Our flight out of Israel was once again delayed last week due to missiles and drones from Lebanon. We were to leave on Saturday, but spent most of the day running to the safe room. We had many barrages of missiles in villages and towns surrounding from the border of Lebanon to just below Haifa and Zikron Yaakov. It was reported that over 600 were fired just on Saturday! Over 80 were reported in the Karmi’el area, with two apartment buildings getting a direct hit. Thank goodness the residents were in their mammad. I bet you didn’t hear any of that…

While we were gone there was a constant stream of missiles, shot in volleys of 24-60 coming over the Lebanese border. Our town saw more direct hits. Thank G-d, no one was killed or severely injured. My friends, Karen and Eli, were visiting family in Arizona when a missile fell just outside their home. The alarm sounded. A family raced out of their car to a sheltered spot just as the missile hit the car in front of them, completely destroying it. It also struck an outdoor “closet” that held transformers which was just below our friends’ garden. There was quite a bit of damage: to the garden, the patio, Eli’s model train set and mini Israel. The glass walls of their brand new sunroom also received extensive damage.

Most of the friends and family back in America were of two completely diverse mindsets. There were those who avoided all talk of war and what was happening here. I totally get that. They are afraid for us and probably think we are nuts for having chosen to live in Israel. But that is my assumption. The other group knew and could only persuade us to stay. To move back. They also probably thought we are crazy, but this is our home now. Also, I tried to watch international news each night in our hotel room. There was no mention of Israel or Hizbulla or Gaza or Iran. Zilch. Nada. Radio silence. Nothing at all. Just a gaping hole….

We spent Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Hebrew calendar, a day of fasting and prayer and repentance, in Fairfax, VA. I was afraid to go to Chabad for fear of a domestic terror attack. Something I’m not afraid of in Israel. But in Israel, it was a different day. Instead of keeping the radio, TV and phones off, the citizens were instructed to have them on. If there was an attack in their area, the alert would sound so people could take cover. There was no programming, only a “silent wave “ when a missile launch had been detected for that vicinity. In every synagogue, there was be one person who stayed updated by telephone during prayers for everyone else’s safety. And on that day, sadly, there were hundreds of missiles that were shot by Hizbulla.

A friend volunteered to pick us up at the airport a few days ago. He left under heavy fire, and told us the adventurous story of his drive down. The sirens sounded three separate times. The first two times, he stopped the car on the side of the freeway and got into a ditch, hands overnight his head. Everyone did the same. The third time he said, “Screw it!” and just kept driving. It was completely quiet for the rest of the evening once we were picked up.

Then there is the story of Shalev, a young mother of a toddler and newborn who was driving on the freeway when the sirens sounded. She opened the door but became paralyzed with fear because she didn’t know how to get both babies out of their car seats in time or how to protect them. Suddenly, a car with two middle aged Israeli men stopped behind her. Without hesitation, each grabbed a child and dove into the ditch next to the road, shielding the precious cargo from harm with their own bodies.

On X, formerly Twitter, Kamala posted an outright falsehood.

In fact, last month the fighting in Gaza was paused so Israel could bring in over 72,000 doses of the polio vaccine to protect the children from an imminent outbreak. Too much food is being flooded by truckloads into Gaza. Hamas is still taking control of the trucks and shooting civilians who try to get to it. They then sell it at inflated prices to the innocents, and use it as leverage for people to fight and recruit new terrorists.

Another story you might not have heard of is that of a brave Palestinian woman named Islam Hijazy, a mother of two beautiful children and volunteer with the humanitarian organization, Heal Palestine. When Hamas operatives heard of the work she was ding and all the funds coming into Gaza, they asked her to do one simple thing for the resistance: hand over all the funds to Hamas. She flatly refused, insisting that all the aid go to the civilians. Hamas didn’t like her answer so much so the terrorists shot 90 bullets into her car, killing her. They even filmed themselves doing it to be a warning to others. Hijazy didn’t have a chance.

Also in New York Times headline news yesterday (the only ‘news’ I could find about Israel, more outright lies. And this morning they doubled down. Let’s add more fuel to the fire, shall we??? Basically the article accused IDF soldiers of hunting down and shooting innocent Palestinian children and of using them as human shields.

Today our day started with our wake-up call at 6:12 of crashing booms just to the south of us. That after red alerts in our area (but no sirens in our city) at 2:44 am and then again at 3:20am. More thunderous booms that shake the house even though the missiles are being intercepted a couple miles away. We ran to the shelter three times. Lots of missiles. Many are not being intercepted and are hitting properties as well as open spaces. Several people in our city were injured and evacuated to hospital, and I am still waiting for an update as to how many and their condition. We are beginning to wonder if our Iron Dome batteries are beginning to run out?

Even the animals are feeling the effect. Our little doggie, Haggis, know that when the siren sounds, he automatically runs to the safe room, tail tucked between his legs. He slinks around now and won’t leave our sides. He is even reticent to go outside. And the parrot across the street has stopped singing and talking – he used to entertain the neighborhood incessantly. Cats are hiding. They used to have free roam of the streets. And when the alarm sounds, flocks of birds (pigeons, other birds) scatter nervously.

We’ve learned that the small helicopters that fly over our house outfitted with a stretcher at each side are carrying away wounded soldiers from the Lebanese front to Haifa hospitals. We pray for all those wounded to have complete and miraculous recoveries. It’s another sound I’ve come to dread….

One last and important message: to ROSE fromBUFFALO. The amazingly wonderful woman and her husband we met in the Rome airport. If you are reading this, please keep in touch!! I’d love to keep in contact with you personally. And I didn’t get your husband’s name, but we talked for quite some time while you were off shopping. My email is tamar.dunbar@gmail.com. I do hope to hear from you. John and I are praying fervently for both our countries….