There were times, five years ago, that I wondered why I bothered writing a blog about Israeli soldiers. Those who hate Israel and the Jews will hate us no matter what we say or do. Those who love us, thankfully remain committed to our survival. I had hoped, once, that my words would influence that middle group, those that neither loved us nor hated us but simply sought the truth.
In the end, as David took his last steps in the army, I began thinking about taking my last steps. Eleven years, three sons, two adopted sons and one son-in-law had gone through the army and pulled me along with them.
I had little interest in continuing the story beyond how it impacted me as a soldier’s mother and while I could have said that I continue to be a soldier’s mother, something was different. It was time for other soldiers’ mothers to pick up the story.
What was different? Well, for one thing, I knew right away that once David left, I would be able to close my phone over Shabbat. I would be able to sleep even if I’d forgotten the phone in the living room. When David stood down, so did I.
In the last five years, I have enjoyed writing on my own but often not. I wrote and published some articles, started some blogs and joined others. I wrote on Facebook and have thousands of friends and followers and that suited me. I had no thought to come back and re-start this blog.
Until now. Now my phone is again on. I listen to the dings indicating that rockets are hitting my country. My sons have been called to war and I am, again, a soldier’s mother standing beside hundreds of others mothers and fathers praying, worrying, crying over where their sons are, what they are seeing.
I came back because my country now faces the greatest threat to its existence since 1973, or, perhaps, since 1948. This is fast turning into a two-front war. But what threatens us more than Gaza or Lebanon, is Iran and Russia. And what threatens us more than Iran and Russia combined, is the silence of the world.
The United States has stepped in strongly, sensing, perhaps as we do, that Iran and Russian are testing the waters. For nations that care little for their own populations, what difference does another World War make?
The hospital hit in Gaza offers an excellent example of how ugly the world has become. Within minutes CNN and BBC and others immediately pointed to Israel as the one who fired the missile – at a time when Israel was not firing any missiles – not north, not south. Nowhere.
Two things have changed in 5 years – the ugliness, and the ability to defend ourselves with technology. So if you think there’s still a chance that Israel fired that rocket, look at this video. Wall Street Journal – using Arab sources confirms it was most likely NOT Israel at all. To see the video, click here: Islamic Jihad Fired the Rocket.
{Reposted from the author’s site}
