no emotions; but talk to him about the trees of Hamburg and he gets extremely romantic. Women are the same. I don’t know how they do it.
Don’t tell them I said it! Hamburg is the World Capital of Militant Bicyclists, and if they know I have some reservations about them they might kill me.
No, I’m not kidding. I was schlepping two suitcases the other day, and the bicyclists here were torturing me. On a narrow sidewalk, which could contain either me with my suitcases or a flying Hamburg militia, as I call them, the militia demanded first right of passage. I had to squeeze myself to a tree so that the militia could pass. Then another militia arrived. Same thing. There was nothing I could do. With their bicycles they are ticking human bombs. I had to stop walking so many times, more than the average man in Gaza during the Israeli bombardment of it some years back. And I was thinking to myself: Interesting how animalistic people can become if only they think that the law is on their side. Maybe we should send a delegation of these Militant Bicyclists to the Middle East. They will get peace going there in one day, maximum.
Anyway, right or wrong, I’m leaving. I am heading south. Guess where? To Munich. Again. I’d rather spend my time with Sister Jutta-Maria than with a screaming Hamburger militia.
•••
As I make my way to Munich I watch Al Jazeera TV. Thanks to my iPad, I can watch cable TV on the go. Al Jazeera has two TV stations, one in Arabic and one in English, and two websites, also in Arabic and in English. The English part and the Arabic part are diametrically opposed. The English one is moderate, more or less like the British BBC. The Arabic part is more extreme than Hamas. For whatever reason, which I’m not clear about, this fact remains a secret in the West. But this fact does not mean that Al Jazeera Arabic is not interesting. On the contrary, it’s much more interesting than its English sibling. Here I can watch news I see nowhere else.
At this very moment they carry a live broadcast from some flotilla that makes its way into Gaza from Turkey. Sheikh Raed Salah, of the Islamic Movement in Israel, is currently giving a little speech. As is his usual routine, he incites the crowd against Jews. Raed Salah can easily claim the title “Biggest Anti-Semite in the Muslim World.” Or, being that he’s an Arab, the Biggest Jew Hater. Raed, who previously accused Jews of mixing the blood of non-Jewish children into their breads, is getting a lot of applause here. The Turkish government wholeheartedly supports this flotilla and this Raed, but if I were Muslim I would sink the flotilla right now. These people make Muslims look like total idiots. They call themselves “peace activists” and “human-rights activists,” but their peace is the peace of the cemetery. As a Saudi man in Riyadh told me two years ago, when I asked him if he thought that peace was possible: “Yes. As it says in this Holy Book, all Jews die and there be peace between all.” He imagined a big Peace Cemetery, where all the Jews will be buried. “We don’t fight cemeteries,” he said, a big smile on his face.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza probably went too far, but the sinking of the flotilla makes total sense to me. What makes no sense to me is this: I can watch, live, on my little iPad, what happens at sea. Where are all the news organizations, with hundreds and thousands of reporters, to report it? I can’t locate one news item about this.
I can’t think too much about the Middle East now. After all, it was my decision to be in Germany now instead of in Palestine. I am here. A fact. And before I know it, I arrive in Munich.
No
Kirchentag
anymore, of course. The religious Germans are either gone or hiding somewhere. But the cultured people are here, all over. Let’s visit them.
I go to the Deutsches Museum. Why not?
Come along with me, it’s an interesting place. Here you can learn things. I do. For example, I never
Don’t tell them I said it! Hamburg is the World Capital of Militant Bicyclists, and if they know I have some reservations about them they might kill me.
No, I’m not kidding. I was schlepping two suitcases the other day, and the bicyclists here were torturing me. On a narrow sidewalk, which could contain either me with my suitcases or a flying Hamburg militia, as I call them, the militia demanded first right of passage. I had to squeeze myself to a tree so that the militia could pass. Then another militia arrived. Same thing. There was nothing I could do. With their bicycles they are ticking human bombs. I had to stop walking so many times, more than the average man in Gaza during the Israeli bombardment of it some years back. And I was thinking to myself: Interesting how animalistic people can become if only they think that the law is on their side. Maybe we should send a delegation of these Militant Bicyclists to the Middle East. They will get peace going there in one day, maximum.
Anyway, right or wrong, I’m leaving. I am heading south. Guess where? To Munich. Again. I’d rather spend my time with Sister Jutta-Maria than with a screaming Hamburger militia.
•••
As I make my way to Munich I watch Al Jazeera TV. Thanks to my iPad, I can watch cable TV on the go. Al Jazeera has two TV stations, one in Arabic and one in English, and two websites, also in Arabic and in English. The English part and the Arabic part are diametrically opposed. The English one is moderate, more or less like the British BBC. The Arabic part is more extreme than Hamas. For whatever reason, which I’m not clear about, this fact remains a secret in the West. But this fact does not mean that Al Jazeera Arabic is not interesting. On the contrary, it’s much more interesting than its English sibling. Here I can watch news I see nowhere else.
At this very moment they carry a live broadcast from some flotilla that makes its way into Gaza from Turkey. Sheikh Raed Salah, of the Islamic Movement in Israel, is currently giving a little speech. As is his usual routine, he incites the crowd against Jews. Raed Salah can easily claim the title “Biggest Anti-Semite in the Muslim World.” Or, being that he’s an Arab, the Biggest Jew Hater. Raed, who previously accused Jews of mixing the blood of non-Jewish children into their breads, is getting a lot of applause here. The Turkish government wholeheartedly supports this flotilla and this Raed, but if I were Muslim I would sink the flotilla right now. These people make Muslims look like total idiots. They call themselves “peace activists” and “human-rights activists,” but their peace is the peace of the cemetery. As a Saudi man in Riyadh told me two years ago, when I asked him if he thought that peace was possible: “Yes. As it says in this Holy Book, all Jews die and there be peace between all.” He imagined a big Peace Cemetery, where all the Jews will be buried. “We don’t fight cemeteries,” he said, a big smile on his face.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza probably went too far, but the sinking of the flotilla makes total sense to me. What makes no sense to me is this: I can watch, live, on my little iPad, what happens at sea. Where are all the news organizations, with hundreds and thousands of reporters, to report it? I can’t locate one news item about this.
I can’t think too much about the Middle East now. After all, it was my decision to be in Germany now instead of in Palestine. I am here. A fact. And before I know it, I arrive in Munich.
No
Kirchentag
anymore, of course. The religious Germans are either gone or hiding somewhere. But the cultured people are here, all over. Let’s visit them.
I go to the Deutsches Museum. Why not?
Come along with me, it’s an interesting place. Here you can learn things. I do. For example, I never
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