Existential Threat

I read in the newspaper the other day that North Korea is about to test one of their long-range missiles. According to reports, North Korea’s long-range missiles are capable of hitting Alaska. Perhaps Governor Palin, when she is watching Russia from her front porch also keeps an eye on North Korea. For most Alaskans I think the perception of threat from a North Korean missile attack is somewhere between remote and nonexistent.

I also read in the newspaper that five missiles were fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, one was fired on Friday, and at least three were fired on Thursday. There may have also been some mortar fire and a rocket or two in the North.

People talk and write about the existential threat facing Israel. When I first heard this phrase I thought it referred to some vague amorphous threat against the country. However now I understand this to mean that groups to the North (Hezbulla), South (Hamas), and East (Iran) that have expressed a desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

If we were talking about a person, we can rationalize and intellectualize this existential threat as a natural part of life. You live and then you die. For a country however, death is unexpected. While many countries have ceased to exist throughout history this has occurred relatively infrequently during my lifetime.

In Israel the existential threat is also interpreted to be anti-Semitic. Clearly some of the threats against the country are explicitly anti-Semitic. In addition, the logic in Israel is that since this is the only Jewish state in the world, threats against the State are inherently anti-Semitic. Certainly the history of the Jewish people contributes to this perception. (The next two photographs convey part of this history -- one from Yad Vashem and one from Massada).

Massada looking North at the Dead Sea

Hannah & Ruth at Yad Vashem

I’m still uncertain as to whether I accept that logic. I do know that over the past two-months I have become increasingly Zionistic. I’m dyed in blue and white (the colors of the flag) but I do see and feel the need for this country to exist.

Feeding a Camel

Guns

“I’m sorry I don’t speak Hebrew.”
“Do you have a gun?”

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question before, especially upon entering a university lecture hall.

Guns are inescapable in this country. Soldiers, in and out of uniform carry them. Chaperones accompanying school groups carry them. Security guards at the entrance to most public buildings (e.g. grocery stores, restaurants, post-offices, universities, etc.) carry them.

So why aren’t there more deaths from firearms in Israel? The conservative Cato institute points out that obtaining a license to possess a gun is relatively easy in Israel, yet “rates of homicide...are low despite rates of home firearm ownership that are at least as high as those in the United States." (Cato Institute: http://www.cato.org/ pub_display.php?pub_id=4706)

The Centers for Disease Control compared the United States to 25 other industrialized countries in rates of firearm death for children less than 15 years old, “The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children aged less than 15 years was nearly 12 times higher than among children in the other 25 countries combined...The firearm-related homicide rate in the United States was nearly 16 times higher than that in all of the other countries combined…the firearm-related suicide rate was nearly 11 times higher…and the unintentional firearm-related death rate was nine times higher.” (MMWR, February 07, 1997, 46(05), 101-105). A table in this article indicates that when the 25 countries are ranked on these combined rates, Israel is number four. Between Israel and the United States are Northern Ireland and Finland.

Availability of weapons does not seem to account for the differences between Israel and the United States. Given my experience in traffic, there does not seem to be an appreciable difference in the patience of Israelis (at least Israeli drivers) and drivers in the United States. So what accounts for these differences?

My suspicion has to do with cultural limits or norms. There seems to be a line regarding the use of guns that most Israelis will not cross, even when under the daily stress of modern life. I’m not sure if this is related to religion.

I find the widespread availability of guns coupled with the low rates of gun fatalities to be intriguing. It also would seem to run counter to some stereotypes of Israelis found in the media.

Pictures from Haifa

A two hour bus ride to the third largest city in Israel, near the northern border with Lebanon. For now here are some pictures of Haifa.

Randy in Haifa

Hannah in Haifa

Looking up at the Baha'i Gardens

Looking down the Baha'i Gardens

Inside the Baha'i Gardens

You know you are not in Jerusalem when...

You know you are not in Jerusalem when…

You read a restaurant menu and encounter the words pork and ham.

You can see bald spots on the heads of older men.

Men dress in something other than black suits and fedoras.

Every other person between 17 and 22 is not in an Army uniform.

You can see hair on the top of women’s heads.

The primary religious attraction is not Jewish, Muslim, nor Christian, but Baha’i (in Haifa).

A woman will sit next to you on the bus.

You walk into a bar and no one asks you if you have a gun.

General Impressions of Jerusalem

Sunrise February 5, 2009

Much of Jerusalem is built with beautiful tan stone. When the sun is setting and reflecting off the stone, the city does look golden. Up close however, it is dirty with litter everywhere.

This doesn’t seem like a large city or a city of 750,000 people. I can walk across town, east to west, in about 2 hours. Aside from the markets, I have not encountered crushing crowds.

Hannah on Old City ramparts

The bus system is efficient and has propelled me in any direction I cared to travel. One bus, the 99, offers a city tour. As in many cities, the city tour takes place on a double-decker bus and has narration in many different languages. The bus tour gave me a helpful orientation to the geography of the city as well as the location of key sites.

English and cell phones are ubiquitous, even among the black-capped Heredim. There are also many young adults Jerusalem – students attending Yeshivas, Colleges and University. I have also crossed paths with several Birthright groups.

When I left Anchorage one friend, who had spent time in Israel, told me that my mission was to find a well-mannered Israeli. There is a stereotype of Israelis as brash and rude. At this point I haven’t met any. It could be that having lived in New York City I’m immune to this type of behavior; I’ve developed the armor to fend it off. It could also be that my positive attitude about being and about people in general has created immunity. Finally, my wife might offer the explanation that I’m simply oblivious. At this point however, I believe that I haven’t encountered any brash, rude Israelis.

Heredi man walking on the Sabbath

On Saturdays I stay out of Me’a She’arim – a large Heredi neighborhood between our apartment and the old city. I think of the various Heredim sects as a subculture of the dominant state-sponsored Jewish culture. It think it is incorrect to describe Me’a She’arim as a shtetl. Instead it is a homogenous ethnic neighborhood much like ethnic neighborhoods found in many large cities in the U.S. (think Chinatown in San Francisco or little Italy in New York or Greek Town in Detroit). I believe the Heredi are the Jewish fundamentalists, with all the weaknesses and all the faults of Christian fundamentalists or Muslim fundamentalists.

Father and son on the Sabbath

Families on the Sabbath

Israel and Alaska

I know this posting won't appeal to everyone, but I've been trying to get an empirical view of how Alaska and Israel are similar and different. A group at the School of Social Work here are leaders in using data to examine child trends. One of the faculty members gave me their recent publication in English. This got me started in looking at some comparative statistics. What follows is a series of tables looking at various aspects of the population in the United States, Alaska, and Israel.

For those of you who don't like data and tables, I'm sorry, but as Popeye said, "I am what I am."

The sources for these data can be found at the bottom of the page. You can certainly criticize this posting for using data selectively. However, my purpose is not to provide a comprehensive examination of the populations, but rather to understand some of the similarities and difference empirically, as opposed to the rhetoric I read and hear in the news media.

	USA	Alaska General Population	Alaska Alaska Natives	Israel General Population	Israel Jewish	Israel Arab
Median Age (years)	36.73	33.4 2	26.1 2	28.9 3	30.6 4	18.6 4

The young Arab population is partially explained by large family size. For Alaska Natives, it is partially explained by lower life expectancy.

	USA	Alaska General Population	Alaska Alaska Natives	Israel General Population	Israel Jewish	Israel Arab
Percentage of Population under age 18	25.5%1	29.8%2	36.1%2	33.2%1	30.3%1	48.7% 1
Life expectancy at birth (years)	78.13	76.76	69.55	80.01	78.7 males1 83.4 females1	74.9 males1 78.5 females1

The shocking number in this table is the low life expectancy of Alaska Natives compared to all the other groups. This pattern is also true for infant mortality (but not for low birth weight infants).

	USA	Alaska General Population	Alaska Alaska Natives	Israel General Population	Israel Jewish	Israel Arab
Percentage of newborns with low birth weight (<2500>	8.0%1	6.0%2	5.7%2	8.0%1
Infant Mortality (per 1000 live births)	6.87	6.77	10.17	5.01	5.38	6.68

Finally, examine the numbers on child poverty:

	USA	Alaska General Population	Alaska Alaska Natives	Israel General Population	Israel Jewish	Israel Arab
Children Living in Poverty	21.9%1	17%2	32%9	35.8%1	24.3%1	66.8%1

The poverty rate for Alaska Native children is almost twice the rate for the general population. Like Alaska Natives, one in three children in Israel live in poverty. 35.8% of the child population translates into approximately 840,000 children. However, if you are a Jewish child the likelihood of living in poverty is similar to the United States. Whereas if you are an Arab child there is a fairly high probability that you live in poverty.

Israel, like many western industrialized countries (not the United States) has a child allowance – an income transfer payment (a universal welfare benefit). These income transfer payments reduced the child poverty rate to 35.8%. Without the child allowance 41.3% of the children in Israel would live in poverty. As the book where this data comes from states, “every third child and more, lives below the poverty line. 2006 has seen a continued increase in the percentage of poor children among all children in Israel. This tendency is consistent and has persisted for nearly two decades” (Tzionit, Kimchi, Ben-Arieh, 2008, p.354).

Walking the streets of Jerusalem I was unaware of these poverty rates. There are fewer people panhandling than in Anchorage and I rarely see overt signs of homelessness. It could be that the people in poverty live elsewhere or it could be that poverty manifests itself differently in this culture.

Sources:

¹Tzionit, Y., Kimchi, M. & Ben-Arieh, A.(2008).The state of the child in Israel 2007: A statistical abstract.Jerusalem, Israel: Israel National Council for the Child.
² Alaska Department of Health and Social Services(2007).Alaska Health Care Data Book: Selected Measures 2007.Retrieved from: http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dph/Healthplanning/publications/healthcare/default.htm
³CIA, The World Factbook.Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
⁴Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, (2006).Press release. .Retrieved from: www.cbs.gov.il/hodaot2006n/11_06_280e.pdf
⁵ Parkinson, A. J.(2008). Commentary, The International Polar Year, 2007‚2008, An Opportunity to Focus on Infectious Diseases in Arctic Regions. Emerging infectious diseases.14 (1).Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/14/1/1.htm
⁶ Retrieved from: http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/show/2400482
⁷Kids Count Alaska 2006-2007 (notes rates are a 5 year average). Retrieved from: http://www.kidscount.alaska.edu/
⁸ Retrieved from: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/7062
⁹ Retrieved from: http://www.nccp.org/tools/demographics/