A Pause Between Disasters (2013) — Shay Golden

"To me, life is a series of courage tests."

"Overall, I would say our situation is not bad. And if we just move aside the entire government, the media, the army, the security services, the court, the families of the kidnapped, the Americans, the protesters, and Hamas and Hezbollah, then absolute victory is really just a matter of time." — June 20, 2024"

"I consciously chose to be authentic and real. This has many controversial aspects, but I told myself that if Im already putting myself out there, its better to tell the truth. To be a poster figure that rewrites itself and checks how everything it says will look and affect it—how can one live such a life? Its better to die. The tragedy of people who avoid lifes pleasures, their thoughts, the actions they want to do. We have gatekeepers who maintain social order."

"There is nothing in our early childhood that even begins to resemble a normal childhood. In the orphanages, we experienced and were exposed to sexual abuse and violence. We were devoid of identity, growing up with a deep sense of rejection. They adopted us, and in an instant, I became Shay of whom? Of Golden. I will forever roam the world with this shiny name that I was given. I truly was given it, and above all, I was given my parents." — on his adoptive parents"

"It is an exile mentality rooted in the Jewish complex that is ashamed of itself and wants to please the non-Jews to survive in a universal space. Here lies the paradox; they suppress Jewish symbols from a survivalist standpoint. They are willing to erase Judaism but forget that a nation without a national identity cannot exist." — on those fighting against religious coercion"

"I think a very cynical generation of journalists has grown in Israel, deeply believing that the public is stupid, that the readers are Neanderthal baboons. I reject this notion. They are given sensationalistic and loud tabloids with subpar headlines and subheadings, texts at a high school level with wit, irony, and knowledge that wouldnt pass a first-year journalism course. The front pages of the newspapers look like they were written by a horny, childish, uneducated teenager lacking historical sense and a complex worldview."