Ben Kerido
I was on my way to the local synagogue this morning when the sirens wailed loudly and mournfully. A barrage of incoming missiles from the Gaza Strip soared towards nearby Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and some fell towards our town, booming loudly and causing damage.
I serve in an Israel Defense Force special forces reserve battalion. Even though it was Shabbat and Yom Tov (Sabbath and a holiday) and I don’t usually use my phone on those days, I checked to see if I had any messages from my military officers.
Sure enough… I had been notified that we should be prepared to be called up for Operation: Swords of Iron, and to prepare our equipment accordingly.
It was then that I realized the severity of this nightmare:
Terrorists pouring out of the Gaza Strip by land, sea, and even air.
Gunmen attacking both Israeli towns and military bases, killing with glee.
Murderers strolling through Israeli residential cities with impunity, and in some cases literally just knocking on doors and killing or kidnapping the families inside who mistakenly thought they were Israeli military or police forces. (How could they not? The reality was too impossible to perceive.)
Militants taking hostages by the dozens and dragging them back to the Gaza Strip.
I can’t even begin to describe to you the number of failures by military and police personnel to get to this point. I genuinely cannot even fathom it. And the catastrophe that we are enduring is utterly mind-blowing. Over twelve hours later, armed terrorists still had control of Israeli towns and neighborhoods! At least fifty hostages are confined by gunmen in the cafeteria on their kibbutz. And at present we have no idea how many hostages have been taken back to Gaza. One elderly woman was kidnapped at gunpoint and brought back to the terrorist haven on a stolen golf cart!
Hundreds have been killed, and nearly a thousand wounded. An unknown number have been taken hostage.
If I had seen a movie of today’s events just yesterday, I would have ridiculed it as having a completely unbelievable and preposterous plot line.
This is sheer and utter madness. Many are already calling it “Israel’s 9-11”.
And so now I wait… continually checking my phone for my orders… as every moment the nightmare is revealed to just get worse and worse and worse.
Relating to my upcoming deployment, my wife and I will be sending out via email active updates on the situation from a first-person perspective. Use the form below to sign up to be notified of what’s really happening here in Israel.