As Lazarus indicated, when it comes to Israel often the media only reports on "the bad news" but the reality on the ground can be very different. For example, Lazarus, who lives in Tzur Hadassah on the border with the West bank told the story of how he stopped at a Palestinian run garage in the West Bank to get his car fixed. "My car was being fixed by Palestinians in the West Bank and then an orthodox Jew arrived to get his car fixed. The discussion we all proceeded to have was about whether G-d existed." This story shows that "daily life goes on between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem", but this type of situation that happens on the ground often goes unnoticed. Lazarus says that "one of the challenges is to see things beyond only the conflict."
Despite the challenges Israel faces, "Israel is a normal country. We have an ever increasing number of tourists. Israel continues to prosper," he says.
Lazarus outlines the challenge Israel faces from the north where "there's an increase threat from the Iran as the war in Syria changes. He says "Hezbollah provides a real military challenge." In the south, "it is represented abroad that if Israel would only make peace with Hamas everything would be OK." But as Lazarus says "Hamas is encouraging up to 20, 000 people a week to breach the border with Israel violently, and is sending over balloon bombs that when landing will set fire to hundreds of dunams of land in Israel. The reality is that Israeli children in the south of Israel have to be suspicious when they see a balloon or kite because it may be something coming from Gaza."
Lazarus says he "encourages people to dialogue about Israel, and to have a conversation based on knowledge." He says he will talk to anyone. "You can be critical of Israel but you have to have an opinion based on knowledge.I speak to people who agree with me or disagree with me. " But Lazarus says he does not agree with people who call for a one state solution to the conflict ."Hamas calls for an Islamic one state. Calling for one state is calling for the destruction of Israel. I am happy to have a conversation about anything but I am not going to debate the call for the destruction of Israel."
Lazarus says that "it is a tragedy that many Palestinians aren't willing to recognize Israel's right to exist. We can only make peace if we have a partner for peace. The question is whether Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have the leadership that's willing to recognize Israel's right to exist."
On the subject of the BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement,Lazarus says that BDS is an organization that is not interested in peace...It calls for the destruction of Israel. "If people [from the BDS movement] were really interested in peace, they'd be calling for dialogue on how to make the lives of Palestinians and Israelis better." He adds that "BDS calls for non-normalization between Israelis and Palestinians. But the whole basis for reconciliation is for people to be speaking to each other."
On the subject of whether Israel is an apartheid state, Lazarus says the whole claim is wrong. To illustrate his point he says "When my late mother in law was ill, she was treated by an Arab doctor at Hadassah hospital and next to her in the hospital was a Palestinian from the West Bank, and next to him was a gentlema
Email
Share
RSS
