The Media Missile War

July 9, 2014 - As wars go, this one's been pretty weird so far.

Last night I was lying in bed trying to rid myself of excess adrenalin, unable to disengage from flying missiles zipping through my mind.

It seems many people were having the same problem – thousands were tuned in to Israeli radio, wondering what was going on.

Fortunately Israel’s radio personalities are always up to the task. They are able to balance entertainment with information, humor with gravity and constant interruptions of the Color Red rocket alert warnings with equanimity.

Just before falling asleep, I could hear them describing the latest missile barrage. It involved an attack that reached farther north than ever before – apparently Hamas was trying for Haifa – but “of course they didn’t reach it this time,” they commented casually.

The terrorists had launched their latest missile, the 120-kilogram, Syrian-made M302, a gift received courtesy of the Iranians via Sudan. The M302 reportedly has a range of approximately 100 kilometers – around 62-65 miles. 

The radio personalities then started discussing the various missiles currently in the Hamas arsenal and which ones had been fired where in the past several minutes. It sounded a lot like the running commentary at a soccer game.

They quoted the Hamas terrorist spokesman, who had issued an official statement describing the group’s newest missile and all its great features and how it can reach such-and-such a range, and go this far into Israel . . . and then they returned to debating the merits of the terrorist group’s latest acquisition and whether or not it could actually reach Haifa. 

I fell asleep to the sounds of an old 60's rock tune they spun sometime after that.

My kid informed me this morning that she’s going to a beach party tonight down at the Dead Sea. My son still thinks he is going to a party in Tel Aviv. Another daughter has already left for a wedding in Jerusalem.

“If we stop living and living the life that we normally do then they will have already won,” my younger daughter told me.

“It is a risk to go (to a scheduled event in nearby Be’er Sheva) but I am going anyway because we are beating them by living our normal lives. By going to my bagrut and going about my normal affairs I have already won.”

Of course, the folks who schedule that high school final may decide they cannot hold the exam anyway. But that doesn't make my kid any less of a winner.