This is the time of year when people email each other far more than usual. Most of the correspondence centers around wishing “A Happy and Healthy New Year” but, for some reason, the emails I receive are much different.
Since I have lived in Israel for the past 33 years and have been an active player in both politics and activism, people assume that I have answers to Israel’s most perplexing questions. Generally, I tell people, “Ask away,” and I will answer anything and everything – to the best of my ability – but recently, the questions have all centered around one thing, which can be captured in these eight words: “Will there be a civil war in Israel?” After the usual, “Heaven forbid!” the answer I give is simple and direct: Stop listening to the media and open your eyes to the truth: Life in Israel is wonderful! Yes, there are things we need to change – such as a much harder response to Arab terror – but overall, the mood in the country is one of happiness, satisfaction, spirituality, and tremendous growth…and nobody besides “Spy News” is spreading the civil war nonsense. Haven’t heard of “Spy News”? Well, it’s time you have! Trump coined the term “Fake News” and Sackett (that’s me) has coined the term “Spy News” – a media that repeats the Sin of the Spies by spreading hatred, lies, and exaggerations about life in Israel.
Spy News loves unrest and turmoil in the Jewish state. This is why they take political differences of opinion and turn them into World War III. The fact that there always was and always will be people on both sides of every issue, makes no difference to Spy News. These modern-day meraglim feast on a good fight and, if there isn’t one, they will simply start a battle of their own! Following in the footsteps of the first spies, they stir the pot of controversy and speak horrific lashon ha’ra about Eretz Yisrael.
Let me explain what is really going on. No country in the world is doing more building than Israel: from roads to skyscrapers to new communities to the light-rail – and building means growth. If things were as bad as the media says, would there be even ten percent of this building?
Retail stores are full, coffee shops are standing room only, and you can’t find a parking spot in any mall in the country. Concerts in Israel are sold out, the beaches are packed, and traffic is nuts because people are traveling all over the country. Spy News loves to paint a picture of doom and gloom by focusing on one issue of disagreement, and they use it to make the world think we all hate each other. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I drive over 20,000 miles a year in Israel and have visited every part of this country, and I am telling you – from firsthand knowledge – that Israelis get along with one another, and this “civil war” nonsense is nothing but fear mongering on the part of those who exist on hate. In the last few days, my wife and I have been busy all day shopping for Rosh HaShanah – like all the Israelis. We were in the supermarket, the bank, various malls and even Kupat Cholim (health clinic) and everyone was wishing each other a “Shanah Tovah.” Nobody asked which side of the “Judicial Reform” debate we were on, and everyone was smiling and looking forward to a beautiful holiday.
Dearest friends: Stop believing the descendants of the ten wicked spies! This is not “a land that consumes its inhabitants,” and Jews do not feel “like tiny grasshoppers” in Eretz Yisrael (Sh’mos 13:32-33). Israel is amazing and, baruch Hashem, life is wonderful here. There are, of course, areas that need to be improved – is there a country where this is not the case? – but overall, things are good and all that’s missing is the people reading this article, who still live outside the land. Come join us and tell Spy News that those who spied…have died, and their days of using words to destroy G-d’s beautiful land are over.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Shmuel Sackett was born and raised in Queens. He made aliyah with his wife and children in 1990 and lives in Herzliya Pituach. He is the founder and director of the Am Yisrael Chai Fund (www.AmYisraelChaiFund.org). Shmuel would love to hear from you: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
