Israel 25,

April 7, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

I don’t have much to report today and this might be true for the rest of the week. We left Tel Aviv and were driven to Matztrap Base where I have been twice before. We were once again split up into groups and I will be working with Israel who is a very polite leader. After receiving our uniforms, I worked on preparing the medical back packs that will be used on the front. It is somewhat tedious but obviously very important work and much appreciated by the staff. We are 40 volunteers, some newbies and some veterans who I have worked with in the past.

Love,

Brian

Israel 24,

April 6, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

Today I woke up to sunny skies, 25C with a mild breeze. I wandered over to the marina to watch the boats go out. There were 12 to 15 knots and it looked like a great day to sail. There were about 15 dinghies out racing and a few keel boats. As usual, like everywhere, there are more boats in the harbour than out sailing. It is the same here in Israel, in Canada and in France. I spoke to the manager who gave me a fellow to call to see if I could race on someone’s boat.

When the war started, I made several applications to volunteer to serve in Israel. I sent a letter to the Minister of Health to work as a physician but there were too many applicants. The kibbutzim don’t take anyone over 35 except as a day labourer. I applied to MDA, the civil ambulance service but I was 131 on the list in Canada alone. I finally was accepted to work on a military base as an unskilled labourer doing various tasks. I have 1 more week to complete my contract with them.

Last week, I received an acceptance letter to work on an ambulance as a physician-ambulance technician. Finally I will get to do something in my field. I could not refuse. Next Sunday on my return from the army base I will go to Jerusalem for some basic training. I will then be placed on an ambulance in Tel Aviv. I changed my flight back to Montreal as I will be with MDA for 4 weeks. It will be shift work with certain days off. I am very excited to do this type of work. I have ACLS training as a ski patroller. I will exchange my IDF uniform for an ambulance tech uniform. Wow.

This evening I did something that I have never done before. I attended a mass demonstration. Every Saturday evening in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem crowds gather to protest against BiBi. It is hard for me to estimate the size, but there were people as far as the eye could see. 50.000? 100,000 ? I don’t know. The crowd was very peaceful but very animated. There was only a hand full of police present as there is never any violence. Many people had Israeli flags and posters. They sang Hatikvah at the beginning. It was very moving. There were several speeches from a large platform that had been set up for the occasion. This is a weekly event. There were several large screens in various areas so that everyone could see. They also showed the demonstration in Jerusalem. People were chanting, singing, applauding and booing every time BiBi’s name was mentioned. It was like Purim with the graggers. The general theme was ‘elections now’!

As usual I am writing my blog in a restaurant on the beach, sipping a beer and watching the waves come in.

Love,

Brian

Israel 23,

April 5, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

After our mountain tour with the army, we were allowed 2 hours leave to walk around Eilat before returning to the base. The gate is closed and locked and you need permission to enter and leave the base especially in war time. After last night’s attack, they take no chances. Eilat has changed a lot since I came here in 1971 as well as 8 years ago. My memory of Eilat is a sleepy little village with no restaurants or cafes. I can’t remember if there were even hotels here. There was a youth hostel but I slept on the beach on and off for 3 months. I must have hitch hiked here from Tel Aviv at least half a dozen times. Hitch hiking and sleeping out in Israel and for most of Europe was tolerated and safe.

The beach is lined with 10 to 20 story luxury 5* hotels. There is a nice outdoor promenade here where you can buy the usual beach articles. The water is cool and refreshing so several of us went for an evening swim. I had my goggles so I was able to dive for some red rocks in 8 feet of water. Along the water are numerous cafes and restaurants. We split up into 2 groups, those who wanted to eat and drink and those who simply wanted to wander around. I chose the former group for my first falafel in Israel. The taste did not disappoint me.

Yesterday we boarded the bus and drove through the desert to Tel Aviv. It was boiling hot, at least in the high 30sC. I wandered around Tel Aviv in the afternoon and took a nice swim out to the breakwater. At supper all the other groups were anxious to hear about the attack in Eilat. Personally, I was not at all worried about our safety during the attack, as I felt that we were well protected in the shelter. The Army, Navy and Air Force were there to protect us and I felt that we were in good hands. Some of the others were less reassured than I was and In Tel Aviv, some of the other members of the group were very concerned for our safety.

Last evening I went out to eat with my French friends from Cassis. We sat out at a beach restaurant and enjoyed each other’s company while listening to the waves flap onto the beach. I must make a stop in Cassis on my next visit to France. Today, I slept in and then spent some time catching up on emails, reviewing my flight and doing my weekly washing. I try to swim or run everyday as I will be doing the World Championship Triathlon on the Canadian National Team, Age group 75-79, in Malaga in October. After all this manual labor at the bases, I think that I am in relatively good shape.

Love,

Brian

At the same time in Montreal……

Israel 22,

April 3, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

We woke up this morning to blue skies, sun and of course a warm temperature which would gradually increase over the day. After breakfast we were given our tasks for the day: cutting mangos, cutting tomatoes and washing the floor…. Afterwards we set the tables in the officers dining room with blue table clothes, dishes and cutlery. This took us most of the morning and early afternoon.

Our commanders told us to get ready at 4:30 for a special surprise. We met in front of the commissary office and walked over to the port. We were then given a tour of a PT boat. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed. 2 SUVs then picked us up and drove us through the desert, up and down some rocky hills until we got to a designated place. We then hiked up a few hundred meters to the top of a small mountain where we had a view of Eilat, the Red Sea and Jordan in the distance. The soldiers had prepared a picnic for us with watermelon, cookies, coffee and juices. The view was spectacular. We were then presented with our IDF certificates, tie pins and a framed picture of the whole group. Each of us was presented with our award separately, photos taken, cheers from the group and a heart warming thank-you to each of us by the commander. The IDF really appreciates the small contribution that each of us made by coming here and helping Israel.

3 of the guys had to leave early to catch an early morning plane back to the States for a wedding. They had told us that they were going into Eilat to purchase a few supplies such as can openers and knife sharpeners. We learned later, quietly, after they had left, that they had purchased 50,000 shekels ($18,000 American) of necessary items including cappuccino machines, piazza ovens, ice cream machines etc…What a nice gesture on their behalf.

Yesterday the Iranian Embassy in Syria was attacked and destroyed killing several high level Iranian commanders. The UN security will meet to condemn the attack as expected. The Israelis have not confirmed of denied the attack which is their usual position. Iran has said that they will retaliate in due time. The CIA has indicated to Israel that the attack will occur in 48 hours. An attack if it does occur with come via 1 of their proxies such as Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad. Let them come, we are ready for them.

Tomorrow we board the bus for the 4 hour journey through the desert.

Love,

Brian

Israel 21b

April 2, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

Eilat, boys night out and navy base bar-b-q.

Love,

Brian

Israel 21,

April 2, 2024

Hi Everyone,

After my last blog yesterday describing the drone attack, several of you kindly sent notes asking if I am ok and telling me to be safe. Yes, I am safe. As I am continuing to write my blog, I am still alive, in 1 piece and a have not been captured by the ‘evil forces’.

Yesterday was a completely new experience for most of us. We have 400 to 500 soldiers and sailors on the base. There are several ships in the port. We can see the mountains of Jordan in the distance as well as the city of Aqaba Jordon. The border lies somewhere in the middle of the gulf of Aqaba. In the distance we can see Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The sun rises in the morning over the Jordanian mountains which are a reddish colour. The gulf is 4-5 km across, a good swim and an arrest by the authorities if you dare to try.

Our job at the base is to provide the food for the IDF men and women. This means kitchen work of all types. There are 12 of us, all men from the States, Canada, Holland and France. They split us into small groups to perform our tasks. Very little training is involved but the chef wants perfection and occasionally corrects us if we make small errors. The chief chef is a great fellow. He is married, has 2 children and lives in a house off the base. He was in high tech before but did not like the job. He always wanted to be a chef so he studied and got this job. He explained to us that much of the young kitchen staff come from troubled backgrounds. Some had trouble adapting to regular army life. He takes them under his wing and teaches them kitchen work giving them some pride in themselves and their work. I think that they will turn out better with his coaching and his personalized care. It is not everyone who can do this.

Soldiers often ask us where we are from. They are all appreciative of the work that we do for Israel. 300,000 reservists were called up to help the regular army. This leaves the country with 300,000 less hands to do the regular army and civilian work. 100,000 Palestinians came from Gaza and the West Bank everyday to work in Israel. Since the war started, the border is closed. There is no construction going on. There is a major problem with food production, picking and planting fruit and vegetables. There are no tourists except the volunteer workers. The economy is going to be really in trouble. On the weekend there are over 100,000 Israeli demonstrators in a central plaza in Tel Aviv demanding the resignation of Bi-Bi and the immediate return of the hostages under any condition. I don’t know what will happen. I support Israel and continue doing my small job to help. `

Yesterday, I placed veal steaks on a platter and then dipped them in bread crumbs. We were 3 for this work, 1 dipped the steaks in oil and the other 2 dipped them in bread crumbs before placing them on a platter. This is rather specialized work and so each of us had a designated job. Not necessarily in order, we took the stems off tomatoes, put cucumbers into the cutting machine, sliced beets, cut oranges in small pieces, placed cinnamon buns on platters interspaced with croissants, dipped chicken legs in oil, prepared steaks with garlic, put carrots in the carrot cutting machine, opened fish packages and placed them on a platter…. Other tasks consisted of mixing the vegetables in a sauce to be poured onto the fish, mixing spaghetti with a long spatula, mixing and mashing potatoes…. I could go on but it might boring to describe everything.

Last evening we were invited down to the dock to see the ships. There are 2 or 3 PT boats, 1 destroyer and a bigger boat that might be a frigate. The destroyer put out to sea, led by a smaller PT or tug boat. A small Jordanian boat of the same size came out to the border line to patrol. There is no trouble between the 2 countries in spite of the war now. The enemy was probably trying to hit our ships with their drone but missed and hit a building 50 meters away and 100 meters from where we had taken shelter in the bomb shelter. We saw the hit on Twitter. We think that the drone came from Iraq or the Houthis.

After this we were given permission to go into Eilat, accompanied by our commanders. We were like a bunch of kids at summer camp that were getting an evening off. We walked into town, 20 minutes away, and picked out a nice restaurant overlooking the sea. We ordered refreshments and enjoyed the cool air while taking in the view of the Red Sea. A few of us took off our shoes and got our feet wet.

This morning we had flag raising with all the soldiers on the base. We all stood at attention, and then did ‘attention, at ease’, when ordered to do so. We then all saluted the flag at flag raising while singing Hatikvah. It is a moving, sad and uplifting experience all at the same time. Everyone knows in his/her heart why he/ she is here. Tonight we have a bar-b-q with the soldiers. We will eat the fish, steaks and vegetables that we prepared today.

Love,

Brian

Photos to come

Israel 20b

April 1, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

Robert thinks that I am talented and will give me lessons. I have 3 days to learn!

Love,

Brian

Israel 20,

April 1, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

The 5 other guys in my room were in bed sleeping by 9:30-10:00 pm. I stayed up to 12:15 watching an Argentinian movie. I must have fallen asleep at 12:45. The war came home to us at 1:22 am. The sirens went off waking all of us up. We have 30 seconds to get to the bomb shelter. Dressed only in my underwear I made it in 28. Some of the veterans knew to grab some clothes. The shelter is 10 m from my door. It looks like a sewer pipe 20 feet long, 5’10” in diameter and about 8-10 inches of thick concrete.

There were about 30 of us crammed together. The volunteers were mixed in with the non combatant soldiers, male and female. The soldiers with weapons ran to their designated posts. 2 min later there was a loud boom. Our planes flew over head for the next half hour. Everyone was calm. The people with cell phones went right to X (twitter) where we learned that the naval base had been hit with a drone. There was a hole in the building, but not do too much damage. We had visited that warehouse earlier in the day. The drone hit 100 m from where we were hiding in the bomb shelter. One of the American fellows travels around with a harp (about 4 feet high). He thought to bring it with him to the shelter. We heard the background noise of the fighting, air planes and I think the iron dome defence. He played the harp, singing Hebrew songs like Aveno Malkainew. It was surreal.

It is hard to get comfortable in the shelter which is concrete with round walls. Next time I will grab some clothes and a pillow. We were in the shelter for 1 hour. Time passed quickly. People had already posted the battle on Twitter. You can see the boom as we were hit and you can see the iron dome taking out some drones and rockets. It is amazing to see some of the mean comments made by people in the States and Europe, like we really deserved what we were getting.

I was back in bed by 3:00 am and slept until 6:30. We had a meeting in the morning with a commander who told us not to take any pictures. I am only repeating what is already posted on Twitter. Hit Twitter, Eilat, drone attack to see the videos.

I am safe.

Love,

Brian

Israel 19,

March 31, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

We said good-bye to our ‘older’ new found friends and made a new group of friends going off to a new base. I chose this time to go to the naval base in Eilat. It was a 4 hour drive through the desert that is very arid with no sand dunes. There were occasional oasis’ to break up the scenery and far off mountain ranges.

53 years ago I spent 3 months in Israel, 2 months on a kibbutz and 1 month exploring Israel and sleeping out on various beaches. I hitch hiked back and forth from Tel Aviv several times. In those days, hitch hiking was easy and safe. Often I would hitch hike with a girl which made it rather easy as a couple is less aggressive looking to a driver. When I came here in 1971, there was nothing. There was 1 small youth hostel, 1 cafe and no place to buy a beer. There were no hotels or restaurants and very few inhabitants. The 2 lane semi paved road has been replaced by a 2 or 4 lane very well maintained road. There are large apartment buildings and hotels as Eilat is now a medium size city.

We arrived at the base after 2 pit stops along the way. We were greeted by the soldier in charge who showed us around the base. We went down to the naval port and saw the ships in the harbour. We will probably be invited for a tour of the ships later this week. We could see Jordan across the Gulf of Accaba. The border runs in the middle of the gulf. Here, they are very strict about taking photos. We are absolutely not allowed to take photos of soldiers or ships. We were given our uniforms and were allowed to take pictures of each other and the water. The accommodations are so-so, 6 in a room with bunk beds, smallish, but with air conditioning. It is 35C outside, and hotter in the sun. We have not yet been given our duties.

Love,

Brian

Israel 18,

March 30, 2024

Hi Everyone,

I told myself that I would write everyday so this day should be no different. After breakfast, I went up on the terrace overlooking the sea and studied some Hebrew. At 74 years of age, I am making very slow progress.

I then headed down to the beach as I needed at least 1 day of total relaxation after the ‘hard work’ at the military base. I rented a beach chair and had an ice cream cone for lunch. The water was rough with nice size waves do I did some body surfing. Swimming out to the breakwater was out of the question. I am off to a naval base in Eilat early tomorrow morning.

Love,

Brian

There is Israeli dancing every Saturday on the beach with music for everyone.