And Another Thing....

Since I got back two weeks ago, I have been steadily trying to process a whole boatload of information. The sheer normalcy of everyday life in Israel is astounding. People ride the buses and trains, go to the markets and supermarkets, eat in cafes and restaurants, go to the beach, walk in the parks, and even now, have an ear open to the sirens even though there is currently somewhat of a cessation of hostilities. I say somewhat because everyone knows this is not over. Armed Hamas fighters are reported to be hiding out throughout the tunnels. My friend (and cohort in adventure) Jen has a wonderful blog and wrote about our trip to Nova, but this section was edited out. I asked her for it because she wrote what I could not. 

Bomb shelter at Nova/photo by Jen

 Both at the Nova site and at Tkuma there are bomb shelters and signs posted in Israel's three official languages (Arabic, English and Hebrew) instructing you what you need to do in case there is a missile alert.

There are bomb shelters at all the bus stops and public areas in the Gaza Envelope and if no shelter is available, you lay down on the ground and cover your head. You have 15 seconds to get to a safe place.

  

On October 7th, the terrorists first fired multiple rockets into Israel and counted on people herding themselves into bomb shelters and make their murderous attack more "efficient." The terrorists killed anyone they encountered. They didn't stop to ask if you were Jewish, Muslim or Christian, Ba'hai or Buddhist. They didn't stop to ask if you were in favor of a Palestinian state or not. They killed and have been doing it nearly non-stop since Israel left Gaza in 2005. That's nearly 20 years ago.

Today, the United Nations Security Council approved President Felon's 20 point "peace plan" for Gaza, Hamas did not. In a statement, Hamas leadership did not. The Washington Post reported:

Hamas, in a statement, said the resolution “does not meet the level” of Palestinian political and humanitarian demands. 

 “It imposes a mechanism to achieve the [Israeli] occupation’s objectives,” the group said. 

Turning in their weapons, as the peace plan demands, Hamas said, “must remain an internal national matter” tied to the end of the Israeli occupation....

...While initial elements of the plan — a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and expansion of humanitarian aid to Gaza — have at least partially been carried out, the rest has been stalled.

The U.S.-sponsored resolution enshrines the complete plan in international law, establishing a vaguely defined Board of Peace, headed by Trump with membership chosen by him, that for two years will control virtually every aspect from security and governance to reconstruction of Gaza.

The highlight is mine. Draw your own conclusions, just make sure you follow the money.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... sources in Gaza report that Hamas is stockpiling weapons outside Gaza. The Palestinian Authority was approached and asked not to destroy their arsenal, but to hold it for Hamas. The PA, in an odd moment of clarity, declines the request.  KAN-news floated an unsourced report that Hamas was stockpiling weapons in Yemen and unnamed African states with the intent of smuggling them into Gaza. Since the report is unsourced and I could not find other confirmation, I'm not endorsing this theory. HOWEVER, (and is there always a however) it's not a big stretch to see the possibilities there. Additionally, there are grumbles that President Felon is considering dropping the disarmament portion of the "peace plan." 

And if you're wondering why this is not acceptable, look at this picture.

This is not a playground climbing toy. This is a playground bomb shelter in Sderot, the city that has been under constant siege since 2005..when Israel left Gaza. That's right. Israel vacated Gaza and Hamas began firing missiles at Sderot. It is not a military installation or an armaments manufacturing center. It is a town whose schoolyards are in missile range of Hamas. Children in Sderot only know life with bomb shelters...some even have underground play areas because being above ground is not reliably safe during the day, at night, whenever. 

The children of Sderot have spent the last 20 years living a reality no one wants to acknowledge exists. But it does. Herein lies one of the biggest differences between Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza: Hamas built tunnels to protect their fighters, not their civilians. Israel built happy looking bomb shelters and underground playgrounds to protect their children. 

Think about that for a while.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you haven't been to Israel, you don't get to have an opinion

about life there because you don't know squat.

If you haven't been to Israel lately, you need to go back.

Israel defies the imagination. 

It's frickin' magic....warts, faults, and all.

To There And Back

October 14, 2025 ~
dead hostages returned

Coming back from Israel is never easy, and a week later, I am still processing the experience. To be there on the heels of the living hostage release was joy muted with the sadness that came with the return of the corpses. No matter how joyous one might be, even the freed hostages, all Israel was grieving with the families who gathered to bury their dead. You see, those hostages, those who were murdered at Nova, at the kibbutzim, on the road, and in the tunnels belong to all of us. They are family. Our  family. And we, עם ישראל, the People of Israel, mourn together. Being there as bodies are repatriated for burial, defies any and all description. The national sadness is palpable; it shades the return of the living. 

All of Israel, כל ישראל, may join together to mourn, but that does not mean all of Israel is united in their opinion about their government. There are deep philosophical and political divides that threaten to tear apart the country. The split between the secular Israelis and the ultra-orthodox factions is deep and dangerous. Israel is a democracy, and like the U.S., you get the government you elect. Sorta. Israel has a coalition government, meaning differing factions have to join forces to cobble enough votes to elect a Prime Minister. The result? No one is happy. 

But there is one thing all of Israel can pretty much agree on: they are surrounded by countries who, in the past, have tried to kill them all. 

Right now, it's just Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza...all proxies for Iran. For over 70 years, Israelis have lived with wars, homicide bombers, and  

Can you spot Israel?

missiles directed at this tiny (in comparison to its Islamic neighbors) state....that is start-up nation. A highly successful bed of technology, medical research, civic applications, and desert agriculture. They have a long track record of sharing their innovations worldwide, yet their neighbors want them dead. Do they think they will just move in, take over, and continue the scientific progress made by Israel? Maybe they're really thinking about buying that bridge in Brooklyn. 

The country that gave you WAZE, drip irrigation, USB flash drives, and cherry tomatoes just wants to live in reasonables security. They don't want terrorists swarming out of tunnels and over fences to murder kids at a music festival, grandparents, kids, and whole families in their homes. And if someone swarmed over your borders, trust me, you'd do whatever was necessary to take them out while ensuring this never happened again.

And if some rando American politician says he supports boycotting Israel or believes Israel doesn't have the right to exist as a Jewish state, I'd be suspicious of him, too. Especially if he doesn't make the same statement about the 57 Muslim states that include 15 who operate under Sharia law. And refuses to call out terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi, I sure as hell wouldn't vote for someone who espoused that kind of rhetoric. But we'll get to that in a minute.

I really did very little adventuring on this trip...unless you consider the hunt for Bamba Halva an adventure. I think every grocery store in Herzliya recognized us on site as the Bamba ladies. See, that was the beauty of this trip. It was regular. We did a whole lotta regular stuff. Sure, we had the wedding and we were on baby-watch, but we also got to the Eretz Museum in Tel Aviv and the Islamic Art Museum in Jerusalem. We hit a lot of grocery stores, too. We cooked, we baked, and even taught Jen the basics of mah jongg. It was everyday living and I loved it. I got a better feel of the daily rhythm, a sense of what life might be like.....if.

Still, I am an American with American habits, sensibilities, and proclivities. Can I really make the leap? Well, after this visit I'm thinking it might actually be do-able. I'm not there quite yet, but..........

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have a few things to say about the election of Zohran Mamdani:

1. I may be a New Yorker, but I do not live in the city and I did not vote for mayor.
2. I did, however, vote for Jesse Ventura, so I have "vote NO" experience.
3. I firmly believe you elect the government you deserve and I firmly believe New York City...all five boroughs...deserve Zohran Mamdani.
4. And perhaps most importantly, if someone tells you repeatedly who they are, it's best to believe him/her.
5. Remember, four years isn't that long, so if he proves to be a terrible mayor, he's gone.
6. If he proves to be a terrific mayor, great. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

And while I'm on the subject of American politics, I can think of no better time to starve everyday working Americans while demolishing their access to healthcare than November....the lead up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Demanding federal workers work without pay or back pay is a great way to garner support for your administration while you bulldoze that White House. 

2025 White House 
ornament

And as if that's not enough, the theme for this year is 150 Years of White House State Dinners....in a room that no longer exists. 

And I cannot shake the idea that there's a big, giant piece of performance art coming as he magnanimously reinstates benefits, standing on the balcony arms out wide like Evita while Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Darryl Strawberry, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Ross Ulbricht, and Stewart Rhodes stand beneath tossing rose petals in the air. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Donate, donate, donate. Help if you can. 

Your local relief shelf needs more than just food. 

They need diapers, wipes, underwear, socks, and feminine supplies.

So many people not-so-slowly falling into the cracks.

Live and In Person: The WP in Israel ~ Week 3

Last Tuesday, we made the trip south to the Nova Festival site. Nothing, not even seeing the shelters in which kids hid during the attack prepares you for being at the site. It is silent there. Talk, if there is any at all, is hushed. I stood to one side and watched parents tidying their daughter's memorial site. Some memorials are full of yahrzeit candles and mementos, almost like little grave sites although there are no burials there, But the field of pictures and stories on posts is overwhelmingly sad. Your heart breaks every time you read about the smiling face staring back at you. These people came to dance and sing, not be murdered. You tread carefully amongst the posts, pausing to read each story, taking a moment to see what team scarf is tied to the side, what little things are left for the person who once was. These pictures, full of seemingly joyous faces, are vacant reminders of what could have been. The partners they left behind, the children they would never have, the laughter they would never share. The music they would never dance to again.

We also went to the car wall at Tkuma where the burnt vehicles were taken from Rte 232, Be'eri, Nir Oz, and other places. The skeletons are stacked, but each one out belonged to someone...a family, a senior resident, kids out for a fun weekend. These are not simply metal; they are the eyewitness to murder. This shell of an ambulance once contained more than a dozen Israelis trying to escape the terrorists. They were shot up with automatic weapons, before an RPG was thrown in, incinerating them all. 

At the Tkuma site, there is a memorial tent with testimony from those who survived the massacre. Listening to them tell their  stories is heart-wrenching and terrible. And important to hear. Jacqueline Gliksman was called by her son in the US. He told her to turn off the lights and be still. She came face to face with gunmen who searched her house, then inexplicably took her phone and left her alive. You can watch her tell her story in an extended interview. She is so worth hearing. At the end, there is a film of a cross-section of Israelis....Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze...talking about their own connection to October 7th...and ultimately their unexpected connection to each other. 

And in the end, that's exactly what Israel is about...the connections we have to each other. Israel, warts and all, is NOT an apartheid state, it's a democracy. Imperfect, flawed, and frustrating beyond belief, but a democracy all the same. The United States is no different. Especially not now. 

As my departure looms, I've already started thinking/worrying about election day in America. While I had no ballot for this year, that does relieve me of general election worries. Several states have gubernatorial elections but one state, Pennsylvania, has an interesting supreme court retention election. 

PA Justices Wecht, Donohue, and Dougherty

Three justices on this liberal-leaning court are up for reinstatement. At the bottom of the ballot, there is a simple YES/NO question asking if the justice should be retained for another 10 year term. This is supposed to be a non-partisan process, but alas....The GOP et al have poured millions into this race to stop their reinstatement. Philadelphia's public radio station, WWHY explains why there is concern:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has a 5-2 Democratic majority, so an across-the-board loss for Democrats in Tuesday’s election could produce a 2-2 ideological split for two years. Political stalemate could likely prevent their seats from being filled until the next judicial election in 2027, potentially leaving the court unable to decide voting or election-related cases through next year’s midterm elections.

If the justices are not retained, it provides an opportunity to ultimately replace the liberal justices with more conservative ones. Interviewed on CBSNews, Lauren Cristella, provided insight into what's at stake:

"We're seeing a lot of the partisanship that you see at the national level has hit home here in Pennsylvania," said Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a nonprofit civic group based in Philadelphia. "And races that were typically not supposed to be partisan, the races don't even have Rs or Ds on the ballot, you'll not see that when you go to the polls on election day. But the partisanship at the national level has certainly affected this race and the spending you're seeing."...  

..."They typically aren't contentious races," Cristella said. "In fact, only one person has not been retained since that change in 1968. That was in 2005."

However, if justices are not retained, that would trigger an election. But that wouldn't happen until 2027, and Cristella said there's no mechanism in state law for a special election.

The governor could appoint interim justices to fill seats until that election, however they would also need approval from two-thirds of the state Senate, currently held by Republicans.

"With the way we're seeing, like, even the state budget go right now, I don't see anyone getting confirmed if that scenario were to happen," Cristella said.

This is not unlike what the GOP attempted to do in Wisconsin last year. What should be a non-partisan process is being turned into a political referendum. Your state supreme court's ability to rule on state issues like the state election process, voter eligibility, and the act of voting itself is crucial. Setting up kangaroo courts to kowtow to partisan interests is not in the best interest of the public, especially when free and fair elections are at stake. We have already witnessed the havoc of ridiculous attempts to overturn elections on national, state, and local levels. And if the Republicans succeed in interfering with state supreme court elections, you can bet your last bucko they're gonna be attempting to buy every state in the union.

Being the alarmist my sons think that I am, I got to wondering about what it would take for President Nero to invoke the Insurrection Act as a first step toward martial law. And if that happens, how far is he from overturning the Constitution? We have watched him make unilateral decisions without due process since he was sworn in again. He dances while millions of Americans are facing food insecurity. The great improvement to health care he promised in the first term and touted in the second never materialized while costs spiraled because he refused to continue tax credits. 

[*Now that the courts have ruled suspension of SNAP is illegal...just wait for him to take credit for magnanimously re-instating SNAP] 

OR

[Updated: President Nero is releasing only enough to cover half a month's funds needed for food benefits. What if he's attempting to provoke riots....and then claim sending in the troops is justifiable?]

And while the Great and Terrible Orange thinks we're not noticing the man behind the curtain, "two federal prosecutors have been placed on administrative leave just hours after describing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as perpetrated by 'thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters.'" He spends billions on his whims, many Americans are worried about skyrocketing heating costs in winter and whether or not they can pay for medicine and health care. The only thing he gives one shit about is lining his own pockets, giving tax breaks desperately needed by working Americans to his billionaire buddies, and pardoning friends who, just like him, foist grandiose lies on the American public. George Santos had a great role model, didn't he?

MeanwhiIe, back at the ranch, I worry what a Mamdani mayoral administration will mean for NYC, the Jews, and the arts. I hear him talk about wanting to teach about Jews in the school, and I looked at the proposed curriculum, Hidden Voices and while it seems innocuous enough, this is a guy who can't manage to call out Hamas as terrorists; I wonder how many revisions it will take before this curriculum more closely resembles UNRWA anti-Israel, anti-west lessons for children. 

Based on his track record of anti-semitic, anti-Israel statements coupled with his desire to arrest Netanyhu if he comes to the city, makes me fundamentally not trust him. Leopard/spots. Mamdani has, according to the AP, stated, "While he says he supports Israel’s right to exist, he describes any state or social hierarchy that favors Jews over others as incompatible with his belief in universal human rights." Does he object to 57 Islamic countries, 15 of which are considered Sharia states, most of which do not allow non-Muslims to be residents, citizens, or active participants in any branch of government? I can't tell if he sees those as similar problems to Jews living in a Jewish but democratic country. The double standard that he implies worries me.

But here's the thing: if New Yorkers elect Mamdani, they will elect the government they deserve. At the end of four years, they can decide if this is the government they want. 

This is my last post from Herzliya. In a few hours, I'll be heading to Ben Gurion to catch the 5 a.m. flight to Amsterdam, and then on to the Twin Cities. And I want to say something about just being here. 

Folks, this really is not an apartheid country. Transportation/road signs are in Hebrew/Arabic/English. Israel is decidedly not "white;" it's a rainbow of colors. I dare you to tell at a glance a Mizrachi from an Arab. Lots of women wear "religious" head coverings, not just Muslim women. You really don't even notice after a while and besides, no one appears to care. No one cares if your straight or gay, or any other part of that rainbow. You still get to serve in the army. You hear so many languages on the street, not just Hebrew. People are just people moving through life. Is it perfect? No, but neither is the US or anywhere else. 

Before you demonize Israel and the Israelis, I suggest you put your money where your mouth is and come here to see for yourself. In the meantime, these are not the enemies you're looking for. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Come to Israel.

Come sit in a park and watch children

with grandparents especially

That's the best equalizer there is.