The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Remember that story? I remember it something like this: A boy kept telling his parents there was a wolf. They'd run out to check, and there would be none. Then a wolf came, and the boy's parents didn't believe him. I don't remember what happened after that.

I also don't remember how many times the parents got duped before they finally got smart.

But world media are a bunch of gullible idiots.

It doesn't matter how many times Arab-Muslim propaganda is proven to be anywhere between exaggerated and completely false, the media eat it up every time it looks like Israel did something bad to the poor victims of Israeli agression.

This time, Reuters (who, of course, is always unbiased and honest and doesn't post false photos) claims Israel attacked one of their trucks with a missile.

Just go take a look at one of these blogs and see what you think:

The Jawa Report - http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/

Snapped Shot - http://www.snappedshot.com/archives/98-This-doesnt-look-right.html

Power Line - http://powerlineblog.com/archives/015118.php

Post-war babble

I think I've been pretty good so far at keeping up with this blog. I did miss a week, but I made up for it in volume on both sides of that week.

I keep thinking, however, that even now that Lebanon II is over, that's all I talk about. It's true that it definitely still dominates our news, which I check about a gagillion times a day on the Web... and that we still have lots of friends and relatives in the army up there.

But there's good now, too...

E's smiling again. It took weeks, but I saw an honest-to-G-d smile on his face yesterday, and my mood got so much better, so fast that I can't even describe it.

My friend whose brother has been taking refuge in Jerusalem is taking his family home to Ma'alot this weekend, and the rest of the family's going up there for Shabbat.

As ticked off as I am about the way things are going right now, I am definitely pro-no depressing war. I'm afraid we're going back to war any day now, or, even worse, in another five years after they've gotten even bigger and better weapons, but at the moment, I can function again. I like that.

So, thank G-d, some things are starting to be better.

Terrific

I can't even think of another title for this section.

Now this post-war situation looks something like this:

No one, no one at all, is going to force Hezbullah to disarm.

Because of this, a bunch of the countries who originally volunteered troups are backing out.

Lebanon says that only the Lebanese army will be allowed to have weapons (except for Hezbullah). Any other international forces will not be allowed to have them.

Israel is beginning to pull out of Lebanon, and not even the 2,000-member UNIFIL force is in place, let alone the 15,000-member force.

And by the way, according to Debka File (www.debka.com), two countries that say they'll send forces are Indonesia and Morocco.

Yeah, I trust them almost as much as I trust Hezbullah.

Just another day at work

I work in the recruitment department of a large call center. For anyone coming across this blog who knows Jerusalem and the Anglo community, yes, it's "that" call center.

Every Tuesday, we have what we call an "Open Recruitment Event." That means anywhere between 20-60 people come, fill in our application; take our computer test and meet with someone in our department. The meeting ("screening" in our jargon) is to determine quickly if someone might be suitable for one or more of our available positions. If so, which position(s) the person would be most interested in. Then we set an appointment for a real interview.

Because we only have between 5-15 minutes with each person, we have few basic questions/conversation-starters we ask in order to get a feel for a person.

"Tell me a little bit about yourself."

"What is your work background?"

"How well do you handle pressure/stress?"

Shortly after I started, my colleague screened someone whose sister had been killed in a suicide bombing, and he was severely injured in the attack. On a regular basis, I speak with people who've gotten out of the army who tell me they've had to track/trap/shoot terrorists.

So now, with the war on (or on hold, whatever), it's no surprise that we're seeing people directly affected by it.

Yesterday, out of the 12 people I screened, two stick out:

One was a bit out of it, and apologized. She was going from our company to a funeral for one of the soldiers who'd been killed on Sunday.

The other was a young guy -- barely 20 years old. I asked him what he's been doing lately, and he said he just got out of the army a few weeks ago.

My first response was "mazal tov!" because that's what we say here when someone gets released from the army.

I mentioned it was interesting that he got out in the middle of the current situation, and he told me he got out because of the current situation:

"A few of my friends were killed in front of me, so I asked for a few days off to recover a little bit. They told me they couldn't do that, but they could release me... so they did."

I didn't know how to react. It went something like this:

"Okay, I guess 'mazal tov' isn't the best phrase for a situation like this. I'm really sorry about your friends... and I hope we can do something that will be good for you."

In the U.S., I read about soldiers being killed, and felt really sorry for their friends and family.

But here, if you read about one, it touches much closer to home.

And unfortunately, it touches this close to home on a regular basis.

I hate the UN

I cannot figure out what good things the UN does. In fact, I hate the UN and its "Security Council."

So it's absolutely no surprise to me that someone like Kofi Annan would say, and even maybe believe, that he's not taking sides in an issue like this Israel vs. Hezbullah situation.

Annan and the other clueless folks keep saying that Israel's response has been "disproportionate."

And what, pray tell, would have been "proportionate?"

Would it have been better if Israel had sneaked into Lebanon, killed a couple Hezbullah terrorists and kidnapped a couple more?

Or would that have been considered "continuing the cycle of violence," like it is every time Israel succeeds at a targeted assassination?

No one, including this stupid "security council," comes up with good ideas for Israel to protect itself.

And now, Kofi and his "United Nations" are saying that it's not in their mandate to disarm a terrorist organization. Plus, to add insult to injury, it's going to take "weeks or months" to get an international force in place, instead of days.

So our boys and girls and men and women must remain in enemy territory, under threat, until the UN gets around to putting a force in place that most of us in Israel won't trust anyway.

Yeah, I feel secure.

(Btw, I think it's ridiculous that five countries would have veto power over anything. I think it's ridiculous that a country like Syria could ever get a place on the Security Council. And honestly, what the hell is a "Security Council" for, if it's not to help provide WORLD security in an organization like the United Nations?)

Thanks aren't received well

I had a guy who was supposed to start on my project who left a message for me last week to say he couldn't come, because he had to go up north. He'd been called up for emergency duty.

Today, he called me to say he's sorry, but he's going to be a while, and he just wanted to make sure I'd gotten his message.

I told him I completely understood. Then I told him that he and all the rest of our soldiers up there are in our thoughts and prayers, and I thanked him for all he's doing for the rest of us.

It was like he didn't know how to react.

'Cause here, army is a duty for every citizen. Sure, there are lots of citizens who choose to get out of it, and many who aren't drafted anyway... but outside of the Haredim and Israeli Arabs, most males serve and many females serve.

So if he's just doing his job, why should he be thanked?

As far as I'm concerned, it's exactly because he's doing his job.

There have been some rumblings about people wanting to refuse to return to service for the current war, and I think I read about one person who refused to join the battle. But for the most part, people are ready and willing to go kick some butt in order to protect our sliver of land and the lives within it.

And every time I talk to one of those who've left their families and their jobs to fight for my right to sit here in Jerusalem and play on my computer peacefully, I'm thanking him or her.

Waiting for the names

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525814086&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

When I read this article earlier, it didn't have the same headline. Now it says the 12 killed were reserve soldiers.

This afternoon, I wondered out loud why people were gathered outside. Now I know -- they were reserve soldiers gathering, not just people who had cabin fever from being trapped inside their bomb shelters.

Now, as I personally know at least half a dozen soldiers who've been called up for emergency orders, know the wives of at least half a dozen more, and know the names of another dozen, I'm filled with apprehension at finding out the names of those killed.

And it's going to stink either way. If they're people I know, or who are related to or friends of people I know, it means being sad, maybe going to a funeral or two, and/or some shiva houses.

And if they're not people I know, then I'll be one of those feeling guilty about being relieved.

Like I said: It's going to stink either way.

Just because you're paranoid, Part II

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/747018.html

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525816599&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Not that most Israelis trust the world media anyway, at this point, but the Reuters thing adds just a little more fuel to the fire.

And if the guy's busted on the fake bomb damage photos, does this make the Qana photos any less credible? I believe so, but hey, I'm paranoid.

Just because you're paranoid...

The article linked below is about the media's coverage of the new Israel-Lebanon War.

Wouldn't it be something different if the news media organizations said to the Terrorist Propaganda Machine that they refused to cover the situation unless given the ability to publish honest reports?

Hmm...

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1154525792640&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

And while the International Red Cross finally accepted Israel's Magen David Adom into its inner circle, and while it is ostensibly "neutral," it also has already begun taking sides in this conflict.

When people began questioning the handling of the Qana bombing, the ICRC said pretty much that it has more important things to do than help figure out if the bodies were people actually killed in the Qana building, or if they'd been dead for longer.

The ICRC is also complaining about the "humanitarian crisis" in Lebanon, but not concerned with the hundreds of thousands of Israeli people (including Arabs, mind you) who've been living in bomb shelters for the last three weeks.

And the world is being told about the million Lebanese who've been forced from their homes, but not about the Israelis who are crowding into tiny rooms and apartments in the central and southern regions, also living off the generosity of others. Because Arabs can be refugees, but apparently Jews aren't allowed.

E's not smiling

3 August - There's this guy I got hired for my project. I originally met him and thought he'd be perfect, and my colleague interviewed him. Every day he pops into our office at least once, sometimes two or three times. He just wants to say hi, and tease us and chill out for a minute or two away from his class or the call center floor.

Nothing bothers him -- E smiles even when he's ticked off about something. He cracked jokes when his brother was in Gaza as the beginning of the newest war started. As he was in our office using the phone, he casually mentioned that a soldier in Gaza had been killed, and he couldn't get ahold of his brother. I, of course, was very upset... but his way of dealing with it was to joke about it and wait and see. Thank G-d, his brother was fine.

On Tuesday, E got a call from the army. See, he was listed as being the emergency contact person for one of his best friends. The army was calling to inform him that his friend had been killed in Lebanon earlier Wednesday.

E then had to call his friend's family to inform them.

Yesterday, E was in limbo. He knew it had happened, but he couldn't believe it. He was in shock, sort of wandering around our offices simply because he didn't want to be at home alone. I saw E's red eyes, and it was all I could do to keep from crying in front of him.

E talked about his friend a bit, saying he was one of those smiley guys who laughed a lot. He seems like it, just from the picture published in the Jpost.

I keep going into weeping fits.

Israel's such a small country... it's impossible to not know someone, or know someone who knows someone who's been killed because of people who hate Jews.

You can read about "Mikey" here: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1153292058280&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Random thoughts

These are random excerpts from e-mails I've sent...


13 July - "In Jerusalem, it's not scary in that "i'm going to get bombed" way, but it is scary in that "my friends and other people's friends are getting called for tzav 8" way. I can't imagine what it's like for the people in the north, though. " (Tzav 8 are emergency orders calling up reservists for duty)



21 July - "It's true that there weren't warning systems in most of the Arab towns. Considering they're cousins of the Palestinians, literally, no one really thought they were in danger. Now it's understood that they are, and there are warning systems going in.

But many of the Jewish towns in the north didn't have warning systems either. Even Haifa's wasn't working until after they'd already been hit several times.

I'm getting really frustrated watching the news coverage. The vast majority of it does not seem to be even making the effort to be balanced. They keep trying to compare the numbers of Israelis vs. Arabs/Lebanese/whatever killed -- but not taking into account that Israel is trying to keep from hitting civilians wherever possible. Sheesh, they drop flyers and warn two hours before they bomb much of the time. Hezbollah shoots rockets wherever they can, and Israel will risk its soldiers' lives to try to prevent civilian casualties.

They also keep talking about how Israel's reaction is "disproportionate." So what would be proportionate? We should kidnap two Hezbollah people and shoot rockets at civilians? That would be okay? Somehow I doubt it.

When the rest of the world seems so against us, no matter what we do, it doesn't seem like we have any obligations to please them anymore -- including evacuating settlements. It's been proven already twice that evacuating not only does not make us safer -- it increases our risk.

Anyway, enough grumbling."



1 August - "How is the media portraying us there? That attack on Qana is so suspicious, and from our end it appears that the Israeli PR machine is trying to emphasize that the IDF warned the civilians to leave days before, the building didn't collapse until 8 hours after it was hit, and/or that they did not start evacuating the dead/wounded until the media arrived. But I wonder if that's coming across there at all.

I'm so relieved that the Israeli government is standing up to most international pressure and still fighting. I'm scared for my friends and acquantances, and the people I don't know, who have been called up for emergency reserve duty, but we have to win this war. If we don't, there's not a chance in hell we're ever going to be able to live peacefully here.

One of my co-workers is heading north to volunteer. She'll probably do arts & crafts projects with kids stuck in bomb shelters or something. I wish so badly I could also go do something like that... but I'm convincing myself that at the moment, it's just as important for me to continue helping the Israeli economy by giving people jobs as it would be for me to play with little kids. Someone has to keep the country going, so we can afford to pay the folks in the north for their lost days of work and damage to their homes and bodies.

Way back when, I said that if Israel ever went to war, I would want to be here. I knew I couldn't fight in the army, but I knew that people were going to be called up for duty, and other things would need to be done that I *could* do... so that's what I'm doing. But I must admit that I wish I could be up there. Oh well."

Not sleeping in a bomb shelter... yet

(Originally sent to my update list on 14 July)

Hi.

Yeah, I know, long time, no write. Probably something like 10 or 11 months, actually. And while I keep meaning to do it, it just keeps getting away from me. I even tried blogging, but since I can never manage to get more than one or two entries done before slacking off for months, I haven't bothered lately.

But Mom politely asked me to write, because she's getting calls and e-mails checking up since, as my sibling said to me yesterday, "Israel has been in the news cycle."

So the short of what's been going on in my life is this:

The Jerusalem Post waited until I got up to Jerusalem to tell me they couldn't pay me, so I couldn't work at the paper. I searched for a job for three months before landing one doing administrative work at an American call center. I sort of moved up in rank there and now I do interviews and give people jobs. But my company's undergoing some turbulence at the moment, including lots of changes in management, so I don't know how much longer I'll stay there.

I lived on my friend's living room floor while I was job hunting, and for a bit afterward, and then I moved in with a 50-something-year-old British immigrant. Her son, who is awesome, is 21 and lived about three blocks from us. It was meant to be a temporary solution when I moved in there, and since we weren't compatible as roommates, it was a good thing it was temporary.

Temporary evolved into four months, and a month ago or so I moved into my own apartment. It's hard to believe how much more it costs than the gigantic flat I had in Hamtramck, and on an Israeli salary it's not easy to make ends meet (in fact, most Israelis don't), but I'm thrilled to be in my own place again, with my own room, bathroom, kitchen, etc.

I'm starting to build a support system here, slowly but surely. I have some adopted families in Arad and the north, and one of these days I'll get up the energy to find some in Jerusalem, too.

So that's my life, in the teensiest nutshell ever.

I have days where I love my job, and I have days where I hate it. It's not what I trained to do, but most Anglos who live in Jerusalem don't get to do what they trained to do. It's the price we pay for living in Jerusalem. Well, that and having to be under the scrutiny of the other six billion people on the planet, while also fearing for our lives if we ride busses or visit places where more than three Jews gather. But on a daily basis, it's the job thing that we deal with most, thank G-d. :)

Now regarding this war my tiny little country is in at the moment:

Unless someone specifically asks me, or I finally get to blogging, I'll try to leave most of my own political opinions out of this.

But here's the sitch(situation): An internationally-recognized sovereign territory (Israel) has been attacked by: A - an internationally-recognized, democratically-elected political body that also happens to be a terrorist organization calling for the destruction of Israel (Hamas), and B - a terrorist organization (Hezbollah) that operates in full view of an internationally-recognized, democratically-elected government of an internationally-recognized sovereign territory (Lebanon).

And, as Israel has done since the beginning, it is "exercising restraint" when it comes to defending itself. Considering Israel has one of the most powerful air forces and military structures around, dropping leaflets and making announcements before they bomb places where civilians might be, even though the terrorist organizations are purposely operating in civilian areas, sure feels like "restraint."

Here in Jerusalem, except for hearing some planes very high overhead, it's not hard to pretty much go on with our lives. That's quickly changing, however, as more and more of my friends and others are being called up for emergency military duty. One buddy of mine from work was able to and decided to decline going for emergency duty, because his brother is currently in Gaza, and another brother of his is coming back from England to join the efforts on our northern border.

And along with the (mostly) guys getting called up for duty, of course we're worried about our friends and families in the north. Since I first fell in love with Israel while living in Haifa, it's difficult to know I'm here "safe" in Jerusalem while my friends in Nahariyah, Carmiel, Tzfat (Safed), Haifa, and other places in the north aren't allowed to travel far from their homes, and have to clean out their protected rooms (that most people use as storage or the spare bedroom) to make room for their entire families.

Now for those who haven't followed as closely - Hezbollah never stopped firing rockets at Israel. It did, however, seem to fire them at less-populated areas, and they were more of a reminder to Israel that Hezbollah was there than they were actual attacks most of the time. It's interesting that Hezbollah decided to start raining down Katyushas around the rest of northern Israel on the day we begin our three-week mourning period for the destruction of the second Temple.

During this period of time, a commemoration of the time between when the walls around the Temple were breached and the actual destruction of the Temple, religious Jews refrain from having weddings, going to concerts, and do a few other things to remember that it's not supposed to be a "happy" time. The three weeks started with a daytime fast (yesterday) and will end with a 25-hour fast.

So as we were already feeling a little weak, we were constantly checking the news sites to see if anything else had happened, and to keep up with the situation. And for those of us who could not serve in the military, it was another reminder of how weak and helpless we are when it comes to defending our country.

And, of course, all of this started happening after we were attacked from within Gaza, an event that happened over a week before the attack from the north.

Thank G-d that we do still have a strong military, and hopefully our leaders will be strong enough to make the decisions and give the orders that will keep our sliver of land safe.

So, for me and the majority of my friends here, life goes on pretty much as usual, although with the additions of extra positive thoughts and prayers. And any of those you want to send our way will be happily accepted, as well.

Bear with me...

As I'm getting this blog off the ground, stuff is going to sort of jumble together. The fact is, the first couple or three entries are all going to look as if they've been posted today or in the upcoming days, but it's stuff that relates directly to the past week or two instead.

Huh?

I mean, I've been writing to myself or to my mother or to my update list or to whomever since the beginning of the war. I'm going to take bits of those and post them here, starting at the beginning of the war.

That way we can get up to now and I can go from here (wherever here is).

I'm finally doing it

This time, instead of creating a blog and waiting until I've updated for weeks before telling anyone about it, I'm going to create it and tell a few people within a couple of days.

That way, I figure instead of my mother or someone asking "When do you think you might send an update again?" They can ask "When do you think you might update your blog again?"

What's the purpose of this blog?

I don't know.

After I've started at least half a dozen in the past with very distinct ideas or goals, and failed miserably, I figure I'm not going to bother this time. It's my blog: I'll do with it what I want.

At the moment, I'm sure it's going to be my venting place about the war. This will probably mean that everyone who reads it will come to think I'm the sort of person who'd just as easily be creating a hilltop settlement as I would sitting and writing a blog. I'm going to come off as heavily right-wing, I fear, but since I'm a Libra, I'll probably say something heavily left-wing next week.

Whatever.