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It's now 22:00. Since the beginning of this war my reports have been written either in real time, as things unfold, or toward the end of the day as I remember them. I'm not sure why, but today I started making notes which I can now review and try to work up into a fuller report. I'm not sure the result will be different from previous letters, but it will probably help my memory.
Until today I had things to do in the morning - either going to the college or to the archives - so I was up early. Today I was home without any pressing tasks. I allowed myself to sleep until almost 09:00. I still had things to do, some related to the college and some to the archives, but I also had time to read and catch up on things I'd earmarked. Our first alert of the day was at 11:40, and this time the siren preceded the preliminary alert. We weren't sure what that meant, but we didn't have to wait long. We heard a boom, followed a few minutes later with a real get-to-your-safe-rooms sirens and we spent about ten minutes there before we got the all clear which is when I then went up to the chadar ochel to bring back food for lunch. Actually, we hardly needed anything, or at least I didn't. Tzippi has brought food for me over the last couple of days and I have to work my way through that. That alert and siren were our first of the day, but actually the second in Israel. There had been an earlier alert about an hour and a half earlier, but it wasn't for us. But our quiet morning following a quiet night wasn't what other parts of the country experienced. The north was under fire numerous times throughout the night and into today.
For a couple of months now Tzippi has been leading two recorder chuggim - basically for pensioners. One for beginners and one for "advanced". I take part in the advanced, though I'd be considerably more advanced if I'd practice between the weekly meetings. The beginning group was set to meet today at 17:00, with the advanced group joining up about a half hour later. We had an alert, and a siren, just as Tzippi was about to leave for the first group. From our safe room she WhatsApped the groups, asking if they wanted to cancel. Much to our surprise they said that they wanted to play. (The chug was to take place in a children's house with a safe room, and the participants felt safe enough to play. We have, BTW, two people in the beginner's group and one in the advanced are from off the kibbutz, and we knew that they wouldn't be coming.) So in the end there were five from each group that showed up - we were missing only one whom we knew was a bit ill - and a good time was had by all, and even the music was even more than passable.
When we got back home we learned that the refineries in Haifa had been hit (not a direct hit from a missile but shrapnel of an interception). Clearly, this is one more step in the escalation of a war which a couple of weeks ago already we were told was almost over. Nobody is saying that now. On Hatzor the decision has already been made that we won't be having our community seder. When we got home we also had thunder, though almost no rain. That was a different sort of boom than the one we've gotten used to of late.
At around 20:45 Netanyahu held something like a press conference. He apparently said beforehand that he wouldn't answer questions in Hebrew, but only in English. The television showed his speech, but cut off when he moved to English. As is well known, Netanyahu doesn't like to answer questions from journalists who know what they're asking about.
So what did he say? I took notes. He reminded us how great we are, how great our spirit is. He praised us, noting that when we take cover when the sirens go off (as we should) we prove to him that he can and must continue this war. The suggestion is that our behavior under duress is the backbone that holds things together. As an aside, this morning some tweeted (I'm freely translating from the Hebrew):
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To my dismay during an alert my mother fell on her way to the shelter. We got to the hospital with her and there we discovered that it was full of old people who had fallen on their way to their shelters, crying in pain, with injuries to their spines, their hips, their knees. I immediately did the right thing and scolded them and told them to shut up, because they're harming the national morale. Be a bit more resilient. Geez!
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Yes, it was totally tongue in cheek, but was also a very accurate reflection of Bibi-think.
Netanyahu continued, explaining we're finding the leaders of the Iranian regime wherever they're hiding (we're searching under rocks) and taking them out. And then, for a short moment, he seemed to remember that we've had casualties, and almost with a stutter, far from the sure tone of his blustering, he noted that we mourn those who've been killed. But then he almost immediately got back to reporting on how greatly we've hurt them, telling us that Israel is now stronger than ever and that Iran is weaker than ever. Then came a bluster I think I've noted before - we've made Israel into a regional, and even a world, superpower. Perhaps feeling that this was a bit too much bluster he then told us that in one hand we hold our spear, while the other hand is extended in an offer of peace. (You could have fooled me.) And then, getting back to cop of the world mode, he ended by telling us that we ask him how long it will take, and he answers, as long as is needed. A bit after the news cut off the press conference there was another report of missiles in the north.
While typing this I've been watching an interview with a commander of a fighter pilot base that also attacked Iran back in June. In response to the pilot's claim of great success in their sorties the interviewer asked how it was that we were promised back in June that the attacks had demolished Iran's ability to threaten Israel. The commander could only reiterate that back then they had successfully thwarted an imminent threat. The interviewer continued to ask whether this was really the case, though I trust she knew that she wouldn't be getting a different answer. And switching to "real" real time, just as the interview ended, close to 23:00, pretty much at the same time that I finished that previous sentence, we had a preliminary alert, so now we're waiting to know if we'll have to move to the safe room. More real time - time minutes later, we didn't have to.
And then at 23:30, not only an alert, but also the siren. It's now 23:45 and I've just now left our safe room. We have no idea if this past hour has been a sign of more to come through the night, or the extent of what we'll have. (Our preference is obvious.) And for more real time, I hardly wrote that sentence, and another alert and a siren, and I'm back in the safe room (Tzippi didn't leave). Just before that first alert Hila sent me the attached video with the (translated here) comment: at least one nice thing within our present reality. For years we've been sharing these.
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Now, 00:20, we're after an additional all clear, and I hope Tzippi will now take her shower. As far as reporting on my day goes, I think I'm written out, but since I still have time until my shower, and this past hour has done a very good job of screwing with my concentration, I think it's easier to continue writing rather than trying to read something interesting. (Yes, there's always good old web surfing with no particular purpose other than finding something nice.) But I did have one item I thought I'd mention. About three weeks ago the print edition of HaAretz ran an ad with the (Hebrew) banner "Pogroms in the West Bank are a War Crime". There really isn't anything new in that, and I'm only writing about it now because someone posted it today in a WhatsApp group. These ads are run rather frequently and sadly to a certain extent they mostly calm the conscience. This one has 21 signatories which is a bit strange because usually a large group of signees appear. But what's interesting about this one is that I noticed that at least three or four of those who signed are not your traditional leftists (there are some of those as well) but instead prominent people who through the years have been identified with the right. Of course they'll now be attacked as traitors, but the fact that they signed an ad like this along with "known" leftists is impressive.
And now I'm really going to sleep. |
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