My Walk, and the Tragedy at the UN School

    This morning I had decided to go walking in Tel Aviv. There had been fewer rockets attacks and thus less chance that I would have to lie on the ground somewhere. (If caught by an air raid in a non-built up area, or while riding the bus, I would need to prostrate myself on the floor to help avoid shrapnel injury; for TEN minutes…..)

   I was about to leave at eleven AM, but exactly then the quiet was broken, and there were, in a few minutes, several rockets over the area. (The booms were pretty loud.) I considered not going, but since I would be in a built up area 97% of the time, I decided that I didn't give a #%&*#** and went anyway. I stayed within running distance of buildings as much as feasible, but I guess Hamas had used up their quota for Tel Aviv for today because until I returned there were no sirens (IN MY AREA; IN THE SOUTH THEY HAD SEVERAL SIRENS, AS ALWAYS).

    The walk was not as nice as I had hoped it would be. I was on the beach area very little (not enough buildings). I also pittied the store owners in the area. The normally bustling boardwalk was not quite a ghost town, but customers were VERY sparse.

    However, while living under air raid threat is disquieting*, I am thankful that I am not a Palestinian.  I just now heard about the numerous civilians killed at the UN school. I don’t care what “side” you are on… it is a tragedy. That said, I will wait until the Israeli Defense Forces makes an inquiry before jumping to any conclusions….

      However, even if an Israeli shell hit the school, it seems that the school had been used by the terrorists. (If so, I trust that we will have the camera footage to prove that.) And even the head of the school admits that they were warned to leave. (Why they did not do so in time remains to be explored.)

     UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commented the other day on Hamas using the UNRWA schools to store weapons:  "those responsible [ie, Hamas] are turning schools into potential military targets, and endangering the lives of innocent children, UN employees working in such facilities and anyone using the UN schools as shelter."  Unfortunately, today’s scenario proved him right.

   Yes, it is a tragedy. It is a shame that this occurred. It is a bigger shame that Hamas seems Hell-bent to stick to their radical ideology, and their desire to destroy Israel. If they desired peace, we would have had it ages ago.  

*In Tel Aviv it is disquieting. In the “sfala” and southern areas of Israel, the constant barrage of rockets makes normal life absolutely impossible.