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To a certain extent, it's only because I've been sending a daily (or more) letter that I'm doing so this morning as well. After all, this was a very regular day, even if days like these significantly stretch the definition of "regular". We were in our safe room three times - around 10:00 and again at 11:00, and then at 12:30. The second time I was just leaving the archives, but I had enough time to comfortably walk home, and the third alert went off when Phil and Debbie and I were on our way back from taking food from the chadar ochel. Later in the afternoon, around 15:00, I was taking Phil to the archives to show him around when there was another alert. Since we were next to a shelter we stopped next to it, and just before we decided that there wouldn't be an "enter the shelters" siren in our area it went off, so we entered there for a short wait. That may seem like a lot, but the general feeling was one of a regular day with the alerts almost an expected part of it.
Because Phil and Debbie can't follow the Hebrew we didn't watch much news, though I did find some Israeli news in English and we watched some CNN. In other words, yes it's stressful, but it's amazing how easily we adjust. Of course had we been where buildings were damaged and people injured - things that happened today as well, even if not on a particularly large scale - we wouldn't have adjusted so easily. (And as I type this - 00:55 - I see that the television is telling us to enter our safe rooms, though the places shown on the screen are only in the north, and we haven't received any warning.)
We're told this is going to continue for perhaps a few weeks, though I find that hard to believe. It seems the Iranians have figured out that rather than massive attacks, which they may anyway no longer have the capability to launch, their best bet is to keep us on our toes by launching small attacks every couple of hours. Luckily, after about 01:00 the past two nights have been sirenless and we've slept well. But a few more weeks? It's not only a question of our stamina (and Israel coming to a close to total halt) but of nothing being accomplished by dragging things out.
Sadly, there's not much to report on the diplomatic scene. It's unclear that anybody really wants this to be over. I trust that Trump will soon lose interest and simply declare victory, but Netanyahu will want him to continue. And in the meantime I see that in the States the argument is around whether Israel pulled Trump into this or whether Trump led the way. Trump doesn't want to be seen as someone who follows, and frankly I prefer it that way. It can't be good for Israel that people think that this was an Israeli plot, even if as distasteful as that sounds there's at least a grain of truth to it.
But for now, this is enough.
I'm attaching a video Tzippi sent me - another example of rooting for Iran, or perhaps closer to the truth, being against "the west" and all of what it represents.
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