The Israel You Don’t Hear About

There are few, if any, countries in the world where Israel isn’t demonized.   Israelis have been accused of practicing apartheid against the Palestinians.  They have been compared to Nazis.  So-called intelligentsia of universities in the U.S. and Europe have called for divesting from Israeli companies.  The only democracy in the Middle East has been portrayed as the most evil country on the planet, surpassing all dictatorships, as well as misogynist nations that practice everything from infanticide to honor killing, where rape is permissible and freedom of speech a capital offense.  Israelis I have met are puzzled.  They ask me, “Why does the world hate us?”  My question is, “What does the world really know about Israel?”

On a Shabbat afternoon, with the temperature feeling more like the New England we had left behind several weeks ago, my husband and I faced the cold, rain, and wind and trudged upwards to…