Why Israel-Illustrated?

A couple of years ago I was in another country. I was standing in the kitchen of this big office, and when people asked me where I was from.

I said, "Israel".
A young woman turned to me, with a bit of an Arab accent:
"Tell me," she said, "Why do you poison the wells in the Palestinian villages?"

When I managed to pick up my jaw from the floor, I looked at her.
She looked just like me, just like you - A young proffesional, western clothes, normal.
"What kind of monsters do you think we are?" I said.

Actually  I shouted that last bit. The conversation evolved into a heated argument where I tried to explain that 90% of what you hear about Israeli activities in the West Bank are manipulative lies.

They are made to make you hate me, I said to that woman, you'll never get proof of anything, and whoever said it to you wanted to you be afraid. Of me.

She said people she trusted told her this is true.

I asked her to LOOK AT ME. I was in the army for almost two years. I taught cadets how to fire an M16 and an Uzi, I taught history and geography, but never how to shoot children.

I was so appalled. I think she was too. To her credit, she sat and listened. It was the first time she had ever heard the other side of "The Conflict".

I don't know if she believed a word I said. I hope so.
This is when this site was born.
It took me some time to figure out what it should be. I'm still working on it. 

My name is Netta Canfi, and I'm Israeli.

I have moved around a lot in this little country of mine. I was born in the desert, inhaled the pines of Jerusalem and drank beer on the beach in Tel Aviv. 

I want to tell the Israeli Story, the place that I live in.
Not in order to prove anything, not to say who's right and who's wrong, but to try and make some sense of this inexplicable country.

Nothing about Israel is simple.
Every story has at least 3 sides - different people, different gods, different versions of history.

And in the middle of all that, are people who are just getting on with their lives.

I'm an Animator and a StoryTeller. I'm also a glider pilot, now a CFIG - I teach people how to fly.

Seeing Israel from cloud base has affected my views of the world. Israel is so small you wouldn't believe it. It's like a stitch on the face of the Earth.

This piece of land ties three continents together - Africa, Asia and Europe. So much of human history flowed thru here, so many events that shaped the history of the human race.

It is a junction - of ideas, peoples and weather systems.

I wish to tell you about life in Israel that you won't hear about on the news. The everyday life that we call "normal", and how it's not, really.
Normal, I mean.
I want to show the humanity in this place. I want to understand why people are willing to spill blood over this land. I want to find a parking spot in Tel Aviv. 

So this is what I'll do:
Tell the story. Show it. Get word out. Argue, debate, fact-check, talk to someone.
Tell things like they are, but not worse than they are, and not beautify it either.

This site is neither a pretty Keren Kayemet Poster, nor some political-anything manifesto.
It's my story of life in Israel.
I hope it will turn into a conversation.

Follow Me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nettacanfi/