Steve Jordan talks to Shai Rahat, from Sonigo Quality Worldwide Moving in Israel, about the current conflict and the effect it’s having on him and his company.
I know this is a difficult topic. I also know that I am no expert in international relations. But there can be nobody reading this, on either side, that has not been saddened by the continual tensions in the Middle East for the whole of our lifetimes. I doubt, also, that there are many of our readers who were not appalled by the medieval brutality of the Hamas attack on the Israeli people on 7 October, 2023.
I was not there. Nor, I suspect, were any of you. And I know that we live in an age of social media-driven misinformation. You can call me naive if you wish but, despite everything, I believe the BBC. I believe it to be the greatest news-gathering agency in the world and that they strive to communicate the truth. They might not always succeed, but I do not believe that they intend to deceive.
With that in mind, I have read the BBC reports of that awful day. I will not repeat them here. Even knowing a little of the history (the Balfour Declaration of 1917; the Palestine Mandate of 1922: the Arab-Israeli war (what Arabs called the Nakba (the catastrophe)) of 1948; the Suez crisis of 1956; and I remember well the 1967, six-day war), I can still not comprehend what would drive people, of any persuasion, to do such things. As a Brit, I also know that my country should take some of the blame as we arrogantly bungled our way through our inept attempts to solve ‘the problem’. When will we learn?
We all have our opinions. We can all speculate about the reasons and the solutions. But I wanted you to have more. I wanted you to hear the story from someone who is living through the Middle-East crisis, as we have called it for decades, first hand. From one of us. That’s why I talked to Shai Rahat from Sonigo in Israel.
“I always thought that we needed to sit down and negotiate to make this a better place,” said Shai. “But now I think I was naïve to think that that’s what the partner on the other side wants. We live in Israel, so we know that our neighbours are not exactly friendly towards us but, even understanding our history, we could not believe want happened in October last year. We were so shocked to wake up that morning and realise how much they hate us and don’t want us there. Then the rockets started coming from the north, from Hezbollah.”
“It’s in their DNA,” said Shai. “Each house has a map of how the country will look. Every mother wants her son to die for the cause. From two years old they are taught how to fight to kill every Jew in the world. Living and working here is very stressful and frightening.”
How has day-to-day life changed since last year? ...
Photo: Shai Rahat, Sonigo Quality Worldwide Moving.