‘IF YOU’RE READING THIS, MY (ARMY) CAREER IS OVER,’ SLAIN GOLANI FIGHTER WROTE
Over the years she spent caring for bereaved families in her IDF career, Colonel (ret.) Varda Pomerantz always knew the day would come when she’d get a knock on her door, and officers would tell her one of her sons had been killed in action. — The Jerusalem Post, July 24, 2014
‘‘THE JEWISH MIND WILL FIND A SOLUTION TO THE TUNNELS’
If you’re looking to destroy Hamas attack tunnels before they’re used to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers, send in an accountant. — The Jerusalem Post, July 30, 2014
BACK FROM GAZA, TROOPS TALK OF A TOUGHER HAMAS AND FEELINGS OF A JOB UNFINISHED
Something has changed in Gaza since the last time St.-Sgt. “Yoav” was sent there to fight. Hamas gunmen, whom IDF combat soldiers once largely dismissed, have become a force to be reckoned with. — The Jerusalem Post, August 7th, 2014
A DIFFERENT OPERATION, BUT THE SAME EXPOSED CIVILIANS IN THE SOUTH
Most of the residents still don’t have safe rooms in their homes, and many of the nearby shelters remain locked or strewn with garbage — The Jerusalem Post, July 9th, 2014
‘I DISAGREE WITH HIM BUT I LOVE HIM’
When news broke last week that 91-year-old Henk Zanoli had returned his ‘righteous gentile’ award in protest of Israel’s operation in Gaza after six relatives of his were killed in an Israeli air strike in July, Rivka Ben Pazi, a niece of the man he saved, was torn. — Tablet, August 18th, 2014
PALESTINIAN-AMERICANS, DUAL CITIZENS FLEE GAZA STRIP IN DROVES
Residents of the Hamas-ruled enclave began making their way out of the coastal territory as operation entered sixth day. — The Jerusalem Post, July 13th, 2014
FOR AFRICAN MIGRANTS IN TEL AVIV, CONFUSION AND APATHY ABOUT THE ROCKETS
A little over an hour after the second rocket attack at Gush Dan on Thursday, Lewinsky Park in south Tel Aviv didn’t really look like a city under fire. Groups of African men lazed about on the grass underneath the trees, and next to the playground, a group of Israelis and Africans sat in two circles passing around bongs filled with unknown substances, apparently not in a hurry to get anywhere fast. — The Jerusalem Post, July 13th, 2014
IN ISRAELI PRISON, A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE FOR ROCKETS
When the rocket sirens go off in this warehouse district of Ashkelon, no one stops to take a picture with their cell-phone of the Iron Dome intercepting the rockets, and everyone knows exactly where to run. To be fair though, that’s probably because the 550 inmates have all had their cell-phones confiscated and have heard on average about eight rocket sirens per day during the past few weeks, giving them more than enough chances to practice. — Tablet, July 23rd, 2014
FOR JOURNALISTS IN ISRAEL, A SENSE OF DÉJÀ VU
It’s easy to picture the screenplay: Bill Murray is a foreign correspondent who finds himself once again covering the rocket strikes on the southern Israel town of Sderot and the residents in the line of fire, only to awake the next morning, time after time, to live the same story again. — Tablet, July 10th, 2014
IN TEL AVIV SHANTYTOWN OF KFAR SHALEM, RESIDENTS ARE VULNERABLE TO ROCKET FIRE
The neighborhood is for all intents and purposes a shantytown – full of many legally and illegally-built houses with little working infrastructure. In a sort of inverse logic, the residents have found that the best way to protect themselves is to do the opposite of Home Front command instructions, and to leave their fragile houses and watch the path of the rocket, in order to know which way to run. — The Jerusalem Post, July 17th, 2014
ST.-SGT. EITAN BARAK REMEMBERED AS A ‘BEAUTIFUL, MAGICAL MAN’ BY FAMILY
Barak was killed at around 3 a.m. on the morning of Friday, July 18th, only a few hours after the ground operation in the Gaza Strip began. — The Jerusalem Post, July 21st, 2014
IDF RESERVISTS IN THE SOUTH WAIT FOR ORDERS AS CEASE-FIRE FALLS APART
Whoever came up with the army phrase “hurry up and wait” probably had a place like the Kiryat Gat community center as it was on Tuesday in mind. — The Jerusalem Post, July 16th, 2014
NEGEV BOMB SQUADS TACKLE BOTH ROCKETS AND UNDERWORLD BOMBINGS
If you try to be a hero in this job you end up in a coffin,” says bomb squad member David Kurtzfeld. — The Jerusalem Post, July 16th, 2014
AT MID-COAST, TOWNS NOW IN ROCKET RANGE GET USED TO SIRENS AND UNCERTAINTIES
As was the case elsewhere, there seemed to be real confusion about whether or not there had been a rocket, and even whether there had actually been an explosion or whether it was a false alarm. — The Jerusalem Post, July 9th, 2014
CEASEFIRE HOPES IN ISRAEL AS NIGHT OF SILENCE MARKS END TO GAZA FIGHTING
The villages along Israel’s border with Gaza rose from their first night of silence yesterday as a 72-hour ceasefire held, raising hopes of an end to 29 days of fighting in which more than 1800 people died. (NOTE: Fighting would renew and continue for another three weeks) — The Australian, August 7th, 2014
ON DAY 50 OF GAZA WAR, RESIDENTS OF SOUTHERN ISRAEL SAY LITTLE HAS CHANGED
As Operation Protective Edge hits another landmark, Ashdod residents tell ‘Post’ they are hunkering down for a war of attrition: “People aren’t getting used to this.” — The Jerusalem Post, August 26th, 2014