This Hezbollah rocket bombardment took place earlier this afternoon, about a five-minute drive from here (see screenshot map).
Yes, we hear the thudding hits along a road that I, my wife, family, and friends regularly drive, where close across-the-street friends from our village work, and others have children in schools both in Meron and the Upper Galilee Regional Council, to the right across that long straight road in one of the clips.
In other words, when the IDF says the rocket hit in an “open area,” that means if you’re driving by, waiting for a school bus pickup, praying at the shrine, stepping out for a smoke, or hanging laundry in your yard, you could suddenly be riddled with (intentional) ball-bearing shrapnel or slammed to the ground by the concussion.
From a close friend and Atlanta buddy living in Ma’alot, also along the border, to the west, and frequently under similar rocket fire: “Today Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets that hit less than a mile from my daughter’s school. War sucks, and we have no choice but to win this one.”
Tikva Sasson, a guest in Sunday’s Zoom also lives in Ma’alot. Yakov Marks, who also joined in our conversation, lives in Ma’alot. There’s a photo of our dishwasher that I’ve just added; our repairman, Doron, lives in the nearby village of Shefer and makes daily service calls; he – God forbid – could’ve easily been underneath that barrage. While he’s also a member of his village’s civilian volunteer security guard team and has a police vest strapped over the back of the driver’s seat, that status wouldn’t protect him if he was en route to us and got sprayed by red-hot shrapnel by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Iranian-backed terror group claims the volley of between 30-50 rockets was in response to a pinpoint IDF drone attack earlier today targeting a senior leader traveling on a motorcycle within southern Lebanon. This is what your local or international news may offhandedly dub “tit-for-tat” cross-border attacks. But that normalizes and “equivalizes” between intentional attacks against purely civilian areas (if they’d wanted to hit the IDF radomes atop Mt. Meron, they’d have aimed there – as in too many recent direct line-of-sight strikes I’ve written about here.)
No. These were intentional, Geneva Convention-level war crimes: firing out of Hezbollah rocket and terror squad hideouts arrayed in several “civilian” villages and directly aiming into civilian areas, as seen in the clips. Do you see the difference? The IDF is also firing back, but with clear intent to hit the perpetrators – yes: even when they surround themselves with “non-combatants” – inevitably either families aligned with them, or others that are unwilling or unable to move out to safer areas to the north.
Ironically, earlier in the day, the authorities removed “portable” emergency bomb shelters from the adjacent site (see clip) after a raucous, communal religious event, “Lag ‘Omer,” held at the shrine of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (pls Google the terms for details).
As I’m completing this post, another volley of rockets was fired into Kiryat Shmona and villages in the vicinity, including Beit Hillel (see screenshot map), home to Yahel Kurlander and her two young kids, and near Aharon Gamzu of nearby Kfar Szold, who both featured on the Zoom on Sunday (scroll down to watch), at the northern residents’ protest encampment. I hope they and their families, and others under those barrages are well – but the long-term trauma, PTSD, economic and life-shattering consequences of enduring an eight-month war forced upon us by an array of enemies sworn to our collective death and destruction are incalculable. — Update from the IDF Spokesman’s Office: “The IDF attacked launchers that carried out the launches at the Meron area “A short time ago, fighter jets attacked launchers belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization from which the launches were carried out towards the Meron area earlier today. “Following the warnings in the Kiryat Shmona area, about 25 launches that crossed into the area were identified, some of which were intercepted.” [see infrared army footage clip below – DB]
Dave Bender is an AP-award-winning “ever-recovering” radio reporter, multimedia producer, photo/videographer, and pro beekeeper, Dave is happily settled with his wife and family in Israel for 4 decades. My articles, features, photos, ruminations, and rants follow:” https://substack.com/@davebender?utm_source=profile-page
