Mara is the daughter of a friend of a friend of mine living near Tel Aviv with her husband Tom. In her e-mail she describes what its like to be under daily rocket attack. She also attached a video taken by her husband during one of these attacks. I am going to try to attach the link here. MARAS LATEST EMAIL,, THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND CONCERN Dear Friends and Family: Here we are on day #7 of our ping pong game with Gaza. I am sharing a video Tom took over the weekend on our kibbutz. What you see and hear is the alarm sounded in the local area any time a rocket is detected. From that point, you have a specified amount of time to reach a bomb shelter before the rocket is expected to go off. Our allotted time is 1 minute 30 seconds, and the time it takes Tom and me to walk from our house to the shelter is 1 minute 7 seconds. So if we delay a bit to put on our shoes, we have to run to make it in time. Keep in mind we live 45 miles from Gaza, so the people who live within a five mile range, have about 15 seconds to run for cover. You will see Tom walking from our house to the bomb shelter (that triangular cement thing). Some walk and some run. Mothers carry their babies...and others carry their dogs as if they were babies, as I know Mom would do with Utley! Then you will hear the rocket as it is intercepted by the brilliant iron dome. You will hear Tom say in Hebrew to others There, there, look up, and you can identify the rocket as the white smoke in the sky. Not to freak you out, but this is legit above our heads...about four times a day...everyday. And that is nothing compared to the cities in the south. (Mom and Dad please dont worry - we are okay! Iron dome, remember?! I love you!) So that is why I am so disgusted by the biased and ignorant reporting of the international community slamming Israel for their inhumane actions on the underdog. I simply cant stand by and read the news without trying to give some context. Please feel free to share with anyone. I dont mean to be preachy, but I just watched a video from a rock legend last night giving a concert in London, where he bashed Israel for dropping bombs on children and I absolutely lost my nerve. To provide some context: Hamas sends 100% of their rockets on random civilian targets. When Hamas falsely reported to their citizens last night that they struck people in Tel Aviv (their rockets actually landed in the sea), I watched on the news Gazans dancing and cheering in the street...I wouldnt believe it unless I saw it with my own eyeballs. Israel uses the utmost restrain to target places only where missiles are stored or where known terrorists operate, and in fact, call off missions when children are detected. If you havent seen the video yet of this, click here. And you better believe if Hamas had the military capability Israel did they wouldnt think twice about humanitarian actions or what Europe and the US thought and would bomb the hell out of Israel to the point we were wiped off the map. No doubt in my mind. One more thing, Israel drops pamphlets from the sky altering Gazan civilians of a terror cell in the area and they are going to bomb at this time on this day, so they should evacuate. Sometimes the Israeli army calls the people living in those homes or gives a warning shot because they dont want innocent civilians and children to get caught in the cross fire. I gotta tell you I didnt get a courtesy call this morning from Hamas at 6am when they shot off two rockets off above my home and I sure aint holding my breath till they do. Thank goodness Israeli intelligence does it for me. I agree that this is a cruddy situation and it is horrible that there is even one casualty. I wish we didnt have to shoot bombs back and forth. However, its so important to know the full picture and understand that if anything, Israel is perhaps THE most humane country in the world in times of war and we are fighting for our survival as a country. So please, please, Mr. Fancy Holier Than Thou Rock Star, please check the facts before making judgments and pointing fingers on stage and influencing thousands of fans who had no opinion about Israel to now hate us. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask me. We are still doing A-OK and chugging along. Tom and I had date night over burritos and margaritas, I did well on my exam in Jerusalem and hung out with cousin Cyd, and we are still going to the pool and watering the flowers so they bloom! Hoping for a quiet night and sending lots of love! Mara
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:10:49 +0000
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