back in israel, poor sharon!

i just read an entry on a friends blog saying how he had just returned from a 3 week holiday in england and was even contemplating going back for a bit - his justisfication was that he was an israeli so theres no reason why he couldnt live abroad!

my friend has so far not acted on his instincts and decided to continue his job hunting in israel. but it made me think. ive just come back from a 6 day break in england, the second time ive been back since i made aliya, and i feel completely the opposite to my friend. i remember the first time i went back, in august last year, i said i was going home, then felt bad, like i should feel like israel was my home but i still felt more at home in england. but despite this, the whole time i was back, i just couldnt wait to get back to israel. this time i really didnt feel like england was my home and again was really looking forward to coming back here.

i am feeling more and more at home here. i know i cant call myself a proper israeli yet but i always knew it would take time. israel is of course not an easy country. the people arent overly polite, its someteimes a nightmare to get things sorted out. but the thing is i had been here many times before i made aliya so i think i was used to alot of the negative things and had aleady accepted them before i came.

there was another suicide bomb on thursday afternoon, the day after i got back. it again hit home how these terrorists can strike anywhere at any time. i thought it was funny that the bombing got little international coverage, simply because no one was killed. the bbc decided to not even put it on their front page. it seems bad reporting to me, but as i know after working in journalism for a few years, its just not as big news. the fact is the bomber wanted to kill as many people as possible and just failed in his task. the intention was there. when i found the story in the bbc middle east section i saw they said "one killed in suicide attack". the one killed was of course the suicide bomber. thats a bit silly isnt it. when someone commits suicide they arent killed, they kill themselves!

one other thing i wanted to mention was about our, currently "incapacitated", prime minister ariel sharon. poor man. its been a strange few weeks. its now been more than 2 weeks since he was rushed to hospital with a "severe stroke". that wednesday night i stayed up till 4am listneing to the radio and watching the news thinking he was going to die. by friday he still hadnt died but everyone thought he was going to over the weekend. friday night i had dinner at my cousins and we spent an hour and a half watching the channel 2 news where people were paying tribute to sharon.
but he didnt die! and by the next thursday when i flew to london things were looking up and reports were talking about how the doctors were going to bring him out of the induced come and he could recover. that hasnt happened and a week later he still seems completely comatosed. i wonder if he will ever wake up.
whats been amazing for me has been to see how ehud olmert went from being a relative political nobody to prime minister in just a few days.
u never know in politics!