The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

This photo of a seemingly tranquil section of the city of Tel Aviv, Israel taken last weekend hides the reality of rocket attacks from Muslim terrorists. A family on vacation in Israel relate what it’s like to be in a war zone. (Photo supplied)

Published July 16, 2014

‘The sirens went off twice...’

By Dale Johnson
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – “I would prefer that she not go but I can’t tell her what to do.”

Those words came from Reporter writer Jeff Thompson as his daughter and son-law headed to Israel last week.

The two residents of Texas, Rachel and Yair (pronounced Ya-Year), along with their children, had a scheduled vacation to the country and were determined to go despite the threats from the Palestinians.

Last week the Muslim group Hamas claimed that anyone in Israel was a target. That would include Rachel and her family. So does she feel safe under that threat?

“Yes I feel safe,” Rachel told The Reporter from Israel. “The Israeli army is very strong and the Iron Dome is 90 percent effective. As compared to my last visit in 2012, it’s hard to explain because there wasn’t a war at that time. So, yes I feel as safe, just more cautious.”

For example, instead of taking the kids to the beach they prefer to take them to the pool in the building in case a siren begins to sound.

Videos loaded up to Facebook by a number of residents in the area show the Iron Dome at work.

The Iron Dome system comes from Rafael Defense Advanced Defense Systems LTD and according to them this is how the system works:

“The system uses a unique interceptor with a special warhead that detonates any target in the air within seconds. If the estimated rocket trajectory poses a critical threat, a command is given within seconds and an interceptor is launched against the threat. The interceptor receives trajectory updates from the BMC via uplink communication.

“The interceptor approaches the target and uses its radar seeker to acquire the target and guides the interceptor within passing distance. The target warhead is detonated over a neutral area, therefore reducing collateral damage to the protected area.”

The system is mobile and operates in all weather conditions, including low clouds, rain, dust storms or fog and can handle multiple threats simultaneously.

The Iron Dome is not foolproof and will stop an estimated 90 percent of threats, but not all.

“We were at Yair’s sisters for Shabbat dinner and the sirens went off twice,” Rachel said. “The rocket was shot down over a neighboring city, Bat Yam, and was very loud and her house shook a little. But the rockets were shot down and everyone was safe and we went back to the table and finished our dessert.”

Having to constantly live under threat from Muslim terrorists would be a frightening way of life for many Americans and though fear exists for the Israelis, they can’t give in to the terror aspect or the enemy wins.

“People are living their lives the same as always, just keeping an ear out for the sirens,” said Rachel. “Don’t get me wrong, they are living in terror but they are all very confident in their army and God’s protection.”

But being prepared is a way of life and mere seconds may be all anyone has to save their life.

“The mood when a siren is heard is mostly that of terror,” Rachel said. “You have 15 seconds to stop what you are doing and run to the nearest bomb shelter, assuming you know where it is.”

Some photos released to the press allegedly show damage to Palestinian areas but are actually from Syria from several months ago. This propaganda helps fuel the anti-Semitism of the world’s press and the portrayal of Israel being the “evil bad guys” in the conflict.

“I know when the (Israeli) boys were kidnapped I didn’t hear about it from leading news outlets, like CNN or MSNBC, I heard about it from an Israeli news site, YNET,” said Rachel. “If I have to guess, I would say the world news is probably biased towards ‘Palestine’ because there have been more casualties.

“However, if Hamas didn’t put their rocket launching sites in residential areas and schools the casualties would be much, much less.”

Fears of rocket attacks have left this beach in Tel Aviv, Israel nearly deserted last weekend. (Photo supplied)

A post on the Internet recently brought the conflict to an understandable level: If Cuba was firing rockets at Miami, what would the United States do?

The beach near a hotel in the accompanying photo was empty last Saturday, compared to usual Saturday’s in July. The people are nervous and they have reason to be on edge, Rachel said.

Hamas fired more than 365 rockets at Israel in less than 72 hours. That’s almost one every 10 minutes.

Some of the headlines just from last Sunday’s Jerusalem Post newspaper would put any parent on pins and needles with worry if their child was in the country.

• Rockets fall in Sdot Negev and Netivot; none hurt
• Code Red sirens sound in Netivot, Bnei Shimon Regional Council
• Three rockets fired from Gaza land in Eshkol Regional Council
• Code Red sirens in Gedera, Gan Yavne
• Two lightly injured on way to bomb shelters in central Israel
• Rocket sirens sound for communities surrounding Gaza border
• Rocket alerts sound in Nahariya and the western Galilee in North
• Rockets fired at central and northern Israel
• Ashkelon fire crews headed to put out rocket-related fires
• 51 rockets have landed in Israel Sunday, 10 were intercepted
• Rocket siren sounds in Ashkelon region
• Code Red alert sounds in Eshkol
• Rocket lands in Ashkelon causing light damage
• Code Red sirens sound in Ashdod, Ashkelon
• Two rockets fall in Eshkol Regional Council; none hurt
• Rocket alert sirens sound in Ashkelon, Be'er Tuvia

Last Sunday Israel deployed ground troops in Gaza to help stop the attacks, but the terrorists show no sign of stopping.

So the conflict continues, hatred escalates, rockets will be fired on anyone and everyone in Israel, a family will try and have fun while being cautious, and parents will pray for protection for their children in danger.

“I’ll be glad when their vacation is over and they’re back in Texas,” said Thompson.

Then they only have to deal with the thousands of illegal aliens coming over the border.