Hamas attack on Israël

De Vrijdagavond plaats een aantal reacties van onze auteurs, te beginnen met de Israël-cultuur producer Erga Netz. Later vandaag (zondag 8 oktober) verschijnt een extra Nieuwsbrief met alle reacties voor onze abonnees.

So far four people that I know, via friends and family.

Murdered.

Yesterday morning a friend writes from his ‘safe-room’ in his Kibbutz near Gaza, that he and his wife keep there, quite, while they hear terrorists walking about inside their home. There is no response from the army to their calls for help.

My sister tries to encourage me from her ‘safe-room’ in Be’er Sheva, writing that her man and their 4 children (6, 9, 12, 15) are keeping safe, singing, in high morale.

My father, also in Be’er Sheva, can hardly hear or see. He is still independent, with daily helps. There is no way of reaching him by phone. He doesn’t hear the rings. My sister cannot go check on him, because of the constant sirens. I remember a neighbor. Yes, I have her WhatsApp. She is huddled, together with the rest of the neighbors in the building’s stairway. Supposedly the safest place, in case of a missile attack.

She is afraid to go down one floor and gives her phone to another neighbor. “The door might not be locked” I encourage her to walk in. I see my father’s home via her phone-screen. I hear the sound of the TV. “He is probably in his bedroom, in front of the television”. Indeed. He is safe, and relieved to see me. I tell him that my sister will come to him soon. That I love him.

End of conversation.

This morning my friend from the Kibbutz writes that they are still inside the ‘safe-room’. There are still terrorists in the Kibbutz, but the army has arrived, at long last.

On Facebook and WhatsApp-groups people count their dead.

The fear and anger mount. Directed at the head of the government. But it seems that no politician, no army general, no secret service commander want to take this deadly hot potato from the hands of that person, the least capable person to handle this horrifying situation.

None. 

cover: vrijheid graffitti, photo Bloom