It’s been a long couple months, but we are back safe and fairly sound (still recuperating) from our adventures in England and Amsterdam. My son graduated university with a masters in Public Policy and is now looking for employment in the E.U. His fiancé lives in the Netherlands, so we took a short trip to visit with he family there.

After a most glorious and incredibly jam-packed stay in London, most of our time was spent in the gorgeous English Derbyshire countryside (they pronounce it ‘Darbysher’) with our daughter, her husband and two small children. They’ve requested not to post photos of names of the kids, so….the newborn granddaughter was teeny, tiny, soft and gentle. Holding a baby again – well, there’s absolutely nothing like it! The grandson turned two last week. An incredibly smart and inquisitive and fast as lightening adorable little imp who is both a bundle of joy and a mischievous imp into everything. He thinks he can cook, make a pot of tea, and drive a car…. all very dangerous. But he is amazing and we love them all so much.

We were able to take quite a few long weekend trips together: Chatsworth Estate where Pride and Prejudice was filmed; the Medieval estate, Haddon Hall; quaint villages and hamlets. Small artisanal dairies (Red Leicester, Stilton, Cheddars), charity shops and antique shops emptied our wallets. I had to buy two more huge suitcases!

Rosh haShannah was the start of the Jewish fall festivals. I decided to attend synagogue in Leicester. It was a large, stately red brick building, quite historical from the 1800s. They used to have a school and community center across the street, but it was sold several years ago as the Jewish population had dwindled and the upkeep of the properties too costly. Now the buildings are an Islamic center and a mosque. The once upscale neighborhood of large brick townhouses are now marked by trash outside and Palestinian flags flying from every home. Burkas and hijabs are standard fare. I was more than shocked that there was no police presence outside. Not a good feeling. It was actually quite terrifying as I was scouting out the place for unsavory suspects. In addition, there was no armed quart at the doors (a given in California, unheard of in Israel). Services were absolutely lovely, but not terribly well attended.

I had decided that we would go to synagogue for Yom Kippur in Manchester, a much larger city. Except every single one of us including the kids came down with the flu. That was the day an armed Arab terrorist ran into a group of synagogue-goers before shooting and stabbing his way through the crowd. He claimed to have explosives tied to his body. Thankfully police were close by and he was neutralized. I’d had an ominous feeling that something awful would happen.

Since then, in world news, the flotilla to Gaza with Greta Thunberg, Susan Sarandon and other notables made their way to Israel supposedly carrying lots of aid for the residents of Gaza. Only, they were stopped by the IDF navy before they could enter war zone. The boats carried absolutely no humanitarian aid. About 100 activists had abandoned the flotilla and decided to reach Gaza through the Israeli border by foot. They were promptly arrested. The BBC only reported Thunberg’s statements of “dehumanization and torture in the Israeli dungeon.” They had to sleep on hard mattresses on the floor and the sandwiches given them were very dry. A guard pulled Greta’s hair at one point, which was her version of torture.

All of the BBC news was absolutely antithetical to Israel. Every report spoke of genocide and forced starvation of the Palestinians. Israel, the colonial aggressor, was indiscriminately bombing and leveling civilian areas according to BBC. And Prime Minister Kier Starmer publicly recognized Palestine as a state at the UN. Also, while we were in the UK, there was a march in London led by Tommy Robinson. A few days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the rally was anti immigration, pro Israel, standing for taking back Western civilization and culture which is disappearing in Britain. The BBC reported about 60,000 participants but aerial footage estimated the rally neared 800,00 people.

The week following, a woman was arrested for waving the Union Jack in public, and scores of elderly and disabled people throughout the country were arrested for social media postings that were deemed “upsetting” because they came against the government or were anti immigrant, flags of England and of the UK started popping up everywhere. Soon every town had flags and banners hanging. Houses were proudly hailing their red, white and blue, and the Union Jacks were waving from most highway overpasses. It seems the Brits are beginning to wake up.

Everyone now knows about the Trump MidEast deal and all the fanfare that went with it. I’ll write more about that deal in another post, but we are crying tears of joy that 20 hostages were released alive after exactly two years of living hell. Hamas was supposed to release all live hostages and return the 29 dead bodies they were keeping within 72 hours of the signing of the deal.

Israel set free 195 Jihadi prisoners serving life sentences for mass murders, planning massacres of Israelis, car rammings, multiple stabbings, and detonating bombs in grocery stores, nightclubs and on busses. They also released 2000 additional prisoners, most were terrorists caught in Gaza for committing the 7 October atrocities and for fighting as “civilian” Hamas militants.

We were all glued to the internet crying tears of joy as our prayers were answered. Thank you HaShem! 20 live hostages were brought back to their border. All Israel was blazing with joy as the grief of exactly 2 years finally seemed to be ending. The returning men were welcome,ed with tears, hugs and kisses by their families. And the entire country was dancing and singing. Such a part, the likes that Israel had never seen. Thousands of people were rejoicing at the Western Wall. Also thousands dancing in praise to G-d at the Nova music festival site.

As expected, Hamas has delayed and has not returned the promised bodies they are holding. At first, 4 people were brought back. Then four more, one of whom was identified as a Gazan, not an Israeli. Two more were returned after extreme threats and pressure by Trump, Israel and several Arab countries. The other 20 cannot be located, or so they say. As far as John and I are concerned, the agreement has been violated and now is the time to disarm them completely. No questions asked. No more time given. No more excuses accepted.

Footage is being shown from inside Gaza that Hamas is publicly executing hundreds of Gazan civilians in the streets in order to to reassert their control. It seems that families are fighting families, with different clans trying to gain dominance. It’s being reported that Khan Younis and Gaza City are experiencing all-out chaos. And those openly associated with Hamas are unwilling to disarm or give up power. So much for Phase 2.

It’s nearing Shabbat prep time, and I still have loads of laundry and unpacking to do. We’re still fighting nasty coughs and the creeping crud, and both John and I are more than a bit exhausted. So much other stuff happened while we were away (deaths in the family; infighting within a group I was in…I was on the Board of Directors of an Inter-religious Dialogue group. The “Israelis” (me included) were invited to retire due to political unease. This has dragged on for weeks now and I’m drained.) Being with my kids and grandkids was a tremendous blessing and source of joy, but it is so wonderful to be back home in Israel. There is no other country like this one on earth. Shabbat shalom.