The Book of Israel: Travel Notes on a Land of Saints, Paratroopers and Terrorists

Israel as a dream and as reality—“two big differences.” Its capital, Jerusalem, is the center of the world and also a small eastern city. The Jewish state, whose residents are woken in the mornings by muezzins, while the residents themselves look like anyone—except “classic Jews.” Bureaucrats and saints. Many geniuses and selected idiots. Politicians cunning to the point of stupidity, and ministers who know better how to drive a tank and launch battalions into attack than how to command officials.

A country that lives from war to war—yet with what pleasure it does! Delicious food and flowers. Russian language on every corner. Children and cats. Girls and boys with automatic rifles— an army that resembles well-armed students. Rocket attacks, whose reflection you can admire from a balcony. Terrorists— and the best system in the world for protecting the population from terrorists. The Holy Land—in every sense. Three thousand years of the history of a state that keeps dying and being reborn like a phoenix from the ashes. A great example of how to live in this world.