Opinion | Without previous protections Israel today

When the audience in the play "Live Fence", which is shown at the "Cameri" theater, applauds - he also protests a bit about the occupation.

Instinctively, the grief over the unfulfilled love story and the cruel ending draws the average Israeli into the lap of the leftist cliché.

It is probable that no one who came to the Cameri Theater and its immediate connotation of the name of the play was not "written on the basis of the book that Bennett sculpted at the time."

And yet, the popular habit that direct or indirect engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and in-depth discussion of gender, interfaith, and international relations, needs a politically tagged bottom line is wrong.

Summary of previous chapters - Caution, there are spoilers: "Live Fence", a book by Dorit Rabinian, was included in the curriculum in the literature majors in 2015. The subject committee approved it as part of the matriculation requirements in literature (which change, by the way. No work survives forever in the curriculum. So the generations who did not know Agnon).

But a meeting of teenagers with an optional reality, in which Romeo and Juliet become Liat and Hilmi - stressed the system.

There is no talk then of the massive smoking described in the book, nor of the descent from the land and a nice Jewish life in Manhattan, which contradict the Zionist narrative no less.

In perspective, and under the auspices of the stage adaptation, the content of the play can be seen as an invitation to a different swimming fence.

True, the bias exists - other than the mention of the Intifada at the beginning of the play by the protagonist's conservative sister, we would not have been exposed to the reason why a concrete fence is placed later in the play;

The Palestinian right of return to the '48 lines is a nostalgic and sympathetic wish when a handsome painter (Amir Khoury) presents it in pain.

The openness of the Palestinian side in the story also evokes arrogance and disgust towards the Jewish side, which hides the love of its soul.

He may be less successful and learned from her but he is clearly smarter.

The racism built into the discourse turns a question mark on the superficial heroine, who, according to the Tel Aviv stereotype, defines herself as a leftist and has no real idea what the territories are ("Hilmi, can you show me here in the picture where exactly the green line is?").

She herself is the daughter of immigrants from Iran and a temporary resident of New York, but does not see from a shower the distress of the immigrant next to her;

Had she been more sensitive and less racist, she could have seemingly prevented the end of the romantic story.

A right-winger seeking justification could relish the exposure of the Arabs as liberated prisoners, the values ​​that prevented the protagonist from tying her life to the Palestinian, and that contrary to the plot - it was not the army responsible for the tragic end, but a simple skill (swimming) that the hero did not have.

The stereotype about the Arab not knowing how to swim is there from the first act, and drowns in the last act.

There is a limit to the guilt that can be poured on the protagonist's head, but there is no limit to the sanctity of the one who died while trying to save a life.

A novel about a love story between a Jew and an Arab, between a Tel Aviv Israeli and a Palestinian-from-Hebron-Trans-Ramallah and does not stop fantasizing about his home in a village near Lod, is not necessarily paving the way for assimilation.

It can be a mirror to the period and emotions, a romantic reflection of an unbearable reality and artistic inspiration.

Noga Ashkenazi's play is superbly made.

The original novel has been translated into many languages ​​and succeeded around the world, but had it not been for Bennett's decision as education minister at the time to disqualify the book - a decision that is hard to believe would have been accepted by him today - it would hardly have become a popular show.

The full halls speak for themselves, and in the same language that bookstores spoke seven years ago: record sales, when everyone bought the book that should not be taught.

The first show that returned to the stages after the Corona closure began as controversial, and continues as challenging for those willing to turn heads, and as a fascinating and sometimes funny love story for someone who is able to meet political art without recruiting it.

Fig leaf for balance

The day I watched "Fence," the newspapers were filled with fierce criticism of the new Channel 14 broadcasts.

North Korea was the common metaphor, although it is hard to believe that any of the critics frequently watched the television content of the totalitarian dictatorship.

You should watch Channel 14 without prior protections.

If one takes a step back and ignores the glitches and difficulties, one can hear the sea.

Years of artistic and media brainwashing have brought water to the soul, and these are breaking into the rock in the new news channel.

Among the threatened reviews I found a spectacular list that includes the names of the channel people and extensive details about their actions so far.

The attempt was to prove that every right-winger who worked in the media is rewarded by the Netanyahu family (she and no other) in a television appearance on the new channel, plus what gigs everyone does except star in the channel's ad.

Without meaning to, graceful details were collected from the resume of the performers, a dose of sickle through Shai Golden to Sarah BK. On them: Professional abilities are not enough to appear on other channels when you are right-handed, the maximum that can be reached is a fig leaf to balance, and this slot has an expiration date.

The statement accompanying that blacklist - that the channel in question has no effect on public discourse - contradicts critics' hysteria: If there is no effect, why does any self-respecting media outlet strive to publish a deadly critique that warns the viewer of pressing 14 on the sign?

It's enough to flip through the talkbacks to realize that something is changing.

I was also excited to see that there was no longer any need to resort to a religious label of the performer or a geographical label - once a right-winger was slandered under the pretext of being a dos or a settler.

Now, with the advent of the bibi Tel Aviv, the old stigmas have been released and new ones created.

The challenge for Channel 14 will be to expand the ranks of Netanyahu's worship to the ranks of the entire ideological right, and the real media correction - a real balance, and in a professional manner.

The reality is right-wing anyway.

•••

We started with the decision that Bennett made on his Sabbath as Minister of Education, and we will end with the decision that was made for him on his Sabbath as a man married to a parent facilitator.

It's a bit of a state-of-the-art employee to think you can do whatever you want because the mainstream is in your favor.

Two years in advance may feel like tenure, but it's not a good idea to move them from the leap.

Family, I would say to my wife and children - I understand that it is difficult for you to live in the top, but brass will hold back and give me some fatherly respect when all eyes are on us.

Personally, I would whisper to those with me: Be content with staying in Raanana, never give reasons to mess with our private lives. 

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