Unlike last year, I did not go to a Memorial Day ceremony this year.
However, I'd like to take this opportunity to share some thoughts about the ceremony I attended last year.
Yes, "muted" is definitely the correct word to describe the IDF's official military ceremony for fallen soldiers and terror victims. And on further reflection, I absolutely think that the ceremony is muted by design. However, I do not think that the ceremony is muted for cynical reasons, but rather by necessity.
The official IDF ceremony is open to the public, but it is for the families of those who have died. Those families don't need a moving ceremony to remind them of their losses: those families need quiet acknowledgment that something terrible happened. And I'm sure there's a reason that President Rivlin chose to allocate a portion of his mere 15-minute speech to repeating what he told those families when he visited them the first time, that the dead would want their families to choose to continue.
Muted is the only option.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Sunday, May 5, 2019
News Update
I don't like doing "news" updates: if you want to know the news, check the newspaper! This blog is for great stories that are all about ME. Right?
But I'm reasonably certain that some family member will notice that some news outlet posted that Rehovot had a rocket alert over Shabbos, and rather than combing the papers to confirm that there was no damage/injuries from the alleged Rehovot rocket, they'll ask me about it. Because you guys love me.
And I love you, too.
So.
No, there was no rocket alert in Rehovot over Shabbos. There were 381 rocket alerts for all of Israel from Shabbat through 11:10am on Sunday, but none of them were in Rehovot.
The reason that reasonably reliable news sources reported Rehovot rocket alerts is that there were rocket alerts in small towns/suburbs near Rehovot, so news outlets took the easy route and rather than precisely listing tons of dots on the map, they slightly less precisely listed one larger dot on the map.
Since this blog is all about ME, I hereby state that Rehovot's emergency code is "השפלה 182".
But I'm reasonably certain that some family member will notice that some news outlet posted that Rehovot had a rocket alert over Shabbos, and rather than combing the papers to confirm that there was no damage/injuries from the alleged Rehovot rocket, they'll ask me about it. Because you guys love me.
And I love you, too.
So.
No, there was no rocket alert in Rehovot over Shabbos. There were 381 rocket alerts for all of Israel from Shabbat through 11:10am on Sunday, but none of them were in Rehovot.
The reason that reasonably reliable news sources reported Rehovot rocket alerts is that there were rocket alerts in small towns/suburbs near Rehovot, so news outlets took the easy route and rather than precisely listing tons of dots on the map, they slightly less precisely listed one larger dot on the map.
To see what area of Israel heard a rocket siren when, I highly recommend checking Home Front Command: https://www.oref.org.il/11096-en/Pakar.aspx.
There. News update.
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