blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

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 »

israeli politics

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 »

israeli politics

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 »

israeli politics

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 »

israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

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 »

israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

When the hospital in Gaza was bombed on October 24, it took the Gazans minutes to blame Israel and to number the dead at 500.  Soon after it became clear that it was a misfired Jihad rocket that hit the parking lot of the hospital and that the number was more like 50. 

So who can you believe?  I see pictures of kids lining up for water….  but then some of the pictures of injuries and fallen buildings I’ve seen before, and often in other places.  there is a disconnect between the photos in the papers and the subtitles.

So what I can vouch for is the number of times I’ve heard a siren in my neighborhood tonight, the number of booms I’ve heard, or the number of times the building has shook, and the evening is still young. 

 

wish i knew – nov 7, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

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The 240 hostages in Gaza, the stories of survivors, the vegetables harvested by volunteers – I want to tell you about it all – but I can only show you a tiny piece of it.

I suddenly fell apart at a memorial in the military cemetery this afternoon – after buying so many vegetables from the south I had no energy to put away, and visiting the exhibits of families of hostages.  I looked at all the graves of soldiers and saw there was room for so many more….

 

 

what is left – nov 6, 2023 Read Post »