Dear friends,

Yesterday at 8 PM, when my meetings were over outside of Haifa, I saw on my cell phone that my entire family was looking for me, which gave me a sense of foreboding.  I found out that 5 minutes earlier Haifa, where my whole family – both close and extended – lives, was subject to the most intensive missile attack since this war began.

My wife Iris told me in a trembling voice that our whole building shook as if it were made of paper, the noise was deafening and she thought that the missile hit our building.

During this attack on Haifa 6 very powerful missiles hit the city, directly hitting 4 sites.  One of the missiles landed very close to my house, and just 100 meters away from my mother's house, causing extensive damage to dozens of buildings in the vicinity. One building collapsed entirely, trapping residents under the rubble.  The images on TV were horrifying.

 My problem last night was how to drive home.  Which route was least dangerous?  Last Friday afternoon missiles hit several sites along the route on which I travel every day from Haifa to my office.

The alternatives are limited, the risk is high, and so is the gamble.   While I was driving back I heard on the radio the injury reports climbing from 50 to 100 then to 250, 20 of them children. When I reached Haifa the streets were empty except for police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.  The cafes were all closed, everyone was inside their homes trying to cope with the devastating experience they had just had.

When I returned home I spoke to Gidi Shilo, the Chair of our steering committee.  Gidi told me that when the missiles hit he was driving in his car through downtown Haifa on his way home to Kiryat Bialik.  When the air raid sirens sounded Gidi stopped his car, jumped out and hid behind a concrete barrier on the side of the road.  Some of the missiles fell in very close proximity to where Gidi was. 

War is particularly cruel when innocent civilians become victims while sitting in their own homes.  Unlike the IDF, who gives hours of advance warning to civilians who may be injured in an upcoming attack and gives them ample time to leave the area of danger, we are dealing with a vicious enemy who does not offer us the same "courtesy" and who considers a high number of civilian casualties a success. 

An hour after I got home I saw on TV the joyous dances in the streets of the Palestinian city of Ramallah and candies being offered to passers by in celebration of the "successful attacks" of the Hizballah on Israeli civilians.  My first thought was: How different we are from them, we do not celebrate and give out candy in the streets when their children are accidentally killed, and I wondered how many more years will pass before we are able to live a normal, peaceful life without the danger of neighbors who wish to eradicate us.  

Eshel