israeli politics

i’m not sure of the source of this list – but it is incredibly good advice for people in Israel – and maybe Iran as well:

Hello dear tenants and residents:
My name is Idan and I live here in the building – I am a firefighter.
In recent days, we firefighters have been working hard and have been exposed to quite a few buildings that have been destroyed… (destruction sites)
I am attaching a list of some insights from a few days of work, hoping that we will not have to implement them and that we will meet in stuck elevators and barbecues in the attics 🙂
Some important conclusions and recommendations for your consideration:
1.⁠ ⁠Leave shoes in the emergency room, ⁠Gd forbid if you are rescued or need to leave on your own, you will not want to go out barefoot, especially as the floor at the site will full of shrapnel and glass.
2.⁠ ⁠Leave a prepared bag in the emergency room with clothes for a day or two, important personal items, passports, money, documents and critical medications, which if you, Gd forbid, need to evacuate, you can take with you. Most people who evacuate are not allowed to return to their apartment until further notice.
3.⁠ ⁠For those with animals, please note that if you evacuate to take with you or report to the rescuers.
4.⁠ ⁠If you leave the house on your own, put a note on the door saying that you left and include a phone number. This will prevent rescuers from breaking into your apartment to see if someone needs rescuing. (Prepare the sign ahead of time)
5.⁠ *Recommendation to each building’s va’ad bayit: establish a list of tenants that includes current phone numbers and the number of tenants in each apartments. It helps a lot to quickly map the building and its residents, and to find out if someone is missing or just at another location.
Gd forbid that we have to implement any of this
May we know better days
Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱
 
 

good advice – 6.16.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

shooting range - 6.16.25

Last night Iran’s targets were population centers in Israel.  Eight people died and countless families lost their homes.  Ballistic rockets to an apartment building are certain to do damage to human beings as well as their dwellings, and it’s anybody’s guess who will wake up in the morning.  Of course we all spent the night trying to keep safe, so of course most of us are sleepless.  I’ve never been one of those ducks in a shooting range before.  This is a new experience and it tops the previous 4 years of uncertainty.

 

shooting range -6.16.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

update - 6.16.25

it’s 5 in the morning and we’ve been up all night – in and out of shelter – and checking on neighbors and friends.  will we get some sleep now or will the adrenaline keep us checking on loved ones ?  let’s see.  

In the meantime, thanks to all of you for your care and support.  We will be needing it for a long while, even if a miracle happens and it stops tonight.

 

update – 6.16.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

a little personal portrait - 6.15.25

This is my personal experience:

We live in a building of 18 apartments with a shelter in the basement.  The original tenants are Jewish people who bought their apartments here in the ‘70s and are now quite old.  The ones who died left their apartments to their children who rent them out.  Most of those tenants are young and Arab, and on weekends usually go back to their villages.

We are in charge of the building.  That means Ezi is not only responsible for the maintenance of the shelter, for providing a chemical toilet, water, electricity, etc. And for knowing where the tenants are and who needs help.  There is no internet, but we’re now working on getting the lines down there so that people can be updated on the situation during an attack, and find out about the situation of their loved ones. 

My kids and grandkids live in buildings that are not as safe, and we try to connect after each attack to find out how they are.

These preparations have not been necessary in the past because attacks were never this long and this destructive.  Standing in the staircase was usually sufficient preparation for a rocket attack. 

Last night dozens of houses all around the country were destroyed.  One case: a thousand-pound rocket attack in Tamra, a quiet Moslem village, killed a family of four, and there have been other victims all over the country. 

I knew one of the tenants in our building comes from a village not far from there, and was relieved to see her enter the shelter.  “Where were you last night?” I exclaimed.  “We were worried.”  She smiled.  She is Bedouin and very calm and practical (except when someone takes her parking space). 

Iran is 80 times the size of Israel and has been promising our destruction since the Ayatollahs took over their country.

The old people (including me) sit together and reminisce about meeting in the shelter in previous wars. “Yes, Desert Storm – that was when we wore masks.” “Oh, in the ’73 war we only came down here once.”  This seems to comfort us…

One of the younger families sleeps in the shelter and ask us to be quieter.

Some of the people from visiting buildings or people caught in the street at the time of the attack sit in another corner and chatter.  They try to be considerate, but they are a bit hysterical as well. 

I hope this gives a little microcosm.

a little personal detail – 6.15.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

first one tonight - 6.14.25

This evening could have been a scene in a slapstick comedy.  Finally understanding how dangerous Iranian missiles can be, we opened all our windows so they wouldn’t shatter, made sure to eat early so we wouldn’t have to do the dishes after the rocket attack, arranged a transistor radio that would work in the shelter. and at the first warning, went down to the shelter. There we met all the elderly neighbors who had not gone down to the shelter before. preferring to wait in the staircase.   This time it was predicted to be really serious. But the rockets fell elsewhere and the actual warning to find cover never arrived.  So they continued gossiping for half an hour and went home.  

I’m sure the rockets will come later, when we’re all fast askeep.

 

first one tonight – 6.14.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

What a Night! - 6.14.25

We’re told we’ll be having another night like last night – with one rocket barrage after another.  I know if you’re reading this note it is clear you keep up with the news, so I’ll just tell you about what some of it feels like from inside.  

We’ve been visiting our roomy shelter often for the past 2 years.  Usually there are a few neighbors and a passerby or two.  But last night there was no room to move.  I thought it was a proof of the increased fear, but it turns out one of the neighbors published an invitation on social media so a whole bunch of people came along.  And we were there for a few hours off and on. 

it was not fun.  we don’t have internet in the shelter so we wait for the alarms and argue about whether we can shut the doors or leave it open for stragglers.  It’s a moral problem that troubled me almost as much as the life and death problem of whether our house is destroyed.  That shows you to what depths I can descend.

 

what a night! -6.14.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

signs of life - 6.14.25

When I first started this journal – in April of 2001 – it was to tell people who worried about me that we were all right, despite the dangerous situation.  So I’m back to the beginning – We’re okay. – even though I couldn’t take calls yesterday and spent part of the day in denial and the other part shuddering and frowning in a crowded shelter.  Let’s hope today will be more in control.

 

signs of life – 6.14.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

unity -6.13.25

After our smashing of 100 rockets from Iran heading for our neighborhood, I think we should be congratulated for one thing – unifying all the Arab countries.  

So by the humor I guess you realize that as of noon today we’re okay.  but we’re still hosting the family that has no shelter.

 

unity – 6.13.25 Read Post »