I was taking the bus between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and there were a lot of soldiers on board. The guy next to me leaned his M16 against the wall and nodded off. When they came to his stop part-way between cities, everyone shouted at him and he awoke and stumbled towards the door. I reached down, picked up his rifle and shouted "Hey, you forgot your rifle" while holding it up. Probably pretty stupid, but everyone saw the American on the bus - no Palestinians rode Israeli buses or cabs. A nearby guy grabbed it from me and they passed is up giving him. A lot of smacktalk in Hebrew.
This was during Obama's early years, when he was talking down Israel. Everyone asked and I said Obama has about 50/50 popular support even though he won the election. And I added my destain for Obama and support for Israel, so all went well.
Then there was the tousle in The Old City souk when I was tackled, along with a fleeing Arab shoplifter by Israeli shop security, then the local Israeli police, then the IDF. The Arab kept getting free and running and we kept getting tangled in the mess of responding security. The third time, I twisted my knee pretty bad. All the nearby Arabs pointed at me and said "He did it, he did it." I just said "I'm an American tourist and stole nothing." I got the thumb to take off, and limped away. There were numerous muzzles pointed at me throughout.
Another time, I was walking the terraces high overlooking the Western "Wailing" Wall and turned the corner to see a large group of armed soldiers and plainscloths police looking at something. I got a quick glance, the "get out of here" nod and retreated quickly.
Plenty of vintage rifles carried by young mens and women escorting groups of kids in from outlining areas. Armed guards everywhere. No empty meg wells, and I assume all firearms were loaded.
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