September 17, 2019 "Information Clearing House" - It makes no difference what their names are. The privacy of the two women (age 28 and 43) whom I’ll mention here is more important. What’s more, their presumably private business is an excellent representation of the Israeli problem. (Click here for live election updates. Here for latest polls)

I’ll come to the Israeli problem at the end. Let’s begin with the women. They’re another two cancer patients, of course. From the Gaza Strip, of course. And both need radiation and other life-saving treatments that aren’t available in Gaza. Both received appointments for treatment at the Palestinian Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem.

Admit it (that is, those of you who didn’t stop at the second sentence). You’re tired of reading the same story again and again. You’re tired of reading about another person who aside from the torment caused by the disease and the natural fears of it, experiences the added suffering tax that Israel imposes on every Palestinian: a nerve-racking wait for an exit permit that at best is granted several weeks after the request and at worst is refused.

The truth? I’m tired of it too. I’m tired of hearing from another daughter that her father is fading away before her eyes and there’s no exit permit. I’m tired of burrowing into the intimate medical history of a stranger, just as the young soldier-clerk does at the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. I’m tired of perusing the insistent correspondence of Physicians for Human Rights that reminds that same soldier-clerk that the request has been submitted so and so many times.