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."
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."
posted by M at 09:07
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home