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As far as the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 is concerned, for me as a Jew it has little significance. The state was a guarantee that the status of Jews in the world will be different, that’s one thing, and the second is that if some problems arise again, people will have someplace to go. Today Israel has the opportunity to come forward, whether in the UN or wherever, and express its opinion. During the Israeli wars I was very angry, because the Communists presented the entire situation the wrong way around. They branded Israel as the aggressor, while the opposite is true. You know, there are recordings that show the Arab leaders talking about how they’ll drive all Jews into the sea. The Communists twisted it around and people believed it. When something is repeated many times, it’s said that even a lie becomes the truth. However, I don’t recall anti-Jewish sentiments from that time. Only in television and radio, they accused Israel of aggression.
I visited Israel for the first time in 1992. The entire country surprised me, in the positive sense of the word: the housing developments, how they were able to turn the desert into fields, their whole irrigation systems. How, with such a lack of water, they were able to ensure a developed state that was able to compete with any other country in the world. That means that Israel is viable. Today it’s a developed country, that is agriculturally industrial, that has such economic successes that others learn from it, mainly those that go there to work. That is something incredible. And then the cities that they built, people see that. As opposed to the Arab side: an Arab has a beautiful house built, but around it there’s nothing, a wasteland. A Jewish village isn’t built as luxuriously, but houses have gardens, greenery, trees and so on. Those are the differences.
I visited Israel for the first time in 1992. The entire country surprised me, in the positive sense of the word: the housing developments, how they were able to turn the desert into fields, their whole irrigation systems. How, with such a lack of water, they were able to ensure a developed state that was able to compete with any other country in the world. That means that Israel is viable. Today it’s a developed country, that is agriculturally industrial, that has such economic successes that others learn from it, mainly those that go there to work. That is something incredible. And then the cities that they built, people see that. As opposed to the Arab side: an Arab has a beautiful house built, but around it there’s nothing, a wasteland. A Jewish village isn’t built as luxuriously, but houses have gardens, greenery, trees and so on. Those are the differences.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Otto Schvalb