The doorbell rings in the middle of the night. Probably a mistake – someone pressed the wrong button or something. But she wakes up and immediately fears that she and her family will be tortured and slaughtered.
When she tells me about it the next day, I remember my Hitler dream as a child, that was very similar to her thoughts now.
How is it that our dreams are the sames over generations?
I listen to today’s news on the radio and then watch Al Jazeira. Same news but opposite. We talk about the Hamas headquarters in hospitals – they talk about bombing patients. We talk about how many Hamas terrorists were killed, they talk about children. We emphasize the humanitarian aid being given to the hundreds of thousands of Gazans who descended to the south, they talk about our bombing them. We talk about hostages, they talk about captives. They show footage of the wounded, the dead. We show footage of the hostages.
As for the West Bank, we are concerned with the numerous attacks on individual Israelis, they show our searches for attackers as invasions of cities.
and we both quote whatever parts of the speeches of politicians that suit our narratives.
Not a good way to begin a discussion of what is happening in this area. Not a good way to establish a means to understanding. But what choice do we have?
respect – a thought – nov 11, 2023 Read Post »
This is a post in progress – at least it’s a subject I think about a lot, especially as this situation deteriorates. Right now it is a ramble and you could easily skip it today and wait until I have something more organized to say.
today as I was talking to Oren and he introduced the subject of the need for respect for one another in this political situation, I suddenly realized what an enormous issue it is.
Let me begin with the fact that we don’t understand the mentality of the Palestinians and they don’t understand us. That’s the simple part. They know how to surprise and shock us, but they have no idea about how to deal with us, how to achieve their goals and respect our lives. Of course, they are not interested in understanding us – they just want to annihilate us, even at the cost of their own citizens. Their savagery proves they did not see us as human beings, and the term respect is meaningless.
At the same time, I have incredible respect for the Palestinian Israelis I have met, the way they have advanced their lives against all odds, the way they have incorporated both the West and the East, and in some ways transcended the difference between the two.
respect – nov 10, 2023 Read Post »
Wiley fellows, those Hamas guys. Here I was waiting for a rocket at our friends’ house, saying “I’ll leave AFTER the next barrage,” and it didn’t come. And we went home – went to sleep dressed and ready – and it didn’t come. So after a night like that we had to take a nap the next afternoon – and the siren goes off.
And of course Ezi has to take pictures – four rockets shot down over our heads.
He takes good pictures, you’ve got to admit it.
rockets -nov 10, 2023 Read Post »
I was getting used to it – 9500 rockets have fallen on us in the course of a month – in a space of 8,550.2 mi² – but most of them on Tel Aviv, Rishon leZion, Ashkelon, and Ashdod. They aim for highly populated areas.
So every day our little area would get about 2-3 rockets – usually from the afternoon and evening. That usually left us pretty much frozen to the news. But today there were no rockets – yet. Now I don’t know what to do.
where’s my rocket? – nov 9, 2023 Read Post »
In Habima Square they placed 240 empty beds for the hostages, to remind us of their existence. In fact, there are reminders everywhere – posters on columns, on walls, on the backs of motorcyclists, wherever there is space. We’re responsible for each citizen, and we take this responsibility seriously.
My grandson goes down south to pick vegetables left by dead farmers. My daughter does counseling for survivors of the massacre, my other grandson sorts clothing people have donated for the refugees. Every family has volunteers.
Only our government has been busy squirreling away more allotments for yeshivot instead of providing for survivors.
240 hostages – where do they sleep? Nov 9, 2023 Read Post »
.https://michaeldickel.info/2023/11/08/weeks-after-the-massacre/
poems – nov 9, 2023 Read Post »
Every morning the announcement comes of what has been destroyed the night before. Sometimes it’s
Every morning the announcement comes of what has been destroyed the night before. Sometimes it’s a little old folks’ apartment in Ashkelon, sometimes it’s an elegant house, sometimes a part of a hospital, something the yard of a school. But almost every time, people are not hurt because there have been shelters built into the buildings, or people have been evacuated from the building. Don’t blame Hamas for the small casualties here. They have been arranged years ago – and not with cement donated by foreign countries that wound up being used for Hamas tunnels.
morning – oct 8, 2023 Read Post »
