On Saturday night I walked from Jaffa in South Tel Aviv to Hostage Square, which took about an hour. I needed to meet the brother of one of the hostages, to confirm our interview time, and I had not been there for the weekly Saturday night gathering in a few weeks. This area has become a centerpiece of the city, with weekly protests on Saturday nights in support of the families who are still waiting for their loved ones to be returned - and these supportive crowds now include hostages that have been released.
I met a wonderful couple as I charged my phone in the Beit Ariella Cafe. She is a Sabra (a born Israeli named after a fruit that is spiky on the outside and sweet on the inside) and he is originally South African, but has lived here for "forty-seven and a half years," said he.
We talked for awhile and then made our way to the stage to see the speakers, one of whom was actress Julia Haart from "My Unorthodox Life." She is one of many celebrities who have made their way to Israel to show support for the country and witness the horror and destruction of the attack in the south for themselves. Others include Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Rapaport, Quentin Tarantino and Elon Musk. I had not been familiar with her before seeing her on i24, the English news channel here, but recognized her from that interview. Here is her emotional speech.
Standing in the crowd with us was a woman holding a sign with a heart. On one side of the heart it said #MEJEW but at one point she turned around, and I gasped as I saw the other side of her sign. She had pictures of the remaining thirteen women still in Gaza, the ones we worry were not released with the others due to how gravely they have been abused. I walked around her and asked if I could take her picture. She nodded yes, which peaked the crowd's curiosity about what I was snapping. Everyone started to walk toward me to see what I was looking at and had similar reactions. She became a photographed star for the next twenty minutes. It wasn't until after all of that commotion that I noticed she had a sealed zipper over her mouth and her hands bound by rope. What an explosive statement.
The next speaker was a woman who was released from captivity in Gaza 32 days ago. I know how many days it was because the start of her speech repeated that number again and again....it was her thirty-second day of being able to look out a window, and her thirty-second day of seeing the sun... She was shaking with nerves which she acknowledged, but there to fight to get ALL of the hostages back NOW. I recorded her speech in its entirety and hope to find somebody willing to translate it in full so that I can add subtitles and share it.
After a few more speeches and songs came Israel's National Anthem, Ha Tikva (The Hope), which I don't think has ever failed to bring me to tears, and this night in this crowd was certainly not going to be the exception.
The following night was New Year's Eve, and I was dragged out by a friend and one of his friends. Though I was a bit nervous and said so out loud, we decided to celebrate as one would anywhere - with crowds of people. New Year's Eve was never much of a thing in Israel, but that seems to have changed. The spirit in the streets was contagious and as we waited for a table we joined the bar next door which had overflowed into a street party. The countdown could barely be heard but we all knew when it became 2024, but as soon as we started cheering, all heads turned south, as lights flew across the sky.
My mouth dropped open as I tried to detect if there was a siren sounding in all of the noise, but mostly we all stood there, filming the sky. My friends and I debated what that had been, as my phone had shown rocket attacks exactly at midnight but in the south, so one friend said they had been fireworks, but no - they were rockets. They were heading to Rechovot, just south of Tel Aviv, and yes, I got two of the lights in this video. Ringing in the New Year with Rockets Over Our Heads
This was Hamas's premeditated plan - to mark our first moments of 2024 with more war, but we were out and we were celebrating and we were just fine, if not mildly rattled (I speak for myself). You can't let them win by not living.
So rockets among friends marked the first thirty seconds of my 2024, and my January 1st continued to be a highly noteworthy and productive day, but that story is reserved for my next post, which is already being worked on behind the scenes.
Last but not least, I must discuss my newfound fear, which was evident in my "I'm panicking" status on Facebook last night.
I said it at the beginning of my time in Israel and I have said it plenty since - that I've had my eye on Lebanon, and that if Hezbollah were to start something, I might become scared. Well, I would probably only be mildly fearful, were it not for my current accommodation being entirely unsafe.
From November 16th until December 25th, I was in a small studio in the center of Tel Aviv, with an excellent host I met upon arrival and could contact at any time, who lived seconds from me and who not only showed me where the bomb shelter was the moment I arrived, but came and got me on my second night there when my first incoming rocket siren blared.
I had plenty of time during the ninety-second sirens to get underground, and the one time I was out and about in Tel Aviv, I followed people into a random building and its shelter. Of course, there was also that time we were on the highway, ducking on the ground for the explosions... and yes…that was scary, too. View video here.
But yesterday we did something. We took out a top Hamas commander, which is incredible news, but - we took him out in Beirut. Hezbollah has warned time and time again that if we do any assassinations on Lebanese soil, it will not go ignored, so things have technically escalated and the timing couldn't be worse, as I was lied to by my current Air BNB "host" about my accommodation having a "stairwell" to go to in the case of a siren, which was already not as safe as a shelter.
To be clear, there hasn't been a siren - not yesterday or today - not since Friday when I checked into this deplorable place, and not even in Tel Aviv for more than a week, but that could change at any moment due to the events of the past 24 hours, and Hezbollah feels like more of an unknown threat, as their capabilities and weaponry are about 100 times worse than those of Hamas.
Hezbollah is Iran's army, sitting just north of us, and if the war in Gaza wasn't the main focus, what has been happening in recent weeks in the north between Israel and Hezbollah, which has become more and more disturbing, would already constitute a war. There have been consistent firing of rockets and attacks on our troops. In one case, an old man was near a church and attacked, so IDF soldiers went to get him, only for all nine to be ambushed.
Hezbollah sitting there is a problem, and it is beyond me how Israel will solve this problem after such a war in Gaza - but until we do, hundreds of thousands of Israelis cannot return to their homes, or they will live in very real fear of an October 7th-like attack happening at any moment, which isn't feasible.
So, I just have to hope and pray that nothing huge happens before Sunday, while I am in this terrible place, as Sunday I move back to my original apartment, where I have my shelter, and until then – yes, I might be mildly stressed.
You would think that having a host misrepresent safety options in his accommodation that dramatically during a war would be reprehensible, especially to a woman traveling alone who asked the right questions, but so far, not quite. I have documented everything to absolutely no avail, so if you ever know someone traveling to Tel Aviv or are coming here yourself, avoid the group that includes Nana, Eliran and Ez Tlv, as they have a lot of apartments in Tel Aviv they seem to know nothing about.
Tonight I actually watched the King of Hezbollah’s speech (Hassan Nasrallah), and though there were no direct or clear threats, he was certainly riling up his crowd and saying that just the demonization of Israel, and the destruction of its economy, its agriculture and the departure of dual citizens…that just that is enough to ensure the destruction of the “Zionist” state, though it sounded like he had bigger plans.
The only thing we can hope for is that Lebanon does not hate us enough to want another war, as their economy has been disastrous for the past twenty years and they are just getting back on their feet. But I feel they do hate us enough, much more than enough, and it just feels like “this is the time” for everyone to get involved, since you know, everyone kind of is.
And on that note, let me wish you all a Happy 2024, which I have to admit, I really love typing and really love the look of. REST UP BEFORE MY NEXT POST, as it is the reason I came here. Stay tuned and good night from Israel in my unsafe apartment.
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In case you want to help:
This is a labor of love and I feel called to do it, but admit it has started to cost a small fortune, between flights, rent at home, accommodation here and the building of this website, which still needs work to maximize visibility. I have therefore just started a GoFundMe in the hopes of getting a little bit of help to stay here another month or two to conduct these interviews with families of hostages and cover the war from the ground. Any donation, no matter how small, will go toward accommodation and bare bone travel expenses. Anything at all will be tremendously helpful and very much appreciated. With gratitude, Melanie
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