First off, it is absolutely, utterly despicable the way mainstream media has, for the most part, portrayed this recent explosion in the Middle East. Every headline, every article is about the large-scale Israeli retaliation--with all the emphasis placed on "large-scale" rather than "retaliation." Has no one noticed that three Israeli soldiers have been kidnapped by terrorist organizations? That Hezbollah rockets have been flying into northern Israel by the dozens, hitting Sfat, Carmiel and Haifa--all places I visited and LIVED IN. The Stella Maris, a beautiful, historical and multi-ethnic neighborhood in Haifa was hit. If the victims were Americans, the entire Middle East would have been flying under the U.S. flag hours ago. But nowhere in sight are pictures of the distruction wrought on Israel, or even stories about the particulars. Only clinical mentions of the new scars on Israeli land and then paragraphs on the indicidual bridges and runways hit in Lebanon. Only the Washington Post, in an editorial, seems to take the pragmatic approach:

"WHEN ISRAEL withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 after more
than two decades of occupation, it also issued a warning: Any cross-border
provocations by Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group, would elicit a severe
military response. So there can be no surprise at the violent reaction to
Hezbollah's ambush of an Israeli patrol Wednesday, in which three soldiers were
killed and two others taken captive by the guerrillas. And there can be no doubt
that Iran and Syria, Hezbollah's chief sponsors, bear responsibility for what
has instantly become the most far-reaching, lethal and dangerous eruption of
cross-border fighting in the Middle East in recent years.

"Europeans and others in the international community are already
criticizing as excessive Israel's swift military response. Conspicuously they
have said comparatively little about the volleys of dozens of rockets Hezbollah
rained down on northern Israel yesterday. In fact, given the all-too-familiar
patterns of violence and retribution in the Middle East, the Israeli attacks are
entirely predictable, and precisely what Hezbollah and its patrons must have
expected and even wanted."

Also startling is how connected I feel to Haifa, and how bizzare it is to think that some of the very places I walked are now rubble. When the WTC was hit on 9/11, of course it hit close to home, of course it was scary, startling and everything else. But I hadn't been to the twin towers since I was very little, hadn't even walked by in years. Being that distanced made it surreal, yes it was a part of my home, but not a very big part--my life, my memories never really changed because those towers were never a signifacant part of my everyday experience. But this, in Israel, is different. Jack called yesterday to tell me that the Israeli army was shooting back from a promenade in Haifa--one that extends along the top ridge of the mountain from the Carmel Center to the Bahai Gardens and farther down. I took Jack to that promenade just seven months ago, pointing off in the distance to where, on a clear day, you can see the Lebanese border. To think that there are now tanks and other evidence of war on that beautiful street is startling. I have so many memories there, first with Deborah on our 10 hour hike through the city, then with the overseas group as we toured the Bahai Gardens, and with Jack. Though short-lived, that city, and particularly that part of it, will always feel like home some romantic, nostalgic way. How strange to know that it's under attack, to crave pictures of just how much damage has been wrought, and to not be able to find any, because though they won't say it, the "media" feels that the city, my city, deserves it.