The six women of Full Frame Media’s One Table tell us what makes Israel(-Palestine) such a great place, and what they like about living here.
Transcription:
Israel is an incredible place and it’s a modern country there are no camels in the streets there are cars. And we go to university and we’re taking part in education and medical and science and we’re ahead of lots of other countries and I really want people to come here and see what’s going on here because you can’t explain anything, you have to come and see it for yourself and take part in what’s happening here because it’s amazing. What I love about this place, whatever we call it, Israel-Palestine, Palestine-Israel, Israelestine I love the people, I love people I love diversity. I don’t want everybody to be like me that would not be interesting it’s enough to have one of me in the world, believe me. And I don’t want everbody to be like me, I like diversity, I love the diversity of cultures around here the languages, the colors, the sense, whatever I love it and I wish we would know how to make a nice stew out of it like a nice, you know, warm, comforting stew out of this diversity I’m also going to say diversity It’s a beautiful thing Not all countries have that. People here, mostly, are either bilingual or multilingual they know a lot of languages It’s a beautiful thing to see When someone asks me how many languages I know when I say “three” they’re amazed It’s just kind of a beautiful thing, like some people only know English or their mother language, for example fi they live in Germany they only know German and maybe a little bit of English It’s a beautiful thing to see the mixed culture here like everyone knows a little bit about each other and you’re still alive. It’s not hurting anyone and they’re alive to talk about it which is a beautiful thing. That’s what I love. What do I love about Israel? It’s the only place in the world that I feel is home. This is my home, and my motherland and the place I want to be as the song goes, and I want people to know it’s not scary to walk in the street and there’s not busses blowing up every day you can be a regular person here more people die in car accidents than in terror and you can have a really nice life here. And my life is much more fulfilling than it was in the States. I haven’t left to the States in a long time because everything I would ever want is here. and I don’t have to go search for it anywhere else. I think that this country, Israel, has a chance to be the most democratic country and because it is multicultural From a lot of things it can take it to a good place and be a model or it could take it to a bad place and I hope that it takes this multiculture as a strong issue and learns how to give everyone here the chance to be happy in this land and to feel that it is his land and he is not just a guest here or somebody who is not wanted. This is my thinking about Israel. I think that Israel is an incredible place, where anyone can be who they want to be without fear of recriminations I love the idea that Israel is a melting-pot of all cultures, religions, races, colors and creeds and I wish, if I had one wish of how Israel would be perceived overseas is to not demonize everything, but take it down to the grass roots see who the people are, because the people are… is what makes Israel it’s not necessarily the leadership or the politics it’s the people and as we’ve seen here today from the diverse group of people who are having a dialogue, a conversation it is possible, there is hope, regardless of… where we stand, there is still that spark of hope. And Israel is like the canary, I guess, of the world, if we can make it happen here never mind New York, Israel guys.
