I am a Zionist. I believe the Jewish people had risen in Israel, but had been somewhat late.

Had we listened to the alarm clock, there would not be a holocaust, and my dead grandfather - whom I was named after would have made it to dance a last waltz with my grandmother on the banks of the Yarkon River. I am a Zionist. Hebrew is the language in which I thank the Creator and also the one in which I curse at the traffic lights. The pestering man that calls me "brother" is really my brother. The Bible does not contain only my history, but also the geography: King Saul was looking to leave Athens on Route 443, the prophet Jonah boarded the ship not far from Jaffa Margaret's tourist restaurant, the terrace from which David peered at Batsheva was probably bought by some oligarch. I am a Zionist. The first time I saw my son wearing an IDF uniform I burst into tears, I haven't missed a torch-lighting in twenty years, and though my TV was made in Korea, I taught it to cheer for the team. I am a Zionist. I believe in our right to this land. People who were persecuted throughout history for no reason have a right to their own country, an F-16 plus a gift from the manufacturer. I hurt every manifestation of anti-Semitism from London to Mumbai, but secretly think that Jews who choose to live abroad do not understand something very fundamental about the world. The State of Israel was not established to make anti-Semitism disappear, but so that we can tell them to go fuck themselves. I am a Zionist. I got shot at in Lebanon, a Katyusha missile missed me by a few meters in Kiryat Shmona, missiles landed near my home in the Gulf War, I was in Sderot when the alarm sounded "red", terrorists exploded not far from my parents' home, my children sat in the shelter when they had still to pronounce their names, holding firm to their Grandma who came here from Poland to escape death. Still, I always felt fortunate that I live here, and nowhere else would be good for me. I am a Zionist. I think everyone who lives here should serve in the army, pay taxes, vote in elections and know the words to at least one song of Shalom Hanoh. I think that Israel is not only a place but an idea, and I firmly believe the additional three Commandments, engraved on the wall of the Holocaust Museum in Washington: "do not cooperate with evil, do not stand on the sidelines, do not be a victim". I am a Zionist. I lay on my back at the Vatican, had to marvel at the Sistine Chapel, I bought a postcard at the Cathedral of Notre - Dame de Paris and was very impressed with the Emerald Buddha and Watt temple - Bangkok. But I still believe that Tel Aviv is more mirthful, the Red Sea is greener and the Western Wall Tunnels provide a much stronger spiritual experience. True I'm not objective, but I'm not too objective about my wife and children, either. I am a Zionist. I'm The Man of Tomorrow but I also live my past. My lineage is Moses, Jesus, Maimonides, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, Woody Allen, Bobby Fischer, Bob Dylan, Franz Kafka, Herzl and Ben-Gurion. I am part of a tiny and persecuted minority, who influenced the world more than any other. While others

have invested their energies in blood and fire, we had the sense to invest intelligently. I am a Zionist. Sometimes I look around and I am filled with pride. Because I live better that over a billion Indians, 1.3 billion Chinese, both the African continents, 250 million Indonesians, Thais, Filipinos, Russians, Ukrainians and the whole Muslim World except for maybe the Sultan from Brunei. I live in a country under siege with no natural resources, yet the lights are always on, computers are connected to broadband internet, and "If I Forget Thee O Jerusalem Let Me Forget My Right Hand", but forget about finding a parking space. I am a Zionist. Zionism is natural to me as it is natural to me to be a father, husband, son. People who claim to be the only ones to represent the "real Zionism" are ridiculous in my eyes. My Zionism is not measured by the size of the Kipa, the neighborhood where I live, or the party I will vote for. Zionism was born long ago, on the snowy streets of a Budapest ghetto where my father stood and tried, in vain, to understand why the whole world is trying to kill him. I am a Zionist. Every time an innocent victim dies, I bow my head because I used to be an innocent victim. I have no desire, or intention, to accept the moral standards of my enemies. I do not want to be like them. I do not live on my sword, only hold it under my pillow. I am a Zionist. I have not only the birthright of the ancestors, but also the duty of the sons. The people who built this country lived and worked in conditions far worse than me, and yet were not satisfied with merely surviving. They tried to build a better country, a wise, more humane and moral place to live. They were willing to die for that purpose, I try to live for it.

Written in Hebrew by Yair Lapid