Bed time stories and fairy tales....

I am exhausted, my first meeting started at 7:30 am this morning and my last one ended at 11:45pm. In between I heard the Prime Minister speak, learned some of the intricacies of rescuing Jews at risk from places like Iran and Yemen, had lunch in the Jerusalem forest and debated the future of Jewish philanthropic life with some great minds and leaders. The biggest risk I felt I was put in all day was riding in the bus we took to a site visit, drivers here make NY drivers look docile. I spent another day in a beautiful country surrounded by amazing people. But despite my exhaustion I feel compelled to write before I fall asleep.

Why? Because I came “home” tonight to a mailbox of worried friends asking me if I am safe and if I am coming home early. I had no clue what they were talking about! I do not want this post to come across as ungrateful, I appreciate people’s concern for my well being. But I am so frustrated, so disappointed, so angry over the way this country is portrayed in the US media.

What my friends were writing about was a skirmish in the Old City near the Western Wall. I didn’t even know it happened until I pulled up the links friends were sending, and I am staying within blocks of that area.

My dear friends, you need to understand that the media has one goal, to make money. They do that by sensationalizing things. What went on at the Kotel was no more news worthy in Israel than the gang fight in Los Angeles today that killed a grandmother was to most of your lives. Would you ever tell people not to come to the US because of that? How many of you are packing up to move to another place because of a stabbing in Florida today?

The US media when it comes to Israel is slanted on its best days. Small, basically irrelevant issues are made to seem like the country is falling apart, that we are all at risk here, that this is a war torn land in chaos. I can tell you nothing is farther from the truth.

Many of us who grew up in the US were raised to believe what we saw on the news as fact, but we learned that from reporters like Walter Cronkite, who reported the news without bias. Today’s media is very different. The news now comes with a healthy dose of agenda and slant. Its goal is to garnish ratings not to inform and educate.

If I haven’t made it clear, I felt just as safe walking through Jerusalem tonight for dinner as I do any night at home, more so to be honest. Please do not let what you see on tv keep you from giving this amazing country a chance, you will be pleasantly surprised.