Yiftach Ofek in The Hedgehog Review:
The recent death of Milan Kundera brought me back to the fall of 2006, to the aftermath of what we Israelis call the Second Lebanon War, when I first read his work.
It was the first year of my military service as a junior spokesman to the foreign press. And like much of the Israeli population, I was angry and confused. What began as a limited military operation quickly escalated into an all-out conflict with what turned out to be a well-armed, well-trained, and well-funded militia. The Israel Defense Forces, too accustomed to the relative low intensity that characterized the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, was caught radically underprepared. Cities as far from the northern border as Haifa were targeted daily. The government responded with weakness and hesitation, or so it seemed at the time.
Experts say we did not lose that war. But it felt as though we did.
It was then that I picked up The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a book I had intended to read for some time. It provided the perfect antidote to my personal and existential malaise.
More here.