17 Cheshvan 5779
26 October 2018
BREAKING NEWS:
Zones 220 and 221 in the area of Sderot hit with three barrages of missiles between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm Friday. At least 12 missiles fired into Israel by terrorists in Gaza. There are reports of Iron Dome intercepts.
The News On the Israeli Street
Violent storms rage across Israel . . .
Hail in Rosh HaNikra on the Lebanese border.
From ping-pong sized hail in Rosh HaNikra in the far north to flash floods in the far southern Negev, powerful storms struck Israel through the day yesterday and last night.
One of many flash floods in the Negev yesterday. In one near this location, a 4-year-old boy drowned.
Here in Ashdod, a severe thunderstorm with high winds knocked down trees and knocked out power between 10 pm and 3 am this morning.
On the Jordanian side of the Jordan-Israel border, a school bus carrying middle school students was swept away in a mudslide killing 18 students and teachers. Jordanian officials requested help from Israel’s elite 669 search and rescue unit which subsequently sent helicopters and other resources to help locate missing and dead.
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
Another day, 5 more fires torched the forests and fields of our Gaza border communities. Two particularly large fires caused by Palestinian terrorists launching incendiary balloons from Gaza were at Kibbutz Or Haner and Netiv Ha’Asara.
All day and all night there were numerous clashes along the Gaza border fence. As usual, our soldiers were assaulted with grenades, IEDs, Molotovs, bombs, and bullets.
None of this violence stopped our pusillanimous government from pouring more “humanitarian aid” into Hamas coffers yesterday so that more tunnels can be built and more missiles launched. Israel permitted 12 trucks carrying more than 500,000 liters of fuel purchased by Qatar to enter Gaza.
In Judea and Samaria:
Bad weather did not stop Palestinian terrorists from carrying out Molotov and “rock” attacks on Israeli men, women, and children at Karmei Tzur, Al-Khader, Azzun, the Halhul Junction, Deir Abu Mash’al, Huwara, Safla, Hizma, Yakir, Neve Tzuf, Deir Nizam, Route 456, Road 443, Naama, Mt. Hevron, and Kiryat Arba to name a few locations.
A landmark ruling from the European Court of Human Rights . . .
The so-called Court ruled yesterday that insulting “the prophet Mohammed” is not included under “free speech.”
The case stemmed from an article that factually pointed out that Mohammed’s favorite wife Aisha was 6 years old when she married “the prophet”–and apparently 9 years old when the marriage was consummated. The writer of the article stated that this behavior was indicative of pedophilia.
Apparently, these facts are an unprotected insult.
Unbelievable.
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Our Amazing Trip To Nahal Oz (Part 2)
In yesterday’s blog, your humble servant described the location of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, 400 meters from Gaza and as such the closest Israeli community to the Gaza border.
If there is a community on the front lines in the battle against terror, it is Nahal Oz.
Also, I described that we were there at the invitation of the remarkable Dov Ben Zion who organized Operation Southern Solidarity which culminated in a barbecue for local firefighters trying to stem the endless fires being started by incendiary balloons, and for teenagers at Nahal Oz who are weathering the endless stress of living there.
It was an evening full of surprises.
We had been to Nahal Oz several times before, and each time we came there was tight security at the front gate. This time there was none. Later in the evening, the security head told me that this was for three reasons: first, a terrorist would be far more likely to try to come through the security fence than the front gate; second, an army unit is now billeting in the kibbutz; and third, the IDF is now regularly circling the kibbutz.
Once inside, we immediately noted all of the concrete walls that have been erected around the kibbutz perimeter and around buildings inside the kibbutz.
After we had been warmly greeted by the security chief and his young daughter, he then took us on a tour of the kibbutz–first to see the building where young volunteers come from all over Israel to live there in two-year increments. The 40 volunteers even have a house “mother”. We found them relaxing at their front doorstep:
From left to right: the kibbutz security chief, two volunteers, the house “mother’, and your humble servant’s wife.
What was surprising about this was the fact that these young people come to the front lines from all over Israel to help out, and how they are able to relax and try to live a normal life in a strikingly abnormal situation.
From this building, we next visited the teenagers on the kibbutz–an amazingly close-bonded group that spend virtually all of their time together:
On the surface, these look like normal kids. Can you even begin to imagine what they go through everyday?
Your humble servant spent about 30 minutes talking with these kids. I heard no complaints–they even told me that the people living at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom have it much worse than they do! When I asked how they sleep at night, one girl (Naama) told me that you just learn to tune out the missile explosions, artillery shells, tank fire, Molotovs, sound bombs, and all other noises.
Just learn to tune it out.
From here we walked over to the building where we were going to eat dinner and outside of which the grill was already in operation.
The first surprise here was the bar. Yes, here we were 400 meters from the fighting on the Gaza border, and the kibbutz has created a bar/pub:
Your humble servant with two friends from Ashdod who accompanied us.
At the bar, I met the former security chief of the kibbutz:
Benny told me that at a place under continual stress like Nahal Oz, residents must have a place to blow off steam and relax.
By this time the food was almost ready:
Dov (right) and a local firefighter on the mangel (grill).
Again, the experience was almost surreal. Here we were within a stone’s throw (or Hamas sniper’s bullet) away from Gaza enjoying drinks at a bar and barbecued chicken and sausages.
At the end of the dinner, Dov announced that his organization, My Brother’s Keeper, was awarding a grant to the teenagers on the kibbutz, and also providing an emergency medi-kit:
Dov handing the backpack/kit to the regional and local security heads.
Following that, we were regaled by the teenagers who sang a rap song in English about their experiences at Nahal Oz and how they are affected by the trauma they experience.
S0, was all at Nahal Oz really normal?
As the rap song indicated, of course not.
The kibbutz is in the midst of an effort to refurbish the community by taking down many of the fortified walls outside the buildings and replacing them with reinforced concrete within the walls of the buildings themselves. According to some of the people I talked to, many feel claustrophobic inside buildings surrounded by walls.
Also, I was told by residents that many adults and children suffer from PTSD which manifests itself in various ways that I will not delve into in this blog. Moreover, a number of families have made it known that if another war erupts with Hamas, they will leave the kibbutz permanently–even though the kibbutz has plans to temporarily move en masse to another kibbutz near Ein Gedi should a war break out. They say that they cannot stay in Nahal Oz under wartime conditions.
As some residents told me, it is past time for the government to do something. One person told me that the problem with government policy toward Gaza is that there is no policy.
Here is one last picture of a sign on one of the fortified walls at the kibbutz:
“The sky is the limit, and the way is through the Land.”
I would like to conclude today by saying that my wife and I have never been in a place where we felt more warmly embraced than at Nahal Oz.
One cannot help but admire and respect the residents of Nahal Oz who hold the border so the rest of us can sleep well at night.
To my many new friends at the kibbutz. Kolakevod!
Also, people like Dov Ben Zion are rare. What he and his organization do for Israel is astonishing.
To contribute to My Brother’s Keeper, click here.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.