After the Tsunamis-"We need to grow up" -an Israel

[An article]

The voices of the Israelis caught up at the center of the tragedy in Southeast Asia are mixed: joy with sadness, happiness with grief.



It is hard not to identify with those, young and old, who went away for rest and recreation and found themselves in the middle of one of the worst natural disasters in human history.



Yet even while emotions were still raw, it was hard to ignore the criticism leveled by many of those who returned.



Against whom? Against the state, its representatives, and especially the Foreign Ministry, which was perceived as the immediate and possibly easiest target.



The returning Israelis' attacks were not directed at the themselves, of course – because, after all, they had the right to choose that vacation area over any other part of the world.



Nobody imagined how their vacation would end, but what did the state do to hurt them? What was the fault of the Foreign Ministry?



A very typical Israeli phenomenon is cropping up here: We expect the state to do everything for us, at any time, and in any situation. And when we think our expectations are not being met, we fill with anger and complaints – not against ourselves, but toward our government.



When did this attitude begin? We need to look back at our short history as a state.



There's always been a feeling of Jews reaching out to each other whenever they are in danger. Jewish history is full of examples.



Then came the state and set high standards.



Israelis hijacked to Entebbe? We'll bring them back. Others gone missing at the ends of the earth? We'll search for them.



We see it as a commitment, we are proud of it, and we constantly tell ourselves that that is the difference between "us" and "them."



In the tsunami disaster Israel did the same, and more.



The ministry prepared quickly and effectively for the challenge. Its situation room went into emergency mode and more than 35 people staffed it day and night.



The ministry's representatives in the disaster-struck areas went to the affected areas with satellite phones and began searching for Israelis.



Five rescue centers were opened in the Andaman Islands – in Ko Phi Phi, Phuket, Sri Lanka and Madras – with official Israeli representatives. Israelis were rescued with helicopters, planes and boats.



The rescue and forensic teams that also looked for remains were followed by psychologists to help the survivors.



Back home, more than 2,000 families maintained constant contact with the ministry and were updated on the fate of their relatives. In this way the number of missing gradually diminished.



Nissim Ben Shetreet, deputy director of the ministry, who headed the operation, said the ministry had never run an operation of such a scope, at such cost, anywhere.



"No country in the world," he explained, "mobilized at that rate or made such quick contact with its people at the scene."



Survivors from other countries who watched the Israeli activity were amazed.



Sweden, for instance, which as of midweek reported 52 dead and 2,915 missing, didn't do half of what Israel did. The same was true of other countries.



In the same international tally, Israel reported four dead and three presumed lost.



So why don't we understand what our nation has done? Was it merely due to a PR failure? Could it be that, once again, we weren't able to "explain ourselves"?



Not exactly.



What we are seeing and hearing is simply the "ugly Israeli," one more manifestation of provinciality, arrogance and dismissal of the other.



We don't trust our government. But we expect it to provide us with everything. And when something doesn't work perfectly, the way we imagine it should – we are full of criticism and bitterness.



We keep silent, for instance, when more than 500 people are killed on our roads every year; we are indifferent when one-third of our population, including children, are living beneath the poverty line; we ignore the ongoing discrimination against our minorities.



And now, suddenly, we want to put things in order. Where? In the Andaman Islands, on the coast of Thailand, and in the waters of the Indian Ocean.



So just hold on a minute.



The Foreign Ministry is doing an excellent job, without even the caveat "under the circumstances."



The state cannot and should not be anyone's babysitter. We are grown up beyond school and the army, beyond our small, crowded, and imperfect (like all others) country. We need to discover, to understand, that we are responsible for ourselves.



We must embrace the returnees and weep with the families who will never see their loved ones again. At the same time, we need to understand that going there was their choice, their lives, their decisions.



The writer, director-general of the UJC-Israel, was the IDF spokesman during the 1991 Gulf War. http://www.jpost.com