February 6, 2011
By: BeeSting
By: BeeSting
"The Language of Friendship"
The first meeting
He was Israeli, she was American - he spoke Hebrew and she, English - and yet through the magnificent capabilities of technology and "translators", they communicated and throughout the next two years, a friendship blossomed. The met on one of the U.S. newspapers late one evening; he spoke in defense of Israel and his love for all things "American" - she spoke of her love for Israel, while defending Israel's right to defend itself during the Cast Lead War with Hamas/Gaza.
The Israeli guy took time and put much thought into his comments, never offending others, but demonstrating his great admiration and joy to be communicating with other Americans. She noticed that he presented "facts without feelings" and presented the case for Israel, along with the history of the Palestinians, Israel, and alliance with America. She thought his comments were far more interesting than the newspaper article they were commenting on and told him so, and that was the beginnings of their friendship.
Commenting on the Newspaper
If anyone has ever expressed an opinion on a public newspaper about a hot topic relating to politics, you will find soon enough that it is not a "Love" fest - disagreements, heated debates, and outright anger will soon explode on the pages of the article and while not all who disagree are disagreeable, there are some who write with a poison pen, or in this case, with heavy strokes of the keyboard, in BOLD FACE TYPE. Faced with anti-Semitism and hatred towards Jews, the Israeli was soon attacked for not speaking "perfect" English; even though he followed along every conversation with the use of one of Google's translators. However, his American friend never had difficulty understanding him and she thought the reason for such anger, at times, was due to the fact that the people understood but rejected his comments and so, attacked his manner of writing.
Time does not stand still
During the next two years, what began with a few comments between Israel and America, a friendship blossomed much like the Land of Israel blossoms as a rose. Months passed and they began to speak face to face on camera; he met her husband and the conversations were about everything under the sun (or almost!). Talks about each other's families; music, books, history, the Torah, each other's expectations, and journeys through this life. Together, the couple grew to love this Israeli, a man about the age of their youngest son, and always looked forward to the moments when "Israel would come on line to speak with them".
Time away
The day came, however, when the Israeli had to say goodbye to his American friends. He had another road to travel, but promised to come back and speak when he returned to his home. The American couple felt such a loss, as they had become accustomed to listening to their new friend over the year they spent talking to each other. Yes, it is rare, but a true friendship has a way of changing your life forever and such a friendship opens an inner-spirit between folks, which lead to new roads to travel and different choices.
Real Americans Defend Israel
This blog was born shortly after the Israeli had said goodbye. The women now felt she had a better understanding to speak for Israel, by presenting articles that did not have the usual spin from America's liberal newspapers. Her friends developed the blog and allowed her to choose whatever she felt would demonstrate the love between two nations - America and Israel. And oh, the freedom of presenting what is of interest to you, personally, without having to be concerned about mean-spirited confrontations on the comment pages of the newspapers!
Welcome Home!
The young Israeli returned and as he promised, he once again chatted with the American couple. However, the husband was ill and did not have much time left before entering Eternity. Time does not stand still and we do not know what a day brings for each of us. When I now sit here writing, I always think of the days when my husband would sit beside me, reading news articles I would post; I think of happier times, when we together looked so forward to speaking with our friend from Israel and that always makes me smile.Israel
The Israeli returned to commenting on the newspaper and renewing his friendships with almost 200 Americans - friends he made during the days he spoke so courageously writing comments to articles relating to Israel and the Middle East. He did not forget the American lady, and continued to encourage her and translate the meaning of Hebrew songs from Israel - and it was the music that broke all language barriers between them - such beautiful music from Israel.
America, the Newspaper and Freedom of Speech...(?)
It is a known fact that due to most of the main steam media (MSM) supporting a liberal ideology, promoted by the White House and its administration, news that comes from Conservative blogs and Real Americans Defend Israel, do not support such ideology or polices of Obama. Here, I have freedom of speech and freedom to express a different point of view and the reader (you, dear folks) can decide by continuing your search for truth with a click of a button, or a Google Search.
However, the Israeli, as an ambassador for Israel, a friend to all America, soon found himself blocked from writing more than a few words on the newspaper we once commented together on and that, I assured him, had to be a mistake. This block continued for months, even after friends wrote the moderator and representatives of the newspaper, to please assist in fixing the problem. .... The problem grew worse, not better and he soon lost all communication with the newspaper.
Was this a mistake?! One would think so, but the communication between the Israeli's computer also became my problem, after writing letters to the newspaper, requesting assistance. And so, this evening, the Israeli signed off from the newspaper, ending two years of commenting and making friends with Americans throughout the country who had grown to appreciate and look forward to his comments and friendship.
He says it was his "lifelong dream to meet Americans and an honor for him to meet friends from the USA". He hopes to return one day, but feels it is time to move on, as his time and purpose for speaking is complete and he will forever remember his friendships made along the way. We will never know if our freedom of speech and presentation of the truth was blocked intentionally, but it should make each of us aware that our freedom of speech should not be taken lightly. I wish him the best, that all his dreams be fulfilled, and much success in whatever he chooses to do; but one thing each reader here should know is, if our own politicians actually took time to get to know Israel, they would love her and defend her, in the same manner that the Israeli and I did, after allowing a tiny seed blossom into a lifelong friendship.
You cannot defend something you do not know - Obama does not defend Israel, as he has chosen to support the Muslims when it suits him and betray friends, when that also suits him i.e. Egyptian president, for example. There is a "language of friendship" and it does not grow on trees, cannot be taken for granted, as it can only grow with compassion, watered daily, it grows in the hearts and minds between two people and is a treasure more valuable than diamonds..
If Washington, DC ever learned the value of friendships between world leaders and nations, America would be viewed as a "real" friend among her allies. - that, dear folks, is diplomacy!
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I dedicate this song to my Israeli friend, Ron.
