Day 9

Day 915thOctober 2023 I am soproud of ordinary Israelis that my heart is bursting! Soldiers left home on aninstant, as I think I told you 120% turn-up of reservists even before theyreceived their call up papers. This created a situation whereby those on theNorthern border, the Golan Heights, didn’t have appropriately warm clothing, soordinary citizens donated to get them warm clothing and then delivered directlyto the bases; people who left the Southern border for relative safety throughoutIsrael, left with nothing, no toiletries, no clothing nothing, they now havewhatever they need physically thanks to the kindness of Israelis- theirpsychological needs often cared for by volunteer psychologists and socialworkers.  The soldiers claim that theyare getting fat on the treats bought and baked, ordinary folk supplied. In ourlocale, shiatsu and reflexology are being offered free to mothers of soldiers,and so it goes on. We are an exceptional people. I just gotback from meeting a couple of young women who live locally. They put a noticeon the village WhatsApp asking for clothing, men’s or women’s in good conditionto give to people who have lost their homes or left without anything. Their littlecar was filled to the roof and they were about to take them to one of the bigsorting and distribution centres, their third trip today. They had just visiteda second hand charity shop where the volunteers also gave huge amounts ofperfect clothing. The sheer joy on their faces at being able to do somethingpositive was very special. As I parked on the village street I realised fromthe printed sign on the door that I was outside a “shiva” house, a house ofmourning. When I asked who had passed away, it was a young soldier, just 19years old May God Rest His Soul.  There areless pleasant instances after kindness too. An Israeli Arab from the town ofTaibe decided to give bicycles to children who lost their homes in SouthernIsrael. Sadly, the next day his shop was burned to the ground. Secretaryof State Blinken’s words meant so much more than the rhetoric of aPolitician/Diplomat, he spoke from the heart, as he said “as a Jew whose latefather fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe” I include this for the wonderfulEllen, my Daniel’s Mother in Law  https://www.youtube.com/live/jUJVYRatet4?si=tRcIl5HeDEGTsL_N I was aboutto give you some facts, about the Hamas Charter, about the billions given toGaza by the International community but instead I will just ask you to listento Israeli/Arab journalist Lucy Aharish talking to her colleagues on CNN.https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/10/13/exp-viral-anchor-lucy-intv-fst-101312pseg1-cnni-world.cnn I oftentalk about Impact-se (www.impact-se.org) and the work we do presenting Arab states with alternative, hate free schoolbooks,a unique organisation with enormous success with unlikely countries. Well I havetwo pieces of news. One is that the EU, Britain, the USA, Norway and othershave rescinded their financial pledges to the PA until the hate and incitementis removed from Palestinian schoolbooks, actually written by UNWRA andsecondly, very importantly we have changed our direction for a short period oftime and gave ourselves over to ensuring that the news that comes out of Israelis truthful. Immediately after the horrendous events on October 7th,we formed a Concilium of about 200 journalists and photographers and ensuredthat major news outlets received the photographs that we, Israel, needed to getout there. I am so proud of our team, led by Marcus Sheff and Arik Agassi, whohave now ensured that the machinery to provide essential news is in place.Marcus has been conscripted to the IDF English speaking spokesman’s division.Keep safe Marcus. We have some extremely important plans which are almost readyfor implementation, plans to remove hate from Gaza schools. For those who doubtour ability, you didn’t think that Qatar, Saudi Arabia or Bahrain would ask usto change their schoolbooks!!Be part of the change and help us change theworld. https://www.impact-se.org/support-our-work/    Many of youare asking where to donate, how to help. I will try to give you a few options. If you liveanywhere other than the USA then I suggest Keren Hayesod/UIA  https://www.kh-uia.org.il/swords_of_iron/The HoffmanKofman Foundation is doing an exceptional job, donating their own moneyfirst and ensuring that 100% of all donations go to those who most need it. Ican guarantee it because I know who is helping them, volunteering todistribute  https://www.hoffmankofman.com/donation Therumblings of anti-Semitism throughout the world are turning into a storm. OnFriday I mentioned the horrific backlash on University Campuses, so that Jewishstudents cannot wear a Magen David or a kippa for fear of attack. Something isterribly wrong with society and it isn’t limited to Germany and Poland thistime. Only by threatening to withdraw funding can we have an effect. I want togo back to my pride in Israeli society, especially the children. Brave andstrong, they show us that our future holds much better leaders than what wehave at present. Here Israel’s stars sing with their children, their own children plus justabout every single Israeli star The song goes - “It’s not so easy to be a childhere, with news every half hour to hear on wars” But we want to see the bluesky and the purple sunset, I only want to live here, we are ours in joy andtears”https://youtu.be/M9Z6bO8jUZ4?si=ziafESyGQ2x3we6w  Thank you, dear amazing wonderful friends. Thank you for caring, thank youfor writing, thank you for reading what I write.  With much loveSheila -- If the media does not inform us we must inform the mediaMy Website http://www.theviewfrommyveranda.info/Facebook      Sheila Silver Raviv Involvement   http://www.impact-se.org/