What an interesting time and place in which we live! Life during wartime goes on as ‘normally’ as possible here. If you ask me to describe Israelis with one word it would be RESILIENT.
Shabbat began for us with a heavy barrage of missiles that continued in bursts about 20-30 minutes apart until about 01:00. It was all around us, but in our part of town we didn’t get a siren. At 06:29 (sunrise) we were awakened with my phone going off. “TSEVAH ADOM! TSEVAH ADOM! TSEVAH ADOM!!” I looked and saw the missiles were headed towards the Haifa suburbs, the Krayot.
The volleys from Hizbulla continued throughout the day. My phone would go off; I’d check to see where they were headed (whew! pray!); we’d hear sirens in the distance; go about what we were doing as normally as possible (breakfast, packing for our upcoming trip, reading); wait for and count the booms. Sometimes the thunder came low from the distance, other times it seemed as if it was overhead and the windows would rattle and the house jolt a bit. Keep calm and carry on. What else can one do? Resiliency. How I love this word!
In addition to the missiles falling as far south as Zikron Ya’akov area (south of Haifa), Iranian supplied drones were flying in from Lebanon carrying payloads of explosives. Several were shot down. This is nothing new. Last weekend, the situation escalated as a drone snuck through and got as far as an army base in Binyamina (towards the center of Israel just east of Caesarea). It was planned. 07:15. The soldiers were all gathered in the mess hall. Boom!!! No warning. The drone hit and exploded the dining hall.p
In that incident, 3 soldiers were critically wounded, 14 in serious condition. They were helicoptered to nearby hospitals. Another set of drones, which went undetected by radar, were again launched that last Sunday evening following the same path. One was intercepted by an F-15, the other slipped through and hit another dining hall in a military training center near Caesaria. This time, 4 soldiers died, 62 of the new recruits were injured. It was the highest casualty toll in a single day since the war started a year ago. Just how did Hizbulla know where and when to strike for maximum impact? Satellite imagery?
Most of the drones are made from plastics. They fly at very low altitudes, are incredibly fast, and can fly between buildings and trees as they are controlled remotely by operators. Yesterday, Hizbulla launched more of these suicide drones. In one swarm, three were shot down and one flew as far as Caesaria, exploding near the publicly known private residence of the Netanyahu’s. This was very serious and takes the war to a whole new level as it targeted the Prime Minister directly.
John and I left home at 6 this morning, just as light was brightening the eastern sky. He is having a colonoscopy at Rambam Hospital in Haifa and we needed to leave early. All of the hospitals in the North have literally moved underground. That way they won’t be affected by bombing. Rambam was the first to do this.
The Sammy Ofer fortified medical center was begun in 2002 in response to the Second Intifada. Three stories underground is the hospital parking lot. In the event of emergency or war, the structure can be converted into a full service 2000-bed medical facility in 36 hours. The entire space is sanitized and services like oxygen, gasses for anesthesia, power cables, water are piped in from the ceiling and within the walls.
I sit here writing as John has his procedure. There was a red alert for the Haifa suburbs just 5 minutes ago. Down here in the deep underground I neither heard sirens nor felt the ground tremble beneath my chair. John will be anesthetized in the parking garage. All of the medical staff and necessary equipment is there. Surgeries are all on the lowest level. It’s an amazing sight to behold. On the level above, -2, newborn babies cry in their little cots. So far this month over 70 babies have been born here. I pray the rest of the facilities never have to be used.
After his procedure, John was moved to hetosh’shoot, recovery, which was upstairs on main floor near the emergency room. Another siren. This time I heard it. All the patients and their caregivers were wheeled into a protected space by the nurses. Calmly. Calmly. “Opa!!Welcome to Israel!” Well that was just a little exciting. We waited for the sound of booms as the rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome overhead. Bang! Bang! boom! Boom! Bang! Wait 10 minutes. All safe. Time to get wheeled back.
In other news, the fighting in southern Lebanon has intensified as more terror tunnels are uncovered there (what else is new?). There is so much evidence that Hizbulla was planning another Gaza Envelope infiltration into northern Israel and massacre. We can hear the explosions from our house. Yet the children are playing outside, albeit close to home and the workers are doing their jobs reconstructing the house below us. Another brigade of reservists was called up for active duty yesterday. All are reservists, and all are highly trained.
I couldn’t believe this but it’s verified from a friend. Not all of the soldiers going in still have up-to-date protective gear. They still have the old helmets and vests (without ceramic plates) from 1973. This is more than outrageous. It’s a matter of their lives and death. Chaya Hitin started Unit 11741 to raise money for helmets and breastplates. She and Daniel Mael (aka The Maelman) started a production facility in Netanya, Israel to make the bulletproof helmets and plates to give full coverage for the soldiers. The helmets can be camouflaged or mounted with a camera. Please help them help the soldiers by donating to unit11741.com. You can read all about them on their website.We fully support the work they are doing. 100% of the donations go directly to the manufacturing of the protective gear.
Five more young soldiers fell in battle in southern Lebanon. May the memories of their lives be a blessing to all. We can hear when the helicopters go overhead bringing the casualties of war to Rambam.
And another heartbreaking death. After serving in the Border Patrol unit, Adair Kaddish, 33, became a police officer. He was engaged to be married in three weeks… but was shot by a terrorist at an intersection south of Tel Aviv. The assassin was eliminated shortly thereafter.
Also, two more fell yesterday, Sgt. Ofer Berkovich,20, and Sgt. Elishai Young, a Hebrew African from Dimona (originally from the U.S.). They were warriors of the 401st battalion in Gaza.
In other news, Israel has once again given in to US pressure. The reprisal from Israel against Iran’s huge ICBM attack last month has still not come. Biden/Harris have called for Netanyahu to hold off (until after the election?) and have called for limits on possible targets. No oil production or refineries can be hit. Nuclear facilities are all off limits.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has seriously been trying to work with the White House, but too many parameters have been set on how to conduct this war. Too many secrets have been leaked by the administration to the press. Israel has been very concerned, especially now, as this seems to have happened again. Quietly, secretly over the weekend, classified Pentagon information concerning the strategic and tactical plans against Iran were leaked to CNN and other mainstream media outlets. They have since been circulated on Telegram and other social media. The authenticity of the documents from October 15 and October 16 was confirmed. They contained vital information on air strikes against Iran sourced to the National Security Agency. Supposedly, this will be examined by the FBI.
This has happened multiple times, in the Obama administration and in the Biden administration. If American is Israel’s friend, who needs more enemies? It is further isolating this tiny country, forcing the people – the government, the military and the general citizenry – to rely on G-d alone.
Enough of the bad news, now for the good. We received the test results and John is free and clear of cancer. Woohoo! Baruch HaShem!!! He’s officially cured! This is amazing! I’ve years ago he was given little to no chance. It was a long battle, but he is cured! Yaaaaay!
The next bit of news is that we made plans quite some time ago to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in Italy. We leave Tuesday night and we will rent a car, and go from Milan/Lake Como in the North to Mantua, Venice, Ravenna, Florence,Pitigliano, Siena, Arezzo, SanGrimignano, through Tuscany to Luca, Assisi, Pompey/Herculaneum, the Amalfi Coast, Naples and Rome. Great art, beautiful scenery, an opera in Florence, gondola ride with serenade, stops to see friends, the food!! Archaeological wonders I’ve studied and taught… it will be amazing. We’re pulling out all the stops. We ‘ll be gone for three weeks.
I’ll be keeping up with the news from time to time. If anything major occurs that you might not hear, I shall let you know. For the time being, it’s ciao, ciao!
POSTSCRIPT, 30 minutes later. News updates:
Two barrages of missiles were fired this morning by Hizbulla from Lebanon targeting Israeli civilians. In Akko, a rocket directly hit a vehicle, critically wounding a man who later succumbed to his injuries. The attack left at least nine others wounded with varying degrees of injuries.
In Kiryat Atta, a 28 year old man was seriously injured by shrapnel from a direct rocket impact, while a man and a woman in their 40s sustained injuries from the same blast. Several individuals have been treated by paramedics for anxiety. Over 60 rockets at a time were launched towards Akko, Haifa, the Haifa suburbs and Uoper Galilee.
Yesterday, a man in his 50s was killed in Akko by falling shrapnel.
Israel Dreams 