Dear Readers,
As a Jew and as a Mormon I am deeply saddened by the news of this news from Israel. This post will be the start of several more about the attacks from Gaza Strip toward Tel Aviv. I am very privileged to have a report from Israel by Ann Hansen who lives there and I am posting her reports here for all to read.
Here is the link to the Jerusalem Post so you may read the news as it happens there.
www.jerusalempost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=291954
Their main headline this morning, November 15th, 2012 and Ann’s report follows. Please forward this post to all who believe in freedom for Israel.
Two rockets fired from Gaza Strip toward Tel Aviv LAST UPDATED: 11/15/2012 20:05 3 Israelis killed in Kiryat Malachi; rocket wounds 3 soldiers in Eshkol; 1 rocket falls near Rishon Lezion, second rocket toward TA “doesn’t hit ground”; IAF strikes 250 Gaza targets; 275 rockets fired at Israel; 15 Palestinians killed.
Damage in Israel’s settlement area “Rishon Lezion”
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 1:34 PM
Subject: our weekend in Israel / Armistice Day
Yesterday, Sunday November 11, most of the countries in western Europe remembered Armistice Day. In the USA it is called Veteran’s Day. I don’t know what Canada calls it. But for me it is always a solemn, important reminder of the shortcomings of men, the power of Satan, and unending nature of the war of good against evil. Notice that the day is not named Victory Day or Peace Day or anything resembling that. It is called “Armistice” Day. Armistice is a nicer name for a ceasefire; it does not encompass or even envision an end to the fighting.
Why are the red poppies the symbol of this day? Several years of shelling, digging trenches and constant warfare dug up the ground so well in western Europe (like the effects of a giant rotar tiller) that the spring and summer after the war ended the wild poppies bloomed in unprecidented numbers. Often in Israel we will have entire fields of red poppies – a magnificent site, until one remembers why.
Yesterday in Israel it was outstandingly beautiful. We had been having rain since Friday, much needed after years of drought. For me that means that the hills start to turn green and the Sea of Galilee changes color from one minute to the next: deep purple, gray, jade green, turquoise blue. The skies are a backdrop for magnificent, powerful cloud formations backlit by horizontal lightning. The weather is cool enough to warrant long sleeves and a coat. The air is brisk and refreshing. It is a day in which it is a joy to be alive.
But it was also a day of great, great sadness because of the very real reminders that war is never over, especially for us here in Israel.
The rhetoric coming from the Hisballa in southern Lebanon is increasingly warlike concerning Israel. They have fighters in Syria fighting alongside the regime, and the violence has carried over into Lebanon between pro and anti-Syria forces. We have had a significant increase in border incidences with Lebanon. Two weeks ago they sent a drone into Israel. They have sophisticated weapons, missiles and rockets – courtesy of Iran.
The various factions inside of Syria are now spending as much time fighting each other for supremacy as they are in fighting against the regime. The factions include al-Qaida and other fun folks. The fighting in Syria has meant that several times mortars and rockets from Syria, aimed at Syrian targets, have landed in Israel. Over the weekend one fell in a community on the Golan Heights. Then on Saturday another fell on an Israeli army position on the border. The last two times mortars have fallen on Israel we sent a protest to the UN (big whoopy) and warned Syria. Yesterday we fired a missile at a military target in Syria, moving the trajectory at the last moment so that it didn’t hit anything. Along with that came the message that next time the missile would be allowed to hit its target. This is the first time since the Yom Kippur war, nearly 40 years ago, that Israel has fired a missile into Syria. In addition we have moved armored vehicles and tanks to positions that have been empty for nearly 40 years. I have several students who have received emergency call-ups into the reserves (in Israel nearly everyone does the army, and they continue to do reserve duty every year until they are in their 40s or 50s).
Yesterday the Chief of Staff of Israel announced that the North is now officially at the second-highest state of alert. The first highest means we are at war.
It is worse in the south. For thirteen years the civilian communities in the south along the Gazan and Egyptian borders have been routined shelled with mortars and rockets almost every day, with occassional lulls. Can you imagine what psychological state you would be in knowing that at any minute a rocket could land on you and kill or maim you???? There are a million people there who are massively traumatized for life, and the world ignores it. The UN ignores it. One of the school districts along the southern border has the country’s lowest high school matriculation scores by nearly 30 points – not a wonder when you know that these kids can never relax, and that their schools and their houses have been hit multiple times. They are constantly on an adrenilin high, which severely affects health in the long run.
Two weeks ago they were again the target of an intense shelling of several days. Something new is that they were using pre-loaded, underground launching pads for the missiles, allowing the terrorists to detonate them by remote control from the safetly of wherever they were in Gaza. This was right before the US elections.
Last week, luckily for us, a huge tunnel in Gaza full of ammunition and weapons blew up (without help from us). The explosion was so huge that it left a crater nearly 6 meters wide (about 20 feet) and deep enough for a man to stand in. An Israeli jeep on the Israeli side of the border was thrown up into the air because of the percussion wave. There are dozens of these munitions tunnels in Gaza. Most of the munitions, weapons and missiles are provided by Iran.
Then on Friday afternoon things got worse. An Israeli army patrol was on a routine border patrol on Israel’s side of the fence when a jeep was hit by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza. All four Israeli soldiers were injured: burns, shrapnel wounds, percussion wave injuries, probably some loss of limbs. One soldier is barely alive and is still fighting for his life. The resulting firefight lasted for hours. An additional concern is that this was a new
type of anti-tank missile which was much more effective and sophisticated than what has been used in the past. Again, thanks to Iran. Israel responded with tank rounds aimed at missile launching sites in Gaza, and a weapons tunnel.
The fallout to Israeli civilians was expected, but ferocious nonetheless. In the 2-1/2 days since Friday night, over 120 rockets, missiles and mortars have been fired at Israeli cities, towns and schools. Every single target has been a civilian target. The UN has said nothing. Several homes have received direct hits. A gym teacher on his way to the high school had a katusha land next to his car. Half of his face and body are burned. He has shrapnel all over his body (the warheads are usually filled with stainless steel ball-bearings, bolts, nails, etc.). The percussion caused injury to his back, hip and shoulder. Civilians have been asked to stay within 15 seconds of a protected space. Because few people have bomb shelters* in their homes, they chose to sleep in kindergartens and schools. The kindergartens have all had protective superstructures built around them because they have been hit so many times by missiles.
I saw two news films last night that pretty well sum up life for Israelis in the south. One was of a father walking his young daughter to school. She looked about 7 and was wearing a bright pink shirt. When the sirens went off they were too far to get to shelter. He pushed her to the ground in the fetal position with her head facing the curb and her face down. He then covered her with his own body. A rocket landed not more than 10 feet from them, but luckily they were both ok. Can you imagine living in a place where those skills have become automatic reactions, not just for the father but also for the daughter??????
The second film was taken by a security camera inside an elementary school. When the sirens went off all the little children – first, second and third graders – scrambled to run out of their classrooms and across the central lobby in order to get to the protective spaces before the rocket hit in 15 seconds. These children have never known anything else. This is not a rare occurance for them.
A few years ago in Cairo I met a professor from Iraq who spoke eloquently about the effect of decades of war on an entire generation of children. He was a quiet, gentle, rational man. He was not on a soapbox. He did not have a political message. What he had were tears in his eyes as he described the psychological effects on these children, and what the future held for them in terms of education (probably none), work (only unskilled – because of lack of education), and family life (problems with attachment, anger management, direction, goals). He spoke in terms of what that meant for the future of his country (worse than now).
What I saw as I watched the film of these children literally scrambling for their lives was this professor’s face, especially his tear-filled eyes. I heard the pain and resignation in his voice. I saw the words of so many of Wilfred Owens’ WW I poems.
What have we learned this past century? What will we learn? Our periods of quiet are indeed periods of “cease fire” and not peace.
What can we do? We can go on. We can teach correct principles. We can teach the importance of taking responsibility. We can try to retain our own humanity. We can continue to look for the moments of hope and love and light, and try to create our own.
Ann, Israel
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www.jewishconvert-lds.com
www.peopleofthebook-judaica.com
www.berdichev1941.com
http://judaicaworld.blogspot.com
http://judaicaworld.wordpress.com
http://comeuntochrist.blogspot.com