Monday afternoon, August 4
A dear friend from South Africa has organized a driver to take me from the airport.
It seems everyone wants to do something to show their support for Israel.
Over the sound of the radio playing a program about Tisha B'av which begins tonight, the driver and I are having a conversation about the best way for me to get to Sderot tomorrow. Sderot is a southern city close to the border of Gaza and its citizens live in a perpetual state of shock and trauma. It has been the recipient of ceaseless rocket fire, and life for those who live there is one long disruption. I am nervous about going.
We talk, and the radios drones on until we are suddenly interrupted by a female voice coming in over the air waves which calmly announces "azakah kfar azah"...This is a code red announcement. Rockets have been launched at kfar azah, another southern city, not far from sderot actually, and the alert is sent out.
The radio program continues, as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened, until five minutes later once again, this time over the voices of the radio show host and her guest, "azakah ashkelon, azakah sderot, azakah sde boker, azakah mitzpeh ramon" now the announcement is accompanied by the sound of an air raid siren that wails it's warning over and over again.
(This would be akin to listening to Iheart radio and suddenly hearing "rockets launced at bayside, rockets launced at Waukesha, rockets launched at fox point"!!
Suddenly I no longer feel like the American who has come to bring a message of support and comfort. Somehow the sound of the wailing siren worms its way into my psyche and I feel one with the land and the people, we continue our conversation about how to get to Sderot. Only now it is no longer a question of if, only how...