August 6

Happy Birthday

End of the war (no more counting, though still waiting)

War was an awesome experience: a diverse, modern nation taking a single stand. Officially, Operation Protective Edge is over though Eric’s troops and a few others are holding at the perimeter in case there is no breakthrough in Egyptian sponsored peace talks. Local cooperation, a new concept. Hamas needs to show something for its destruction. Israel survived, and the rest, as they say, is gravy.

Israel understandably feels 'good' about this war. It made a dangerous border much safer. But the world cries “foul!” Where's the disconnect? In the press, where Hamas feels good, better than Israel.

Battle of the Press:

Hamas has friends in the press, and Israel well, doesn’t. Let me pick on the Finns to illustrate since Finnish reporters were ever present in Gaza and I haven't spoken to a Finn since I visited the Myllykoski Oy paper plant as a banker 30 years ago. You'd think a nation that can say 'Oy' would have empathy.  But a Finn reported that Gaza was shooting from Shufa hospital. Indeed Hamas shot from mainly schools, mosques, and houses, so a hospital was news. A French foreign correspondent only got rattled enough to report when the shooting came from next to the journalists’ own hotel. Hamas lost that PR shot, but overall here is how the press plays: Israel retweeted the Finnish report of firing from Shufa Hospital. The reporter protested that Israel is using his report as propaganda! Let that sink in…

Here is another clear one. Another Finnish reporter visited Erez Crossing to see a field clinic that was set up at the border to help wounded Gazans. Israel is number one in the world at battlefield hospitals (an IDF/Jewish doctor mash up). They were the first medical treatment center in place in Haiti after the earthquake. Half a world away, a great team mate of the US, 90 miles away, and still first on the scene. Even CNN reported that. http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/21/israels-operation-in-haiti/ scroll down the page a bit till you see it, writ large.

The first baby born to a Haitian in 2010 post-quake was named: Israel. Ditto in the Philippines after the 2013 typhoon. Babies; Israel saved lives.

Israel performed this same magic, an insta-hospital in an army tent that functions better than many permanent world facilities, in the Erez Crossing, in a war, to save wounded Gazans. It did save some. It could have saved more. Reason? Only time patients got to see the eager-to-do-good doctors was if accompanied by a third party (IDF or UN). If alone in a car or on foot, Hamas shot them. Dead. From the Gazan side of the Erez Crossing. In front of Israelis. So when this Finn visited the clinic, it was empty. What did the Finn conclude? Israel set up the clinic as a cheap PR stunt. Because, what enemy would help wounded on other side? Luckily, the Finnish reporter graciously offered not to report, to kindly not make Israel ‘look bad.’ But this is what Israelis do, it is part of the army mission: Benny Gantz, the IDF chief (who once stopped Eric to check in with him at the end of a tough army trek), promised to rehabilitate Gaza. “It is morally important ​​and we have nothing against the people of Gaza; they have a right to live just like everyone else.” http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-fighting-halts-idf-head-promises-help-to-rehabilitate-gaza/#ixzz39WrLYhsJ 

Yet crazy Hamas wins the PR battles, because they fight harder, and dirtier. Regarding Finns, Israelis get the last word, literally, as more people in the world today speak Hebrew than Finnish. Oy and vey.

From a ragtag group of refugees showing up on ancient shores to escape world’s most organized persecution called the holocaust, to a modern country with its own flag and UN granted right to exist. And a population consistently rated among the happiest in the world. Let that sink in.

Maybe because happiness is earned, and Israelis work at it. Dennis Prager, Columbia University Middle East Institute, School of Internatioal Affairs said it took him years to synthesize, but he got it down 1947 to today, in just over 5 minutes. m.youtube.com/watch?v=8EDW88CBo-8&feature=youtu.be A bombshell of info in a nutshell, starting with the UN mandate.

Ah, the UN. Easier to pick on even than the Finnish. The UN schools, when the dust settles, will all have been hit by Hamas. The first two, the refugee camp, even the third school all are crying foul about, where Israel hit a motorcycle outside the school and killed 3 combattants and created a hole in front of the gate. The rest is staging. Pallywood. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/sundays-gaza-school-attack-now-appears-to-be-staged But around the world it goes. And UNWRA – well, look it up. This organization redefines bizarre.

Is the media naïve? After knowing the 2002 Jenin massacre was staged? After photos of Syrian battles were posted as though they were of Gaza last month?

The press may be that naïve – but the market gets it. Google briefly had an app called 'Bomb Gaza' for Androids where you fly an Israeli jet that drops bombs while avoiding civilians. It was downloaded over a 1,000 times until it itself was dropped, from the catalog. But in its short life, Israelis avoided civilians.

Another app still around is 'Iron Dome,' which protects you from bombs shot into civilian areas.

The market gets it. Why not the press?

Does it matter if the press is choosing Gaza as the favored underdog, like it chooses a candidate running for an office? Maybe not. But it does matter who gets to run this land.

Jewish 'rule'
Diversity
Democracy
You don't have to be Jewish. Or heterosexual.

Muslim 'rule'
Sharia. You have to be Muslim. There are no Muslim homosexuals, so no worry, but no adultery unless you want to get stoned, and not in a good way. And if you're a woman, it's certainly no laughing matter, at least not in front of Hamas’ dear friend, Mr. Erdogan. He outlawed such behavior, women laughing in public, in Turkey, 500 miles away from here, like New York to Charlotte NC. 
http://gu.com/p/4veb5/tw

Maybe no Western country can win here. There are not always Goldilocks endings in the Middle East, or anywhere. The US thought democracy would have spread everywhere by now. Instead the Cold War is looking frosty again. And then there's Sharia.  Israel won this battle because it knows the enemy; the rest of the West does not. This same war is raging in Syria, future Kurdistan, Iraq, jumping to France, England, Germany, etc. If Americans think they're safe it is because they haven’t contemplated the 9/11 memorial in New York City.

To Radical Muslims life is a crusade. This century is their time to rule. We may be able to wear blinders, following the Finnish and the British and the French and the American and the UN press, but our kids or grandkids will get pulled in.

If Israel is destroyed, it will be in the land of Megiddo, called Armageddon, the site Christians prophesied will see the final battle of Good and Evil. Megiddo, a one-hour drive from Tel Aviv, has been overrun 25 times throughout history. The winners always feel just. So it is always a matter of your point of view. What is Good? Evil?

I personally am hopeful that the west will make it. It keeps the soul alive. It is the name of the Israeli National anthem, haTikva, the Hope. I thought it was captured well in this painting by an istraeli artist in the Tel Aviv art museum. A dark base (Ignorance. Hatred. Oppression.) rises into an enlightened joining of hands. 

For today, peace negotiations. If Eric gets stuck at border, it means talks are not going smoothly. Israel is prepared to finish the job, but Hamas are not the only crazies in this region, and not even the worst. They don’t decapitate, just saying. But outside, today, in the streets, it is paradise again. Blue sky. Blue sea. As a nation Israel summoned deep courage and moral fiber, wrapped in an awe-inspiring national unity. Chins are up. And so is the surf. The beach in Netanya, the new home of French Jews, is calling my name. I hear you actually can get a good croissant there. I’ll let you know.  

August 4

Evening

It looks like the war has run out of gas. Mothers are starting to talk about seeing their kids again. Jewish grandmothers already started cooking. Just in case!

Unless Hamas gets a Lucky Strike again. Bigger than random shots in Jerusalem on Mount Scopus which gravely hurt a soldier waiting for a bus. Bigger than killing a civilian by driving a tractor into a bus. If that seems loony to you, please know it seems pretty crazy to people here too. It is lunatic. Yet it is not the first time an Arab ‘borrowed’ a machine from a construction site and turned it into an instrument of destruction. Last time it was a borrowed bulldozer. Bet you didn’t know that!

Lucky Strikes need oxygen to light and this war is running out of oxygen. Such intensity just can’t last forever. Fires eventually burn out just as a third of missiles were fired (3,000!), while a third were destroyed, and probably a third remain. Hopefully no more tunnels go cross-border (32), though apparently hundreds of other tunnels remain. Israel did not raze Gaza by any means. But they did create damage, with the goal of creating deterrence. Hamas has, as Netanyahu warned, paid a price.

It is hard to imagine that it will bring about a lasting peace, but more about that next blog. This one is to just give a shout out to the soldiers. We hope you are all home this weekend! Not just sitting on Gaza’s border! Sleeping in your own bed. Eating the cakes already being baked. As many kinds of food as there are soldiers in the army: French, Arab (100% of Israelis who are Druze, a Muslim Arab sect in Lebanon-Syria-Israel corridor, serve– bet you didn’t know that!), Bedouin (many volunteer), Eastern European, Ethiopian, Sephardic/Mizrahi, South American, South African. Forgive me please if I left you off the list, it is not nearly complete.

I am fervently hoping our Shabbat table has one extra family member. Chances are good, but certainty does not sit easily in the Middle East. Must be the sandy foundation, so great for digging you-know-what.

All over this country families will be grieving, doing aftermath analysis and celebrating their soldiers, especially Eitan, Eric’s former commander, who defied protocol and leapt into a dark tunnel after his soldier, like a father into shark-infested waters after his child. Eitan took off hundreds of meters  into that hostile tunnel in pursuit of armed terrorists, and though there was no soldier retrieval to be made, he collected valuable intel. And amazed his troops and his country. Last May Eitan handed Eric a Purple Beret and an award for excellence, and now all of Israel is giving Eitan the equivalent of a Purple Heart for Bravery, very special, very rare.  

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/meet-a-hero/2014/08/04/

And Eric is hopefully going to be present at our dinner this weekend. The dancing and the candy the Gazans and West Bankers distribute to celebrate the ‘victories’ of killing civilians and soldiers alike will stay on the other side of the wall. In Israel, wars, necessary for survival, always end in pain and reflection.

But you still gotta eat.

Greetings from two Americans with one foot out of Gaza

August 4

Tel Aviv suburbs

Day 19 of the war

Most troops are now stationed outside of Gaza, in nearby Israel. Eric is 2km inside Israel, and called us on a day of half-washing and half-resting. He is still borrowing phones; hasn't had his own iPhone in his hand since July 17th - a 20-something with no phone itself seems monumental - because they're still conducting spot raids on tunnels and 'other targets.'

Meanwhile further back in the interior, at 5pm last night Jacques and I took a neighborhood quiz. If your remote to open the parking gate stops working, you:
a) enjoy a lovely late afternoon walk in your suburban neighborhood
b) have the nice guy in the neighborhood hardware store replace the battery for you for ten shekels
c) photograph the Iron Dome intercepting a missile overhead as you get back home, while your wife crouches near the only building available
d) all of the above

Is it a bird? Is it a cloud? No, it's moving; it's a bomb. It is a long time, a minute and a half, to crouch and wonder what would happen if that bomb you can see in the sky actually hit. Where Eric is, he has a tenth that long to take cover. Some people have nerves of steel. I try to imagine the brave guy who dove into a tunnel after the suicide bomber popped out. What he found inside was grim, and indeed we lost three. Rafiah also lost lives, and tunnels and buildings. Spot raids continue. Seven more soldiers were injured yesterday in Gaza.

And... we are starting to think about the end of the war. Whatever that means. More about that tomorrow.

August 2-3

Saturday/Sunday (Weekend edition)

Tel Aviv

Days 17 and 18 of the war

One of the rewards of Shabbat dinner is the attendance of young adults, the kids of my husband’s childhood friends and my daughter’s Garin sisters in arms. It’s Israel; families stay together on weekends, even after each has a driver’s license.  As a frequent visitor and now a mom of two soldiers in wartime, I feel embraced by the new generation. The girls in particular call to check up, bake a cake (chocolate, my ultimate comfort) and share sophisticated world views that I could not have formed at their age. In truth, I cannot keep up with them and it occurs to me that maybe banners thanking soldiers are right, and I have to cede. Maybe I do stand on their shoulders. Maybe it is already their time.

Hanging out with young adults means going to bed late, so I was completely jarred by Hamas’s siren at

6am on Saturday morning. Iron Dome… I know. But we still got up. I got to sleep at 2am. So 6am was only four hours later. Really Hamas? The early siren in my ear put me in a dark mood for a while, as I contemplated men (surely not women!) who would give the order to shoot a rocket at Tel Aviv. Rather barbaric, to borrow White House spokesman Josh Earnest’s phrase to describe Hamas when they were at that point violating a ceasefire by sending a suicide bomber through a tunnel to blow up and take IDF soldiers with him; 64 fallen. How can leaders encourage humans to die for a cause, while they hide? The family of the soldier the violators grabbed last heard of young Hadar being dragged into a tunnel, though he like another two did not survive this attack. How will they ever step into a tunnel now, without a pang? How will I? It propels me back to when three-year-old Eric, now in battle gear, disliked driving through long, dark tunnels in Switzerland where we lived. We counted the seconds out loud with him until he saw the light at the end. This innocent memory takes on a sinister hue. I need to be pulled back from the brink.

By humor:

By family: Alone I am a pillar, with Sara I am a column, and with Jacques I form a wall, which Eric defends. Jacques is too reserved to blog, though he has a deep reserve of wisdom; he just hasn’t committed to the pour. Instead, in the background he feeds me news and shares two articles by Americans who write from this ‘space’ and time, and make me feel less isolated and less bizarre. Judith Levy (no relation to Jacques), a New York mom at home in Israel, writes from an anguished heart that the world sees Israel as the bad guy. Michael Oren, American-born Israeli historian, author, and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, writes from a sturdy head that helps us look forward. From each I gained strength.

Judith Levy lamented in “A View From Here” (Israel) 2 days ago, http://ricochet.com/view/ in a way that makes me feel I am looking in a more polished mirror, except I look older, based on the age of her kids. Every example this other Ms. Levy offers up of people hating on Israel “(Mark Ruffalo, Mia Farrow, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Elvis Costello, Roger Waters, Jon Stewart, Rihanna, Whoopi Goldberg, Ryan Gosling, Eddie Vedder, John Cusack, the list goes on)” is sadly true, but I am as I said the older Ms. Levy, and I know loud stage whispers of opposition always slip out of mouths of uninformed actors in times of war. Remember Hanoi Jane (Fonda)? She repented.  As someone more enlightened lifted Penelope off her Cross (fittingly, Cruz in Spanish). And I hope Ms. Levy caught the delectable diatribe of Jon Voigt who took on the whole list of his silly peers, another share from Jacques, and I thank them both:  http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/entry/view/id/405832.

This time around I suggest that positive outside voices, ie third parties not Jewish or Muslim, are actually louder than ever, though hardly forceful enough, as you still have to strain to catch them. Perhaps not because they are fewer in number – who knows? – but only because they are the more normal, better adapted to society, more enlightened, and less prone to rant. They have, as we say, a life, a meaningful, balanced life. As do, in general, people in Israel. My strongest encouragement for optimism comes from inside this small, cutting edge country, which becomes more attractive and livable every year. The re-born Jewish homeland has lengthening modern roots and deepening modern culture. The British talked of building in Uganda, but our ties are here. This is Judaism’s past, and its present.  Israel is successful, and astonishingly so. Michael Oren yesterday published “In Defense of Zionism.” Jews need and have someplace to come to, and many come just because they want to be here.  Here, in particular. http://online.wsj.com/articles/in-defense-of-zionism-1406918952

There are hundreds of kids like mine who willingly come before, during or after college in America, Canada, Europe or elsewhere to serve, in spite of ever-potential danger. The soldiers right now are caught a war, and we expect they can make Israel safe again so citizens here can stop listening after every loud motor, every sharp pitch, to make sure it isn’t a bomb siren. Soon Israelis will let go of this mild form of shell shock, and get on their lives. But not yet. Yesterday a man in southern Israel was badly hurt when he couldn’t get to a safe room quickly. Shrapnel head to toe. The country remains patiently resolute, and deeply saddened by the loss of life. Netanyahu has the population’s support, and in turn asks for that of every civilized population in the world on television, in Hebrew and in English, while gently suggesting that as Israel goes today, so do they all tomorrow. Islamic terrorism is more anti-West than anti-Semite.

In our way we all defend, by serving, talking, reading, donating, and patronizing businesses that are enduring a long war. We wandered outside for long hours on Shabbat, and many families were out with us. We had a hard time parking. It was heartening. I will never complain about parking again. (Just remind me.) The beach was teeming.  Matkot not rocketot. The port boardwalk boomed with sounds of children, as mothers have 3 kids on average. A brand new baby was being soothed by her young mother and for a moment all was right in the world.

Toddlers played in a sprinkler system right worthy of Epcot Center. Bigger kids zoomed along and we had to sidestep every stripe of scooter, with every kind of driver. Some may be destined to fly planes in the Israeli Air Force, but they will be taught to use big weapons to shed the least blood, ours and theirs.  Warn before a bomb. Aim.  Then leave so you can announce, as today, two tunnel-rid Gazan towns are clear to reinhabit, the only danger now being the booby-traps inside some homes, gifts of Hamas.

On the way home, we strolled past the hall overlooking the beach where Sara attended a Garin sister’s younger brother’s bar mitzvah. If all goes according to Hoyle, in five years that boy will be a soldier, because an army stage of life is surely in store for his generation again. Even though he knows it is coming, the enormity of it will still hit him abruptly but it will also unite him with his peers, and teach him of Israel’s purpose, of its character, and of its characters. Like his older brother, he may choose to still be in the IDF on the day of his wedding. He might then become a father, a grandfather. Who knows how the Arab neighbors will act toward his kids or grandkids, but if Israel remains the same as now, dayenu.

After midnight, August 2

Friday/Saturday

Day 17 of the war

The soldier chain jumped the gun and in fact, the IDF spent all day searching, with no final news of the welfare of kidnapped Hadar, a British Israeli soldier who was taken during a ceasefire at 9:30am yesterday, in southern Gaza. It has been over half a day. The IDF told local residents to stay inside their houses as they search everywhere. The IDF is shelling, which hopefully makes it impossible for the kidnappers to move from that area.

Instead of making me feel better, blogging about a kidnapping has made me sick. War makes you ill. And so terror aims to strike fear and horror into civilian families. For this, Hamas has trained for years, as you can see for yourselves in this video. Welcome to Hamas’ Gaza. Warning: watch on an empty stomach; it will give you a chilling case of war-sickness.

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIST1dJTQQUA7wv7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBzMmE0cGszBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDNTM-?p=hamas+preschool+terror+training&vid=25bbdcdf0bb52af234c6ee831e30693c&l=1%3A15&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608012363973264242%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGIfdfKBD244&tit=Teaching+Palestinian+Children+To+Hate&c=22&sigr=11anlp49t&sigt=11525p3he&age=0&b=31&fr=iphone&tt=b

To complete the bilious picture, watch Hamas use television to train its future wives of Hamas. They flat out discuss Jews, not Zionists.  This is threadbare, institutionalized racism. Violent. Hateful.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10204364105643660&set=vb.1260604466&type=2&theater

Obama showed up on Israeli news after dinner, saying all the right things but looking worn down. This war may be getting to him too; Hamas is a dirty player, Geneva Convention rules don’t apply.

On an almost bright note, we heard from our son, who, dirty but fine, dashed our hopes of seeing him for his birthday next week. He said Operation Protective Edge has more to go, and could take weeks. I grieve for the families that have suffered loss, and fear there is more to come. And I miss my son. But he is busy doing good work. Here is a video the IDF released as an example of tunnel busting.The Times of Israel is a great way to keep in touch with Israel, by the way.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/watch-idf-soldiers-uncover-tunnel-shaft-in-mosque/

Jews have always had to fight anti-Semitism, sometimes against the foulest of enemies, and now we have Israel, the only country that can be about and for Jews.On a Friday night like tonight, you can connect with your Judaism, preserved and nurtured, thriving.

I hope Saturday reveals good tidings from the tough neighborhood in which Operation Protective Edge operates. Like Mr. Obama, I look like I could use some good news!

Take sides for peace. 

Egypt and Saudi Arabia demand release of soldier. Last time we got here the US released the pressure on Hamas by opening talks to Qatar (who houses Hamas' Mashaal and the $12 million in aid he said  went 'missing in the war' 2 years ago), and Turkey (who today sent a humanitarian package by sea via Ashdod where, under fire from Hamas rockets, Israelis found boxes of lead ball bearings. Chocolate molds, said Turkey. They put real chocolate and flour in package too. Nice camouflage! The chocolate was the contraband when I sent humanitarian packages to my kids in camp. Why ball bearings? On explosive belts they become deadly shrapnel. Old, established method, tried and true.)

Haven't heard from the US. In America it's still morning. Delegates actually may be in the air, en route to Cairo. 

The kidnapped soldier is dual-British. In Givati, Eric's brigade. 23, Eric's age. These truly are our sons. 

Another Shabbat. 

Jill 

On Aug 1, 2014, at 3:54 PM, Anne Angowitz <anne@preferredplacement.com> wrote:

This Shabbat must include prayers for all the soldiers.  And the one who was just kidnapped.  Have you heard about this in our press yet?  I don’t get the NY Times anymore.  Was it in there?

I had forwarded Jill’s blog page before.  I am going to have to stop sending these around every day so please follow her.   And pass it around.  2lonesoldiersmom@blogspot.com.  

August 1

Friday

Uh oh. As soon as you think you can see the end....

Ceasefire went from cynical to sinister this morning as Hamas took advantage of the 72-hour stoppage to capture a soldier who was performing 'UN permitted' tunnel dismantling. This was a terrible idea, IDF has become a sitting target as it dismantles tunnels in plain view of Hamas.

The parents of the kidnapped soldier have been notified. He is 20, younger than Eric. And there are now 63 soldiers dead, plus more wounded this morning. Some in this war have been wounded so gravely their physical lives are forever altered by this.

This kidnapping will get played out on the international stage, and we all have a front seat to this as talks go on in Egypt, with the US in attendance. First word from the UN is that Hamas committed a foul. Will they keep up that cry? Will others?

A kidnapping puts the peace process in stark relief, and tests the fairness and standards of the players. As it is meant to. If Hamas uses the soldier for a bargaining chip, negotiations are overtly strained. And the longer the IDF stays in, the more chances there are for more such nonsense.

It will be an anxious Shabbat for many. If cool heads and fair hearts prevail, the IDF finishes the tunnels this weekend and gets the hell out of dodge.

[Best article I have read (minus the dodgy rape reference). Written by a Palestinian Canadian. Detente!]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-a-rizvi/picking-a-side-in-israel-palestine_b_5602701.html

Posted by Jill Levy at 4:10 AM

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Anne Angowitz

August 1

Friday

Uh oh. As soon as you think you can see the end....

Ceasefire went from cynical to sinister this morning as Hamas took advantage of the 72-hour stoppage to capture a soldier who was performing 'UN permitted' tunnel dismantling. This was a terrible idea, IDF has become a sitting target as it dismantles tunnels in plain view of Hamas.

The parents of the kidnapped soldier have been notified. 2 soldiers with him have fallen. Obama still asking for return... And there are at least 63 soldiers dead, plus more wounded this morning. Some in this war have been wounded so gravely their physical lives are forever altered by this.

This kidnapping will get played out on the international stage, and we all have a front seat to this as talks go on in Egypt, with the US in attendance. First word from the UN is that Hamas committed a foul. Will they keep up that cry? Will others?

A kidnapping puts the peace process in stark relief, and tests the fairness and standards of the players. As it is meant to. If Hamas uses the soldier for a bargaining chip, negotiations are overtly strained. And the longer the IDF stays in, the more chances there are for more such nonsense.

It will be an anxious Shabbat for many. If cool heads and fair hearts prevail, the IDF finishes the tunnels this weekend and gets the hell out of dodge.

[Best article I have read (minus the dodgy rape reference). Written by a Palestinian Canadian. Detente!]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-a-rizvi/picking-a-side-in-israel-palestine_b_5602701.html