Hamas War

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Stunned in Jerusalem

Operation Cast Lead, aka The Election Campaign War, isn't directly in Jerusalem. I was among the stunned pedestrians downtown on King George Street when a strange siren filled the air.

While I continued chatting with the "goyisherebbitzen," I pulled out my camera and put it on video mode to film the inaction, and I mentally calculated which nearby buildings may possibly have shelters.

There was total calm, and you could see most people glancing around for signals from others who may know better, what action was best to take. One hysterical person could have tipped it, but if anyone in Jerusalem was hysterical it wasn't at the bus stop by the Bell Tower. The lines to the bus grew, and the smooching couple paid attention only to each other. Shoppers slowed down for a bit and then went on with their errands.

Why should a siren throw us into panic? Downtown Jerusalem, especially King George Street, has suffered more than its share of Arab terrorist attacks.

In the end, it was treated like some sort of "practice" or false alarm, which it was.

Baruch Hashem, Thank G-d!

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