What ceasefire?

Today is my day off.  It was around 5:57am and I was laying in bed in that early morning sleepy stage.  I'm sure you know that one the I am speaking of.  It's the one where your body is still asleep but your brain is starting to wake up.  I think this is also when all the weird dreams happen.

At some point during the night I had gotten up to turn on the air conditioning.  Now, my apartment was just on the edge of being too cold.  Regardless of the rockets, without the air conditioning I could have the potential to perish from sticky, nasty, thick, muggy, humidity inhalation......anyway, I was wrapped up in my sheet like a burrito.  I slowly began to become aware of the sounds that were going on outside.  In my sleepy state, I could hear a familiar sound.  It was a siren.  It sounded so far away.  I stayed in bed.  In my sleepy grogginess, I justified staying burrito-style rather than sleepy-ish/zombie-like run to the bomb shelter.

Right now, as I think back to that moment, I'm not sure if the original siren was a great distance away.  It may have sounded that way because I was in sleepy land.  I say that because as soon as I decided to stay in bed, my brain heard a second sound.  It was another siren.  This one was closer.  Because my brain had some special "early morning genius ability" (pretty much the only time this happens), I could decipher the sounds, their loudness, and distance.  Then, there was a third siren.  It was even closer. I could hear all three independently.  That means that I was hearing the siren from my city and two city's sirens that were in proximity of mine.  That means everyone in those three cites AND the surrounding cities (that could hear the siren) were doing the same thing at that moment.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152218237975896 

This above link is a video of a friend (thanks for sharing, D.S.!) as she is going to her bomb shelter.  She lives on the 5th floor of her complex.  That means she and all of her neighbors have run down five flights of stairs each time a siren starts.  She shared this with me today: starting in the 1970's, every new building in Israel had to have either a shelter in each building or a reinforced room in each apartment. Also, in public places there are signs directing you to the shelters, as well as street signage to direct drivers in what to do. 

Just so you know, the cry of siren doesn't happen just once.  Its cry continues for a period of time.  There is absolutely nothing pleasant about it, except that it is a warning to run for the protection of your life.  In that way (only!!), it is a welcomed sound.  But, otherwise the decibel of the siren has been chosen wisely.  It is very impacting, shrill, and powerful. 

 

At this point, sleepy-ish/zombie-like/burrito-style all came together for a powerful moment of epic proportions.  I'd like to call this moment "running for your life".  I literally hopped out of bed (remember the burrito) and heard an explosion.  I was pretty sure it was in the air, which means the Iron Dome intercepted it.  Although I have added some detail to this story, from the first moment of the distant siren until I heard the first explosion, I'm sure it was less than 20 seconds.   Me and my burrito ran/hopped to the shelter.  I opened the heavy door and turned on the light. 

After about ten seconds, I could hear the family running down the hill.  As they run past my apartment, the young ones always call for me, "Sara! Sara! A siren! Sara!".  As they are running, another explosion happens.  They file into the shelter, but look about the same as I do: sleepy-ish/zombie-like.  It's obvious that we all had the same alarm to wake us. There are more explosions, but I don't remember how many.  We sit, sleepy, and wait. There is hardly any chatter.  Although, we all look like we are still sleeping, the adrenaline doesn't care about that.  It propelled us all; me, the family I'm working with, my city, the two cities next to mine, and any surrounding cities.  Also, not to be forgotten, there are other sirens that I cannot hear.  Those are too far away.  But, they cry out for all people within earshot to do the same thing.

As we are all sitting there, I say,
"Isn't it interesting, there's supposed to be a ceasefire right now..."

That statement exposes yet another truth about dealing with a terrorist organization.  Terrorists are not going to agree to anything.  They play by their own rules.  This is the fifth ceasefire that Israel has agreed to.  This is the fifth time that the ceasefire has been broken by Hamas.  Yesterday, at 8am, the ceasefire started.  At 9:30am Hamas launched a massive attack near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, preventing the entry of 91 trucks carrying: food, gas, fuel, medical equipment, medicine, and mattresses.  Hamas attacked IDF soldiers.  Two IDF soldiers were killed.  Another soldier was suspected to have been abducted, but has just been declared dead from the attack. Hamas deprived the palestinian civilians of Gaza of vital humanitarian aid with its gross violation and took the lives of soldiers.  For Hamas, nothing is sacred or valued.

 

Below is a poignant and "truthfully uncomfortable" excerpt is from the New York Post. 

I know that I have added a long article to an already long post, but I am asking you to read it because it's about you.  It actually lists you in the article.  The wisdom that is written in it is very great, honest, raw, and truthful.  It really caused me to think.  It caused me to think about how to make sure this information is absorbed by its reader.  As I was thinking about it, I realized this: who am I?!?  I cannot "make" anyone think, do, or believe anything.  But one thing I do think is important to stress is that we all have a voice.  We have a voice to speak truth for the whole of all people, all civilization.  Even if we only speak to a few people, we still can speak truth.  Even when it's not "fashionable", popular, liked, or received well.  Our voice is our freedom of speech.  We get to choose how and what to freely say.

Israel's Fight Today Will Be Yours Tomorrow
By Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, New York Post, July 31st, 2014
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Today, Israel is again under attack — both by Hamas and by the supposed liberals who find it easier to rationalize the actions of a terrorist group than defend a democratic nation. They employ a “yes, but” retort: “Yes, Hamas calls for Israel’s destruction, fires rockets at Israeli cities and kidnaps Israeli teens, but Israel brought this on itself.” It’s time to abandon the romantic notion of Hamas as “freedom fighters.”

It should be clear by now that it is a radical terror organization with a global extremist Islamic agenda.

In Gaza, nothing is off-limits for Hamas — not hospitals, where Hamas sets up command centers, and certainly not UN schools, where stores of rockets have been found in recent days. Below Gaza’s nurseries and nursing homes, Hamas has built a vast underground complex of terror tunnels that lead to the doorsteps of Israeli communities. 

For years, the international community believed that it was sending aid to assist the palestinian people in Gaza. Hamas instead poured these funds into its underground terror operations.  Any faith in Hamas by the liberal elite should have vanished the moment it became clear that Hamas has been exploiting houses of faith and other civilian sanctuaries to conceal its terror tunnels.

Rather than expose Hamas’ duplicity, the media often fuel Hamas’ cycle of violence. Exploiting the news trope of “If it bleeds, it leads,” Hamas deliberately fires rockets at Israel from narrow alleys between mosques and clinics and elementary schools.

When Israel responds to defend its citizens, the media reflexively broadcast images of dead Palestinians and grieving mothers — omitting the fact that Hamas intentionally put them in harm’s way.  This leads to an outpouring of condemnation against Israel and gives Hamas powerful incentive to continue endangering civilians.

An Israeli soldier carries a shell as troops prepare munitions along the border between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Photo: Getty Images

In a region filled with complexities, at least one equation is simple: When it is quiet in Israel, it will be quiet in Gaza. Hamas, however, employs an entirely different calculation.  It’s using its own people as human shields to rack up palestinian casualties and win sympathy.

There is nothing noble or responsible in suggesting a moral equivalence between a democratic nation and a terrorist group because of an unequal casualty count. What moral code demands that Israel be punished simply because Hamas has failed to commit the mass murder it intended?

And, again, all this misses the real story: The Islamist terrorist threat that Israel faces today is not isolated or localized.

From Boston to Brussels to Benghazi, extremists have brought their war to our skyscrapers, schools and subways. Groups like ISIS, al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hezbollah and Hamas all share a disdain for democracies, a contempt for modernity and a determination to destroy our way of life.

Israel is on the frontline of this global war, facing phenomena that other Western democracies have yet to confront. Make no mistake, Israel’s battle today will determine how we all live tomorrow.

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We are living in times when we have to think of the people of the world as our family.  I know it must sound very "make love, not war" of me, but it is really true.  We all must make a choice about how we are going to live our lives, how we are going to treat others, and what we are going to say with our freedom of speech.  A positive or truthful word can bring so much encouragement.  A negative or false word does exponentially more damage.  A call to global support of TRUTH is imperative at this time.  While I am here, I am relating directly to the attack on Israel.  But, who's to say it won't be America, Canada, Russia, England, or Germany next?  I don't say that to strike fear in your heart.  I say it because terrorism affects everyone and is never really isolated or localized.

"At this time, the nation expects all of us, especially government ministers, to unite behind the goal. When our soldiers are fighting the enemy and endangering their lives on behalf of us all, we owe them this: The more we are united, the stronger we are." Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. July 31st, 2014

 

This video is extremely relevant, entirely sobering, and truthfully piercing.  Speaking is the son of founder of Hamas, Mosab Hassan Yousef.  Just like the article above, there is a global warning behind it.  Six minutes and 47 seconds is not that long....Every second is worth watching. 

 

Completely unrelated to the topics above, here are some pictures as life still goes on.  In no particular order: houses in Jerusalem, part of a feather collection I started here (admitted bird-nerd.), yesterday's Passion Fruit harvest, Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, and the boys making cheese and a small amount of macaroni (look at M's face as he's holding the cheese grater....very mischievous looking):