Jerusalem- 29/11/2019
The obvious thing I noticed, as many travelers before me have, is most Israelis abrupt, often aggressive demeanor. Many Israelis think nothing of pushing in front of queues, or yelling a coffee order from across a cafe. When I boarded a train to get to the Holocaust Museum, an older man stopped dead as soon as he entered the train, and a local woman yelled at me for some reason, which seemed a tad unfair. Soldiers are everywhere, uniformed and armed, at street corners, bus stations, and especially the Old City as previously mentioned. What I found even more bizarre is how often you see them in jeans and hoodies, with rifles slung, riding on trams or just walking around.
I found the staff at the capsule hotel I rested my head to be lovely, keen to help and to have a chat. The manager was keen to ask if I was having any problems, and worked to solve them, an older man working in the evenings helped with suggestions and gave me a decent primer on how many Jews are conflicted about visiting the Temple Mount. A young worker in the morning I left gave me great advice on getting to the airport ( which was thwarted by the train to Tel-Aviv being oddly cancelled, which everyone seemed to be confused about, but his efforts were still appreciated). The painfully beautiful and only woman working there told me that many Israelis will stop everything to help someone when asked, and I did experience a Hasidic Jew giving myself and an earnest American woman (he listened to her but answered as if I asked, which is a strange way of dealing with his religious rules) which tram to get back to central station. But this seemed to be quite an exception. For the most part I kept to myself and avoided eye contact, to save myself the disappointment.
So it was the Muslim Quarter I lingered to hang out, to drink thick Arabian style coffee, to get surprised, but genuine smiles when I took the time to pay in exact change. all the while Israeli soldiers stood around belligerently.
The charitable part of me wants to excuse their behavior on Israel being a young country, besieged on all signs by countries dynamically opposed to them, and they overcompensating. But I can’t help thinking that many people visit once, and never want to return after such a frosty reception.
Adrian's Got The Moose 
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