Lizrael Update

Tag: terrorism

  • Twenty Years

    Twenty Years

    Political Violence (part 1) It took place in an off-the-beaten path classroom, not a modern lecture hall. We were maybe 30 students, and the few times we had met before – maybe it was two? Three? – we had already covered some ‘basics’: what peacebuilding is, Rwanda, a bit of Bosnia. When I registered for…

  • Sometimes it’s what you don’t say

    Like there isn’t enough… in what seems like one long endless day since Monday, a single period in a calendar that has been one long endless battle since the beginning of time… …is how fucking horrible Israeli comms handling has been. Between the IDF spokespeople and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This has been true…

  • This is decades-bad.

    It’s bad. It’s bad on so many levels. Personally, we are ok in our area. A given Israeli’s frontline concerns depend on where exactly they are located. For us on this side, the very rare siren in the last 15 years is not much of an issue. That can’t be said for every corner of…

  • We cast our lot.

    We cast our lot.

    When people ask me why I came here, my answer is that no matter what I believe religiously I’ll always accept the fact that by being born into what I was born I have no choice but to cast my lot with the rest of my people. So even now, as there is this man…

  • A day in the life

    7:50 Find out about the breaking news from a friend on Whatsapp 8:05 Make sure to give huz and kid #3 a solid goodbye 8:10 Have sinking feeling about letting your kids go for the day 9:45 Pick up kid #2 for speech therapy, feel excited because it’s bonus kid time 10:45 Drop kid #2 off at gan…

  • Meat counter convo liz: So I guess I’m that person now

    Standing at the meat counter in the local supermarket. Guy to meat counter girl: “Yeah, everything is crazy, how are you doing?” Meat counter girl: “It’s so scary!” Me: “Hey, at least we know exactly when it’ll hit, it’s been evenings and that’s it.” Guy: “It’ll be quiet till tonight, till they’ve eaten and organized…

  • The 4th kidnapped boy: that’s called disgust – go ahead and feel it.

    The 4th kidnapped boy: that’s called disgust – go ahead and feel it.

    Disgust. There are a lot of things to be utterly disgusted with around here. I feel disgust constantly. It’s usually aimed at opinions that differ from mine; minute triggers related to lifestyles that differ from mine; ways of communicating I don’t agree with. Shame. That is something I feel less often, but it does come…

  • Welcome home, Gilad Shalit, our brother soldier.

    There’s no doubt: this is bittersweet. Today we’re proud. We’re relieved. We’re emotional. We’re exhausted. Tomorrow we’re going to continue mourning. We’re going to be extra cautious. We’re going to be angry. We’re going to feel even more pain. Today we can be mothers of lost soldiers. Mothers waking up from a nightmare. Tomorrow we’ll…

  • Itamar family murder photos: A valid weapon? To what degree?

    This is a response to an ongoing conversation I’ve been having/seeing on Facebook, reacting to the sharing of images of the bodies of the Itamar terror-murder victims, including the three children who were stabbed to death (note: neither of those links contain the images). The issue has been that folks are posting the images of…

  • Home and away.

    There’s a lot to take in this motzei Shabbat… Catching up on the reality in Japan after Friday’s earthquake and tsunami disaster, and then reading about the horrific murders of two sleeping parents, two sleeping children and a sleeping newborn here, a few dozen kilometers from home, on Friday night. Natural disasters make me feel…

  • A week of drills to come.

    Next week the country is conducting a series of horrible scenario simulations for the purpose of drilling government agencies, the army, government employees and students on how to react in the case of a national emergency. Civil defense drill starts Sun.; to include mock chemical attack “The exercise will continue throughout the week, with scenarios…

  • Blood and books: an inevitable mix?

    Merkaz HaRav, the yeshiva chosen by the Arab gunman for last night’s massacre, is a flagship yeshiva that stands at the heart of the Religious Zionist movement and should not be confused with the extreme anti-Israel strain of yeshiva population. One Merkaz HaRav student shot the gunman twice in the head with a pistol he…