Time and distance shift Israeli migrant attitudes

“Living here you get a better perspective because you’re not scared, therefore you can feel more for the other side, you can look at it with more logic, less emotions … Now that I have tasted life without war, I don’t understand the concept of giving up your life for a piece of land.”

From behind the counter of a furniture shop in inner-Sydney Camperdown, Roi Smith doesn’t understand the concept either. He strongly objects to the views of Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and sees the consequences of their expansion as both oppressing Palestinians and hampering progress toward peace. “Settlers are not right in the head, they don’t seem like nice normal people to me … I’d give all the (conquered) territories back”.

From her lengthy research into the Jewish community in Australia, and on Israeli-Australians now distanced from the conflict, Barbara Bloch argues that those changes are not easy. “To grow up in a place that has a pretty strong ideological kind of focus, to then step away from that and to criticise, I think could be hard.”

The difficulties Israelis encounter once they move towards different opinions are complex, and they are sometimes in conflict with their relatives and friends who still live in Israel. Roi Smith looks back on his life in Israel and says that in the years since he left, the situation worsened. Being a “leftie” in Israel could now be viewed to some of the Israeli population as traitorous.

Ilana Burstein is certainly aware of this attitude, especially amongst her close family. Though far from calling herself a “leftie”, she knows the change in her views wouldn’t be easily accepted back home. “If my father knew about my opinions, he’d kill me!” she says, half-joking, half serious.

Barbara Bloch understands the confusion Israeli immigrants face after crossing the borders to live outside Israel. The Israeli immigrants’ views don’t conform to what appears to some extent to be mainstream thinking in the Jewish community. She believes that because of this they find other people with whom they share common values and ideas.

The experiences of Israeli immigrants in Australia and the Australian Jewish community in Australia are poles apart, according to Bloch. She notices that many Israelis don’t always associate with the Jewish community and are not involved in its politics.

“There is a difference between your identity as an Israeli, or as a Jew. They’re not the same thing,” she says. “For Jews who aren’t Israeli, Israel has come to represent so many different things, not all of them based on reality. They have an unreal image of this place that is a safety net for Jews.” While some Jews see Israel as a modern miracle after 2,000 years of Jewish exile, Israeli immigrants like Roi Smith are wary of such views.

Smith grew up in Israel, and so did his family. “My parents have gone through so much killing and death, but I was just told not to pick up buttons from the street because they could blow up … it was just a part of living in Israel.” For him, Israel was anything but a safe haven for Jews.

Bloch explains that attitudes toward Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict differ significantly between the Israeli and Jewish communities. Some immigrants may hold critical views that in Israel are part of the normal spectrum of public opinion, but are considered unacceptable in the diaspora communities.

“In the Jewish Australian community there has been some questioning about Israel, but there is a very basic fundamental line in the sand that you can’t cross in terms of how critical you can be,” she continues.

Ilana Burstein is sure that if she ever lives in Israel again, she would no longer be compassionate towards the other side. She believes her opinions would change again to match those of her relatives and friends “unless something drastic happens”.

But she won’t be turning up at the arrival lounge at Ben Gurion airport anytime soon. Yonit Oakley and Roi Smith have also made Australia their new home. Barbara Bloch says that even if they were to leave Australia, their ways of seeing the world have altered forever. “I think it’s hard once you’ve had your eyes open to then close them again.”