Musings from the summer

Well into a forever ceasefire of sorts in the Persian Gulf, Israel finds itself in a strangely familiar place. Militarily confident. Economically resilient. Politically fractured. Wondering if the rest of the world – or much of it – has lost its bearings. Herein, my musings from my shtetl’s streets this summer.

Aug. 24: How principled can you be?! Ireland – one of the most anti-Israel and foggy countries in the European Union – insisted that its government’s new $60 million executive jet not be equipped with Elbit’s FalconEye navigation system, which helps pilots in low-visibility conditions. Without this system, the plane must be diverted to alternative airports in foggy weather. The decision is part of the government’s official boycott of Israeli goods. 

Despite some negative sentiment towards everything Israel, Elbit has achieved more than $32 billion in backorders with Europe, driving much of its export growth. 

Aug. 21: Happy belated birthday beautiful Ariel. He would have turned 7 on Aug. 5. Thought about him, his younger brother Kfir and his mother Shiri – all murdered by Hamas shortly after their abduction on Oct. 7, 2023.

As I was driving home, “I Thank You Child” by Zakk Wylde, written almost 30 years ago, shuffled onto my Spotify. It was played by Yarden, the father and husband, who himself was held hostage, at the funeral of his family, for Ariel and Kfir. 

Always gets me, this song. But it’s devastating, with the Bibas tragedy: “It was you who made living all worth the while / Oh, I thank you, my child / Comfort in your eyes / For the warmth inside your smile / Faith’s done gone astray / It was you who made living all the while / All my fears repressed / Oh lovin’ you child it’s the best.”

Aug. 18: And the beat goes on in the Strait of Hormuz. A bit quieter lately, although it may heat up again, with the 60-day “ceasefire” officially expired. While Iran occasionally lashed out over the last two months, they did not attack Israel. How do you spell deterrence? According to my Yiddishe Mame, “Pftt. Pftt. Pftt.”

Aug. 14: Despite three years of varying degrees of warfare, Moody’s biannual report of the Israeli economy was positive. Basically, it saw no pressures on Israel’s credit rating, though the country faces a complex geopolitical situation, further complicated by upcoming elections. 

Israel’s inflation rate for the first half of 2026 fell to an historic five-year low of 1.2% (versus Canada’s 2.6%). As for my own pocketbook, I haven’t had an infamous Israeli bank overdraft (they’re used by nearly 40% of Israeli adults!) in years, so all is fine. 

Israel moved to second place in The Economist’s Big Mac Index. Introduced in 1986, this indicator compares purchasing power parity across countries by measuring the price of a McDonald’s Big Mac, using the United States as the benchmark. While a Big Mac in the States costs $6.22, it costs $7.67 in Israel, making Israel the second most expensive place to buy the hamburger in the world. Switzerland is the priciest at a whopping (no reference to Wendy’s) $9.04. The cheapest Big Mac can be enjoyed in Indonesia, at only $2.38. Canada ranked 22nd of the 54 countries considered, at $5.85. Parity, shmarity, I’m going for my Big Mac fix after I finish writing this muse.

Aug. 12: Bravo, Boy George. We certainly will dance again! And what better way than to his new reggae tune.

The musician is dealing with a backlash against his just stand for Israel. He’s withdrawn from London’s East End production of Jesus Christ Superstar, where he was going to play … guess it. King Herod.

Never a big Culture Club fan, I am – as a sign of support – going to download his greatest hits to my Spotify library. And I’m hoping to have a chance to buy a concert ticket should he perform in Israel. 

Boy George’s “We Will Dance Again” reminds me of Bob Dylan’s 1983 song “Neighbourhood Bully,” also in defence of Israel. I’m going to download that song as well, although I don’t think he was hounded the way Boy George is now. Sign of the times, I guess.

Aug. 8: Here we go again. Another round of negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living, with the way things are going, if I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire – The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran, with a special forward by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – I would choose the latter.

Aug. 3: Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, liberal Yesh Atid MK, and Mansour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head, for breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less than a political earthquake in my little shtetl, which could significantly impact coalition bloc arithmetic and strategy in the elections. 

Now, Ra’am can be considered a legitimate “Zionist” partner when forming coalitions and potentially push the centrist bloc over the 60-seat majority threshold in our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about 14!!) proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s political system is the best, except for all other forms of working democracies. It will be Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.

Aug. 1: Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy, neither really trusts the other, and American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night – it’s a nervous habit lately – that the dynamic duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! I am prompted, at 2:30 a.m., to dash around the house stocking my safe room: bottled water, canned food, medicines, documents…. The beat goes on.

If it’s crazy here, it’s insane in Italy, with a recent online “Jew hunt” in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged people to report Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The Global Sumud Flotilla – yes, the one coordinating “peace and humanitarian” flotillas to Gaza – was somehow connected, although they deny this. The deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.

July 31: As for yesterday’s Trump-Netanyahu meeting, our embattled prime minister can’t win. If Trump attacks without victory, it’s because of Netanyahu. If Trump attacks with victory, it’s because of Trump. In Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack – victory or not – Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with the US president. If Trump does attack – victory or not – half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Yes, I know. There needs to be a definition of victory for this musing to work.

Here in my little shtetl, we go to sleep unsure if there will be a Code Red in the night. If there isn’t, we wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress? 

Bruce Brown is a Canadian and an Israeli. He made aliyah … a long time ago. He works in Israel’s high-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. Brown is a two-time winner of the AJPA Rockower Award for excellence in writing, and wrote the 1998 satire An Israeli is…. Brown reflects on life in Israel – political, social, economic and personal.