Just a note about distance; misc news - Jan 8, 2009

Ann wrote:

It is nighttime here, and we are watching footage on the news of fighting in Gaza. In most of the night footage you will see, the Gaza Strip is dark, illuminated only by flares and shells. In the background you will frequently see areas of lights. These are all Israeli communities. You can see how close everything is.

An Israeli channel just showed footage filmed inside of a house in the Gaza Strip. The soldiers are standing inside of a kitchen. Under the counter, inside the cupboards, and every square foot of storage space is filled with mortar rounds and detonators. In the courtyard they found several mines. The mortar rounds and themines have Arabic written all over them. Why are there civilian casualties?

Details about the terrorist attack near Jerusalem were also released. Mid-morning a vehicle pulled up in the gas station. The driver got out carrying a gas can and started pouring gasoline over the cars which were there filling up, and then himself. People at the gas station were able to jump him before he set everything alight.

The news also showed an interesting piece just now. Today a reporter for "Al Jazeira" was broadcasting live from Nahariya, the city in the north which got hit this morning. Not only did he have to contend with several large Israeli flags being waved all around him (and some in his face), but when he started to do interviews in Hebrew with the crowd about how afraid they were, he asked the wrong person. He chose an old man, very short with long white hair. Not only did the man tell him that he was not afraid, he also laid into the leaders of Hisballah and Hamas, calling them cowards for hiding in their bomb shelters while their people suffered for their actions. His language was very colorful and graphic. Then he turned to the camera and started all over again in faultless Arabic, with even more colorful descriptions! And since this was all live, there wasn't time to edit the broadcast!

One last item. Today was the 32cd annual Sea of Galilee international marathon, which goes from Tiberius to Ein Gev and back again. We have a lot of international competitors, especially from Kenya and Ethiopia. In addition there are all sorts of other races at the same time, including shorter routes for families, etc. One of the traditional events is also the IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) marathon championship, in which soldiers from all the branches participate. For the first time ever it was cancelled this year, since the competitors were otherwise occupied. However, the starting point in Tiberius was packed full of people carrying Israeli flags and cheering. Many other cities, especially in the south, also report a huge increase in the number of flags on display. Many, many of the soldeirs currently fighting on the Gaza front live in communities which are being targeted by the rockets. Sderot especially has a large contingent, so these young men have grown up dodging rockets. These soldiers are literally fighting to defend their families and homes.

A