Love lalikoch

Peace can only come about when those who love freedom no longer have enemies.

Varick

That said, I really commend you for being such a caring friend, going out of your way to help your friends. I’m 26 and have battled an eating disorder for over a decade, and I know during my teenage years it was VERY difficult to find friends who cared or were willing to just be there without judging. As you pointed out, there is a lot of “that’s gross,” and “she’s doing it for attention.” That really hurts people’s feelings and adds to the stress they’re already feeling, which just adds fuel to the fire, so to speak.

You’re at a great position to make a difference in your friends’ lives, and I think sometimes just being there and listening is the most helpful thing a friend can do.

If your sympathies are with the Palestinians, you’ll note that they remain faceless in this ad, that it humanizes (and thus distorts) the soldiers they consider occupiers and oppressors, and comforts Israelis with the idea that things aren’t so bad after all.

Here’s another thought — imagine this same ad was created not by an Israeli company but somebody on the Palestinian side. Then the whole meaningmight be reversed — it might be seen as an attempt to undermine the Israelis’ image of the Arab, to gently mock the Israelis for throwing up the barrier in the first place and preferring to deal withe Palestinians as anything other than a military problem to be solved. Think of those Banksy graffitti on the walls, which also use humor to condemn the notion of separation.

As usual in the middle east, everything is in the eye of the beholder.

But my bottom line — the situation is too hot to be employed in the service of selling cell phones. Cellcom might have hd good intentions, but commercials by their nature tend to trivialize their subject matter.

Welcome to the NU blog and hope to see you here often.

Regards,
Robin