Day 503

 

                                                                         SORRY

We are so very sorry that today you have come home in coffins

We are so very sorry that you were taken as hostages

We are so very sorry that the 7th of October 2023 happened, and no one was there to protect you

We are so very sorry, Shiri, that your parents were murdered that day

We are so very sorry that your husband was taken as a hostage

We are so very sorry that when he came back on February 1st, he returned alone

We are so very sorry that there are still 73 hostages in Gaza

We do not know whether they will be returned. We ssuspect that  this war with no end is going to begin again. The war that has not resolved a thing.  The war that has left nearly 50,000 dead.  

We do know that we have been abandoned by those in charge, who are meant to serve and protect us.   Our wonderful young people  have been killed, wounded, traumatised.  The entire nation is traumatised. It is too much to bear.  We cry, we hurt, we bleed.  We plead for a diplomatic solution to end this unending cycle of violence. We do know that this is very very hard. We know those in charge have no desire to end this horror.  We have to stand up to them and to all of those whose only wish is to kill and destroy.

Somehow, sometime, this HAS to end.

We are so very sorry.

Unbearable

 I recall that at some time in the past few years I published an entry about how my vocabulary has dwindled to two words.  This happened when covid began - my only word then was "unbelievable", and as everything deteriorated I found another word - "horrendous".  Since the first return of the hostages (my last blog entry), I now have another word - "unbearable". 

The situation in which we find ourselves is unbearable.  I quite literally find it hard to breathe. The return on Saturday of the three men has fallen upon us as darkness on the face of the aching land. The dreadful suffering - the realities to which they have returned - murdered partners, murdered children, burned out homes - a country torn apart.  A prime minister who DOES NOT CARE, a terrorist enemy who can not be vanquished. We know this is not over.  Another round is coming.  I wish this were not true.  Please let me be wrong.

I feel that we are all just going through the motions of living . Tears are ever present.  Everyone is on a tight fuse. BRING THEM HOME.   This is what religion is supposed to be built upon  - the saving of lives. The saving of those innocents who were ripped from their homes and families - they were just living their lives.  And noone was there to protect them.  Where was the army? Where were those who are duty bound to protect their citizens?  They knew - they had been told of what was coming.  

This is UNBEARABLE.

January 19, 2025

The entire country awoke Sunday morning with bated breath, anxiety, hope, fear.  Will they return, won't they. Who are they? We know three girls, but then Bibi said until we get the names they won't be returned. Ben Gvir resigned. Smotrich stated the war HAS to continue.  Then the names were released and from 5 p.m. the entire country, except for those who had gone to the streets to receive them, was glued to the TV. 

The first glimpse of them darting, on their own two feet, from the Hamas car to the red cross car, surrounded by Hamas PROTECTING them, was for me, and I think everyone, like an internal stopper had been pulled and all the sorrow, grief, anxiety, fear, despair, anger disbelief of the last 471 days was released.  My tears did not stop, I could not, and did not, want to stop them.

Three beautiful young women have been released and are now surrounded by love and caring.  And again, we wait - who next? Dead or alive? Will the ceasefire hold? Just an hour before I wrote this sirens blared, but then we were immediately informed that they are being tested.  I am not sure my system can withstand this, but it will.  All of our systems will, like they have up to now.

                                                            we are waiting for you

2025

 

The doorway to 2025.

Happy Holidays

 Today is Xmas Day - so merry Xmas to everyone.  Tonight is the first candle of Hanukah - so Hanukah Sameach to everyone.  This is the time of miracles - please dear God - may we all be blessed with the miracle of inner light and understanding.

Tomorrow I leave for the airport at 2.15 am.  I have a 6.00 a.m. flight to Brussels.  2.30 am is about the same time the Houthis have been sending missiles - waking everyone well before dawn to go to the shelters.  I PRAY there isn't an alarm on the way to the airport. I pray there won't be any alarms. No alarms, no missiles, no shrapnel.......

I am meeting a dear dear friend from Texas (of all places) and we will spend a week in Bruges.  I return on January 1st 2025, and my blog will continue then.

Love to everyone, and please all be well, and safe,   🥰. and kind to one another.

The Sky Above Israel Today

 The heavens are waiting for the hostages to be returned.

Did Bibi see the sky today?

Please come home. 

(These were actually trails created by Israeli Pilots)

Warm and Dry

Well, we had about 4 days of winter.  That seems to be it for winter and rain, unless January and February bring much needed rain.

And the hostages remain in the tunnels of Gaza.  And Bibi has begun his circus in the courts.  And the Justice Minister wants to revive the Judicial Coup. And Ben Gvir and Smotrich don't want the hostages back so that they can carry out their ethnic cleansing and settle in Gaza. And Bashar Assad is gone, and Israel is obliterating Syria's stockpile of weapons, and Erdogan has set his sights on Syria. 

And the hostages remain in the tunnels of Gaza.

And hundreds of thousands continue to protest in Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, in Beer Sheva, in Raanana, in Cfar Saba, at junctions and bridges all over the country.  No one listens, no one cares.

And new laws are being proposed - against freedom of speech, of arrests without trial - South Africa revisited. Wild settler rampage and pillage properties and villages in the West Bank. Some people have returned to the destroyed north, others wont go back yet. 

And drones fly and hit buildings and aren't detected.

And prices everywhere continue to reach staggering heights. More increases are coming in January - mortgages, insurance, water, electricity. 

And the hostages remain in the tunnels of Gaza.

And soldiers continue to get killed. And no one knows what is going to happen.