Just a quick update here. Politically, it seems that things may be calming down a bit. Although there were a few rockets fired from Gaza after the cease fire was declared, it seems that they may be "rogues" and the major barrages of rockets have definitely ebbed if not stopped entirely. A rather crude measure of this is that the "Breaking News" line on Ha'aretz -- which has carried news of almost nothing but the rocket attacks and retaliatory raids by the IAF for several days now -- is talking about Syria, the prosecution -- or not -- of Strauss-Kahn in NYC, etc. Let's pray that this cease fire holds.
Learning more and more about Iron Dome. It is pretty amazing. Apparently, the system not only detects incoming rockets, but then decides whether a given rocket is headed for a populated area or not and targets only those that are most likely to cause harm to Israeli civilians. All of this must happen, obviously, in a matter of seconds (if that)! It is not perfect and the speculation is that those who are firing rockets toward Israel are trying tactics to circumvent the Iron Dome system (firing large volleys of rockets at once, targeting areas not yet protected by Iron Dome). Nevertheless, as others have observed, it's a pretty good system AND it protects Israeli lives WITHOUT HURTING ANYONE!! Seems that that has gotten little play in the press. The system was developed and is manufactured entirely in Israel, although a significant part of the funding for its development came from the US. Again, IMHO, not a bad expenditure of money -- a system which protects human life without harming anyone or anything else. Sounds like pretty good Jewish ethics to me :-). Others have observed that since this is the first system of its kind anywhere in the world, once perfected and production is scaled up it has the potential to be a pretty good income producing export for Israel! In a bizarre way, you could say that Hamas is helping the Israeli economy!!!
So we are in Tel Aviv for a few days. This will be "tourist" time for sure. Lots of beach time and hanging out at the port (for those who may not be familiar, the port at TA has been built up as a high end restaurant and shopping area). Also plan to spend some time in Jaffa and take in a few of the museums we have not been to before. Maybe check out that restaurant in Jaffa that is staffed by the blind and in which everyone dines in complete darkness! It is called the Black Out I believe. I will need to be sure to wear something I don't care too much about since I am fairly certain that a significant amount of food will wind up on my clothing!!
Will post again soon. Let's all hope and pray that the worst is over in the South -- at least for now!
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