A Tease and a Threat and a Tease

I called Elie tonight to see how he was doing. As I somewhat expected, he was at the checkpoint. All was quiet. It’s Ramadan and according to Islam, the Arabs fast during the day. As evening arrives and full night sets in, it’s very quiet at the checkpoint. The Arabs are breaking their fast, eating and drinking after a long, hot, dry day.

Elie sounded relaxed when I asked how things were. He told me that the previous day, he’d caught a Palestinian driving illegally. He called the Israeli police, who told him they couldn’t send a car because they were busy.

“What happened yesterday?” Elie asked me and I explained that a Palestinian terrorist had entered a Jewish settlement and stabbed a nine year old boy five times.

“Is he ok?” Elie asked and I told him that the boy was very lucky, had even tried to fight the Arab off and yes, he would be alright. I also told him that close to him, Arabs had thrown stones on the highway, injuring three Israelis. Elie hadn’t heard about that. And another kassem rocket was fired at Sderot. Luckily, this time, no injuries.

I heard noise in the background; the other soldiers were relaxed and enjoying themselves. They were making jokes and teasing Elie, “tell them if they don’t stop, I won’t send anymore brownies,” I said as a joke.

I was surprised (and pleased) to hear Elie tell them and immediately, heard them laughing and begging in the background, “No, no, no.”

Ok,” I told Elie, “I’ll keep sending brownies.”

“She said, ‘ok‘,” he told his friends and I heard more laughter.

“This time, but it’s the last time,” I told Elie and again he repeated it to his friends and I heard more laughter.

There were many threats against Israel today. A child was stabbed yesterday; firebombs against buses and rocks against cars and rockets against our cities. Elie stands now, at this very moment, on a dark stretch of road between several Arab villages. It’s a sobering thought, even a bit of a scary thought, except that he’s armed, he’s trained, and most of all, he’s with friends.

2 Comments

  1. Hello I am a mom in the United States. My 19 year old son recently moved to Israel so that he could join the IDF. He has been in the IDF for a month now. I was excited to see your blog because I know no one in Israel and do seek support for myself. I speak to my son often; he is very happy to be doing what he is doing. If you know of any email penpals I could write to or know of any helpful websites please share them with me. I am at fawt616@comcast.net I will continue to read your blog; my best to your son.

  2. The soldiers will ALWAYS appreciate your food.

    When my brother in law was in his first year of the IDF, we bought pizza pies and drove into Hevron to hand deliver them. When he was at a nearby checkpoint, I drove pizza to him as well. His friends may have slightly laughed at my accent, but appreciated the food a thousand percent.

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