Shalom Micah! After a delayed flight out of BNA to JFK which had us miss our original flight to Israel, we spent 7 glorious hours at JFK and finally boarded a 12:30 am flight. Some of us slept, some of us did not-- but we all made it to the holy land of Israel and what can I say... it feels like coming home.
The airport was eerily quiet. We landed at 6:30 pm. Normally, Ben Gurion Airport would be bustling and teeming with travelers. Not so. The airport was practically empty. No lines at passport control. We met our driver and joined the rest of the group who had arrived on an earlier flight at a lovely dairy restaurant in the heart of Jerusalem. There, we were reunited with our beloved professor from our time in Jerusalem back in 1996/97 and former Congregation Micah Scholar in Residence, Dr. Paul Liptz.
Paul is a special human being. He is from Rhodesia and has the loveliest accent, akin to a South African accent. He is incredibly bright, but also quite humble and conveys sweeping details and important ideas without the hint of condescension or ego. When we were Paul's students decades ago, we would ask him weekly, "Paul... what's the 411 on Israel this week? Are we going to make it?" It was both heartwarming and alarming to be asking him those very same questions tonight. Here are some of the points that Paul conveyed to our group:
A few points (and yes, he is still great):
Israel massively screwed up leading up to Oct 7. In the past few years, the army has grown weak. Elite people are not all serving in the army anymore as they once used to, but going into other industries like high tech, etc. Despite popular assumption, the number of reservists in Israel is rather small. All of this has to change. Israel also has to create stronger allies around the world. Israel actually has some strong allies in the Middle East, but Iran is a major problem, Turkey is not great, and Qatar is both home to major Hamas officials as well as the best partner we have in
negotiating to get the hostages back. As always, it's complicated. The sexism in Israeli society must be addressed because it is now well-known that several female officers warned their senior male officials of what was about to happen and their warnings were brushed aside and overlooked.
What else did Paul share? He said that there are definitely people moving back and forth from Gaza to Egypt. He thinks that many of the hostages are not in Gaza and have not been for some time. There are currently no clear orders about goals for this war so many of the reservists are getting fatigued and frustrated. The soldiers on the front lines are incredibly committed, but when they come home on leave, they see Israeli citizens who are wavering on the war and not as unified as we keep hearing they are back in the States. Apparently, there are those whose first priority is to get the hostages back and they are sometimes seen as not aggressive enough or committed enough to the war itself.
I asked my dear former professor if the Zionist experiment was doomed to fail. Does October 7th mean that Israel cannot be successful as a Jewish state? Paul said, unequivocally, NO. He said, "No, because when the Jewish people are tested the most, they rise the most. After the Holocaust. And again now. It will happen. He also said that Netanyahu (85% of Israelis against him right now) is terrible, that he is a dictator in a democracy and there must be no tolerance for that.
Bottom line: Paul says we (Israel) will be ok. Wounded, but ok. And truthfully, Israel has no choice but to be ok.
He also said we have to get the hostages back. It’s who we are and our reason for being. If we don’t, it will split the country.
After an evening of full bellies and full minds from the wisdom of Paul Liptz, we headed to the hotel to try and get some sleep before heading south to the Gaza envelope tomorrow morning.
Until tomorrow...