I opened my computer to write this diary entry, and what I found was a letter I’d written along with my husband to our grandson. Turns out, the package he was going to get had to be very, very tiny because all the soldiers in his unit are getting packages and they can’t bring it in a huge truck. So after his Dad sent him socks and underwear, and his Mom put in cookies, all that was left for us was room for a letter.

What can grandparents say to a grandson who has been dismantling bombs in Gazan terror tunnels for a month?

We expressed our immeasurable pride and thanks for allowing us to have a country.

We tried to put into words how much we love him, and how much we want him to come home safe to all of us.

We promised him a grand Thanksgiving Day dinner (my tradition ever since coming to Israel) where the whole family will meet, and eat, and laugh and tell stories. And hug him over, and over, and over.

Being immersed in the news all day, every day, one’s mind somehow focuses on certain things, and passes over others.

What stuck with me today was once again an “apology” by the BBC who had outrageously broadcast that “medical teams and Arab [sic] speakers were being targeted” in the Israeli army’s raid on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital. “ Actually, the BBC corrected itself, the report should have said “IDF forces [participating in the raid] included medical teams and Arabic speakers.”

Are you kidding me? The use of the publicly -funded British Broadcasting Authority for anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda during this latest round of fighting is inexcusable. In general, I look at the once great British people and the land of Great Britain and think about how they were once in a very similar position to Israel, targeted by a genocidal maniac who threatened them with total destruction unless they gave into tyranny. Their response was magnificent, just as Israel’s response to the terror attack that killed the equivalent of 200,000 people in American terms has been magnificent. The country that once stood alone in Europe facing tremendous odds and even annihilation, nevertheless declared: “We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!” has now surrendered to the Islamic jihadists they have mistakenly taken in for no damn good reason.

If any country should side with Israel, it should be the British. Their behavior in tolerating Nazi-marches in their streets, and antisemitic violence against British citizens by newcomers and illegals show a tragic decline in their nationhood. The shame and the pity!

Another rankling news item was Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. I always thought he was a little Hitler, and wasn’t very happy that Israel decided to restore full diplomatic relations with Turkey only this past September when Erdogan met in person with Netanyahu. Today, he outdid himself, calling Israel a “terror state” and saying it was committing “the most treacherous attacks in human history.” ( I think the Armenians would beg to differ.) Hamas, on the other hand, he labeled “a democratically elected government.”

Please, everyone, don’t visit or vacation in Turkey! Don’t use their airline. Don’t buy Turkish products or any electrical appliances manufactured in that demented country. Many well-known brands like Siemens and Bosch manufacture appliances there. Check. Israelis, who singlehandedly used to fill their hotels because of the cheap prices and short flight, will be staying away permanently, I hope, although you never can tell. It is my hope that this little Hitler stews in his golden mega-palace until he can’t afford the electric bill anymore.

And I’ll end with these good tidings:

• The IDF blew up the Hamas parliament building after taking photos of themselves inside.

• Israel is finally inside Shifa, doing what needs to be done with unbelievable kindness to the undeserving people inside, bringing medical equipment and incubators and fuel. Never did a people deserve it less.

• The Givati Brigade planted an Israeli flag atop a UN-run school which has been teaching Gazan children to hate and kill for the last twenty years, and whose graduates were no doubt prominent among the perpetrators of the atrocities that have disgusted and outraged the entire world. That’s how UNWRA stays in business. Now they’ll have refugees to take care of for another sixty years.

Some jokes going around the Israeli internet:

• Videos show Hamas terrorists dressed in civilian clothes shooting RPG’s. That way, when they die, they are counted as civilians, get it?

• Written on a bomb: This was manufactured in Israel. If it proves defective, let us know your address and we’ll send you another one.

• From the River to the Sea; Palestine’s a fantasy (picture of unicorn)

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