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I'll try to make this update short. Yes, there's more than just a bit to report, but even when it's more of the same there are some differences. Still, by now I don't think I have to be too detailed.
This morning the alarms started early. at 06:10 we were awakened, and then spent about ten minutes in our safe room. I crawled back into bed around 06:30 and slept another two hours. Later in the morning we drove to Ashdod, to the apartment of the widow of a first cousin of Tzippi and Phil where we had a pleasant visit, a tasty lunch ... and two visits to her safe room. Though it seems that most of the missile activity was in the north, we still had our fair share of excitement. We thought we might do a bit of touring in Ashdod, but the entrance to the fortress on the beach we hoped to see was closed off from the main road. The city clearly didn't want to take responsibility for people getting caught in a missile attack with no place to shelter.
So we headed for home, and just as we approached the gate we had an additional preliminary alert. We parked and got to the house in time for the "real thing". Our walkway is being widened - especially to make it accessible for our neighbors farther down the way who use a golf cart. If not for the war the work would have been finished Sunday. Instead they almost finished today. Two people were working flattening out the concrete when the sirens went off, so we took them with us into our safe room. Six people was a bit crowded, but it was for a very short time, and we certainly weren't going to keep them outside, even if we were quite sure nothing would happen. (And I should add that thought they weren't close, we did hear some explosions.)
And now it's almost 01:00. The evening went by quite uneventfully (again, we're not complaining) and the report on the midnight news was that from tomorrow (today already) groups of up to 50 people are allowed to congregate - if they're close to safe areas. That's certainly a good sign, though a better one would be that negotiations are starting. Yes, it's very unclear that either side wants to negotiate, but the thought/hope/dream that more bombing will cause the Iranian regime to implode is even more unrealistic.
I'm including here two short items that I've translated (via Google Translate) from the Hebrew:
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Rogel Alpher is a columnist for HaAretz, and a harsh (sometimes too harsh) critic of popular Israeli culture. This time he may be a bit over the top, but he makes an important point, and sadly, the atmosphere in Israel around the war taking place on Purim he describes is quite accurate.
I'm not sure Roi Sharon still wears a kipa like he used to. I'm also not sure that what he posts on his X account coincides with what he says when he's on television. This isn't about the war. It's about the occupation that continues despite, or with the aid of, the war. I think it's encouraging that he tells it like it is, but on the other hand, though he's far from being a leftist, what he posted here has been met with accussations that he's a true hater of Israel. We can't win.
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