2025-03 Israel

Israel 23,

April 13, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday was a quiet day. I spent the morning getting caught up on my emails. I like to classify my emails every day or so or the total number becomes unwieldy. I owed a few friends a return email. I then went up on the terrace and studied Hebrew. Progress is slow as usual but I give myself credit for trying. It was too cool for swimming and the beach was virtually empty. The sky was blue with a little breeze, the perfect weather for walking around and visiting Tel Aviv. There are always new neighbourhoods to visit.

There are facebook websites called Sword of Iron and Volunteers for Israel where anyone who is a member can post things. There is a useful amount of information about what is going on in Israel. Often one can find places to volunteer for the day or for a week. A lady made a posting for volunteers who were looking for a seder to attend. All of my relatives here were either going away or were having a seder with their in-laws. I decided to accept the invitation and brought a box of Belgian chocolates. One of the volunteers staying at Maxim’s was also invited so we walked over together, a 10 minute walk.

The seder was fabulous. The lady was originally from Montreal and had been living in Israel for 40 years. She is a professional comedian and travels the country and the world giving performances in English, French and Hebrew, an incredible accomplishment. Her husband was an accountant from London. My friend was from Ottawa and has lived all over the world. There was another lady from Montreal who had a long career with the Canadian government. The last fellow had an NGO that helps new immigrants adapt to Israel, finding them jobs and apartments. All together it was a highly intelectual group. It is rare that I meet people who have travelled and even lived in as many or more countries as me. Except for one person, we were all on the better side of 68, a real group of genuine real live hippies from the 60s. You can imagine the conversation or maybe you can’t.

The seder was brief as planned, even shorter than our seder in Montreal. Boray Pree Hagoffen and the meal began. We started off the evening with an orange wine that resembled a dry port wine followed by main course of brisket, salmon and salad. For desert we had cheese cake. The wine and conversation flowed until after midnight although I had to leave at 10:30 as I had to get up at 5:30 for work. The lady’s husband did all the cooking, a first quality home cooked meal.

This morning after a 3 day break a was back to work with MDA in Ramat Gan. I had a new team that as usual was very competent. The driver was an experienced paramedic who had spent time in Gaza and Lebanon. He carried a pistol which is common for the driver. We go into many different areas of Tel Aviv, rich and poor and we are never sure what we can meet. Although I have never had an incident in 2 years, it is reassuring. Although I am well trained after my 3 days training with Krav Maga, in orderto disarm an assailant with a gun, knife or baton, I would rather not have to put my lack of experience to the test. The chief today on our mission had 8 years experience with MDA and had just finished his medical training as a physician. He is in the process of deciding what specialty that he will do. I tried to convince him to do urology. Rounding off the team was a young girl who is still training to be a paramedic. The chief let her do the initial history and physical exam of the patient. Afterwards he gave her a lot of teaching in the ambulance, reviewing the case.

Our 1st case was an elderly female in the last staged of breast cancer. The physicians had stopped active therapy and she was having palliative care. The paramedics discussed the case at length with the family to get an idea of what they wanted for their mother. In the end we decided to bring the lady to Tel Hashomer for further palliative care.

The 2nd case was an elderly man of Yemenite origin. In 1948 Israel brought 48,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel in an operation called Magic Carpet. These Jews had lived in Yemen for almost 2000 years. However the antisemitism had become untenable after the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948. 800,000 were forced to leave their homes in Arab countries from 1948 to 1950. They had been living in these countries for 1000 years and left in 2 years with no compensation and not a word from the UN. The man didn’t feel well and all of a sudden, without warning vomited ‘coffee grounds’ all over himself and the floor. Coffee grounds often means partially digested blood in the stomach indicative of internal bleeding. The family, consisting of 6 people didn’t bat an eye lash. They just cleaned it up as if nothing had happened. The floors in most Israeli apartments is made of tile for large plaques of marble 75×75 cm making clean up much more simple than had the floor been made of wooded lattes. We transported the patient to the hospital.

The 3rd case was an elderly man with shortness of breath. He had some crackling at the base of his lungs so we diagnosed that he had congestive heart failure. We gave him 40mg of a diuretic, furosamide and transported him to the hospital. On arrival at the hospital, he voided a large amount of urine and felt much better. His shortness of breath had disappeared and his colour was much improved.

The 4th case was an elderly man who apparently had bradycardia, a slow heart beat. When we arrived he had a high blood pressure but no indication of bradycardia. He was in no acute distress and was not short of breath or had chest pain. We spoke to his family MD who will treat him as an outpatient.

I am writing my blog in one of my usual haunts called Mikes Place. They serve comfort food and the place has big screen TVs on the wall. There is football everywhere. It resembles some of the bars that you find in American ski resorts. On certain nights there is live entertainment but not tonight. I just spilled my bear, missing my ipad and cell phone so the waiter kindly offered me a refill.

Love,

Brian

My hippy friends

MDA paramedics and Tel Aviv

Mike’s Place

2025-03 Israel

Israel 22,

April 12, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I went to Richon Letzion, where I met up with my cousin Richard and his friends for a run on the beach. We usually meet up at Golda’s, the famous ice cream shop chain and then come back there after the run for an ice cream or frozen yogurt and a cappuccino. This time we ran for 10 km which I have not done for some time. My usual run is for 5 to 7 km. running time was 1:20 which is not bad for a 75 year old man with white hair. I am scheduled to do the World Championship Triathlon for Canada in Australia in October in the sprint division. If I get ambitious later in the summer, maybe I will try to do an olympic distance triathlon. The weather was perfect for a run, 18C with a breeze that made running rather pleasant.

In the afternoon I did some shopping. I walked to Hostage Square which has not changed much since last year except the posters showed some wear and tear from having been out in the weather for a whole year. I think that it gives you the feeling of how the health of the hostages must be with wear and tear that their bodies have suffered having been in the tunnels for over 500 days. The hostages, when released show obvious signs of weight loss and malnutrition. The Palestinians in Gaza, who according to the media, are on the verge of a humanitarian crisis and starvation since day 1, still appear to be fat and well fed.

I purchased a ‘bring them home’ necklace and pendant for my American friend who had forgotten to get one as a volunteer. He lives in Michigan and I will mail it to him on my return to Montreal as promised. I then walked over to the Asrieli complex and mall. The 3 buildings are very impressive from the outside and probably house offices. The mall was nice but resembles many other malls that I have visited. I purchased 2 boxes of Leonidas Belgian chocolate. I will give one to my cousin Shari and I will bring one to tonight’s seder. I took the bus back to my hotel. I have an Israeli bus and train pass that you can reload with shekels. I have become quite adept at negotiating the bus, train and metro system in Tel Aviv.

Last evening I drove to Shari’s house near Beersheba. It takes 1:20 to drive there on good roads and an autoroute. With Waze, I have no trouble getting around anywhere in Israel. I wonder if the members of BDS still use Waze to get around as Waze is an Israeli company. They probably still use it as they want you to desist from using Israeli products but not themselves. Shari lives on a moshav. A moshav resembles a kibbutz except that the homes are owned by individuals and not the community as in a kibbutz. The major equipment is owned by the community but each individual is responsible for his own produce. We had Shabat dinner with her family and extended family. Shari’s school was devastated last year on Oct. 7 when she lost many friends, former students and students. She says that is very sad to see the empty chairs where her students used to sit. It is an ongoing reminder of what happened on Oct 7 and what the world is doing to forget about in their efforts to ‘Free Palestine’ leaving Hamas in charge again. A ceasefire only means that Israel ceases and Hamas reloads and fires.

I am sitting out on the rooftop terrace writing my blog. The view of the sea is as beautiful as always. Yesterday and today there is a strong wind with 2-3 foot breakers crashing on the beach. It was not warm enough for swimming yesterday but hopefully it will warm up later in the afternoon. There are whitecaps everywhere making me wish that I could go out sailing. While in Jaffa a few days ago, I visited the old port and spoke with a man who was sitting on an older Benateau First, 35 foot sailboat. He lives on his boat most of the time and has an apartment in Beersheba. He goes to Greece sometimes which is a 4 day crossing. My dream life perhaps in another life…

Love,

Brian

Hostage Square, Tel Aviv,

Asrieli Complex and Mall,

The view from the terrace of my hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv

2025-03 Israel

Israel 21,

April 10, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

I woke up to sunny skies but cool weather with a cool breeze. I am getting spoiled as 22C is somewhat chilly for swimming. I decided to do a museum today. I chose the Palmach museum. The Palmach was the precursor to the IDF which became organized when Israel became a state in 1948. I regrouped the Palmach, the original group, the Haganah, the Irgun and the Stern Gang. They did not get along as they had different views as to what Israel should look like.

The British were given the Palestine Mandate which was carved out of the Ottoman Empire which had been defeated in WW1. It was a difficult region to govern as the British had made 2 separate promesses to 2 separate peoples each of whom claimed the land. Eventually the British carved off Transjordan, changed the name to Jordon and gave it to a Hashemite king from Iraq. 80% of the population was Arab Palestinian and 20% Hashemite. This did not matter to the British who were only interested in an expedient solution. There was a lot of in fighting between the Arabs and the Jews. At the time only the Jews called themselves Palestinians. Golda Meir had a Palestinian passport. The Arabs revolted against the British and the revolt was put down in a violent manner. The Arabs did not want Jewish immigration so to please them, the British brought out a white paper limiting severely Jewish Immigration.

The Palmach was organized in 1941 to fight alongside the British against the Nazis. The Jewish Brigade was broken up after the war and was later reorganized into the Palmach. All of the above groups fought against the British to get them to leave Palestine. The Jews worked hard to bring clandestine ships to Palestine.Many were stopped and the Jews were brought to Cypress where they were interned for 3 years.

In 1947, the British were fed up with ruling the Palestine Mandate and gave the land back to the newly formed UN. The UN decided to split Cisjordan in two giving some land to the Jews and some land to the Arabs. The boundaries of the two newly formed areas was untenable. 85% or the land was Crown Land, 8% was owned by wealthy landlords in Damascus.

The question of the partage was put to a vote in the UN. The Arab countries voted against the decision. The vote went in favour of the Jews. The Arabs in the land began attacking the Jews to drive them out. The Jews had virtually no weapons except what they scrounged from the British. The British left the majority of the weapons with the Arabs. Ben Gurion declared the country as the State of Israel. 5 Arab countries attacks Israel including Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon. No one expected the Jewish state to survive. The war lasted almost 2 years. In the end, Israel gained more territory. 600,000 Arabs left and became refugees in the surrounding countries. Many left because they were afraid of what would happen to them in a Jewish state. The majority left because they were told by the Arab states to leave of their own accord and would be able to return when Israel was defeated. Israel won the war. The Arabs who stayed in Israel prospered and are now 20% of the Israeli population. Those that left were never absorbed into the neighboring Arab countries. They are still called refugees to this day, receiving 2 billion dollars a year from UNRWA.

Meanwhile, 800,000 Jewish were forced to leave Arab countries. Israel took them in as no other country wanted them. They received no compensation for the homes and business that they lost. Many lived in tents for 5 years until the new country was able to build homes for them. Israel doubled its population in 2 years. Israel is the only haven for Jewish people in the world. It must continue to exist. I am a Zionist, meaning that I believe that the Jewish people are a nation and as such have a right to a country. That country is Israel. If you remove the Negev which is desert and is really not livable, Greater Montreal is 10% larger that Israel!!

The Palmach Museum traces the history of the formation of the Palmach and the war which they fought against the 5 Arab countries. The Nakbah at the time referred to the fact that 5 Arab countries with well organized armies were not able to defeat a newly formed nation which had no central army. The was the catastrophe. Later, for the sake of propaganda the Nakbah, or catastrophe became to be used to illustrate the fate of the 600,000 Arabs to become refugees. There were 25 million refugees after WW2. All of these refugees either died, went back to their countries of origin, or were absorbed into the new countries where they were staying. Not so the Palestinian refugees. The Arab countries refused to absorb them and they are still called refugees to this day. The Gazans are the result of this forced migration and call themselves refugees. There are now 6 million Arabs who call themselves Palestinian refugees 80 years after a war. There is no other group in the world which has refugee status for 3 generations. There are 30,000 UNRWA workers in the Middle East with 16,000 in Gaza. Many of these people are Hamas and took part in the Oct. 7 massacre. It is about time that the gravy train stops.

In the afternoon I took a walk through Jaffa. This is the old part of Tel Aviv mostly inhabited by Arabs. Some of the area has been nicely renovated. There are endless streets with shops, restaurants and cafes. I walked along the old port eventually stopping for an ice cream at Golda’s. I am at my usual Thursday evening or Saturday haunt known as the laundromat. What fun.

Love,

Brian

The Palmach Museum

Jaffa

2025-03 Israel

Israel 20,

April 9, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

Good and hopefully wonderful news. The 4 month old baby that we treated 2 days ago has woken up with apparently no neurological deficits. It may however be some time until they see the long term outcome of the event. At the very least, we know that he is on the right track. In my mind, there is no question, the chief paramedic on our team who by his quick action, under difficult circumstances, saved the life of the child. Kol Hakavod. Way to go!

The news from around the world is getting worse and worse. Trumps tariffs, which have not been thought through by anyone who understands world economics, is wreaking havoc on the stock market in the USA, Canada, the EU and Europe. Now, even his billionaire henchmen who surround him, and lavish praise on him are having second thoughts as their portfolios decrease by the billions. No European country will ever trust the USA again. The good will that has taken 80 years to build since WW2, has been destroyed in one fell swoop, by one powerful man. Trump is 99% wrong in all his policies but may be 1% correct in his Middle East policies. He has announced that he will have direct talks with Iran in 3 days on Saturday about Iran’s nuclear policy. Iran has announced that the talks, which will take place in Oman, will be indirect through mediators. Has Trump misspoken and will he back down? I doubt it as it would cause him to lose face which he is not like him even if he is wrong. Here in Israel we are watching, this holding our breaths, with caution and hoping for the best outcome. One way or another, Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons.

Last evening I went to Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv for dinner with a friend who I met at Sar-el. We had dinner in a beach restaurant overlooking the beach. I ate a fish called mullet which I have only eaten once before here in Tel Aviv. It was delicious.

We had a quiet day with MDA today. The 1st case was a lady who called the ambulance because she had an anxiety attack. The paramedics spoke with her for 1 hour. When it came time for her to come with us in the ambulance to the hospital, she went into her kitchen and brought out a pot of soup that she insisted in bringing with her in the ambulance and to the hospital. This is absolutely not forbidden. A neighbour came over to try to convince her that she could not take the soup with her. In the end, we were forced to leave the lady and her soup behind at curb side.

The 2nd case was an 18 year old girl that had an episode of tonic, clonic epilepsy. This was her first episode and the parents were obviously very frightened. The epileptic fit had finished by the time we got there and had only lasted a few minutes. Her VS were normal as was the EKG. She had not fever. We brought her to the hospital for a full neurological exam, blood work and a CT scan.

The 3rd case was an elderly Russian patient who didn’t feel well. She only spoke a few word of Hebrew. The paramedics did the best they could to get a proper history from her with signs and gestures. They are very patient with patients in these cases. There were changes on her EKG with no discernible chest pain. We took her to Tel Hashomer for further evaluation including blood work, serial EKGs and tropes.

The 4th case concerned a 30 year old female patient who was crying, yelling and had broken a glass in the stairwell. On further questioning which took some time, we were able to conclude that the entire family including the husband, the mother and the father were partners in a totally dysfunctional family. There may have been a court order that a judge had ordered house arrest for the husband and that the wife, who was the patient, had to stay and look after him. Go figure. The police were called for back up but they did not interfere with us. Eventually, after much discussion, the woman came with us to the hospital for stabilization. I was able to talk to the policemen who were motorcycle cops. We got to talking about motorcycles and they were quite impressed that I own a 1973 Triumph 750cc Tiger.

Over the last few days, I have really seen a cross section of Tel Aviv society. If you walk on the beach in Tel Aviv, you falsely may get the impression that everyone is tall, beautiful and in good shape. Once you leave the beach however, you can be surprised with what you see. Some people are overweight. Many of the apartments are somewhat run down. Some apartments are beautiful from the outside and in the lobbies , but the individual apartments are not well kept at all. There is a large immigrant population with different ideas of cleanliness and neatness than our own. Of course, that is what makes a society.

Love,

Brian

Bat Yam Beach

An older and poorer area of Tel Aviv

The fruit and vegetable stores are always good

Motorcycle cops with their permission to publish. Who is the little guy in the middle with white hair?

2025-03 2025

Israel 17,

April 6, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

Today was my first day with MDA, Magan David Adom, Israeli civic ambulance service. We do not go to a war zone. Military ambulances take care of war casualties. I was posted at the MDA base in Raman Gan about 30 minutes from Tel Aviv. I was not posted there last year. I was introduced to my 3 paramedics. One was an experienced driver, 1 girl was 19 years old and in training and 1 was 28 years old and has done ambulance service with the army. I was up at 5:30 and had a quick breakfast as the hotel had generous supplied me with a breakfast and lunch to go. With Waze I had no trouble getting to the ambulance base. I have to be at the base at 6:30 to check the medications on the ambulance. They let me check all the medications and although every was written in Hebrew, I was able to make out ok.

Our 1st call was rather simple. A 16 year old girl with tachycardia probably due to stress. We went through the usual routine of a history and physical exam. The patient was not in acute distress. We brought her to the hospital for monitoring and further treatment if necessary.

The 2nd patient was an 84 year old lady with COPD, asthma and diabetes. She was on oxygen chronically. We took a history and physical, started an IV, EKG, blood sugar, temperature, blood pressure, blood oxygen level, pulse, resperation. Her temp was 39 C so she probably had a pneumonia with an exacerbation of asthma and COPD. She was wheezing. We gave her Oxygen, placed her on an ambulance chair and carried her down 3 flights of stairs to our ambulance and brought her to the hospital.

The 3rd patient was a 45 year old patient, overweight who had fallen down the stairs. She was sitting, leaning against the wall in severe pain. She had an open fracture of the lower tibia and fibula, bleeding with her left angulated at 70 degrees.

We started an IV and gave her fentanyl for the pain. She calmed down in a few minutes. We were then able to straighten out the leg and splint the fractured leg to the good leg. We covered the fracture with a bandage. We lifted her onto a sling and then placed her onto a stretcher. Present was a BLS ambulance (basic life support) with 3 paramedics and a ACLS ambulance (advanced cardiac life support) with 3 paramedics and me. It took 6 of us to carry her down 3 flights of a narrow staircase to get her into our ambulance. Then, with sirens blazing, we rushed her to the hospital. The treatment on arrival at the hospital was instantaneous.

I have nothing but good words and praise for the paramedics. They are calm and very kind to the patient and family. They are extremely well trained. They follow protocols which make them efficient and effective. No one ever gets excited. They always know exactly what to do to help the patient. Israel is very well served by the paramedics of MDA.

The 2nd patient was accompanied by her daughter who rode in the ambulance with us. She comes from New Jersey and is in Israel for 3 months to visit with her mother who was the patient. She bought her husband with her to Israel. He was in a wheelchair as he had a traumatic brain injury 12 years ago when, as a pedestrian, was hit by a car. He had 7 brain operations and has obvious deficits. I don’t know how she has the courage to face the day when she wakes up in the morning.

After my cases, I bought a pair of Nike running shoes to replace the shoes that I destroyed on the IDF base. MDA requires closed shoes so my sandals were not acceptable. Great, I needed a new pair of running shoes anyway. My old pair at home are 10 years old. Boy, have running shoes changed in 10 years. These new shoes bounce when I run. Maybe it will help me win more triathlon races. I can’t wait to try them out when I run this week.

Love,

Brian

2025-03 2025

Israel 16,

April 5, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

Today was a great day as usual. I woke up reasonably early, wrote my blog on my feelings of the events in Canada, went down to the beach and let my mind wander to pleasant thoughts. It was 21 C with a cool breeze. The beach had its usual amount of people but very few people in the water. It reminds me of what I have heard about Florida in December. The Florida natives are dressed up warmly and the Canadians are in their bathing suits and swimming. Only a small part of the beach was open for swimming, the rest was black flagged.

After lathering up with suntan oil, I lay in the sun on a rented lounge chair until I was warm enough to go into the water. I swam out to the breakwater as usual but I was the only swimmer out there. There were small waves today but there was a strong current blowing in a northerly direction. Although I had no trouble swimming to shore, I found myself blown 200 meters further up the beach onto the black flagged beach. The life guards didn’t whistle or say anything to me. I guess that they are used to me swimming out to the breakwater. I warmed up by taking a long walk on the beach and had my usual Magnum ice cream for lunch.

In the evening I went for dinner at my cousin Rochelle’s place. They bought a new apartment with 3 bedrooms and their own private safe room in the apartment itself. The safe room is reinforced with thick concrete. After a long talk to get us up to date with family news, one of her daughters took me for a long walk to see the neighbourhood called Peta Tikva. The Israel architecture is amazing. The taller build are no more than 8-12 stories high. Each apartment is different although most are built with the same stone. Each apartment faces in a different direction. There are many parks filled with young people playing soccer and basketball. I was very impressed.

Love,

Brian

my Krav Maga team

2025-03 Israel

Israel 15,

April 5, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

‘When this hole world starts getting me down, And people are just too much for me to face, I climb way up to the top of the stairs, And all my cares just drift right into space, On the roof,its peaceful as can be, And there the world can’t bother me.’

It’s Saturday morning, cool, sunny with blue skies and 18C. I am up on the terrace at my hotel over looking the beach. The sailboats are out but people are waiting for it to warm up before venturing into the water. The view here is sublime. I just had breakfast with 3 ladies from the States, Australia and Canada. I meet people from everywhere here. The words of the above song unfortunately ring clear to me today. The news from Canada is awful. At McGill, my alma mater and where I have a teaching position as Clinical Lecturer, the pro-Palestinian hoodlums are striking against classes for 3 days. They occupied buildings, broke windows and prevented legitimate students from attending classes. The police were called, made no arrests and didn’t use tear gas. Are the tariffs imposed on tear gas too high so there is a lack of it in Canada. Are the police still serving cappuchinos to the demonstrators? Can you still spit on a police man with impunity, an event that occurred in Toronto last year? Canada is the only country in the world where you can spit on a police man and be arrested. In every other country such as France, the USA or Saudi Arabia, you would be beaten into the ground so badly that there would be nothing left to arrest. I don’t recognize McGill anymore. In Toronto the demonstrators occupied Union Station and stopped transportation. Once again where are the police? Have they not heard of tear gas? Do they no longer use tasers to control violent protesters? You don’t have to taser a lot of them. Taser one and the other cowards will run away. These people are not French demonstrators from the 60s who knew how to dig up paving stones on the street and throw them at the cops. They are pro-Palestinians who are afraid of a good fight. If they really were tough and wanted to support the Palestinians, they would be in Gaza fighting

I blame the former Prime Minister, the mayor of Toronto, the mayor of Montreal and the Dean of McGill for letting this happen. This ‘protest’ should have been nipped in the bud 1 year ago when it first started. Instead it was allowed to occur resulting in an escalation in which saying ‘death to the Jews’ is a common occurrence and is no longer considered to be racist. Throwing paint or fire bombs at so called Jewish institutions is now considered to be one’s natural right to self expression. Is a bakery that sells bagel owned by citizens of Greek ancestry now considered to be a ‘Jewish Institution’ that must be stamped out. Last year I received a letter from the Dean of McGill saying that protest is a healthy reaction by students in a university setting. I warned him in a personal letter that of course was not answered, that violence will occur if nothing is done. Are they waiting for someone to be beaten up or killed for them to do something? Or will the reaction be ‘oh my, tut tut’. I received another letter from the same Dean on Holocaust Memorial Day saying that is a day of remembrance for the people that were killed in the Holocaust. So, to fight this racism, McGill has set up a committee to fight racism called the Committee to Fight Islamophobia and Antisemitism. Excuse me!! What does Islamophobia have to do with Holocaust Memorial day? Except for a few isolated incidents, where is there Islamophobia in Canada today? Islamophobia and Holocaust Memorial Day should not even be mentioned in the same sentence. As for the committee, why is Islamophobia and Antisemitism given equal footing in the name of the Committee. Islamophobia is obviously more important at McGill than Antisemitism or else the 2 words should have been placed in alphabetical order!!

Yesterday morning I met up with my cousin Richard and 3 of his friends in Richon le Tzion for a run on the beach. I told Richard that he could run at his pace and that I would catch up with him on his run back. He is a real gentleman and elected to run with me at my pace. We ran for 7.35 km which took about 1 hour. Of the 3 disciplines in a triathlon, running is my weakest. However, I can do 10 km if I pace myself. We ran on the beach without shoes mostly on the hard packed sand. There were some patches of shells on the beach so you had to be a little careful. Afterwards, we met up with his 3 friends at Golda’s where he treated me to an ice cream and a cappuccino. The portions of ice cream that they give you in a medium cup are enormous and delicious. I didn’t eat for the rest of the day. I hope that they invite me next week. Richard and I might do a long distance swim.

In the afternoon, I went out to the beach. After a hard week’s work on the IDF base topped off with Krav Maga, I think that I deserve a little R and R. As usual I swam out to the breakwater. There were big waves so I did some body surfing later in the afternoon. In the early evening I was back at my usual haunt, the laundromat, to do my weekly laundry. I am now quite good with the machines, knowing how to purchase soap with a coin, pay for the right machine with a credit card as they are numbered and starting the machine by pushing the start button. I even helped a newbie to get started with her machine.

Love,

Brian

My running team

My terrace and the view of the beach from the terrace

Never forget, Never forgive, Never again

2025-03 Israel

Israel 14,

April 3, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

We did a major cleanup last evening as it was our last night at the base. The planes were out all night and we could hear the bombing and shelling in Gaza. Hamas once again gave there nonsensical terms that they would give back some of the hostages if the Israelis withdraw completely, if they continue to remain in power and if some country rebuilds Gaza for them. They don’t seem to learn or even try to remember that it was they who started the war in the first place. 5000 Hamas came across the border, attacked a peaceful kibbutz as well as young people dancing at a music festival. They killed 1200 Israelis, wounded 2500, took 251 hostages and raped many women. Do they really believe that after 500 days that they can now go back to square one with no consequences? What other country in the world would accept this nonsense?

We were up early this morning for breakfast as we were taking the bus to Natanya for our Krav Maga session with the Grand Master. He is a heavy set 65 year old man who really knows his stuff. It is amazing how fast he can move if attacked from any angle. He emphasized how important it is to know one’s surroundings. A woman walking alone, carrying a purse, walking and talking at the same time on her cell phone is an easy target even if there are people around. Always be aware and constantly look around. In Krav Maga, speed is more important than strength. A small person reacting quickly can overcome a bigger, untrained assailant. A terrorist is a different story as he is often well trained to kill.

The Master would pick out one of us to demonstrate his craft. In practice you are supposed to pull your punches but it is not hard to accumulate a few bruises. Once he finished his demonstration, we would split up into pairs or groups of 3 to practice the movements. First we would do the movement in slow motion, gradually picking up speed both with the attack and with the defence. I think that we all learned quite a few defensive moves. Several of us said that they would try to continue practicing with a Krav Maga school on their return to their home country. There are half a dozen schools in Montreal, though not as many as karate or tae kwondo schools. I may or may not decide to continue in Montreal.

The class lasted a whole day at the Wingate Academy. We took the bus back to Tel Aviv and I checked into my usual Maxim Hotel. I then took the bus and train to the airport to get my car rental. I went out to eat at a great seafood restaurant with my friend from Grand Rapids Michigan.

Love,

Brian

Our shelter on the base. We have 45 seconds to get there

Brian

Modern Tel Aviv

Wingate Academy for the study of the science of athletics.

Dizengoff square (which is a circle) with pictures of the hostages and victims of Oct. 7

A great Tel Aviv restaurant

2025-03 Israel

Israel 11,

Mar. 31, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

We were up early this morning and had a change of pace. After breakfast and flag raising, our mahidrot asked for volunteers to paint. My hand and 2 other fellows hands shot up and all of a sudden I was a professional painter. We were driven off to a new place on base with several flat bed trailers which were in serious need of a paint job. We split into 2 groups, the red paint group and the yellow paint group. One fellow was in charge of scraping and dusting first. The red paint was very thick and specially made to go over rust and partially peeling paint. We worked for 2 hours, had a short coffee break and continued on to lunch. I tried to be careful about getting paint on myself. 1 of the fellows was less careful and spent some time at the wash basin with turpentine.

After lunch we had our Krav Maga session outside on the grass with a new instructor. We went over a few of the moves that we had learned from our previous session. We are now proficient at slow motion attack from behind, attack from the front or side with a head lock. All of the methods involve several quick moves to neutralize the attacker followed by punches, kicks and knee moves to disable the attacker. The fight is over in 5 seconds. Our instructor explained the 4 levels of defence, 1) don’t get into a situation where you will be compromised, 2) run away, 3) try to talk your way out including give him your money, 4) fight and in the situation there is no second chance. You must do what I described above.

The second part of the course was what to do if you are attacked by someone with a baseball bat or equivalent, a chain on another dangerous object. The natural defence is to back off. The real defence is to move in as close as possible to the attacker rendering his weapon useless. After that when you are as close as possible, you neutralize the attacker followed by quick blows to sensitive parts of his body and then recuperate his weapon and finish the job. For me personally, at my age, size and hair colour, I will try to stick to the first 3 levels of defence.

After the course, I waited an hour or two until it cooled off a little and then ran 6 km with one of my buddies. There was a slight breeze that made running more agreeable.

After supper we had a course on water supply in Israel. Israel is situated on a small piece of land, mostly desert and has a population of 9 million people. Some of the industry also requires a great deal of water. Israel has been at the forefront of water conservation. Some of the water comes from Sea of Galilee, some comes from the Jordon River. Unfortunately, the water from these 2 sources is 4% of what it used to be. There are some underground sources but Israel tries to preserve as much of this as possible. A large part of the water comes from 5 desalination plants which take water from the Mediterranean. 87% of water is recycled. These 2 sources are not used for drinking water. Israelis are also very careful of not wasting water such as not letting water just run when you are brushing your teeth.

One thing that the Israelis have not been up to par on is recycling. Right now they have other more important problems to deal with. Also most of the immigrants that Israel receives now come from countries that have no clue about recycling so the government must start from zero.

Tonight we are sitting outside on benches enjoying the night air. The conversation is varied as we come from many different backgrounds. Israel is once again on the offensive in order to get the hostages back. In the background we can hear the boom boom from bombing and shelling in Gaza.

Love,

Brian

2025-03 Israel

Israel 10,

Mar. 30, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

We were up early for breakfast and took the prearranged van to the airport where all the Sar-El volunteers meet. The Sar-El organizers register each one of us individually and then send us off to our respective groups. There are about 6 groups of varying sizes that break off and go to their respective army bases. Our group is the same as last week as we are all taking the Krav Maga course. I am happy about this as we are a very cohesive group and everyone is fun to be with. We were introduced to our new madrihot who seems to be very nice. I purchased a new dog tag as a spare in case I loose the one that I have.

We took the bus to our IDF base which is 1.5 hours away. I slept most of the way as I was up late last night writing my blog and I was tired. It is great to be back at the same base. It is just like a home coming. I am in the same room as last time with the same 3 guys. We had a quick briefing of our days chores and then sat down for lunch. After lunch they asked for 4 volunteers for kitchen duty. I volunteered and the rest of the volunteers went off to a warehouse to continue unpacking, sorting and repacking uniforms in the duffel bags.

We met back at the main barracks at 4:00. Although it was 30C with a hot sun and a minimal breeze, I changed into my shorts, a tee-shirt and sandals and ran 6.5 km. We had a general meeting before supper to present ourselves to the new madrihot.

Below, you will see some pictures of my week at the base. You will also see my new boots.

Love,

Brian