#home+pool in Israel

[vieformidable]

Mountain home. Is this real or AI?

[sayruq]

For weeks in southern Gaza during a recent visit, I collected stories of women admitted to hospital, each of them there to recover from what they call “war wounds”. But it’s not a war, because only one side has an actual army. Only one side is a state with full military wares. These victims were mothers, wives and babies, whose slight bodies were pierced, torn, broken and burned. Their deeper injuries aren’t visible, until they open up about their lives over the past five months. Initially, they relay the broadbrush strokes: A bomb struck their homes, they were pulled from the rubble, they had severe injuries, family members were martyred, and the situation was terrible. That is the extent of what they have ever said about unimaginable horrors they endured and continue to endure. But I probe for details. What were you doing moments before? What was the first thing you saw, the first thing you heard? What did it smell like? Was it dark or light outside?I nudge them to zoom into the molecular structure of every fact – the gravel in the mouth, dust in the lungs; the weight of something; the warm liquid running down the back; the twisted finger seen but not felt; the moment of realisation; the waiting to be rescued and the fear that no one will come; the ringing in the ears; the strange thoughts; the things that moved and the things that could not; the expectation of death and the wish that it be quick; the longing for life. In the months or weeks since one of the world’s most powerful militaries targeted their lives, they had yet to visit, much less verbalise the minutiae of this genocide. As they venture beyond the outlines of their stories, their eyes darken and sometimes they begin to shiver. The slightest unexpected sound startles them. Tears pool and tears might fall, but only a few allow themselves to cry. Few let the horrors in their minds through the gates. It is not for some superhuman strength. Quite the opposite. They are numbed in a way, as if they’ve yet to comprehend the enormity of what they have endured and continue to endure.

The writer spoke to several women in Southern Gaza about the horrors they're still enduring

[val-cansalute]

Can u do a drabble or hcs on cuddling Ellie?

Ur writing is so good I love everything U write :>

WREATHE

warnings: not much, mostly fluff, basically the rq, mdni with my account tho😏

a/n: IM SO SORRY THIS HAS BEEN IN MY INBOX FOR I KID YOU NOT LIKE HALF A YEAR IM GENUINELY SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME 😰 thank you so much for sending the rq even though i took the piss responding, also this is a drabble bc i don’t think i’d be good at doing hcs 😭 i have some shit coming up at uni so i prolly won’t put anything out for a while but i have an idea for a new fic in the drafts !!! very excited…

ramadan has started which means israel’s violence against the Palestinian people will worsen as it does every year, purely for the sake of inflicting even more psychological torture on them. please, now more than ever, pray for them if you’re religious, talk about palestine, boycott, protest, strike, donate if you can, contact the people in charge. don’t let people forget. here’s a link to some details on the situation. everybody stay safe 💗.

10:47 - you return from a strenuous day of patrol and odd jobs around Jackson. You’re slightly tipsy, a drink or two from the Tipsy Bison churning a pool of warmth within your stomach.

The place is stagnant when you push the door open, as if coming home to nobody.

Ellie must’ve gone to bed early today.

You drift to the bathroom despite the fact that the house feels apocalyptic, and sit in the gentle rush of water, scrubbing your skin weakly with aching arms.

When you enter your room, everything is still, except for the rhythmic rise and fall of Ellie’s figure beneath the covers on the bed backed against the wall.

You throw the dampened towel that is slung over your shoulder carelessly and walk over to the bed, gently settling beside her.

For a while, you feel content. Sleep is lulling you in, the room is shadowy, the bed is warm, and the sound of Ellie’s deep-sleep-breaths (totally not snores at all, she swears) are soft like TV static in the back of your mind.

Your eyes are on the verge of fluttering close for the last time tonight so you turn onto your side and nestle into the crook of your shoulder.

Then, there’s a harsh jolt and the bed shifts. You can feel Ellie’s puzzled gaze raking over you, the realisation that you’re home setting, and your lips twist into a smile subconsciously. The night rarely ends without the inebriating buzz of affection.

A quiet sigh escapes the enclosure of her blush-pink lips before she reclines into the pillows once more, eyes never leaving the still curvature of your figure. Not a moment passes and her arms encircle your waist, warmth embracing your torso and pressing against your hair like a wreathe of absolute comfort.

A barely audible mumble tickles the helix of your ear,

“Hey, babe,” accompanied by the phantom touch of her lips against your cheeks in her half-asleep state. You scrunch your nose before turning into the love she offers you.

“Hey, Els.”

You begin to mumble butterfly details about the happenings of the day as you feel the surface of her skin raise with goosebumps under the delicate tracing of your fingertips - down her bare thighs, along the round of her hip, along her stomach and under her boobs - easing airy chuckles out of her.

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Hm? Nothin’…”

You can already picture the smirk on her dazed face,

“Ya sure there? You want somethin’, babe?”

A playful scoff and she’s looking at you with feigned shock against the weight of tired eyelids,

“Can’t I feel you? I just wanna be close to you,”

“I’d say we’re pretty close, ya know?”

“Never close enough,” you clarify and the rasp of her laugh fades into silence and she presses a kiss onto your head, and then another, straining her neck till she’s face to flushed and grinning face, stringing a blizzard of soft, dewy kisses across it.

“Alright, alright!”

“One more- mwah,” she smacks her lips against your scrunched up mouth aggressively, leaving a gross patch of saliva, and smiles dumbly to herself, tightening the hold of her arms around you to which you groan.

Tight against her gentle sway, she mutters a quiet confirmation,

“Never close enough,” and then runs the rough pads of her fingertips along the expanse of your skin, lingering a moment on your thighs.

It’s like the rustle of a spring breeze and it draws your eyes to a close.

As you drift further from the surface, you feel the soft tingle of Ellie’s foot nudging your ankle and the distant haze of her voice whispering,

“You sure you don’t want anything, baby?” and you’re asleep.

also, absolutely no one asked for this but here are some pictures of my fat ass cat (cutest patootie evah 😆😆):

[nicklloydnow]

“May I be permitted to say a few words? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic & Islamic History under William Montgomery Watt & Laurence Elwell Sutton, 2 of Britain ‘s great Middle East experts. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge & to teach Arabic & Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books & 100s of articles in this field.

I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs & that, for that reason, I am shocked & disheartened for a simple reason: there is not & has never been a system of apartheid in Israel. That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality should anyone choose to visit Israel.

Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that many students are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, & that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Hating Israel

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I’m not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel . I’m speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies & myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a “Nazi” state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws?

None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for. It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When?

No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is a way to subvert historical fact. Likewise apartheid.

No Apartheid

For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a day in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous this is.

The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country’s 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha’is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan & elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; or anyone else; the holy places of all religions are protected by Israeli law.

Free Arab Israelis

Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population). In Iran , the Bahai’s (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren’t your members boycotting Iran ?

Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews — something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews & Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

Women’s Rights

In Israel, women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid. Gay men & women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays oftn escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel & say nothing about countries like Iran, where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it’s better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

(…)

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations.

(…)

Israeli citizens, Jews & Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations & call for no boycotts against Libya , Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Yemen , & Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world’s freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the ME that gives refuge to gay men & women, the only country in the ME that protects the Bahai’s…. Need I go on?

(…)

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more.”

[probablyasocialecologist]

While Palestinians have gone thirsty, Israelis had more than enough water to go around. The daily supply to Israelis and Jewish settlers is three to five times greater than to the average Palestinian household, whose consumption is almost 30 percent below the minimum amount recommended by the World Health Organization. Since they are all connected to Israel’s water network, the settlements have access to unlimited and highly subsidized resources; they can always fill their swimming pools and irrigate their vineyards, even during the region’s scorching summers. Under the 1995 Oslo Accords, Israel is entitled to siphon off a full 80 percent of the West Bank’s groundwater and 100 percent of the surface water from the Jordan River Basin. The limited allocation of 15 percent to the Palestinian Authority (PA) has not accommodated the massive growth in population in the Occupied Territories, which today is home to 75 percent more residents than at the time of the Accords’ signing. Mekorot, the Israeli water company, controls almost all of the distribution, and its monopoly ensures that water does not flow anywhere without its say-so. Not unpredictably, this stark power to turn on and off the tap is being used to accelerate the rate of Jewish settlement: without steady access to water in their villages, rural Palestinians are being pushed off their land and into the overbuilt and overcrowded cities.

[socialistexan]

Absolutely wild to see Khazar theory have a rebirth, except on the left this time.

Some of y'all are so desperate to find a counter for every Zionist talking point you've dove head first into the concrete pool that is antisemetic conspiracy theories normally too kooky for even Alex Jones.

Even if every single Israeli was 100% from the Levant, what the government of Israel is doing to the Palestinian people would still be monsterous, regardless. Regardless of whether Palestine was the ancestral home of Jews, Israel does not have the right to colonize, displace, and murder the current occupants.

You are accepting to argument of the colonizer of "if" when what we should be saying is "regardless"

Don't even argue the points for or against, you call it for what it is, a distraction from the actual issue of the genocide of the Palestinian people.

We should be doing this for every Zionist talking point, too. "Palestinians are antisemetic and homophobic" okay, regardless of whether that is true, they still shouldn't be slaughtered en masse. "Hamas has hostages" regardless of that, this level of civilian death is unacceptable.

When you get bogged down in trying to refute Zionists, you accept their framing, period, and you will be backed into a corner if you're provided with evidence and leave yourself in a position where you are susceptible to conspiracy grifters and bigots.

[girlactionfigure]

⚠️ IRAN PREPARES, HOME FRONT CHANGES, SPECIAL FORCES VIDEOS - Tuesday afternoon - events from Israel  

...‼️The United States detects preparations in Iran for a missile attack on Israel. (Amit Segal - Ch. 12)

⚠️HOME FRONT COMMAND.. as of today (Tuesday), at 14:00: added restrictions in new and wide areas throughout the country until Sat. Oct 5, 20:00.  The reason for this change is the item above.

.. Restriction on activities and gatherings: Carmel (Haifa and wide area), Wadi Ara, Menashe, Samaria (West Bank), Sharon (Central cities), Dan (Tel Aviv), Yarkon, Shefala (Beit Shemesh and wide area), Jerusalem (and wide area), and Shfela.

.. Educational activities can ONLY be held in a place where you can reach a protected space in time with capacity in case of an alert.

.. Gatherings and services can be held with a limit of up to 30 people in an open area and up to 300 people in closed spaces.

.. Workplaces can operate in a building or place where you can reach a protected space in time with capacity in case of an alert.

.. Infographic: https://IDFANC.activetrail.biz/ANC0110202493864

.. Police: The Israel Police is prepared to implement the directives of the Home Front Command to the general public, following the change in the defense policy in the last hour.  Civil discipline saves lives.

❗️PUBLIC ROSH HASHANA PRAYER EVENTS CANCELLED.. The impression is that this is a warning about a more specific and immediate event, not about a general escalation from Lebanon.

.. Mass hataras nedarim at the Hotel cancelled.

.. Event at the Sultan’s Pool cancelled.

.. The Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz calls on the public to take cautionand observe the mitzvah "and be very careful for your souls" - to obey the instructions of the Home Front Command and not to come to the Western Wall plaza tonight.

.. Message passed on to the Hasidim in Gur: Do not come today for prayers to the city. and prepare for the possibility that they will not be able to come to Jerusalem for the holiday.

▪️SPECIAL OPS.. Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has conducted dozens of targeted operations in areas near the border in southern Lebanon in order to dismantle Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.  The soldiers identified and breached underground access points near the border area, exposed extensive weapon caches, assembly areas for terrorist operative operations, and more. During these operations, the troops also collected valuable intelligence and methodically dismantled the weapons and compounds, including underground infrastructure and advanced weaponry of Iranian origin.

The troops also uncovered and destroyed underground infrastructure, struck thousands of targets and hundreds of weapons storage facilities, tons of explosives, and hundreds of living areas for operatives, command centers and more. 

Footage of IDF raids on terror targets in Lebanese territory: https://bit.ly/3ZLNw4x

Footage of the destruction of terrorist infrastructure in the area of the border: https://bit.ly/4gM9wCs

There are many more videos linked here -> https://t.me/idfofficial/10605

❗️TZAV 8.. IDF: In accordance with the situational assessment, the IDF is calling up four additional reserve (combat) brigades for operational missions in the northern arena. 

▪️AIR TRAVEL.. The airport is working as usual at the moment and there is no change in the airspace.

.. Israir is expected to operate flights using six leased planes over the holidays, to help maintain aviation continuity. 

🔅 SHARE US WITH A FRIEND! Send the URL below —>

🔅Telegram   - https://t.me/Israel_Realtime_Updates

🔅WhatsApp - https://chat.whatsapp.com/EjYDi9it88kDyyI1lyeHkT

🔸X (twitter) - https://x.com/IsraelRealtime

🔸Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558471625976

❗️IRAN MISSILE THREAT - Tuesday afternoon - events from Israel  

ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( VIDEO - Home Front advice for holiday synagogue service - make sure to know the path to a protected space, have enough time and capacity. And what about the children? )

⭕HEZBOLLAH JUST FIRED 4 LONG RANGE MISSILES AT TEL AVIV.. a few minutes ago - they missed, hitting the sea.  No alarms due to the wide miss.

‼️The United States detects preparations in Iran for a missile attack on Israel.  On this basis, Israel has raised Home Front restrictions in the center and Jerusalem areas.  

.. The Pentagon: Satellite images show that Iran has prepared a large number of ballistic missiles to attack Israel.

.. IDF reminds:  defenses are NOT perfect, you MUST follow Home Front commands and take shelter when instructed.

.. The US Embassy in Israel asked its employees to stay at home and be prepared to go to shelters.

.. British Foreign Secretary Lammy announced that Britain is negotiating with its Iranian counterparts and calls on that country to exercise restraint in the midst of growing tensions in the region.

.. Reuters: Oil prices jumped 3% amid reports that Iran is planning to attack Israel.

📌HOME FRONT COMMAND..  center, Tel Aviv and wide surrounding areas, Jerusalem and wide surrounding areas, Samaria

.. Educational activities can ONLY be held in a place where you can reach a protected space in time with capacity in case of an alert.

.. Gatherings and services can be held with a limit of up to 30 people in an open area and up to 300 people in closed spaces.

.. Workplaces can operate in a building or place where you can reach a protected space in time with capacity in case of an alert.

📌PUBLIC ROSH HASHANA PRAYER EVENTS CANCELLED..

.. Mass hataras nedarim at the Western Wall cancelled.

.. Event at the Sultan’s Pool cancelled.

.. The Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz: do not to come to the Western Wall plaza tonight.

.. Message to Hasidim in Gur: Do not come for prayers to the city. 

❗️SPORT EVENT CANCELLED - Soccer / Football between Beitar Yerushalayim and Maccabi Haifa.

🔹IDF spokesman: "Iranian firing on the State of Israel will have consequences - I will not say more than that."

🔹IDF spokesman Brigadier General Hagari: "IDF fighters found a "plan for the occupation of the Galilee" by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanese territory.”

🔹US Central Command: 3 additional US aircraft squadrons are on their way to the area, and one of them has already arrived.

🔹The US continues to transfer military equipment non-stop to the region.  Huge military transport planes land in Jordan and Syria almost non-stop.

🔹Haifa Municipality: In light of the unusual security situation, the city council meeting scheduled for tonight is postponed.

🔹Russia to Israel: withdraw the troops from southern Lebanon immediately.

♦️ONGOING TARGETED ATTACKS in Lebanon cities.

♦️TARGETED ATTACK in Khan Yunis, Gaza on a vehicle.

♦️SYRIAN RADAR.. A radar position of Syria that attacked and destroyed a short time ago by the Air Force in southern Syria.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dean Obeidallah at The Dean's Report:

A mother and her two young children playing in a pool on a hot day in a suburb of Dallas should be a time for fun and merriment. And it was, that is until 42-year-old Elizabeth Wolf, a white woman from the area, saw that the mother was wearing a hijab and the children were Brown. At that point, Wolf questioned the mother about where she was from and made statements about her not being American, as well as “other racial statements.”

A visibly angry Wolf then grabbed the 6-year-old boy, causing a scratch on his finger as he pulled away. At that point—as the police reported--“The mother began helping her son when Wolf grabbed her 3-year-old daughter and forced her underwater.”  The mother “was able to pull her daughter from the water. Her daughter had been yelling for help and was coughing up water.”  That is when “Wolf also snatched the mother’s headscarf off and beat her with it,” as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported. A witness, Emma Aziz, who was at the pool that same day with her 7-year-old was interviewed by local Fox affiliate said she heard the mother screaming as she watched Wolf plunge the 3 year-old child’s head underwater. Aziz recalled the mother saying, “Help me! She’s killing my baby, she’s killing my baby!'” The attack ended--as the mother identified only as Mrs. H explained--when an African American man helped rescue her daughter from the attacker and more people gathered. The attacker reportedly shouted to a bystander who was calming the mother down, “Tell her I will kill her, and I will kill her whole family.”

In a statement shared by CAIR, the mother “Mrs. H” said, “We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids,” adding that amid Israel’s war in Gaza, she and her family were “facing that hate here.” This is what a hate crime looks like. People attacked simply because of their race, religion or ethnicity.  If the family in the pool were white, this doesn’t happen. Period. The Euless Police Department –where the attack took place—did promptly arrest Wolf that day but for public intoxication. Four days later, though, on May 23, the Tarrant County criminal district attorney’s did file charges of attempted capital murder and injury to a child against Wolf.

However, despite Wolf’s actions clearly being fueled by bigotry—as evidenced from her comments-- she was not formally charged with a hate crime. That is why this past Saturday, the Dallas chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference demanding the DA also charge with hate crimes. CAIR leaders also called for Wolf’s bail—that was set at only $40,000—to be raised given the seriousness of the crimes.

[...] The attack by Wolf on the Palestinian mother and her children reminds us of the barbaric incident last October in the suburbs of Chicago. That is when 6-year-old Muslim American child Wadea Al-Fayoume was killed by an older white man who had spewed anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate before stabbing the child to death—and stabbing his mother as well. As the killer’s wife told the police after the arrest, he "listens to conservative talk radio on a regular basis" and became obsessed with the war between Hamas and Israel. The killer was charged with hate crimes in addition to murder and attempted murder.

And in November, three Palestinian-American college students were walking on the streets of Vermont while wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic when Jason Eaton, 48, came down the porch of a home, pulled out a pistol and shot them.�� Eaton said nothing before shooting the three. While Eaton was charged with three counts of attempted murder, despite demands by the community, he was not charged with hate crimes. Obviously, Eaton—like Wolf—targeted these three because of who they were. In the case of Wolf’s attack on the Palestinian children and mother, the public pressure appears to be having the impact demanded.  In other cases, though, the public pressure may not always result in the desired outcome but at least it still raises awareness about the issues.

Elizabeth Wolf drowned a mother and her two kids in an Euless, Texas public pool based on the fact they were Palestinian Muslims.

This hate crime being perpetrated is part of a long line of American anti-Palestinian/anti-Muslim bigotry.

See Also:

Let's Address This: A Woman Is Out On Bail After Attempted Murder Of A Palestinian American Child

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this National Geographic story:

A 14-year-old boy who went swimming in a pond in India’s sweltering heat. A 13-year-old girl who bathed in a pool during a school excursion, and a five-year-old girl who took a dip in a river near her home. The three children lived in different parts of the southern Indian state of Kerala. Yet they have something in common ⸺all of them succumbed to a brain infection, Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), caused by a tiny organism found in warm freshwaters and poorly maintained swimming pools. About a dozen others have been undergoing treatment in India, one of whom, a 27-year-old man, has also succumbed.

Although rare, PAM is a deadly infection with a worldwide occurrence. It is caused by Naegleria fowleri, also known as the "brain-eating amoeba”, as it infects the brain and destroys brain tissue. At least 39 countries have reported such infections so far, and the rate of infections is increasing by 4.5 percent every year. In Pakistan alone, 20 deaths are reported every year due to the disease, and in 2024, infections have been reported in India, Pakistan, and Israel. N. fowleri was also detected at a popular freshwater swimming spot in Western Australia and hot springs in the U.S’s Grand Teton National Park. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the majority of global case exposures⸺85 percent⸺have been reported during warm, hot, or summer seasons. Several studies have also observed that changes in temperature and climate may further drive a global increase in PAM incidence. A study published in May last year found that PAM infections are on the rise in the northern U.S. "N. fowleri is expanding northward due to climate change, posing a greater threat to human health in new regions where PAM has not yet been documented," the study noted.

Yun Shen, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of California, Riverside, says that she considers PAM as “a potential emerging medical threat worldwide”. She explains that while warmer temperatures are likely to facilitate the survival and growth of N. fowleri, the risk of exposure may also increase as people indulge in more water-based recreational activities in hotter weather.

N. fowleri is found in warm, untreated freshwater, soil, and dust, says Karen Towne, a clinical associate professor of nursing at the University of Mount Union in Ohio, who co-authored a��2023 study on how the amoeba poses “a new concern for northern climates”. She adds that so far, PAM infections have typically occurred in cases involving swimming, splashing, and submerging one’s head in freshwater lakes, ponds, hot springs, and reservoirs. Meanwhile, less common routes of transmission have included warm hose water, a lawn water slide, splash pad use, and exposure of the nasal membrane to tap water from private well systems.

“Epidemiologically, most cases have occurred in healthy children and young adults⸺more males than females⸺who have had recent contact with untreated fresh water,” Towne told National Geographic in an email interview.

According to Barbara Polivka, an associate dean of research at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, who co-authored the study with Towne, N. fowleri enters the nose via contaminated water, crosses the nasal membrane, and follows the olfactory nerve into the brain, where it incubates for an average of five days. “PAM begins with rapid onset of severe frontal headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, which worsen into stiff neck, altered mental status, hallucinations, coma, and death,” says Polivka.

[msternberg]

Arab blogger Hoda Jannat (Hoda_jannat) felt that something is not right in the news she is being fed by the media. So she set herself for a real fact-checking mission. And here are the results, translated from Arabic:

1.Suddenly we discovered that Gaza, which is inhabited by 2 million people… has 36 hospitals,” Jannat wrote.

“There are Arab countries with 30 million citizens and do not have this number of hospitals.

2.Suddenly we discovered that Gaza was getting water, electricity, gas, and fuel for free from Israel.

Of course, there is no Arab citizen who does not pay water, electricity and fuel bills.

3.Suddenly we discovered that Gaza was receiving $30 million a month from Qatar alone, and $120 million a month from UNRWA, and $50 million a month from the European Union, and 30 million dollars a month from America. There are Arab countries drowning in debt and cannot find anyone to help them, even with one million dollars.

4.Suddenly we discovered that Gaza was not besieged, and all goods were entering it, as were foreigners and people of foreign nationalities. Its residents were traveling to Egypt and from there to the rest of the world, and Fafo is the biggest example.

5.Suddenly we discovered that Gaza was living better than many Arab countries…and its people were living better than many Arab peoples.

6.Suddenly…we discovered that our minds were besieged by a programmed lie…by the (Muslim) Brotherhood media.”

7. Suddenly we discovered that the children in Gaza are not children as we usually think, but children of terrorists with machine guns and suicide belts who underwent special training by Hamas.

8. Suddenly we discovered that the schools, hospitals, and mosques in Gaza are organized terror headquarters and ammunition warehouses with Hamas’ underground tunnels.

9. Suddenly we discovered that in Gaza there is an underground “metro” of Hamas that stretches for 500 km, which Israel can only envy.

10. Suddenly we discovered that the supposedly doctors and teachers in Gaza turned out to be active Hamas terrorists.

11. Suddenly we discovered that rockets and mortars are kept in children’s rooms in Gaza homes.

12. Suddenly we discovered that Hitler and his book “Mein Kampf” were very popular in Gaza, and its translation into Arabic was in almost every home in Gaza, or a portrait of the author.

13. Suddenly we discovered that Gazans live a life of luxury, with multi-story mansions with swimming pools and premium German cars.

14. Suddenly we discovered that there is no Israeli siege on Gaza because it still borders its Muslim sister Egypt.

15. Suddenly we discovered that most of the “citizens” in Gaza support Hamas and other terrorist groups, elected Hamas in democratic elections, and celebrated the massacre on October 7th.

16. Suddenly we discovered that what is called journalists in Gaza who work for Western media like CNN, AP, Reuters, and others turned out to be Hamas terrorists who participated in the massacre on October 7th.

17. Suddenly we discovered that what is called ‘peace activists’ and ‘workers of international human rights organizations’ of the UN, the Red Cross, and WHO, turned out to be terrorists and corrupt people of Hamas.

18. Suddenly we discovered that each of the leaders of Hamas is a billionaire and richer than President Trump, with a net worth of 4-5 billion dollars each.

[eretzyisrael]

By EMANUEL FABIAN

Israeli ground forces operating in the northern Gaza Strip have located Hamas rocket launchers in close proximity to a swimming pool and a playground, the Israel Defense Forces reveals.

The IDF shares footage of troops locating the rocket-launching positions, amid efforts to uncover and destroy Hamas infrastructure.

Troops of the 551st Brigade find four underground launchers some five meters (16 feet) from a children’s swimming pool, and around 30 meters from residential homes in the northern Gaza Strip, footage shows.

Another clip shows troops of the 401st Brigade locating a number of rocket launchers within a children’s playground and amusement park compound.

“This is further proof of the Hamas terror organization’s constant use of the civilian population as a human shield for terror purposes,” the IDF says in a statement.

[readingsquotes]

"All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present – not to say, ‘Look what they did then’; rather, ‘Look what we do now,’” Glazer said, quickly dispatching with the notion that comparing present-day horrors to Nazi crimes is inherently minimizing or relativizing, and leaving no doubt that his explicit intention was to draw out continuities between the monstrous past and our monstrous present.

And he went further: “We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of 7 October in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza.” For Glazer, Israel does not get a pass, nor is it ethical to use intergenerational Jewish trauma from the Holocaust as justification or cover for atrocities committed by the Israeli state today.

....

“Genocide becomes ambient to their lives”: that is how Glazer has described the atmosphere he attempted to capture in his film, in which his characters attend to their daily dramas – sleepless kids, a hard-to-please mother, casual infidelities – in the shadow of smokestacks belching out human remains. It’s not that these people don’t know that an industrial-scale killing machine whirs just beyond their garden wall. They have simply learned to lead contented lives with ambient genocide.

It is this that feels most contemporary, most of this terrible moment, about Glazer’s staggering film. More than five months into the daily slaughter in Gaza, and with Israel brazenly ignoring the orders of the international court of justice, and western governments gently scolding Israel while shipping it more arms, genocide is becoming ambient once more – at least for those of us fortunate enough to live on the safe sides of the many walls that carve up our world. We face the risk of it grinding on, becoming the soundtrack of modern life. Not even the main event.

Glazer has repeatedly stressed that his film’s subject is not the Holocaust, with its well-known horrors and historical particularities, but something more enduring and pervasive: the human capacity to live with holocausts and other atrocities, to make peace with them, draw benefit from them.

....

One of the film’s most memorable scenes comes when a package filled with clothing and lingerie stolen from the camp’s prisoners arrives at the Höss home. The commandant’s wife, Hedwig (played almost too convincingly by Sandra Hüller), decrees that everyone, including the servants, can choose one item. She keeps a fur coat for herself, even trying on the lipstick she finds in a pocket.

It is the intimacy of the entanglements with the dead that are so chilling. And I have no idea how anyone can watch that scene and not think of the Israeli soldiers who have filmed themselves rifling through the lingerie of Palestinians whose homes they are occupying in Gaza, or boasting of stealing shoes and jewelry for their fiances and girlfriends, or taking group selfies with Gaza’s rubble as the backdrop. (One such photo went viral after the writer Benjamin Kunkel added the caption “The Zone of Pinterest”.)

There are so many such echoes that, today, Glazer’s masterpiece feels more like a documentary than a metaphor.

...

Zone offers an extreme portrait of a family whose placid and pretty life flows directly from the machinery devouring human life next door. This is most emphatically not a portrait of people in denial: they know what is happening on the other side of the wall, and even the kids play with scavenged human teeth. The concentration camp and the family home are not separate entities; they are conjoined. The wall of the family’s garden – creating an enclosed space for the children to play, and shade for the pool – is the same wall that, on the other side, encloses the camp.

Everyone I know who has seen the film can think of little but Gaza.

[tieflingkisser]

Homes burned, animals killed: Palestinians describe Israeli settler rampage (paywall removed)

AL-MUGHAYYIR, West Bank — The attack by Israeli settlers on this Palestinian village was the worst anyone here could remember. There were pools of dried blood on the rooftop where assailants shot a man dead; a pile of lambs with their necks slit was thick with buzzing flies. At least two Palestinians were killed in the rampage across West Bank villages near Ramallah over the weekend, according to residents, monitoring groups and paramedics, fueled by calls for retribution after a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd went missing in the surrounding area and was later found dead. The Israeli military said he was the victim of a “terrorist attack.” Hundreds of settlers roamed the roads and hillsides of al-Mughayyir, eyewitnesses said, throwing stones and firing on residents. They set homes and vehicles ablaze, including a firetruck that had been called to put out the flames engulfing a family business. Palestinians threw rocks back at the attackers, they said, but were easily outmatched. Members of the Israel Defense Forces in the area made little effort to stop the violence, according to eyewitnesses. Video filmed by a local journalist and obtained by B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights group, and provided to The Washington Post shows Israeli troops in al-Mughayyir during the attack on Friday; military vehicles drive along a smoke-filled road as masked attackers look on. In a statement to The Post, the IDF said its forces operated “with the aim of to protect the property and lives of all citizens and dispersing the confrontations. ... Complaints about soldiers’ behavior that is not in accordance with orders will be examined.” Violence by Israeli settlers, long aimed at depopulating Palestinian parts of the occupied West Bank, increased last year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power — at the head of a coalition that included far-right settler activists who have been convicted of anti-Arab incitement and have advocated for the outright annexation of the West Bank.

[keep reading]

[1solone]

🇺🇸MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND🇺🇸

Unfortunately, today, way too many people look at Memorial Day as a recreational day, simply a later date from school or a settled day from work. Military families and families of countless veterans, on another hand, have been afflicted by the pain and suffering of seeing their brothers, husbands or children set off to war, you start with the American Revolution until today's actions in the Middle East, through the devastating Civil war, into World War I and II, and throughout the Vietnam and Korean Wars. In their mind, Memorial Day is just a day to think on their loss and suffering, and to honor those who have served to guard America's interests.

Saying goodbye to a family member you could at almost no time see again is probably the most devastating feeling a relative may perpetually have, because they only never truly know if that individual is coming back. Their heart skips a defeat everytime that the doorbell rings while their family member is abroad, performing the best duty they'll perpetually perform while they defend justice and the quest for liberty. In the home, though, their family members dread as soon as they open that door, since the pulse quickens and horrible thoughts of a note of imminent loss haunts them. They fear answering the phone. They dread reading their mail. Life itself becomes an apparently endless, helpless watch for news, hopefully good news, but potentially news of the worst possible kind.

For a few people, the lucky ones, they just endure worries of losing a family member in battle for a couple years, but that in and of itself might have long-lasting, life altering ramifications. Worries causes great stress, making families walk on eggshells for entire tours of duty, as children go without their mother or father for long periods of time. For too many, the headlines and the ramifications are worse. They lose a family member to war, or their family member is seriously injured, maimed, or psychologically damaged while they defend our nation and its interests.

Let's not your investment veterans themselves and the sacrifices they've made. We only have to start the headlines to start to see the hardships they face, the daily dangers they deal with, and the horrors they endure. Veterans are and have now been our protectors, our defenders, and often at great cost, even for the survivors of war. War itself is hell, since the famous saying goes, and these many, wonderful men and women have entered hell willingly for centuries to guard the America they love, and to create another for many Americans.

In just about any case you are able to consider, on Memorial Day, these veterans who protect us from dangers abroad, and who've protected us from dangers for centuries, deserve our respect and our remembrance, and yet Memorial Day 2024 Weekend has converted into a cook out once you start the pool for the summer.

"Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished on the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten this is and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Many people no further remember the appropriate flag etiquette for the day."

In days past, great parades were thrown in honor of the wonderful veterans. Cities and townships gave speeches and held Memorial galas. In Israel, even today, to celebrate their Memorial Day, their television lists the names of all of the dead they've lost to war, and that simple process takes all the day. Perhaps we don't need to attend quite that extreme to honor the veterans who've served to guard us, but nonetheless, our ambivalence towards the real meaning behind Memorial Day is just a bit much.

It's high time that people do remember the American veterans which have made Memorial day and those many cook outs and days off that the Holiday now symbolizes possible. This season, we must try to go to a battle memorial, the grave of an expert, or at the least stop in a minute of silence reserved for the numerous who've sacrificed their lives to guard and supply the wonderful lives and opportunities that people have open to us today. This season, we must also honor and remember the numerous sacrifices of the families of veterans and war heroes, because if you believe about any of it, they sacrificed a lot for many of us Americans themselves.… ‿ℒℴνℯ⁀❤️always with ℒℴѵℯ ❤️🕊🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

#memorialdayweekend #MemorialDay2024

[beardedmrbean]

The holiday property market along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast is experiencing a shift away from its previous dominance by Russian buyers, now attracting a blend of younger Bulgarian professionals and retired Europeans. According to a comprehensive report by BTA, half of the buyers for seaside apartments are Bulgarians under 30, primarily from the IT sector, while the other half consists of retirees from Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Demand is particularly strong for two-bedroom apartments within gated complexes, with average prices starting at 1,900 euros per square meter. Maintenance fees, which cover amenities like pools and gyms, no longer deter buyers, who typically spend around BGN 60-70 per month on these services. Ukrainian investors are also entering the market, focusing on new residential developments near the sea.

This snapshot of the summer holiday market in Bulgaria was detailed by Atanas Argirov and Stefka Kalcheva, members of the National Association "Real Estate" Management Board.

In Varna, residential property prices have surged by 60 percent over the past two years, prompting a shift in buyer interest towards vacation homes. Atanas Argirov notes that holiday property prices have also risen, albeit more slowly, by 25 percent during the same period, indicating a stable upward trajectory despite lagging behind residential real estate.

The preferred locations in Varna include areas around the city center like "Sts. Constantine and Helena" and its surrounding districts. These locales, increasingly structured as residential hubs, appeal due to proximity to amenities such as large supermarkets and easy access to Varna and Vinitsa districts. The trend shows an almost equal number of permanent residents and vacation property owners in these areas.

In Golden Sands, demand for vacation properties is also on the rise, particularly within closed aparthotel complexes used mainly as second homes rented out during the summer season. Despite limited year-round inhabitation, interest remains high, with several new residential projects underway in "Sts. Constantine and Helena" and ongoing development in the Golden Sands area.

Buyers in Varna predominantly favor two-bedroom apartments, which account for about 40 percent of all real estate transactions in the city. Larger units with more than three rooms are preferred by IT professionals, who utilize them not just as residences but also as workspaces, reflecting a growing trend towards multifunctional living spaces. Security and amenities in gated communities attract over 80 percent of buyers, with rising maintenance fees posing minimal deterrent.

Approximately 60 percent of new buyers in Varna and its surrounding resorts are aged between 25 and 35, many of whom work in the IT sector. Bulgarians make up the majority of purchasers, while retirees from Western Europe constitute a smaller yet significant demographic, alongside buyers from Ukraine and Israel. The departure of Russian buyers has led to a smaller foreign presence in Bulgaria's real estate market, with Ukrainian investors beginning to play a more prominent role, particularly in high-end developments near Alen Mak and Manastirski Rid.

In the Burgas region, interest in vacation properties is steadily growing, with Bulgarian citizens accounting for 50 percent of transactions. The remainder includes retirees from Germany and a diverse mix of buyers from Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, and Russian-speaking countries. This influx has partially offset the decline in Russian buyers, who face logistical challenges in utilizing their Bulgarian properties due to visa and transport restrictions.

Property prices in Burgas have seen a modest increase of approximately 5 to 6 percent since the beginning of the year, aligning with inflation rates. Despite a balanced market without significant peaks, industry experts predict a slight rise of 2-3 percent in housing prices by year-end, totaling an increase of 4-8 percent for 2024.

Sozopol, Nessebar, Sunny Beach, and Primorsko remain favored destinations for vacation property investments, with a growing interest from Ukrainian buyers in Pomorie. The profile of buyers in Burgas skews towards younger Bulgarians aged 35-45 seeking second homes, while foreign buyers, particularly from Poland, are also prevalent. Financing through mortgage loans is common, with expatriate Bulgarians and EU residents contributing to a significant portion of purchases.

In both Varna and Burgas, two-bedroom apartments are the preferred property type among buyers, offering flexibility for seasonal use. The appeal of closed complexes lies in their security and maintained amenities, with additional fees, including maintenance costs, posing minimal concern for new buyers. Prices are influenced by proximity to the sea, with properties closer to the beach commanding higher values. However, affordability remains a consideration, with lower-priced options reflecting their distance from coastal areas and historical town centers.

[dragoneyes618]

This is a story that straddled two homes on opposite ends of the country on Israel’s most gruesome day. One of the houses is situated in the new part of Kfar Azah, right along the kibbutz’s fence about three miles east of the Gaza Strip.

The Idan family lived in that house: Roi Idan was a well-known photographer for Ynet, and Smadar, whose life was much more private, was an employee of the Shin Bet. This is the home they lived in with their three children — Michael, nine; Amelia, six; and Avigayil, then three — until the parents were gunned down in front of their children on October 7.

The other house is located in Rosh Pinah all the way up north. This is the home of a social worker named Dr. Tamar Schlezinger. In the agonizing hours of Simchas Torah, their lives would soon converge.

ITwas Michael Idan, all of nine years old, who was suddenly and unwittingly thrust into a position of leadership. Terrorists had infiltrated their home and murdered Smadar, who was lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Roi had left the house a few minutes before the invasion, and Michael called him to come home immediately. He quickly returned home, having managed to film the start of the Hamas invasion and sent the first pictures of terrorists paragliding across the border to the news site before grabbing the children and leaving the house to try and make a run for safety.

He was holding three-year-old Avigayil in his arms when terrorists shot and mortally wounded him. Avigayil, covered in her father’s blood, fell to the ground and managed to run to their neighbors, the Brodutch family. Avichai Brodutch brought her into their safe room so she could be with his wife and three children and then went out with the town’s emergency squad to fight the terrorists; ten minutes later, when he came back to check on his family, he discovered that his wife, children, and Avigayil had been kidnapped and dragged off to Gaza.

Meanwhile, for some reason, the terrorist who shot Roi waved his hand at Michael and Amelia, shooing them away.

Not knowing what else to do, Michael took Amelia’s hand, ran back inside, called his mother’s name, but when she didn’t answer, called Roi’s mother. He told his grandmother that he thought his father, mother, and sister Avigayil had all been killed (he didn’t know that Avigayil had escaped). Michael’s grandmother had no idea what they were talking about.

“I’m going to call Smadar,” she said, “and we’ll figure out what’s going on.”

But Smadar didn’t answer. Amelia answered instead, innocently reassuring her grandmother that the army would be there soon to rescue them.

Then nine-year-old Michael called the police.

He was connected to a young MDA dispatcher named Linoy Al-Ezra. Linoy asked Michael a series of questions to try to understand the situation in his home. He told her that his mother was bleeding from gunshot wounds and was unresponsive. Linoy, immediately understanding the danger, instructed them on how to stay safe: She told Michael to lock their home’s front door and remove the key, take Amelia’s hand, go to their safe room, and close the door. Michael told her that the safe room door was too heavy, so she suggested that they hide in the safe room closet, close the door, and not open it unless there was someone they knew there.

She told them to keep on calling if no one came to help, which they did — until the MDA switchboard was overwhelmed by the thousands of calls pouring in. Still, Linoy knew she had to do something to keep those children safe, and a call was put in to United Hatzalah’s “Chosen” Psychotrauma and Crisis Response unit.

ONthe other side of the country from where people were being gunned down in their living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms, Dr. Tamar Schlezinger, a crisis response specialist, had gotten up early in her home in Rosh Pinah. Tamar had already milked the sheep and gone for a walk in the nearby wadi. A volunteer for United Hatzalah, Tamar knew that there had been a lot of sirens in the Gaza area — and when she arrived home, the first call of the day came in on Chosen’s dispatch, who asked if anyone was available to accept the call.

“I told dispatch that I could take the call,” Tamar said.

A social worker by profession, Tamar was also a longtime member of United Hatzalah’s team of crisis response volunteers, well-trained in helping people deal with emergencies and trauma of all kinds. While she’d dealt with all kinds of people and situations over the years, nothing could have prepared her for the conversation that lay ahead.

Tamar asked dispatch what to expect on the other end of the line. They only knew the basic details. A boy had seen his parents murdered and needed help.

“I called Michael,” she said. “I didn’t know how old he was and what condition he was in, especially if he was in the proximity of terrorists who’d just killed his parents.”

He answered the phone. What follows is Tamar’s account of their conversation.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m Dr. Tamar and I’m calling from United Hatzalah.”

Very quickly I understood that I was speaking with a young child.

“I’m with you now, and I will stay on the line until a responsible Israeli adult comes to take you out of the safe room. Okay?… Is there a closet in the room? Yes? Is it a closet with shelves or a walk-in closet?”

“It’s a clothing closet and we’re lying on the shelves, hiding.”

I told Michael that they were doing great and praised him for showing such wonderful initiative. Soon his sister Amelia wanted to join the conversation.

“This is Amelia. I’m afraid! Nobody is here with us. Can you come save us?”

I told Amelia that there were good people who were on their way to help.

“I’ll stay on the phone with you until they arrive to save you, okay?”

“ATthis point,” Tamar recounted, “I needed to know the situation on the ground in Kfar Azah. I also needed to know how much battery was left in the phone the kids were using. I had no idea how long the attack was going to last — but I understood that there was a good chance that we were going to have to stay on the phone for a long time. In my mind, I figured our conversation would probably last ten minutes, maybe half an hour. I mean, how long could it take to rescue two kids from a closet?”

In her wildest dreams, she never imagined how long their conversation would actually last. Because Tamar Schlezinger ended up staying on the phone with Michael and Amelia for the next 12 hours.

That phone call meant 12 hours of extreme bravery by two children, and 12 hours of extreme resourcefulness and composure by a woman on the other side of the country.

“The first thing I did,” Tamar said, “was ask them to please put both of the phones that they had on silent mode.

“Can you do that for me?”

“Yes.”

“Are the windows in the safe room closed?”

“Yes.”

I asked them if they hear any voices nearby.

I asked them a bunch of questions.

“I hear that Amelia is being very quiet, right?”

“Yes.”

“Michael, do you have any other brothers or sisters?”

“Yes.”

“Are they in a different room?”

“No.”

“Until then,” Tamar said, “I had only known that the parents had been killed. Now I learned that they thought another sibling had been killed as well. At the time, they had no idea that Avigayil had run away. All they knew was that she fell to the ground, covered in blood.

“I asked if their parents were in the room. They said that their mother was on the floor on the other side of a curtain partition but she wasn’t answering. Smadar, it turned out, was lying dead a few feet away from them.”

As they were speaking, Tamar heard the sound of voices.

“Are the people nearby talking Ivrit or Arabic?”

“Ivrit.”

“Who is it? Who’s talking?”

“It’s Amelia. She’s speaking to my aunt on the other phone.”

“Where does your aunt live?”

“In the Golan.”

“Is there anyone closer to you that I can call? Do you have a number for one of your neighbors or your aunt?”

“I know my aunt’s number.”

While all this was happening, the terrorists were still going on a rampage in Kfar Azah. It sounded like the shooting from outside was never going to stop.

“I smell smoke,” one of the kids said to Tamar. “Maybe it’s from an explosion or from one of the fires outside? Do you think the smoke is outside the house or inside the house?”

Tamar sent a text to one of their uncles, Zolli, who also lived on the kibbutz — his house was surrounded by terrorists and he himself was hoping for a miracle. If he left to try and rescue his niece and nephew, he’d be shot on the spot.

Zolli. Michael and Amelia are smelling smoke.

He wrote back. Everything here smells like smoke.

Another time she wrote to him, The children are hearing gunshots.

His response: There’s an endless stream of gunshots here.

Tamar got back to the children: “Your uncle told me that you’re not the only ones who are smelling smoke right now. The entire kibbutz smells like smoke.”

ASthe hours ticked by, the country began to learn that more and more people had been kidnapped and taken to Gaza. Mothers and children. Fathers and sons. Grandparents. Babies. Nobody was safe from the murderous hordes. This made Tamar even more afraid for the children on the other end of the line.

“Kids, if you hear anyone speaking in Arabic, you need to be completely silent. You can’t even say one word. Do you understand me?”

They understood.

“I’m going to stay on the line with you the entire time,” she said. “I’ll talk to you. I’ll stay with you until you get out of there. But if you hear anything that you think might be dangerous, you need to be completely and absolutely silent. Okay?”

By now it was afternoon. The massacre at Kfar Azah had been going on for hours.

Tamar’s conversation with Michael and Amelia had begun at 9:30 in the morning. They had been on the phone for hours already and she still didn’t know if there was anyone on their way to save them, to release them from those closet shelves they’d managed to squish themselves into.

“Michael, do you want me to call you back in ten minutes, or do you want me to stay on the line and continue talking?”

“We want to stay on the line the whole time.”

“Okay, we’ll stay on the line. You don’t have to talk to me the whole time. You can also talk to each other and I’ll just listen. But I’ll be here and I won’t go away. Meanwhile I want you to continue hiding on the shelves, like you’ve been doing the whole time.”

Suddenly —

“Tamar, someone is outside. We hear them knocking on the door. Do you think they came to get us?”

The terrorists had been prowling around the kibbutz, knocking on doors and trying to convince hopeful residents that their salvation had come. Now Tamar was really frightened, but she mustered the calmest voice she could.

“Do not open the door. Do you understand? Stay where you are in complete silence. I am with you. You are not alone. Okay?”

They didn’t answer.

“It’s good that you’re not answering me. You are doing the right thing. I know that you can hear me. Is the knocking still going on? Answer me with one word, yes or no.”

“No.”

“Okay. It’s very important that your cellphone has enough battery so that we will be able to continue speaking for as long as we need. Is your mother in the same room with you?”

“Yes, she’s in the room. She’s lying on the floor. Abba and Avigayil are outside.”

“Does that mean that if you leave the closet to go get a charger, you’re going to see her?”

“Yes.”

“How much battery is left on the phone right now?”

“It’s at 57%.”

Iwas faced with a dilemma. I needed Michael to be able to charge the phone. But if I sent him to get a charger, he would see his mother lying on the floor.

He’d also have to leave the safety of the closest, and leave Amelia alone for a minute or two. I asked him if he would be able to deal with a very challenging and scary mission. To leave the safety of the closet and to go out of the safe room and find a charger. I was also really scared by the enormity of the mission — I can only imagine what he felt like. I decided to conference my superior, Einat, and to bring her into the call. Meanwhile I asked Michael if he knew where the charger was.

“Yes.”

“What room is it in?”

“It’s right next to the kitchen.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to go and get it even if that means you’ll have to see Mommy?”

“Yes.”

“When you go, make sure that nobody sees you through any of the windows, okay?”

“Amelia doesn’t want me to go and get the charger.”

“Is she afraid that you will be too far away from her?”

“Yes.”

“I want you to promise Amelia that you’ll go quickly and come right back. Are you able to run fast?”

“Yes.”

I was able to hear him running. Seconds later, Michael was back with the charger.

“I got it!”

“You are the biggest hero in the world!”

I told the kids that our conversation would be featured in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest conversation ever held. We spoke about many different things. I asked Amelia to tell me about her friends. I asked the kids to tell me what they did on Succot. We didn’t speak about their father or mother, but we spoke about where they might end up living after this was all over. When they asked me where they would go, I told them that their family was going to fight over who would get to have them. The truth is, they are truly amazing children. Anyone would want them.

By eight o’clock that night, they had run into a serious communication issue. The children’s phone was losing service and their mother’s phone was locked with a password, which they didn’t know. I called their grandmother and asked her if, by a longshot, she knew the code. She told me no one knew it, because Smadar worked at a job that was extremely classified. That’s when I learned that Smadar worked for the Shin Beit.”

At the same time, Roi’s brother Amit Idan made contact with the Yahalom unit who’d gotten into Kfar Azah. He directed them to the house where the children were hiding, but the door was locked.

The soldiers knocked on the door but there was no answer. They tried again and again, and even shouted, “Michael, Amelia, we’ve come to rescue you!” Silence.

Amit told them, “Shout my name! Amit! Maybe they’re afraid to go out. Then they’ll know I’ve sent you.”

The forces shouted to them: “It’s Amit!”

Michael asked permission to leave his hiding place. I told them, “Go to the soldiers right now! Leave the hiding place right now and go to them!”

Seconds later Michael hung up the phone and the longest phone conversation ever came to an end.

Four-year-old Avigayil was released from Gaza with Hagar Broduch and her children at the end of November. Roi was considered unaccounted for until ten days later when his body was finally identified. The children’s uncle and aunt, Amit and Tal Idan, have been caring for them since the massacre.