False alarm

The little crowd

Yesterday was the 3rd Lenten Pilgrimage Mass - this time held at the Flagellation Chapel. It is a very small place so more than half the church was filled by the clergy. The crowd that came had to sit mostly in the courtyard. Wasn't a huge crowd but enough to fill half the courtyard. Most were nuns and friars, with only a couple of lay people. The Gospel is the Passion according to John and is sung in 3 parts. Next week the pilgrimage Mass will be celebrated at the Condemnation Chapel.

Bird's eyeview

Yesterday there was panic and chaos in Tel Aviv .... for a while. The war siren sounded as a test run but the public were poorly informed so confusion and panic set in.  http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/i-was-in-the-shower-and-thought-missiles-were-falling-on-israel-1.420081  If they had only lived in Jerusalem ... we get this almost every other week. In fact we're so used to it, if the real thing happened, we'd not take it seriously.

If there's any panic in Jerusalem, it's when Israeli police enter schools during school hours to arrest arab children for throwing stones.  http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-s-border-police-entering-east-jerusalem-schools-in-search-of-stone-throwers-1.419851  I'm against kids throwing stones; I think it should be stopped. But to kidnap kids off the streets or crashing into schools with weapons is crossing the line. I wonder why war sirens don't sound when these raids take place.