Friday,
January 26, 2007
Israelis Muse: Are we becoming Italian?
The
ANNOTICO Report
This
article is rather amusing in that
Are we becoming
Italian?
With every passing year
Ynetnews-Israel
Oz Imog
January 26, 2007
The good news: We're becoming more
Italian. The bad news: We're becoming more Italian.
In fact, we were
always a bit like the Italians and that's why we loved them more than all other
Europeans. For a long time now we don't hold a grudge against the Romans.
After all, they
were enlightened occupiers and handled with the appropriate proportionality
both the far Right (those who barricaded themselves at the Masada settlement
and refused to evacuate) and that leftist (the bleeding heart from
We even forgave
and forgot the Christian persecution, fascism, and the collaboration with the
Nazis.
[RAA; Don't
forget that most of the Leaders of Early and even Later Fascism were Jewish.
And Collaboration with the Nazis were Not a Choice . The British PM rebuffed
Mussolini's attempts to forge an
The anti-Semitic
[RAA:
Persecution,
ghettos, and extermination camps were connected in our psyche mostly with
The excitable
temper, direct extroversion, beautiful women, family atmosphere, and the
combination of the Mediterranean and Europe, and of course the love for pots
containing sauces that can be wiped off with a thick slice of bread are all
characteristics that we share with the Italians, and they led us to sympathize
with them and seek their company.
In the past
decade we became even more like our likeable friends from
We started
grooming our hair, wearing Versace suits and ties, and even "converted"
the late Oriana Fallaci,
who has become the leading preacher against the conquests of Islam.
Yet recently it
appears we may have gone too far with our Italian solidarity, and perhaps it's
time to stop.
It turns out that
now our children are also refusing to leave the home when they grow up (luckily
we have mandatory military service.) Just like in Italian families, they live
in a harmonic symbiosis with their parents till old age.
What's wrong with
that? Mom and dad do the laundry, clean the house, and make sure the kids have
a car and money in their wallet. We can even make room for the boyfriend or
girlfriend. This is because in the Israeli family, just like in its Italian
counterpart, the children are princes and kings who are served with submission
and dedication.
Gaydamak our next prime minister?
Our solidarity
with the Italians is so deep that in
So is there any
wonder that we see corruption in sports, politics and the economy, a helpless
police, nepotism, and violent mobsters living the good life under the
protection of the law? It's not us - it's them, those nice Italians, who
affected us.
On the other
hand, this isn't about imitation perhaps. Maybe this is the unavoidable price
we too must pay for living in a country boasting a prosperous economy, good
food, designer stores packed with fashionable merchandise, comfortable climate,
and beautiful, creative, and warm people who obsessively deal with love and
intimate relations. Perhaps those are indeed two sides of the same coin shared
by us and the Italians.
If this
sociological assumption is correct, I have bad news and good news for you. The
bad news is that multimillionaire Arcadi Gaydamak is about to become prime minister. After all, he
follows the same operating instructions former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi did, that multimillionaire, media mogul,
and focus of endless corruption-related police investigations.
The
"operating instructions" are as follows: Acquire a soccer empire,
interview all the time, control the media, attack your critics and show
contempt to them, radiate self confidence, adopt a conservative worldview,
mingle with celebrities, employ senior police officers and managers, and
generously donate to the masses.
The good news is
that we're about to become the world champions of soccer. Well, maybe not in
the next championship.
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