Netanya, Israel

On Thursday, I traveled to Kiryat Shemoneh, on the Israeli/Lebanese border, yesterday with a group called "Latet" (Hebrew: "To Give",) a volunteer relief group, to bring food, diapers and small things for the children to the families remaining in the town who were unable to flee the constant Katyusha bombardment by the Hezbollah terrorists. Some couldn't leave because they had critical jobs. Others simply did not have the means to leave. There are young families as well as old and infirm. About thirty volunteers delivered goods to about 200 families that were in the immediate area that we went to.

I cannot say that I went north without some anxiety. I have spent a few days in Karmiel which has also seen a tremendous number of rocket attacks. I was there on Wednesday when 20 rockets struck the town, causing significant damage but, thank G-d, no serious human injury. The sound of rockets exploding is something that I have never heard before... From a distance of 1-2 kilometers, you can feel the room shake and feel the deep roar as much as hear it. Although I was in a house that was not in the direct line of fire, I sat in my daughter's living room, very aware that one or more Katyushas could head for her house. When seven fell in quick succession and then a few minutes later another seven fell, I quickly called my son-in-law to make sure that his parents were OK. They live much closer to that line of fire, but they were OK. Soon after, I received a call from Udi's mother to ask how soon I could take her to Tel Aviv.... It had been a hard day for her and we both breathed a deep breath when we were out of the city and out of the "viewfinder" of the terrorists.

Since I arrived in Israel, just after the war began two weeks ago, I had been trying to find a relief agency for whom I could volunteer to make relief trips to the north. I finally tracked down Latet, and was told to be at the meeting point with my car at 8:30am, Thursday morning. I was assigned a "helper", who would ride "shotgun" and make sure I could meet up with the group at the distribution point in Kiryat Shemoneh. Shefi, a 63 year old veteran of three (four?) wars, regaled me with stories ranging from important people he knew, to stories about his wives and girlfriends. It kept my mind off of what we would encounter at the end of our two hour drive north. After a few stops, we arrived in the nearly deserted town of Kiryat Shemoneh. We saw a few military trucks, a taxi and maybe one private car in this normally bustling, working class town as we drove to our designated distribution center in a parking lot.

As soon as I opened the door to my car, I heard the not-too-distant explosions from falling Katyushas. We quickly unloaded the truck which was filled with pre-packaged boxes of donated foods... peanut butter, pasta, rice, canned foods, baby food, and hundreds of packs of pampers for the babies. How babies could sleep with this racket was beyond me...

We filled my little rental car with enough for three families and drove to an apartment building in the poorer section of the town... As we drove up, we could see people who were sitting in the open courtyards under the four story apartment buildings. In the 100-degree heat, they had to escape from their apartments but were not willing to go out in the open area for long. We stopped in front of one of the buildings and people came, walking quickly to take the goods. We then returned to the distribution center and repeated this a number of times until all the goods had been distributed.

I was surprised at the number of families with babies and small children. These families simply do not have the resources to leave. People were not walking around in shock, but more, had an attitude of fatalism... "We are here... we can't get out... let's get this over with soon so we can resume our lives..."

Mostly people were very grateful that they were not forgotten... Even if they had unsuccessfully argued for more food or presents for the kids, in the end almost all said, "Todah Rabah... La briut"... "Thank you very much... be well..."

On the last trip, we found two older women whose families had not received a box of food. We drove them to the distribution point and Shefi went into the warehouse to get them some stuff. I was backing into the parking lot, when all of a sudden, the sounds of rockets got louder and closer. After the third increasingly close explosion, I decided that I'd better get into some shelter. As I got out of the car, I heard a loud whistle directly overhead followed immediately by the loudest explosion yet. People were frantically waving at me to come to the relative shelter under a stairwell. I went in and waited with the others for this round to pass. I saw no panic at all. The pervasive feeling that I perceived both amongst the volunteers as well as the residents was a sense of anxiety... No surprise that...

Soon after this, we started for home. Shefi, who was able to communicate fully with the residents, told me that almost to a person, people were extremely grateful that we had come. He told me that for him, it made the whole experience worthwhile.

We were well out of Kiryat Shemoneh, feeling a sense of relief that we had not had any experience of the Katyushas closer than hearing them, when all of a sudden, the car was shaken by a huge explosion. We looked at each other and asked what the hell had just happened. Had the engine exploded? Had we blown a tire? I looked in the mirror and saw a huge plume of smoke and dust, just to the side of the road we had just traveled.... We just looked at each other and shook our heads...

I plan on going back on Monday. This is not heroics... There are people there that, without volunteers bringing them food, simply won't have food. They are on the front lines of a war that they didn't ask for, don't want, and don't deserve. They need help.

I have never written an "appeal" letter before, but I'm doing so now... Latet and other organizations like this need help. Obviously, most of us are not able to deliver the food, but money is needed for gas, food and supplies. It costs $45 to drive a small car back and forth from Tel Aviv to the northern towns... Any money that can be sent would buy food and cover transportation costs. If G-d willing, this war is over soon, the money will be spent on other local relief efforts, so it will not be in vain.

You can send donations by logging into:
http://www.latet.org.il/english

Sitting in the Best Café in Karmiel…

Actually it is also the only café still open in Karmiel. The town is not quite a ghost town, but a sizable percentage of the population has left for towns to the south. Some are staying with friends or family in Tel Aviv or Ashkelon. Others have rented hotel rooms in Eilat, the resort town at the southernmost tip of the country. Those who leave all say the same thing…. They are afraid… They are afraid of the sirens announcing incoming Katyusha rockets… They are afraid of the booms of rockets falling nearby… They are afraid that the cosmic reverse slot machine will come up with there own personal 7-7-7…

Those that stay are fatalistic… "What is to be done?"… "If my time is up, then what does it matter where I am…?"

Amy, the owner of Café-Bar, tells me as she serves me an unbelievably delicious fudge chocolate cake, that her daughter has left today with her baby to France. "She has a little baby… Of course she must take her from this."

This morning as she worked at her shop, three Katyushot fell harmlessly into a field less than a kilometer from the shop. Was she frightened? "Not really… I could be at home or here… what does it matter? Actually, it is safer here. There is a safe room right over there in the corner and the building is safer."

I feel some of the same fatalism… My daughter Lisa is upset that I decided to stay up here, even for a day. But I needed to come to Karmiel. Why? Many reasons, I suppose. I could say it was to get away from the heat and humidity, noise and air of Tel Aviv. But the truth is that I wanted to be closer to the front. I felt guilty sitting in a safe apartment in Tel Aviv while the terrorists were making lives miserable for my people in the north. I wanted to help… ideally doing something of high value, such as delivering food and supplies to families trapped in their shelters. But even if I cannot figure out how to make that happen, I can at least be present… I can lend moral support to those that have chosen to stay here, despite the monsters to the north. I can spend a few dollars in a coffee shop and tell the owner with my patronage that I care…

Israel is an amazing country and the Israelis are an amazing people… but they are tired of constant threat. They see their cousins living in the US and wonder when they can live more comfortable lives. When can they drive nice cars and go out in the evening without fear…?

When can they be assured that, unlike their parents and grandparents, their children will not be forced to fight on a constant basis for their national and individual lives?

In this as in all things Israeli, there are multiple opinions. The eternal optimists hope that this is the beginning of the end of the eternal conflict. The world will now see the moral bankruptcy of the anti-Israel leadership in the Arab/Muslim world and will put pressure "on all sides" to achieve a lasting peace. The other side shakes their heads and says, "Sure… just like Oslo… Just like when we withdrew from Lebanon… Just like the disengagement…"

I wrote this two days ago. Since then, we have heard some strong words from some in the G-8, especially George Bush and Tony Blair. While I trust them to "stay the course", I can't say that I trust countries such as France, Russia and many others, to do or say anything that is in more than their immediate interests. Time will tell...


July 17, 2006: 01:35 GT (Over Madrid)

I arrived into JFK this morning at about 05:00 ET. I haven’t slept well the last few days. Mostly, I’ve been anxious about the war with Hezbollah, but this last night it was the misery of trying to sleep on the flight from Portland to New York. I think I managed about 3 hours.

I started smoking again…

Somewhat disoriented, I made my way over to JFK’s terminal four. I was supposed to fly out around eight in the evening, but I walked over to the El Al ticket counter to see if I could get on an earlier flight. Everyone at the counter was somber. I asked if there was news and that’s when I heard that Haifa’s rail station had been bombed… eight dead.

How many dead does Israel have to have in order for the UN or Europe or Russia or CNN to pay attention? Forget about the BBC…`

I read about entire cities and towns being shut down in Israel: Naharia, Haifa, Karmiel, Tiberias. Everyone is ordered to stay in or near their bomb shelters. The terrorists attack civilian targets. They lob their rockets over toward a city and hope that it kills, maims and destroys. But CNN reports that Israel yet again is bombing the Beirut airport and fails to draw distinctions between the two events… Israel attacks certain targets for military purposes.. They take out an airport in order to cut a supply chain of Katyusha rockets. Same is true for bridges, border crossings, even gas stations and oil depots. They limit the enemy’s ability to move around and transport weapons. Are innocents killed in this process? Of course! This is war.

But the nuance that nobody reports honestly is that the only human targets purposely attacked by Israel have been leaders and fighters of terrorist organizations. If the terrorists hide in a civilian neighborhood, Israel will still attack them. But it is not with the purpose of attacking innocents.

That is the province of the terrorists. Whether it has been Hezbollah, Hamas, the PLO, Al Fatah, Islamic Jihad, or any of the other countless hate organizations in the last 60 years, their goal has been to create terror, to demoralize and immobilize the Israeli population by making them afraid to live their normal lives. That they have only partially succeeded has to do with the fact that ultimately, Israelis have nowhere to go. They must fight and survive or die.

I’ll leave the "why" for now. But it is infuriating that the anti-Israel bias is so strong and so prevalent in the international press. Why is Israel singled out? She was attacked on her own soil, across internationally accepted borders, by a terrorist organization that should have been disarmed by the Lebanese government six years ago. Is the world press paying any attention to the murder of Israeli civilians? As always, the focus of this press is on "disproportionality".

What would they like Israel to do? Sit inside her own borders and fire rockets willy-nilly at Lebanese towns and cities? If Hezbollah fires 400 missiles at Israel, then Israel must only fire 400 missiles back? What kind of crazy calculus is that!?

When a country is attacked, they have a right to defend themselves… period… end of story.

There is a solution to this. Let's get real about who is causing this grief. Condemn the culprits in no uncertain terms and take action against them. Stop pointing the finger at the victim and stop excusing the perpetrator.

If the world leaders truly made it clear that these mind games by Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda, Iran, Syria, N. Korea will not fly and won’t be tolerated, we might see some changes.

But if the world ultimately doesn't take real substantive action against these criminal, murderous organizations and nations, we and our children will pay an incalculable price.

Israel has learned this lesson painfully over the years. The US was jolted with a lesson of its own on 9/11 as was England and Spain. Israel, the US and to some degree, England have shifted their thinking and their foreign policy to reflect this new reality. Unfortunately, much of the rest of Europe and rest of the world has not.

Off to the Front

I am writing this as Shabbat approaches… Tomorrow, I am off to join my daughter and her family in Karmiel.

As most of you know Karmiel is a large town in northern Israel, typically pretty quiet and peaceful. The streets roll up around 8 pm each night, maybe later at the clubs for young people after Shabbos ends.

Karmiel was shaken in the last few days by Katyushas. Unlike its neighbors to the east and west, Tsfat, Haifa, and Naharia, Karmiel suffered little if any physical damage, thank G-d. But the emotional damage is evident in the phone calls this last week with my daughter, Lisa.

Although seemingly calm, I can sense her distraction and fragility as she breaks suddenly from the phone to watch a breaking news report, and when she forgets to say good-bye when she hangs up. The children feel the tension… They have heard the explosions and know their mother is frightened.

My friends… even my daughters here in the states, ask me, "Why are you leaving to go to Israel at this time?"

My first answer is, "I have three daughters in Israel…. Of course I am going… What? Should I stay here?"

But, in reality I have multiple feelings. I am terribly excited to be seeing three of my daughters and my eldest daughter's family… my grandchildren, my son-in-law, even my ex-wife! I want to reassure them that all will be well… that I will take care of them… that I can protect them… But in reality, I can't protect them from a Katyusha! War is something that is created by leaders and happens to people. I am frightened… not for myself, but I am afraid that I cannot protect them.

But… this is not true. We protect our children as best we can by providing them with a future. As a Jew who is well aware of the history of the Jew's plight in a world without Israel, I know how absolutely critical it is to our survival that Israel must survive and be strong.
Europe is wrong… The UN is wrong… Israel has NO choice but to strike back ferociously when it is hit… whether by terrorists or by invaders (read Hezbollah.) Israel must do this because its survival is at stake. This is not "just" a "minor" border incursion. This is an attack from the territory of a foreign country, by an organization who has an avowed policy calling for the destruction of the Jewish state, Israel.

Mostly, I feel enraged… at both the terrorists as well as the idiots in the world who truly believe that Israel should "moderate" its response. Who the hell do they think they are? Why the hell have they not demanded that Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and Iran "moderate" themselves these last 60 years…

More later…

Good Shabbos,
Steve
Sha'ul G'daliah ben Yehudah Leb