Everything was noise, and we were the future

Maytal Kowalski believes in the two state solution to the ongoing conflict in Israel. She identifies as a Zionist. She believes Israel has a right and a necessity to exist. But where she differs from most other Zionists, is she also believes that Palestine has a right to exist within the Zion she wants. Interview Jan 26 CBC

It’s almost an old fashioned point of view, to advocate for the two state solution. Many countries, Canada and the US included, say they support the two state solution. However, the Biden administration sees no contradiction in profiting from the sale of weapons that they sell to the Netanyahu government, while claiming to support a two state solution. How realistic is the two state solution? The Face of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly said that he does not support a two state solution. “My insistence is what has prevented — over the years — the establishment of a Palestinian state that would have constituted an existential danger to Israel.”

“As long as I am prime minister, I will continue to strongly insist on this.”

Kowalski has felt isolated from the Israeli diaspora because of her views, even being fired from her job at the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver for expressing her dissenting opinions about Israel’s government. She was frustrated with her CEO’s position that there was little they could do, as they had to keep to a “middle of the road” opinion to be heard in Israel.

Kowalski differed, saying,”There are so many things that international pressure can do that can change the reality on the ground. It is not about conversations behind closed doors. It is about taking concrete government action, it is about building political power and standing up and saying, ‘We will not stand for dictatorship in Israel. We will not stand for the end of democracy in Israel.’ There is so much more that you can be doing.”

She paid for her difference of opinion with her job. “So I have no problem working for an organization where I don’t believe in everything they do. I don’t think I’ve worked anywhere where I believe in everything that they do. But having the conversations and challenging each other and challenging ourselves, and doing so really vulnerably and really bravely, I think is really important,” she said. “I think that’s important anywhere that someone works. But I think it’s exceptionally important in the Jewish community.”

Maytal Kowalski states on her instagram @maytalkowalski that she is not giving up on struggling even amidst hate. “I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants.” She presents slides, some aimed at her Jewish friends, and some at her non-Jewish friends. Her slides highlight the challenges of trying to parse the loaded language, language that has become a barrier itself to actual communication.

I have started and stopped this post for awhile now. I think it has been a week, but honestly the days melt into weeks, and before you know it weeks become months, months become years. Someone left a cake out of in the rain.

What is happening? Apparently nothing and everything. The steamrollers keep rolling. Bulldozers flatten the bombed ruins, where the blood of babies fertilizes the soil, passing on this generational hatred and fears.

I grew up with John Lennon. As individuals, some of us are dreamers.

“Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Imagine all the people
Livin' life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one”

And those words still resonate. I call my blog THIS IS NOT MUSIC! It is meant to be funny, yet contradictory, as everything goes back to music with me. I love music. It makes my day. Everyday. Just getting to know more of you dreamers makes each day I live a better day.

But it’s a hard world. A tough crowd. So I want to give a little space to Maytal Kowalski, as her voice is not the kind of voice that usually gets amplified. She mloses most of the Pro-Palestine lobby right from the word Zionist. Normally, I would count myself as part of that crowd. I know bsome friends who will say she is taking a position that liberals love, failing to acknowledge that her Zion was built on systemic racism and hatred. But she defines the word differently. For Kowalski, Zion is the the land she loves.

But she dos not love or support the historic ill-treatment of the Palestinians. I only “know” her from the radio, my information is gleaned from the Eye and Eyes of internet and instagram. I don’t know her in real life. We have not broken bread. I have not learned the subtleties of her views. The part where I get to walk a bit in her shoes before coming to judgement.

I’m not going there. Judgement. It’s a cold city where coffee has no name. There is too much judgement without all the facts, without knowing all the histories. Gut feelings are based on …..what? Assumptions. Internet gossip, ostrich feathers, agendas? Even in the echo chamber, it is refreshing to read an author who gives you the story, without all the editorializing that goes on today. We always knew we weren’t always given the WHOLE story, but once upon a time, there was a real pickle in the shit sandwich. And corn.

I really like subscribing on Substack to journalist, Seymour Hersh, who is 87. He exposed the My Lai massacre. This past year he exposed the lies behind the official story of Nord Stream. He doesn’t write Op-Ed’s, or one sided opinion pieces. He is one of the old school investigative journalists, maybe the best one left. He weighed in here on Netanyahu: Netanyahu is finished

I discovered this next band at my annual review I’d best of lists. It ranked on quite a few. The Ratboys from Chicago, whose album is called The Window, and was produced by Chris Wall of Death Cab For Cutie. Pitchfork called it one of the 37 best unrated records of the year. The Ratboys are Julia Steiner, David Sagan, Sean Neumann, and Marcus Nuccio. Steiner wrote the lyrics during the Pandemic. Her grandfather was separated from his wife, as she was in a nursing home. Due to restrictions , he had to say goodbye to her through the nursing home window.

“ I wrote that song a few days after the death of my grandma in June of 2020,” Steiner explains. “She didn't have Covid, but because of the pandemic, my grandpa wasn't able to visit her in person to say goodbye. He ended up standing outside her room and saying goodbye through an open window. “

The Window

I walked across the green grass
To where I knew you laid
The way the sun was shining down
I only saw your shape
But, I need to tell you everything
Before it's too late
That I don't regret a single day
And you're so beautiful

So take this part of me
Last in the middle
Making sure to breathe
One more time

The window
I saw you through the window
We locked eyes and the window
Was open, felt the wind blow
I saw you through it

How could I have known that
You wouldn't come back home?
I sit down at the table
And I fiddle with the phone
I wish you were right next to me
Instead I'm alone
But, I'll always have the memories
Of our life together