P F Tinmore
Diamond Member
- Dec 6, 2009
- 79,766
- 4,414
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I miss my friends very much. It's not what you think - they are all healthy and doing great. But they had to leave Israel. Pavel worked as a driver and had an old CBR600 motorcycle. Today he is in Canada. My cousin Anna lives in Germany (I must say that I'm not crazy about the choice). Mishke, a biologist with a master's degree, the snob of the group who loves jazz, lives in New York. Yuri, my good friend, moved to Australia.
Regretfully, the list is long, and it keeps getting longer. The names of more than five people who are dear to me are added to the list each year. My friends are scattered all over the globe. And it's not as if you can say, "Those bastards; who cares if they leave." They were all the salt of the earth, good citizens. They all went to the army, and many of them served in combat units. But after their service they faced a difficult reality: They studied while working, made a living and performed IDF reserves duty. At a certain point they just couldn't take it anymore.
I admit that this situation has a lot to do with Russian education, which teaches people to overcome and not complain. I am an engineer, not a sociologist, but I want to warn the powers that be that if the emigration from Israel is not stopped, we will all lose. We may even lose the country itself. Because it is not wars or the army or having to learn a new language that breaks these people, it is the absence of the opportunity to live with dignity, start a family or own a home. What breaks these people is the fact that there is no horizon, no hope that something will change.
Why my friends are leaving Israel - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews
Regretfully, the list is long, and it keeps getting longer. The names of more than five people who are dear to me are added to the list each year. My friends are scattered all over the globe. And it's not as if you can say, "Those bastards; who cares if they leave." They were all the salt of the earth, good citizens. They all went to the army, and many of them served in combat units. But after their service they faced a difficult reality: They studied while working, made a living and performed IDF reserves duty. At a certain point they just couldn't take it anymore.
I admit that this situation has a lot to do with Russian education, which teaches people to overcome and not complain. I am an engineer, not a sociologist, but I want to warn the powers that be that if the emigration from Israel is not stopped, we will all lose. We may even lose the country itself. Because it is not wars or the army or having to learn a new language that breaks these people, it is the absence of the opportunity to live with dignity, start a family or own a home. What breaks these people is the fact that there is no horizon, no hope that something will change.
Why my friends are leaving Israel - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews