As older people tend to do, I was up at 1:45 AM last night when I saw the Arrow antimissile system shoot down over Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, about eight ballistic missiles launched from Iran. Over 200 threats, drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, all shot down by the combined forces of Israel, USA, Britain, France, and Jordan.  "The bombs bursting in air".   

The XYL, the dog, and I went to our safe room until we knew it was clear to leave.  We are ok, in good shape, and preparing for the next round.  Thanks for all of the inquires.  

There will be more later - its just that it is all too surreal to know where to begin.   

73,  Eric 4Z1UG

Gaza, for years has been described by the press as, "An Open Air Prison" or "the most dense population in the World (New York City is actually 6 X more dense).  Frankly, it is amazing to me that those of us that live less than an hour away from Gaza, who have not been in Gaza since before 2005, had no idea what was happening there. We did not believe the "open air prison" since Israeli completely left Gaza in 2005, handing the Palestinian Arabs the keys and making 8000 Jews homeless.  They had the opportunity to make Gaza the Singapore of the Eastern Mediterranean.  Well, maybe they did and their public relations is just poor.  

We, Israelis, know that Gazans have taken billions of dollars in foreign aid, built almost 500 miles of tunnels 1.5 times longer than the London Tube system, and have shot, even before October 7th, over 20,000 missiles at Israel communities outside of Gaza.  Since they have the keys, its was not clear to us why there were any refugee camps left in Gaza.  Modern Hospitals in Gaza number 35 before October 7th, with 3412 beds, for population of 2 million people, or one bed for every 586 people.  

The video below is a recent news report, in Hebrew with English subtitles, on what we discovered in Gaza from their social media and "boots on the ground".  In Israel, "suckers" are called "friers".  Friers is not an enviable position and I guess we should have known more about our neighbors.  We should have known that there were tunnels large enough for truck loads of merchandise, supplies, fuel, and weapons under the Egyptian border at Rafah.  We are friers and learn our lessons very quickly.  Hopefully the rest of the World will also see how they were duped and not be friers in the future. 

On October 8th, over 300,000 IDF reserve soldiers were called into active duty.  Over 120% of the those called showed up from not only Israel proper, but from where ever they happen to be in the World at that moment.  El Al Airlines was running over capacity to return Israelis home to battle Hamas in Gaza.  Every reservist comes from every corner of Israeli society.  In my own circle, dozens of neighbors, friends, co-workers, store employees, etcetera, were suddenly gone to war.  

This story and its impact on Israeli society is told extremely well by Wendy Singer, the sister of Dan Senor,  host of the Call Me Back podcast, one of the many podcasts that I listen to regularly.  She has a different vantage point from mine to tell her story. 

An old friend, who reads this blog,  sent me a message after my last post, accusing me, the IDF, and Prime Minister Netanyahu of genocide against the innocent civilian population of Gaza in our war to uproot Hamas, the terrorist group that viciously attacked us on October 7th.  On that day, over 1200 Israelis, were murdered after being tortured, burned, raped, beheaded, and poisoned with gas.  
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It was Saturday, October 7th 2023, on  Simchat Torah, one of our most joyous Jewish festivals in our calendar.  It is the very last day of the High Holy days, after a beautiful week of Sukkot, where we live outside in our booths.  Sukkot is my favorite holiday and time of the year. It looked to be a beautiful weekend. 
At 6:30 AM, I was out with the dog on her weekly play date with Buddy of similar breed.  David, Buddie’s master, and I sit to the side to avoid the two dogs playing and moving at breakneck speed.  We started hearing the booms, almost continuous for over a half an hour.  Since it was the Sabbath (Shabbat) and a holiday, where we don’t use electronics, it wasn’t until a few hours later that I heard what was happening from  one of the security agents who had a radio.  We made the Simchat Torah service in the street in front of my house, so that at least a few times, we could run for cover when the air-raid sirens sounded. 

I get a regular update from Israel RealTime from Akiva on WhatsApp.  This just came through.  In the context about UNRWA's direct involvement in supporting Hamas, the discovery of Hamas tunnels and data center under the UNRWA Gaza headquarters confirms our suspicions.  The rest of this post is Israel RealTime.  

​JOINT IDF AND ISA ANNOUNCEMENT OF A SIGNIFICANT UNDERGROUND HAMAS INTELLIGENCE ASSET AND WEAPONS INSIDE OFFICES—THESE FINDINGS WERE FOUND WITHIN UNRWA FACILITIES

Over the last two weeks, IDF and ISA forces have been conducting a division-level targeted raid on terror targets in northern and central Gaza.

The problem with living in a different hemisphere from where I grew up is the assumption that all of you follow the same news that I do, from day to day.  The revelation that UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a special agency created only for Arab refugees from Palestine, was complicit in the October 7th massacre of Jews in Israel, surprised politicians, educators, journalists, and the "elite" in the West.  For us living here in Israel, it was common knowledge that UNRWA was the only refugee agency that provided services to refugee descendants generations after the UNHCR - the UN Refugee Agency had done its job settling tens of millions of refugees around the World after World War 2.  It is common knowledge that UNRWA propagates the refugee myth, with the help of the West, that Arab refugees from Israel's war of independence, a defensive war, in 1948, would someday return "home" at the expense of the Jews.  ​

Above is a map of the London "Tube" or subway system.  Its total length is 250 miles of tunnels to travel all around London.  The current Hamas tunnel underground, in Gaza, is now estimated at 450 miles, almost twice as long as the London tube system.  Gaza is 23% the size of London; 141 square miles compared to London's 607 square miles.  I calculate this to be 2.6 miles of underground in every square mile of Gaza.  

I bring this up because the news outside of Israel may be focused on the civilian casualties in "the strip" from "reliable" Hamas health department spokesmen on Al Jazeera, the Qatari 24 hour news station, that is funded by the same Qatari sheikh who funded the tunnels and hosts Hamas representatives in 5 star hotels in Doha. ​

There are many reasons why men commit suicide. Suicide is the number one killer of men in the World now in epic proportions according to an article by Susanna Bennett, “Male Suicide: A Public Health Emergency”. According to Bennett, suicide is the leading cause of death for men in the United States and United Kingdom.  This was based on a peer reviewed study of two decades and 78 studies including over 1695 people who participated.  

Please do not worry, this is not my issue, but when reading a study like this, I start to think that one of the leading reasons for male suicide is our male identity as providers and contributors.  We define ourselves by our work or professions, before anything else. When our situation changes, including the loss of a spouse, the loss of a business, a job failure, or anything that we used to define us, then according to the article, suicide is up.  

The Jewish people survived 3500 years of oppression at the hands of our friends and enemies with our faith, our strong will (described in the Bible as "stiff neck"), and our sense of humor.  Those of us who watch the culture war in the West, marvel at the deterioration of the West's ivy league universities, its leaders, its education, and its policies.  "Cultural appropriation", was first used in "the academy" in the 1980's, according to the encyclopedia Britannica, and happens when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group in exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way.  Cleveland Indians or Washington Redskins as names for sports teams is cultural appropriation. Shame on the owners of these teams, a hundred years ago, who did not know how insensitive they were. 

Of course, we Jews have been too busy trying to establish a place in western society, after being persecuted everyplace else, to worry about cultural appropriation.  We have not been vigilant about watching and reporting those non-Jews, from the majority culture, who might purchase gefilte fish from the kosher food aisle in their local supermarket.  We are considering, as a minority group, submitting legislation that would require some kind of ethnic test before our ethnic foods could be purchased by anyone outside our distinct group. We also deplore Klezmer Bands made up of ethnic Germans and Poles. Who would think!

It has come to the attention of the Jewish People that Yale University may in fact be in violation of cultural appropriation.  What follows is a recording of an actual call to Yale to straighten out this abuse. 

Ben Zussman, z'l, is a soldier who fell in battle last week in Gaza.  He is one of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and reservists who did not hesitate to show up to his unit and deploy on one of Israel's many fronts.  Karen and I knew Ben's great grandmother and the family that comes from Denver.  I know his grandfather in Jerusalem through our once common cable television business.  We are all connected.

Ben's mother, now one of over one hundred mothers of soldiers who have lost their lives serving Israel in the last month, speaks at his funeral.  At the point where I start the video, she reminds us, our politicians, and the world of their responsibility to the families of the fallen.  Their cause is great, the enemy is evil, and this is the price that we pay for freedom from tyranny and the barbarians at the gate.  

As Israel is always in the top 10 happiest countries on Earth from annual surveys, I wanted to reveal to you why this is so.  We love our life even with high taxes, high cost of living, and everyone in the neighborhood wanting to murder us. We all share a bizarre sense of humor. Even during a time of war, we use humor to laugh at our situation and perhaps educate those outside of Israel, how we see things.  Eretz Nederet is an SNL like popular TV show on Israeli television known for its satire.  Nobody is immune from their mocking and ridicule.  Lately they have created a number of skits in English, for a larger audience. 

The first video below was released today to explain the real beneficiaries of Hamas fundraising.  

I just finished preparing Episode 477 of the QSO Today Podcast and the Sabbath comes in early.  As an old guy holding down the home front, along with all of us who are doing the jobs of everyone serving or at least working to keep businesses alive, help mothers with kids whose husbands are "away", pick fruit, deliver food to soldiers stationed around us and on the fronts, I notice who is missing everywhere. The lack of cars on the road is unreal.  People are missing from the bank, grocery store, our schools, and everywhere, over 300,000 young adults who were called up to active duty.  I heard that another 300,000 from abroad returned as well.  All of them away since October 8th.  If they are lucky to have time off and take it, as I hear many will not leave their fellow soldiers, they come home for 24 hours, only to return right away to their posts. 

Karen sent me a video going around on social media that speaks to my heart because it is so true for those of us who live here in Israel.  It is a snapshot of what it feels like right now.