Day 30 - Netzach - Ethan
To kick-start our 3 days of Israel Advocacy we met with Josh Koonin, a Moriah College graduate and founder of the program, and Amir Katz, a geopolitical tour guide, who gave us a brief introduction of Sderot. Essentially it went like this, "You are in the rocket capital of the world. If you hear a siren you have 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter. The alarm will repeat the words 'צבע אדום' (for those of you who don't know Hebrew it means 'code red'). [takes a breath to break the silence] With that out the way, welcome to Sderot." Josh reassured us saying it will be "something you remember". I personally felt right at home.
Shortly after, we split into our bus groups and rotated between our two new guides. We stood in front of a long metal rack supporting the weight of approximately 100 steel rockets which had detonated in this city. Josh explained that Sderot receives rockets almost every fortnight and yet, there is long waitlist for people who want to live in the city. Terror requires the submission into fear, thus by remaining stagnant at the border the city presents Israel as strong no matter the consequences.
* A FEW FACTS *
Sderot has received over 20,000 rockets since the year 2000.
Today rockets can reach most of Israel. The rockets are extremely accurate with an explosive range of up to 200m, weighing up to 50 kg.
The true impact isn't bodily injury. Stress disorders, such as PTSD, have grown more common, and with every rocket, every siren, the trauma of the past is brought back to life.
Sderot has the highest rate of miscarriage.
Rockets usually fall at night making it more challenging to get to a shelter.
With only 15 seconds to get to the shelter, some impossible decisions need to be made in a heartbeat. For example, a mother may need to choose one of her children to carry out of bed to the shelter (G-d forbid).
The Gaza strip is about 2 km from the city.
Rockets are often decorated by the colour of the assailant.
Rockets are often fired long distances as a demonstration of power.
13 people were been killed between 2001 and 2008 in Sderot.
* END OF A FEW FACTS *
To follow, Amir opened our eyes to a new perspective of Gaza's populace as we discussed ideas of empathy and humanisation of our enemies. Amir showed us that despite the recurring hatred, there are many innocent people in Gaza who need to be considered above the terrorism. To emphasise the lack of political stability in Gaza, Amir juxtaposed it to Israel’s government saying, "Israel loves democracy so much we are having three elections this year". He repeated the expression, "you have to laugh about it even if it's not funny" as he believed in order to understand the conflict you had to have an intellectual and emotional approach.
Next, we went to the Black Arrow to meet the former commander of the most elite Israeli unit and the current head of security for his region, Eyal Hagbi. Eyal had an attitude that was driven by peace. He spoke to us about Gaza and Israel's actions to protect its citizens. With a 4% population growth per year, Gaza is an ever increasing threat. As he explained, Israel continues to build defences and support the people in Gaza by sending up to 900 trucks of food a day. Nevertheless, the Gazans use kites to burn Israeli farms, costing kibbutzim such as kibbutz Nachal Oz millions of dollars. What resonated most for me was Eyal’s attitude. "We are not warriors because we want to be, we are warriors because we need to be". This quote truly reflects his desire for peace.
Eyal believes we could conquer Gaza within a week, however, it would have a price and that's why we don't do it. Israel is building a wall to be the 'Barrier of Peace' as they hope for cooperation with the Palestinian authority in the future.
Afterwards, we went to an Israeli School for lunch and met the year 10 students there. It was incredible to converse with them. The experience was unique; being the same age, we connected on a deeper level of understanding. Many of us attempted to converse in Hebrew, sometimes picking up words the Israeli's didn't know. After speed dating we moved outside with our new friends. The girl I was talking to explained that the many bomb shelters were mainly used by couples.
Our last stop was at an army base 650 meters from the Gaza City. We were told that if an alarm went off we would have 3 seconds to hit the ground. At the base we met a few of the soldiers, all of them were 18 and in their second stage of training. They explained that they defended the land because they had to. These young soldiers are only 2 years older than us; they wear army uniforms and spend their nights patrolling the border. Seeing this in person felt more real and it gave us a sense of pride and respect for the soldiers.
Overall, the first day of Israel Advocacy was very enlightening. We were exposed to many new ideas. To end, we arrived at a very nice hotel where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and received some much needed free time.
Ethan Samuels - 17.12.2019
