pose is simultaneously primitive and heroic... especially when juxtaposed against the photos of well equipped, uniformed IDF soldiers.

To be clear, the cameraman and office staff at the Sky studios in Jerusalem were extremely cordial and solicitous of my comfort... offering tea, and chit-chatting with me about family, pets, blogging and other comfortable topics. 

But I couldn't help feeling that all the while the photographs on the wall were broadcasting a clear message that Jewish Israelis are soldiers. Full Stop.  And that all non-Jewish Israelis are civilians.  Full Stop.  Christians and Mulsims worship G-d or Allah, while Jews - the people who gave the world monotheism - worship Ares, Enyo, Mars, Odin, Murugan, Tyr... WAR!

The writing on the walls at Sky News is clear for anyone to see:  Without Jews there would be no soldiers. And without soldiers, there would be no war.