It’s sunny in a Tel Aviv away from the war. It’s noon in the Israeli capital. On this terrace in the city center, the music makes any conversation difficult. But it does not matter. Tens of youths, tanned and light-eyed, gather to help their friends. Even if they carry a drink in their hand, their work is also a effort of war. While his companions are deployed in the Army For weeks now, they have been selling their art and talent and donating their profits to provide meals to soldiers and displaced families across the country. “Everyone seems happy and relaxed, but each of these people have lost someone they know or have a loved one in the Army at this time,” explains Julia Mannthe documentary filmmaker who organized this charity market.
“I will never apologize for being Israeli,” says a popular t-shirt among attendees of the self-managed art fair. Most of the artists, and also the attendees, are olim. In Hebrew, this term refers to the Jewish immigrants who have made aliyah and have obtained Israeli nationality. At 29 years old, Eden Bachar is a olah. She lived until she was 17 in the United States. Then he came to Israel and did military service. “I was combat soldier in artillery for two and a half years,” he tells this newspaper. “It was an incredible experience and I would do it again,” he says with conviction. Despite having a US passport, he does not let the question finish when asked if he has thought about returning. . “I I feel safer here than in the US or Europe,” he confesses.
While offering sessions of facial reflexology, Bachar shares his fear. “I look at what happens on television and I think that there, you don’t know who your neighbors are, or who you go to school with, or who is behind you when you go to buy coffee,” says this young woman. “They could be pro-Palestine and you don’t know it“she says, very alarmed. Two weeks ago, the organization to which she belongs, together with the families of Kibbutz Beeri, attacked on October 7, received 15,000 shekels, about 3,700 euros, raised in the first charity market organized by the olim. For nine years, Bachar has been part of the group Couples of Fallen Soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces after losing her boyfriend during the 2014 war against Gaza. “We offer psychological support to unmarried colleagues who have lost their partner in combat, now 140 brides have joined our group,” he laments.
“Easy and fun”
Nia Shtai She is neither Jewish nor Israeli, but she has lived in Tel Aviv for nine years. This ukrainian artist She dedicates her hours to drawing the city that has welcomed her, where her partner is from. “I have several friends who are serving in the Army and they tell me that it is easy and fun, that they get their food from different restaurants, and that they do nothing most of the time“says this 33-year-old artist. “But I don’t know, maybe that’s a defense mechanism,” she says. Originally from a city on the Ukrainian border with Russia, Shtai confesses that some of the rockets that have hit Tel Aviv have awakened their post-traumatic stress disorder. “The worst part was that last week my dog died of cancer,” he confesses.
“That’s been the hardest thing for me, because the fact that Israel is always starting wars It’s something I’ve already gotten used to and there’s nothing you can do; I believe in the Israeli Army, I know it always wins,” he explains, in a sentiment shared among Israeli youth. “It is painful to see what is happening in Gaza, they are civilians those who are dying and what is happening here is nothing, but what can we do? Just enjoy, have fun, see our friends and make artkeep going,” he defends. In a city like Tel Aviv, where it is always summer, it is also easy to forget that people like them are preparing to take up arms.
But from time to time they fall rockets in the Israeli capital, and war, or, at least, a sign of it, returns to its streets. “When something very dramatic happens, we get over it very quickly, this is something very exclusive to the Israeli population“says Bashar. “We know how to deal with very stressful and very tragic things, we always say that everything will be fine, it is something very recurrent that happens and when you say it enough and hear it enough, it applies to the entire population,” says this facial reflexologist. Accustomed to wars and attacks, Israelis boast of not settling into tears. “We are not well, but the whole country needs us; We have the stability to get used to scary things very quickly, but that is what makes union in this country traumatic,” he explains to EL PERIÓDICO.
Fight for your existence
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The elevated music, played by a live DJand the rounds of beers They overshadow the real reasons that lead these young people to be here. They support the 360,000 reservists who have been called up as Israel escalates its war in Gaza. Six weeks after that tragic October 7, the festive atmosphere and reunions are different from those at the beginning of the conflict, which killed 1,200 of their fellow citizens and has taken the lives of more than 11,000 people in the Gaza Strip. “My people, my family, are turning out wounded in this terrible war”, states the jeweler Naama Deutsch. In addition to coming to “do some good things and donate it to people who need it,” this young Israeli woman also tries to “earn a living” with her jewelry. “Now, in Israel, people, if they have money, save it, they are not going to spend it because we do not know what is going to happen or what it will be like tomorrow,” laments Deutsch, between client and client.
“My brothers and sisters need me so I can’t leave them alone because I’m a little scared, I need to be here,” says Bachar. “I didn’t even think for a second about leaving, it’s just that for me it was obvious“, he states. At the foot of the DJ booth, young people in yoga leggings They offer him their faces to relax their features in these difficult times. On this rooftop of a famous nightclub on the avenue Rothschild of the Israeli capital, the shekels They run without thinking too much. T-shirts, jewelry, cakes or massages are ways to tell your friends that they are not alone, that you think about them and feed them. A large part of society shares the position of your government and they believe that this war is a fight for their own existence.