Monday, April 05, 2010

Crimes unto the nations

""I can't say that I came here for Zionist or even Jewish reasons," said the paratrooper sitting next to me on Seder night last Monday. "I got into so much trouble back home, all I wanted to do was party. Running away from the police was what made me fit enough for combat service. I thought that coming here and doing army would help me get my shit together." The others sitting around the table nodded, they wore berets and insignia of combat units, their accents gave away their origins from all corners of the English-speaking world. The paratrooper from San Francisco, a Bostonian serving in the Kfir Brigade who gave up a baseball scholarship to get away from a traumatic breakup with his girlfriend and join up, the Asian-looking Aussie who after five years of living on the streets of Sydney followed in his grandfather's footsteps and joined an elite unit of the Border Police." (thanks Sarah)