We have to stick with Israel no matter what - opinion

• Published date: 13 October 2021
• Author: JEFFREY GREEN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

As an emergency physician and a dual American and Israeli citizen residing in Tel Aviv, I want to live life, raise a family and contribute what I can. Recent battles in Israel and Gaza have thrown that quest into disarray. The conflict has analogies to our other war, the one against COVID-19.

This is a report from the front line of both battles:

Sirens growl, then scream. Neighbors flood the stairwell; so many unfamiliar faces, in a mix of worry and anger, people of all ages filing down to the safe room.

Bomb shelter etiquette: first keep quiet and avoid eye contact, then break the ice a little. I got to know a few of them by name. It was very pleasant for a moment. Then I remembered why we were there.

When things get ugly here, I never think to flee to Milwaukee, to the lake and my tidier life. I could hit the road and enjoy home, family and work without the threat of annihilation by hostile neighbors. But I do not wish to relocate, retreat and disengage.

I actually have hope for this place. In the emergency department I am elbow-to-elbow with Arab teammates, high-fiving and hurling medical orders and wisecracks at each other for 12 hours at a time; sweating, crying and laughing together. We have true love and respect for one another. We don't talk politics. We share our home cooking and our greetings on each other's holidays. We jam at the open mic. That's what the Arab-Israeli "conflict" looks like to me.

We have to make it work.

Parallels with the coronavirus plague are intriguing, although military conflict is an intentional threat to life from other humans, not an epic Darwinian struggle for the planet against a microbe. Israel is winning against COVID-19. Theory and practice come together, we are rocking it, and we are back in business.

From the pandemic we learned uncertainty – that...