That piece of satire was written with a lot of anger, a lot of frustration.
It wasn’t the first time. I’ve written about the racism in Bat Yam with similar anger, when demos were held against Arabs dating Jewish girls.
It’s kind of cliche to say it, but life has a funny way of making you think twice about things, of making you smile. For the past week or so, I’ve been driving on my way to work past signs that were pointing to someone’s wedding. Very common in Israel. Never paid much attention to it. I can’t put my finger on it, but something about this particular sign stuck in my mind – without actually reading it. So, today I took a closer look.
It says: To Basma and Yossi’s wedding.
Basma. An Arab name. And Yossi. Doesn’t get more Jewish than Yossi. But then again, you never know with all the nicknames people take. Still…
This sign was put up on HaGvul Street. Hagvul means “the border”in Hebrew. Which it is – Hagvul Street is the border between Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Bat Yam. On the left of this picture is Jaffa. On the right – Bat Yam.
The next sign further down the road had the arrow pointing to the right, towards Bat Yam.
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at that reception.
.