Today's drill

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Here's one of the shelters in one of the schools in town (Meitar).

It is adjoining the classrooms, as you can see.
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 The Education Ministry, in cooperation with the army's  Home Front Command, rescue services, and local councils, held a drill in Israel’s schools and kindergartens this morning. 

Here is my video of the air raid siren.
You see a big public bomb shelter next to the municipal pre-kindergarten in my neighborhood, but the kids have there own fortified room inside their own building.  Which is a good thing since here we have only one minute to take cover from any in-coming rockets from Gaza.
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Remembering with flowers

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Today I saw bunches of flowers stuck into the plaque on the wall of the Generali Building on Jaffa Road.
I looked more closely and found the date 3.3.1996.
So, today is the 15th anniversary of the death of the 19 people named on the plaque.
A terrorist's bomb exploded on their bus.
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There are many such memorial signs all around Jerusalem that list victims' names and the number of the bus route.
Most are from the bad old days of suicide bombers during the first and second intifadas.
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Chefets chashood

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We in Jerusalem are often delayed and prevented from going where we want to go by the discovery of a suspicious object.
See those bags strapped to the trash bin?

Very soon traffic was at a standstill, backed up for blocks.

Before doubling back and walking a different route, I stood there for a while, soaking up the atmosphere.

The Christian Ethiopian lady in white continued sitting and waiting for her bus. (Ethiopia Street and their church and monastery are right around the corner from HaNeviim Street.)

Soon came two ultra-Orthodox haredi men in black.

Then an Arab family.

We, representing the different populaton "sectors," all stood there, equally curious if something would explode, wondering when the police sappers and/or robot would arrive, and annoyed by the delay and detour.

But no one was afraid.

It is just a common fact of life in Israel, these suspicious objects.
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This is a drill

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We are in the middle of a 5-day targil. The exercise, code-named Turning Point Four, is Israel's largest civil defense operation since it first launched the annual drill four years ago in the wake of the Lebanon war, during which Hizbullah fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel.


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Let's look at how the Jerusalem Post describes the practice scenario, beginning last Sunday:
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"Israel came under heavy simulated missile fire in what would be the 15th day of a mock all-out regional war with Hizbullah [who are in Lebanon], Syria, Hamas [i.e. Gaza Strip], and Iran.
. . . close to 200 rockets and missiles, included ones with chemical warheads launched from Syria, landed in the center of the country.
The focus of the drill is on 38 local councils, mostly from the center of the country, which are undergoing a series of simulations to test their ability to continue providing basic services [e.g. water supply] for their residents at a time of war.
Under the scenario, most of the missiles were landing in the Gush Dan region in the center of the country, from which about 200,000 residents decided to flee south. The Eilat Municipality was asked, in the drill, to prepare a plan to absorb some of the refugees."
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Just a few months ago these sirens were installed one block from my house.

This Wednesday at 11:00 we will get to hear them.

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The whole country will have a siren wailing then, and we are supposed to go immediately to whatever our bomb shelter or safe place is and to stay there about ten minutes.

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Is that a little solar power source I see? Good idea.

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In all this seriousness I had to laugh to read this at the Israel Defense Force blog:

"The exercise will also examine warning systems on cellular phones, and civilians in certain areas may therefore receive text messages that read “Have a nice day” signed by the IDF Home Front Command."

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The IDF Spokesman put up some photos of yesterday's search and rescue practice operation. So many girl soldiers!

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You can also see previous posts:

http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2009/06/time-factor-and-turning-point-three.html and

http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2009/09/special-report-on-todays-targil.html

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For more about the incoming missiles warning on cell phone and computers, do see my

http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2009/06/facts-of-israeli-life.html

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Let us hope that none of this ever really happens!

But, such as it is, that is my world for That's My World Tuesday.

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Time factor and Turning Point Three targil

Today ABC Wednesday's T is for Turning Point Three.
This is the code name for the week-long nation-wide preparedness targil (Hebrew for drill/exercise) being run by Israel's Home Front Command.

At 11:00 this morning the country's 2,300 air raid sirens sounded.
 I made it a point to be at a public place just then, namely, my Kupat Cholim medical clinic in Jerusalem.
Sure enough, we the public and the staff were instructed to go down the stairs to the basement. I never knew there was a bomb shelter there.
Here is the metal, air-tight door in the picture.
As you can see, the staff had turned the protected space into a kitchen and break room.

T is for time factor!

Israeli households (well, mine NOT included) recently received this handy and reassuring (LOL) refrigerator magnet.
Click to enlarge and you will see that we in and around Jerusalem are in the best location if the missiles begin in-coming from Gaza and/or Syria and Lebanon and/or Iran.
 We supposedly will have three whole minutes of warning. Yay!
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To see more about the Turning Point drill and other Facts of [Israeli] Life, please see my previous post. Toda (= thanks)!
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Good-for-nothing gas masks

"Good-for-nothing gas masks"?! Surely you were hoping for a happier topic for my "G" contribution to ABC Wednesday. But after reading a disturbing article in today's Jerusalem Post, I really must vent (pardon the pun).

In his report, handed to the acting Speaker of the Knesset yesterday, State Comptroller Lindenstrauss warned that
1. Gas masks soon to be distributed by the IDF to civilians across the country are not fit for use.
2. The state has not been able to find masks for purchase in overseas markets that would protect infants and children from chemical attack.
3. New masks have not been purchased due to years of bickering between the Defense Ministry and the Treasury over where the budget will come from.
4. Masks currently under development have been found to constitute a mortal danger to their users.
5. The IDF (the army) has no real plan how to distribute masks to us.
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Do you remember the first Gulf War in 1991, when Iraq invaded Kuwait? Well, Saddam Hussein also fired 39 Scud missiles on Israel and he threatened that the warheads would carry nerve gas, anthrax, etc. It was the worst month and a half of my life, mostly from worrying where my kids would be if and when the worst happened. Usually the air raid sirens came at night and gave us a few seconds to run to our "sealed room," take cover under a table, put on the awful gas masks, and wait to hear our windows rattle and the 4-storey apartment building shake as the missiles exploded around us. (Our family lived near Tel Aviv then.) Imagine, sealing the doors with masking tape, as if that would save us. ha!
Sometimes we had to wait an hour until the army checked the Scuds that had fallen and then sounded the all-clear siren, meaning no chemical warheads.
Did you ever try breathing through a gas mask during tense moments? Maybe leaders of every country should try it for an hour.
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So maybe today's State Comptroller report is a blessing in disguise. I, for one, do not really want my old refurbished gas mask returned to me.