The Situation

No, not the reality "star". The situation in Israel.

In my next posts, I planned to write about grocery shopping, laundry, etc. I promised posts about Spain, Budapest, and Vienna. And it will come, just not now. That all seems kind of silly and/or disrespectful at the moment.

Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets--approaching 1000, into Israel over the past four days. Over 12,000 since 2001. They aim at population centers, and have no idea precisely where the rockets will land. Israel meticulously aims at militant targets. Be careful about what you see on the news.

This is not the first time Israel has faced such a situation, to say the least. Israelis will tell you that they've been through this before, and Americans are bound to worry more. Which is probably true, but this time there are some differences. This is the first time terrorists have fired rockets toward Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Scott and I live in Jerusalem, but we were in the North when the sirens sounded here. The rockets aimed here landed around 30km away, near both Jewish and Muslim areas.

Thank G-d, the Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted rockets headed toward population centers with 85ish% accuracy, meaning the number of rockets that have hit cities is only in the double digits. Three Israeli civilians were killed in the South, among them a pregnant mother of three.

Last night Israel had a quiet night, but today a few rockets hit southern cities and a couple were intercepted on the way to Tel Aviv.  Meanwhile, Israeli troops are gathered at the Gaza border. Reservists have been called up. For Scott and I, this includes husbands of friends, friends of friends, children of teachers. On our way back to Jerusalem yesterday, we passed at least 10 trucks transporting tanks south.

Hopefully we're on our way to lasting quiet.