We’re trying to do normal things. Of course we go to the beach – this is the best time of the year for swimming in a calm, warm sea. But today we also stopped on the way back from the cardiologist to buy kitchen chairs. What fun to go to an enormous warehouse and try out every table and chairs, pretending each display is part of your pretend house. In every setup we tried different identities and situations and meals.
I came home very hungry, so we had lunch in our meager kitchen and are off the beach.
whoops sorry – because today was the first major rain, running through all the pipes to the sea after a long summer, the sea is now filthy and we can’t swim there yet. So we’ll just walk on the beach –
and try to ignore all the little explosions in Lebanon – so many people killed and wounded…
last week three ladies went to the synagogue that Yuli Edelstein attends and put flyers with pictures of the hostages on the seats. The next day they were arrested, handcuffed and charged. They were sentenced to five days of house arrest. Here’s the most neutral article I’ve seen.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-820045
I don’t know who called the cops – it wasn’t the synagogue or the people who were there at the time. But they were summoned.
I am ashamed I didn’t tell you about it – but I was also ashamed it could happen in Israel. And when Edelstein himself backed the decision, I was mortified.
With war on seven fronts, Bibi has decided to fire the commander-in-chief and put in place some one with no experience in the military. This is reason for a revolution. Will we have the nerve? I for one shudder when I think of demonstrating right now – I am too frail. And yet, I can’t imagine where else in the world I could be in a situation like this.
So on the one hand we are making appointments for flu shots and on the other hand we’re updating our wills and making sure there are copies available to all.
Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon (Iran) – they’re all shooting at us. Our government is crazier than ever. And I’m watching Alfred Hitchcock. I’m at the point where escape is the only alternative.
Someone asked me today if I have no sympathy for the Gazans. And my heart would be full of sympathy if they hadn’t be causing us such grief and pain. We tell each other about this all the time – making our own lives even more miserable – but the desperation doesn’t get out to the world. I don’t have the exact numbers because some have left the country, some have found alternative lives elsewhere, but most of them have simply lost their souls. My friend up north has begun to realize that she will never get back home, because even if there is a cease fire she is no longer capable of maintaining herself. The blank looks of the people sitting in hotel lobbies haunt me.
In zooms, in the places in Israel untouched by rockets and trauma I see normal people, some scared, some scarred, some holding on, and some even optimistic about tomorrow. But I don’t see that anyone outside this country knows about it.
What do Arabs and Jews in this neighborhood have in common right now? Fear. The mafia grenade that ignited a car that ignited a shop in Ramla is just the latest disaster visited on the poor Arab community. I can’t forget what happened to Naim Araidi’s son in Maghrar.
We should be taking care of every single person in the country, and we’re not taking care of anyone, especially not the Arab population.
We’re also not taking care of ourselves, and it is pretty clear that our country is being run by very unstable people and we are in trouble.
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I keep writing about the homeless people in Israel, how we have been trying to provide help to the displaced thousands but lately have let their disappear into the background. With schools opening and no schools to go to, the families have been suffering more than ever, and we’re beginning to forget that they need new clothes and new toys. But mostly, they need to go home.
And there’s no way. My friend from Metula is contantly checking to see if her house blew up because the rockets are falling like rain. The mayor usually informs them when this happens, but she is always thinking about it.
I began with this link to the UN watch site because it’s not only the UN that is ignoring this issue of refugees – but the rest of the world as well. Have you seen any news about it? Neither have I. Perhaps Susan Sarandon should be informed….
If you watch any news on tv here, you know that they are very busy showing us the terrible conditions hostages live — and died — in. The idea behind it is to put pressure on the government to remember that the sacredness of human life comes first in Judaism and it is sacrilege to forget that, but it is so horrendous it is breaking our broken hearts again and again. I think that never in history has a people been so subject to psychological and physical torture. Sure there was torture in ancient times too – but now you have to watch it as well. And for many, while you’re living in a tiny room, far from the home you built that is being bombed daily.