A scary sign of the extreme reality Israeli children are subjected to was seen in a video showing confused children reacting to a red alert siren warning of incoming Hamas rockets by standing at attention.
Cute and scary at the same time! During one of today’s sirens, these children stood at attention thinking the siren was a memorial siren for yom hazikaron. Sweethearts. #Israel #IsraelUnderFire pic.twitter.com/uAWsVlf5ni
— (((Emily Schrader))) (@GippersChutzpah) May 4, 2019
The confusion was understandable since last week was Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and sirens were sounded all over Israel for two minutes of silent introspection. Tuesday evening begins Yom Hazikaron (Day of Remembrance) that precedes Israel Independence Day. Sirens are sounded throughout Israel in the evening and again in the morning on Yom HaZikaron to memorialize soldiers who fell defending Israel and victims of terrorism. The custom is deeply ingrained in Israelis. Traffic everywhere comes to a complete standstill and the entire country stands at attention to honor the dead.
The situation became confused in the minds of several children who, just two days after standing at attention for the Yom HaShoah siren, were confronted with another siren but this time, the siren was a warning that rockets from Gaza were on their way to wreak destruction. The sirens to commemorate solemn occasions are a steady monotone while the red alert sirens rise and fall. But air raid sirens began sounding on Saturday morning and continued almost non-stop until midnight Sunday warning of almost 700 rockets fired at Israel.
