It's a warm, sunny Saturday in December, a perfect day for hiking. I've
never previously explored the forests and cliffs of the Mount Carmel Nature
Reserve and National Park, but when I join a group of ten other avid hikers, I realize
how much I've missed. Venturing downwards from a parking lot above Beit Oren,
we make our way through the rugged woodland of the Alon Valley to where it
meets the Oren Stream, with a stop at the En Alon spring.
Fifty kilometers to the north, Hezbollah shells Israeli kibbutzim and rockets
are falling in Kiryat Shmona. Unidentified drones infiltrate into Israeli
airspace and IDF forces respond with widespread strikes in southern Lebanon.
Sunday morning promises the same fair weather as the day before and I
take the train into Tel Aviv to begin another ordinary work day at my high-tech
Internet company.
Seventy kilometers to the south, Israeli forces push deeper into the
central and southern regions of the Gaza Strip, backed by heavy air and
artillery fire. Every morning, the media begins its news reports with "It
has been cleared for publication that the following soldiers fell in battle."
Luckily, my colleagues who were called up for emergency army duty are safe and
I'm relieved to see them when they come to work for the first time since
October 7th.
At home, renovations are three months behind schedule. Our contractor's
regular workers live in the West Bank and Palestinians are not allowed to enter
Israel these days. The contractor has been employing East Jerusalem residents
on a day-by-day basis, and progress is never guaranteed.
But who am I to complain that there is still scaffolding outside
my bedroom or that our new kitchen has no walls or floors or electricity? About
200,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their communities near the
Gaza Strip and from the northern border with Lebanon. They lost their homes
nearly three months ago, and it's not clear when they will be allowed to go
back.
My family gets together every Friday night for a joyous, and quite
lively Shabbat dinner.
Some 130 Israelis are still being held hostage in Gaza. We don't know how
many of them are actually alive.
I continue to live my normal life, while in reality, nothing in Israel
is normal these days.
Hamas still threatens to destroy Israel and we continue to fight back.
We will fight back until there is no more Hamas, until our hostages come home,
until our citizens can live safe and secure lives.
Life goes on, and if nothing else, this is Israel's biggest victory in
the war so far.
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War Diary: What Terrifies Me More Than Anything Else
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