What is all this stuff they keep telling me and my kid about ‘homeland’? What, am I supposed to completely ignore the fact that I was born in the US? I mean I do connect to Israel, and I’d really like my kids to do so as well, but this whole connection between people and place just makes me feel uncomfortable.

I know we should be loyal to Israel, or at least keep our criticisms of Israel to ourselves. But I’m not sure what that means any more – let alone know how to explain it to my kids. I wish I could just tell my kids that they have to love Israel and that’s it, but I can’t. It’s more complicated than that. How do I get them to understand that you can bitch about a country that’s so important to you?

This morning there was a piece on TV about the Separation Wall. It’s clear that the kids want to talk about it. Israel looked really bad. To be honest, I think the reporter’s approach was right – the wall is a terrible thing. At the same time, I don’t want to completely trash Israel for my kids. What’s an intelligent way of talking about this, without letting Israel off the hook, but also making sure my kids get how complicated it is?