So the past 36 hours or so have been unusually eventful here in Israel, so I thought I would update on what's been happening here. First, though, I should say that all the Aardvarks, myself included, are totally safe. We are all either in our building in Jerusalem or safely in Tel Aviv, so everyone is accounted for and we're completely fine.
Having said that, I'm sure you all have heard that there was a bombing in Central Jerusalem a few hours ago. The attack was not a suicide bombing, but an explosive package was attached to a phone booth on the sidewalk and was detonated as two buses were entering the station across from Binyanei HaUma. Around 30 people were injured, 10 of them critically, but there were no fatalities. The city has been entirely shut down, so no one can get in or out, which is inconvenient, but the police are searching the city for the terrorist. As of right now we are not officially on lockdown, because there has been no intelligence to suggest that another attack is coming. There were rumors of a second attack in Gan Sacer, but it was a false alarm. Aardvark is constantly in contact with a security company linked with the IDF and the Jewish Agency, so we will hear immediately if anything changes. For now, we are all sticking together at home and praying for those injured in the attack.
Beyond that, I'm sure you have also heard about the recent activity in Gaza and the Western Negev. Over the weekend, 51 rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza, hitting a few kibbutzim and areas near Sderot, Ashdod, and Ashkelon. Ironically, I was in Sderot yesterday, which is a town of about 25,000 people located just one kilometer from Gaza. Sderot has been barraged by rocket fire for the past eight years, but until a few weeks ago, all had been quiet since Operation Cast Lead ended in January 2009. However yesterday, Kibbutz Sa'ad (which we had visited less than an hour before) had two red alerts, and two Qassam rockets fell in fields nearby. There were no alerts while we were in Sderot, but as we were standing atop a hill looking over at Gaza City, we did see a plane in the sky and were told to immediately get off the hill where we were standing exposed. Again, we're all fine, but it was a little scary.
We arrived home to look at the news and find out that the IDF launched a retaliation into the Gaza Strip, killing nine Palestinians, four of whom were known terrorists. The other five, unfortunately, were innocent civilians. In retaliation to this retaliation, Hamas fired two Grad Katushya rockets at Be'er Sheva, injuring one person and destroying a number of buildings. As of right now, that is all the news from Gaza, given that the media is currently a little preoccupied with what's going on here in Jerusalem.
I had never been to Sderot before yesterday, and I have to admit that the images of it in my mind were mostly of cement shelters and bombed out buildings and wire fences. As a Jew, I hate to be someone who subscribes to that kind of media prejudice against Israel, but I was, in this case, and yesterday I learned that Sderot is actually a shockingly beautiful place. It's green, and warm, and on a clear day like yesterday it has a beautiful view straight to the Mediterranean. The whole area is really quite gorgeous. I'm not sure how people who get to live in such a beautiful place can be angry enough to fire rockets at each other.
The other thing that really struck me about Sderot (as well as Kibbutz Sa'ad) is how accustomed they all are to the violence. In Sderot, there are multiple bomb shelters every block, but they are painted with colorful images, and everyone just seems to be very casual about the fact that sometimes an alarm goes off and they have fifteen seconds to run for their lives. I've heard horror stories from my Israeli friends who live in this region, and everyone who lives there does have these stories, but as a complete society, they are unbelievably calm about the whole thing. It's amazing.
That's all I've got for you for now, but I'm sure things will keep changing very quickly over the next few days, so I'll keep you posted.
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