Wednesday evening, Kibbutz Barkai - I receive an unusual text message from my mother. "Hamas chief killed. This is surely going to be wild, love mummy". Going to be? Hadn't the weeks in Holit already been wild? I had heard a few days earlier that Hamas fired on Israel with rocket launchers, and many people from my program are now talking about an upcoming war. It is clear that we aren't returning to Holit, not even to get the rest of ur luggage. Suddenly, we are all very happy to have left the south so early. My mother may be right, these next few days are going to be wild.
Thursday afternoon, Herzliya Pituach - Tel Aviv, which is not far from us, has been bombed as well. I read about it on my Facebook feed, which in the meantime is now full of political posts from my Jewish friends from Vienna. Suddenly I start receiving dozens of messages. "Are you near Tel Aviv?" "Are you guys alright?" "I am so worried! Are you safe?" Yes, I am safe. I am safer than I was the past few months in the south, so why is everyone starting to worry now? While users are freaking out on Facebook, most of the people here are pretty calm. Later in a small cafe, I overhear people next to us discussing Gaza over some coffee.
Friday noon, Rehovot - We are invited over for lunch to an Israeli family and Hummus and Pita let us forget the political situation for a while. Soon we start hearing booms, similar to the ones we had heard in Holit so often. While my friends and I look at each other bewildered, everyone else continues to eat. The mother turns on the radio, so we can hear where the rocket has fallen. "It is so strange for us that we are just sitting here eating lunch, while there are bombs falling around us.", notes my friend Avia. I agree, for isn't it absurd that people in the diaspora are more worried than Israelis themselves? A few hours later in the car, the song in the radio is interrupted a few times by a radio speaker, announcing Tzeva Adoms in Ashkelon and Beer Sheva.
If I am honest, it is very exciting to be here during this time. The past few days I have understood more about the conflict than after every article or book. Of course the political situation is bad. But it is definitely not as bad as my friends and family back home think it is. They imagine rockets flying over our head and buildings constantly exploding next to us, but this isn't what reality looks like at all. People from the South have went to the north, just like we did, but in general Israelis continue to go on with their daily lives and this is very interesting to see. I really wish I could have filmed these past days, just to show my friends and family that these days weren't so wild after all.
Friday noon, Rehovot - We are invited over for lunch to an Israeli family and Hummus and Pita let us forget the political situation for a while. Soon we start hearing booms, similar to the ones we had heard in Holit so often. While my friends and I look at each other bewildered, everyone else continues to eat. The mother turns on the radio, so we can hear where the rocket has fallen. "It is so strange for us that we are just sitting here eating lunch, while there are bombs falling around us.", notes my friend Avia. I agree, for isn't it absurd that people in the diaspora are more worried than Israelis themselves? A few hours later in the car, the song in the radio is interrupted a few times by a radio speaker, announcing Tzeva Adoms in Ashkelon and Beer Sheva.
If I am honest, it is very exciting to be here during this time. The past few days I have understood more about the conflict than after every article or book. Of course the political situation is bad. But it is definitely not as bad as my friends and family back home think it is. They imagine rockets flying over our head and buildings constantly exploding next to us, but this isn't what reality looks like at all. People from the South have went to the north, just like we did, but in general Israelis continue to go on with their daily lives and this is very interesting to see. I really wish I could have filmed these past days, just to show my friends and family that these days weren't so wild after all.
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