Dear friends,

Last night at 6 PM we met in our office in Afula with the parents of the Young Emissaries who are scheduled to travel to SNEC at the end of this month.  The meeting took place after we received special permission from JAFI's regional security officer, since the instructions of the Home Front Command forbid holding gatherings and stipulate that everyone must remain in protected areas at all times.  The meeting was interrupted after 20 minutes with an air raid siren that sounded throughout Afula.  Within 20 seconds everyone present was inside the bomb shelter, which is adjacent to the room we were in.  While we were in the shelter another siren sounded.  Later we found out that rockets fell throughout the Lower Galilee. 

At 8 PM, when the meeting was over, I went up one floor to my office.  I saw on my cell phone that my entire family was looking for me, which gave me a sense of foreboding.  I found out that 5 minutes earlier Haifa, where my whole family – both close and extended – lives, was subject to the most intensive missile attack since this war began.  My wife Iris told me in a trembling voice that our whole building shook as if it were made of paper, the noise was deafening and she thought that the missile hit our building.  During this attack on Haifa 6 very powerful missiles hit the city, directly hitting 4 sites.  One of the missiles landed very close to my house, and just 100 meters away from my mother's house, causing extensive damage to dozens of buildings in the vicinity. One building collapsed entirely, trapping residents under the rubble.  The images on TV were horrifying.

My problem last night was how to drive home from Afula.  Which route was least dangerous?  Last Friday afternoon missiles hit several sites along the route on which I travel every day from Haifa to my office.  The alternatives are limited, the risk is high, and so is the gamble.   While I was driving back I heard on the radio the injury reports climbing from 50 to 100 then to 250, 20 of them children. When I reached Haifa the streets were empty except for police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.  The cafes were all closed, everyone was inside their homes trying to cope with the devastating experience they had just had. 

War is particularly cruel when innocent civilians become victims while sitting in their own homes.  Unlike the IDF, who gives hours of advance warning to civilians who may be injured in an upcoming attack and gives them ample time to leave the area of danger, we are dealing with a vicious enemy who does not offer us the same "courtesy" and who considers a high number of civilian casualties a success.  An hour after I got home I saw on TV the joyous dances in the streets of the Palestinian city of Ramallah and candies being offered to passers by in celebration of the "successful attacks" of the Hizballah on Israeli civilians.  My first thought was: How different we are from them, we do not celebrate and give out candy in the streets when their children are accidentally killed, and I wondered how many more years will pass before we are able to live a normal, peaceful life without the danger of neighbors who wish to eradicate us.  

Eshel