Protective Edge

As I started taking notes on this post, so many thoughts came to mind that I didn’t know what to write first. Here is the final copy:

First, the back story of what provoked the current war which we defend was named Operation Protective Edge. Today, July 15, is the seventh day of the ongoing war.  

On June 12^th, three teens, Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Sha'ar,16, and Naftali Frenkel,16, were hitchhiking in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.  Two Hamas militants were disguised as religious Jews, which is what lured the teens to get in the car. After hearing this news, the IDF, or Israeli Defense Forces (the Army) was searching for the boys and the kidnappers around the area where it took place.

                                

Shortly after the boys entered the car, they realized what was going on and one of the boys called an emergency service center. Just seconds after Gilad had told the operator they have been kidnapped, in panic, the militants fired at the boys ten times. The fact that they used a silenced firearm to kill the boys proves that this they intended to murder teens from the start.

The people behind this evil crime is a terrorist organization called Hamas. “The organization is based on an extreme religious ideology and is as committed to Jihad as its Islamist counterparts now carrying out terrorist atrocities in Kenya, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere. Hamas' "added value" is the antisemitism that is engrained in the core of its beliefs and its dedication to the destruction of Israel,” as quoted by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. Not only did Hamas not take responsibility for the kidnapping, or any of it’s previous crimes against Israel but a Hamas spokesperson said the following: “any Israeli response will open the gates of hell,” as quoted by The Times of Israel article. Throughout the search, over 500 Palestinians thought to be a part of this abduction, mostly Hamas members, were arrested.

After 18 days of tireless searching, the country had received news that the bodies were found in a field less than 20 kilometers away from where they were abducted. Saddened by yet another tragedy, Israel and it’s people, gathered together to pray for these innocent boys’ souls. If you take one Israeli’s life, you take every Israeli’s heart with him. The people of Israel are a pretty united society, in part because of the size of the country. It is roughly the size of Maryland, the ninth smallest country in the US, with a total of 9,774 miles or 25,314 kilometers.

On television, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that "Anyone trying to harm Israeli civilians will be harmed in return.” This is a fair statement considering Israel, just like any other country, has the right to defend itself and it’s people. If missiles are being launched at your citizens, would you take action or stand back and let them harm you?

Since the extremist organization Hamas were so outraged that we arrested so many of their people, including the Palestinian terrorist involved in the Gilad Shalit kidnapping, they started shooting missiles at Israel on July 8^th. Another war had begun.

Tel Aviv has the hustle and bustle of a metropolitan city; cafes on every corner, chic restaurants and fashionable people. It has been compared to New York City many times. On the second day of the Operation, I was walking on Dizengoff Street, a main shopping street in Tel Aviv, and could not believe what I heard. No, not a siren. I could actually hear the birds chirping, not the people. It was almost silent. No screaming kids, no shouting friends, no cars honking, and not much laughter. The mood was somber and gloomy, instead of joyful and loud.

With five days of non-stop rocketfire coming into Israel, and the Israeli’s responding, PM Netanyahu warned Hamas that if they don’t take quiet for quiet, the situation will escalate.

40,000 reservists, including some of my friends, have been called to prepare for the next steps in this war. The soldiers will be on standby, ready to make a move at any moment! 

Although Hamas is a very extreme terrorist group, they are good at one thing. Their Photoshop skills are up to par. What do I mean? Their people are very good at falsely showing the world what really happened. They edit a picture with Arab men on a mountain of rubble, from another war, and blame Israeli’s in the caption for the outcome of that picture. Oftentimes, the location of the old picture, is actually from another Muslim country, like in the link below. The original picture was taken in Syria a few months ago. Or better yet, they edit a picture to make it seem like the Israeli soldiers are attacking you! Also, all of their empty threats that Hamas will bomb all the cafes, and streets of Israel just proves to show that they know Israel has a stronger military and Air Force.

https://twitter.com/Shahidmasooddr/status/487929807913889792

Once the siren goes off, how long do you have to get to safety? The times range from fifteen seconds to 90 seconds depending on the distance the Israeli city they are targeting is to the Gaza Strip. The neighboring Israeli cities of the Strip have fifteen seconds to run to safety. If the alarm catches a mom in the car with children, chances are they won’t make it to safety. Because of this life-threatening situation, most Israeli residents that surround the terrorists land have a room designated as the bomb shelter. In areas like these, the alarm sounds so often that they often stay in the shelter for hours on end. And if you live in an old building with no bomb shelter than the residents just stand in the stairways or hallways until the siren has ended. Hamas throws missles to cities and towns all across Israel, hoping to kill as many Jewish civilians as possible. But they have not succeeded in doing so.

Why does Israeli have almost no casualties and there are 1000+ dead in the Gaza Strip? The Israeli people can thank the Iron Dome, an anti-missle defence system, for their safety. After detecting the Red Alert siren that warns you to get to a shelter, the system determines under 10 seconds if the missle will land in an open field or hit a building. In case of the latter, the Iron Dome sends a counter-missle to intercept it in mid-air. The accuracy rate of the system is around 90 percent! The Iron Dome batteries are placed in cities where citizens are most threatened by missles. It is literally a lifesaver for all of the Israelis. Let’s look at the numbers, shall we? “Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge seven days ago, the IDF has attacked over 1,220 targets in the Gaza Strip, among them 632 rocket launchers, 130 military basis, 106 "command and control infrastructure” and 222 tunnels,” as read on the Ynetnews Facebook page. There has only been one casualty on the Israeli side and only a handful of wounded. 

More details on how it works:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2011/apr/11/israel-iron-dome-missile-defence-interactive

This is the best clip you'll see of the Iron Dome in action (notice the # of missiles):
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152235745348225&set=vb.690623224&type=2&theater 

But what is the reason for such a gap in the death poll? Both the Gazans and Israelis are throwing rockets but both have different strategies and intentions. The Israeli Army’s goal is to kill ONLY the terrorists that threaten the lives of their citizens. It is proven that Israeli’s don’t want to harm those not involved, since their methods of attack is as follow: they drop 2,000 leaflets warning the Palestinians to leave the vicinity, since they will be attacking it shortly. A quote from a New York Times article, July 8^th: “A resident of southeast Gaza receives a phone call saying ‘Everyone in the house must leave within five minutes, because it is going to be bombed.’ ” They also make over 100,000 phone calls to the residents telling them to evacuate. This is done to reduce civilian casualties. In addition, there is something called the ‘Roof Knock strategy.’ This is when a small rocket makes a small knock on the target, in order to warn them to evacuate the building before the real rocket hits.

Hamas deliberately tells people NOT to leave their homes when they receive the call or the leaflet. This way, they win either way; if the IAF (Israeli Air Force) does take action then the Palestinians can tell the media that the Israelis killed x number of their citizens. When the IAF doesn’t take action, because they see innocent civilians on the rooftops or around the target, then the terrorist was saved. They take advantage of the humane nature of the Israelis. Each year, Israeli hospitals open their doors to thousands of West Bank and Gaza residents! The picture below proves that Israeli's have a good heart by taking care of innocent people, even if they aren't their citizens. I challenge you to name ONE Army or country that is just as ethical as the IDF!

Hamas takes it one step further by disguising a military training compound (used as training grounds) in a terrorists house that is located in a schools backyard!!! So what does the inside of these ’houses’ look like?

    

This picture makes you realize that Hamas is protecting their missles with civilians and Israelis are protecting their civilians with missiles.

As of today, July 15, 2014, the Air Force has the go ahead to resume airstrikes in Gaza, after Gaza didn’t follow through with the cease-fire early this morning. “Israel had struck 1,320 sites within Gaza resulting in 170 deaths and over 1,000 injured,” as printed on Wikipedia. From July 15^th, more than 1,000 rockets have been launched at Israel from Gaza into Israel. I am praying for the safety of the Israeli citizens and even more, for the safety of the soldiers, who so bravely defend our country! Also for this war to stop very soon, because neither side deserves to live like this!

Here is a great video of ten myths that prevent peace with the Arabs:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=630107010349283&set=vb.100000499684351&type=2&theater

This post is not meant to inflict hate on one particular group. It is meant to spread knowledge and the facts of reality.

I want to leave you with two quotes that explain the situation quite simply:

“Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.”

-Golda Meir, 4^th Prime Minister of Israel in 1969

“If the Arabs lay down their arms there will be no more war, but if Israel lays down its weapons, there would be no more Israel.

-PM Netanyahu

               

                                                         עם ישראל חי 

                                                       

Only In Israel (OII)

While waiting on the sidewalk to cross the street, an old lady approached me - as if I had met her before-  and asked me something in Hebrew. Understanding only half of what she said, I wrinkled my forehead. She asked me "At mevina oti?" (Do you understand me?). I said No. After she rephrased it, I understood and agreed to help.

When the light turned green, I held her soft, wrinkly hand to help her cross the street. She wasn't feeling  so good so she wanted to make sure she would make it safely to the other side. And she did. As our hands parted, she thanked me and wished me a Shana Tovah (Happy New Year).

Only in Israel is the bond so close between citizens that you ask a complete stranger for help, but feel like they will do anything to make sure you are okay, even though they met you five minutes ago!

Take a Walk

After dinner with a girlfriend in Yafo, I took one look at the view of Tel Aviv, felt the breeze against my skin and decided to walk back to my place in South TLV.

As I heard the waves crashing, I heard Hebrew and Arabic in passing, as well as the typical French and Russian. Along the whole boardwalk I saw the following: friends talking on a bench, people drinking in parking lots, couples having a romantic moment on the beach, an Muslim family taking pictures, friends and couples eating dinner and having drinks, passerby's exercising and riding bikes, an Israeli family having a BBQ... While all of this is happening I can't help to think to myself that it is 11pm on a Saturday night (the last night of the weekend in Israel) and it seems like Friday's in America. So much action yet tranquility at the same time! I thought at that very moment that I'm so lucky to be able to experience a life like this; of 90% joy and happiness. Israel is very much like Europe; most smoke and the cafe's are full 24/7. There's a laid back attitude here. There's a mentality of 'I can do it later' which is good and bad, but mostly good because they enjoy the now. This is one of the reasons why I love the life in Israel... they don't merely exist, they live!

When I arrived home, I felt like the stroll was well worth it, and I felt the positive energies from this country! There is no place like Israel!

You know your Israeli or are in Israel when... (TLV edition)

- you wear sandalim daily
- the water that's dripping on you is not rain, it's water from the air conditioning pipe
- you see a crib on wheels used as a stroller.. with minimum 4 kids in it
- you take the NO PARKING sign as a recommendation
- you wear jeans/ cargo shorts/ sneakers to a wedding
- you see kids squatting next to a tree because the closest bathroom is too far away
- an Israeli asks an oleh/ tourist "From where are you?"
- you say "Ufff" when something bad happens
- you are standing in a blob instead of a line
- kids shrug their right shoulder and lean head to the right instead of simply saying No.
- you ask for cups of water and get it at the end of the meal, if at all
- you wind the paper towel around your hand ten times only to clean up a little spill
- you put the used toilet paper in the tube
- your answer to most questions are ככה
- the only way cars stop at the pedestrian crosswalk is to start crossing
- you smell the delicious shabbat meal of your religious neighbors
- you can't text on sidewalks or you will step on multiple piles of dog shit
- there are more cats on the street than people
- someone is trying to bargain on a sale item

Feel free to contribute :)

Yom HaZicaron

Today is Yom HaZicaron, Memorial Day for all of the fallen soldiers that sacrificed their lives for the independence and the existence of Israel. On this day, most businesses are closed; restaurants, nightclubs, theaters, etc, to not distract from this day.

On my way to the memorial ceremony, the planned siren went off in the whole country. All drivers stopped their cars, even those on the highway, all pedestrians stopped walking. I took off my headphones, stood still and in silence for one minute to observe this moment. I have never been a part of such a touching moment!

There were about a thousand people at the ceremony at Rabin Square; the lucky ones sitting by the stage. There was an opening speech and then the performances began. A singer sang a few songs then a video of family members, girlfriends, who had a son or partner, pass away during a war were being interviewed, showing pictures, black & white videos of war... It was very emotional. Then a different artist came on stage to sing more sad songs and so on. Most of the people that attended the ceremony can relate to this situation; since this country is on the small scale chances are they know someone who was killed in a war. I, a citizen of this country for nearly two years, have a friend whose brother died in the Second Lebanon War. It is simply the way of life here. Israel has been fighting for itself, literally since the day it gained independence in 1948.

Tel Aviv like I've never seen before

Tel Aviv is to Israel what Manhattan is to New York. Most young people from not only Israeli cities and towns, but also from all over the world, strive to live in Tel Aviv. It is a young, chic, expensive and fast-paced city. This comparison became much more a reality this week. For a city that has summer six months out of the year, and the winter season averaging at 17 degrees 〫(63 degrees ), this abrupt weather change came out of left field. The Tel Aviv residents were in shock Monday when they woke up to shaking windows from the strong winds, and air so frigid they were wearing layers under their clothes, thick jackets, gloves and hats -- if they owned them! We had about two days of this uncommon weather before it also started to hail - not once, but twice in one day. On top of this, the Ayalon highway was flooded so people couldn't even get to work! The weather caused a bit of a detour and distraction for Isael. As I lay in bed around midnight with Under Armour under my pajamas, long socks, a blanket on top of my comforter, windows and shutters closed with the heater on, I was pretty convinced I was in New York!

But the Tel Aviv weather was nothing compared to Jerusalem and the north of the country where it was snowing!! Yes, I was also not aware that snowing in parts of the Middle East was a common occurrence. Families stayed home from school and work and bundled up to make snowmen. The surrounding neighborhoods (by surrounding I mean towns as far as an hour away) visited Jerusalem to see what all of the hype was about! But don't be mistaken. This weather is not enough to stop believers from visiting the Wailing Wall.

Happy winter to all. Stay warm!

Just another day

Today I was just getting over a stomach bug. My day was slow and tiresome. I took a nap in the middle of the day. When I woke up I went straight to my couch to watch tv and see what was new on the web. About two minutes later, I hear an alarm. After a few seconds I realize it is the Red Alert alarm. I automatically think back to when I first heard the Red Alert alarm in Beer Sheva, when I was volunteering for the army. But this was different. It was going off in MY city, where is hasn't gone off since the Gulf War in 1991. For those of you who are not familiar with Tel Aviv, it is like the Manhattan of Israel; young, hip and expensive. It doesn't get targeted much during wars but that was about to change.

After I realized it was the alarm to warn us that a rocket has been launched in the area, I put down my computer in panic. I ran to the door and unlocked the door. Once I locked my door, I realized I didn't have my cell phone on me and started to wonder if that was a mistake. I didn't know for how long I will be out of there. 

I didn't know where our bomb shelter was in the building so I asked the woman calming walking down the stairs, while reading something on her cell phone, "Where is the bomb shelter?" "She responded "What" in hebrew a few times before realizing I was speaking English. In my panic, I didn't have time to think of how to say it in Hebrew. Right before I got frustrated at this woman - either because she was so calm or not responsive -  the neighbor across the hall came out, quickly locked her door, and carried her two year old son and her four year old son is walking alongside her, both kids in pajamas. Around this time, it was around 7 PM. 

In a rush, we all went to the floor under and waited in the stairway since our building is too old to have a bomb shelter. I could see the fear in the mother and the four year olds eyes. The two year old was sitting on the stairs playing with his mom's iPhone, oblivious to what was going on. After a minute, the older brother started jumping around and his mother told him to stop in Hebrew, that it is dangerous. After chatting for a few minutes we went back to our own places. Shocked to see my things in order, I went immediately to my phone to check that my friends and family are okay. Everyone is fine. Three rockets hit surrounding towns of Tel Aviv and there are no reported injuries as of yet. 

It is the first time that Gaza militants have developed rockets with the ability to reach Tel Aviv, located only about 70 km (50 miles) north of Gaza strip. Just to give you an idea of how serious the Israeli government is about rockets hitting Tel Aviv, the following is a quote from a Jerusalem Post article; "...a strike on Tel Aviv itself, Israel's commercial and cultural capital, would mark a significant escalation." 

An update of 274 rockets have landed in Israel since yesterday. Today is the second day of the war Operation Pillar of Defense. Yesterday the Israeli Defense Forces killed the head of Hamas' militant wing in Gaza, Ahmed Jaabari, who has been a threat to Israeli civilians since 1998. Israel's Shin Bet also destroyed dozens of rocket launchers. Israel made special efforts to destroy launchers for Hamas' Iranian-made "Fajr" rockets, which are believed capable of flying even deeper into Israel. Hamas says that the killing of their leader will "open the gates of Hell" for Israel. But words are just words to Israelis. 

I was chatting with an Israeli friend and he told me the whole situation is scary and of course I agreed. He responded with "everything will always be okay and good." I commented that Israelis have a such a positive mentality and he went on to say that it is because they have someone who keeps them in the sky's. I couldn't have thought of a more calming answer! If that isn't the right mentality during a war I don't know what is! They certainly know how to deal with it after 64 years of continuous terrorist attacks.

Another thing I love about Israelis is their passion to defend the country. My American friend who moved here for her boyfriend, now fiancee, moved back home last week. After hearing what was going on in Tel Aviv today, she texted me saying her fiancee wishes he was here to help fight. This is a true Israeli - one that is willing to die for the future of his country!!! 

The following is a link to the timeline of events that happened during the second day of the Pillar of Defense Operation: 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/southern-israel-under-fire-air-force-strikes-terrorist-targets-in-gaza/

Lyla tov Israel. I wish everyone a peaceful couple of nights...