Day after storm

Kittens & the
policeman

Videos are going viral on the Internet showing the torrent of flood waters and sewage sweeping everything in Ben Yehuda Mall down hill. Restaurant tables, chairs, shopping carts, garbage bins ... even a full size dumpster was swept away. It was an apocalyptic scene. Jerusalem .... and all the country ... is not ready for a rain storm. We've been living in a drought for so long we've forgotten to upgrade drainage and sewer systems ... and now just a few short hours of heavy rain and hail has resulted in a countrywide crisis. And the great tragedy is the death of 10 students at the Dead Sea because their guide and teacher ignored storm warnings. The dry desert land suddenly surged with 3 meter high gush of rain water coming from the highlands. It's sudden and ferociously quick. It's not the water that kills you but the stones and boulders it carries along that crushes you and pins you down below the water. What a dreadful tragedy. The victims were buried this afternoon.

There was one heartwarming story though in this storm. While going off to work yesterday I passed by the police kiosk at Palm Plaza. At the door of the kiosk was a little box with an opening, and 2 cups of milk for 2 small kittens. A policeman was standing there watching. It was good. Some tourists said it was very nice to give shelter to the kittens in this storm and the policeman asked if they wanted to keep the kittens .... the tourists walked off immediately. This morning I walked past again and the 2 kittens were still there, playing in the sun. They were very cute.

Well we're facing a bigger crisis than the hailstorm. Reports are coming in that Iran has 80,000 troops  near Damascus. It's very worrying for us.  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/world-news/the-israeli-connection/danon-iran-has-80000-militants-near-damascus-35573

And reports also say there's a rise in hate crimes against arabs this past 4 months compared to the entire last year. This is scary when you realize there has been very little arrests, charges and more dismissals.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-cars-burned-graffiti-sprayed-in-fifth-hate-crime-this-week-1.6029098?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it

Well despite the storm ... we're hoping against hope that things will be better ... not worse.