Living on the edge and feeling misunderstood

It has been a tough time in Israel. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but away from the south, near Gaza's border, the ferocity and frequency of rockets being fired at us from Gaza has increased considerably.

Here in Tel Aviv, so often considered a "bubble" insulated from hostilities by those more exposed to the rockets, we are being sent to our shelters two or three times daily at least. This is because since the last round of hostilities, Operation Pillar of Defence, Hamas has stockpiled an array of weapons with larger capabilities.

So each day, we wait for the sirens. Each day we hear regular noises such as the drone of motorcycle engines and start, in case they are more sirens. However relaxed we may try to be, we are on edge. We stay close to home, where we know where our nearest shelters are. The dog wonders what's going on each time we jump like scared rabbits and haul him to the shelter in the basement. He's a big lad, 40 kg, so to get him to move fast enough to beat our 90 seconds deadline, is no mean feat.

And we thank our lucky stars that we have that long, compared to as little as 15 seconds in southern towns like Sderot. Plus we are grateful that we haven't had to endure this pounding consistently for years, like they have. It’s draining for each and every one of us. Nevertheless we are determined not to be broken or phased by the wave upon wave of attacks. As we are experiencing these effects daily, we understand and appreciate why our government feels it had to take action, and we support its attempts to defend us and seek to stop the rockets.

Israeli commuters shelter by their cars as another Hamas rocket attack takes place

But we’re not inhuman. We don’t hate the innocents in Gaza who are suffering in the hostilities. We want them to be free from the tyranny of Hamas. We know that Hamas is using the people as shields for its leaders and its weapons, and we are appalled by this. We know that since Israel removed all remaining Jewish-Israeli residents from Gaza in 2005, the lot of regular Gazans has deteriorated, because the only infrastructure that has received investment under Hamas has been their weapons infrastructure and their terror. We watch with interest as our neighbours in Egypt seek to broker a ceasefire that is rejected by Hamas, and we become more and more convinced that Hamas is not interested in peace.

And we are frustrated and feeling misunderstood because too many people outside Israel call us “oppressors”. They call us an “apartheid state” and they invoke the darkest days of Jewish history and equate Zionsim with Nazism. They do not accept that in spite of the incessant attacks we are enduring, Israel has consistently brought supplies through the borders, which it controls for its own security. They do not accept that in spite of the incessant attacks, Israel continues to provide electric power to Gaza. When a Hamas rocket took out power lines in Gaza this week, Israel Electric sent in workers, at high risk, to restore power. But Israel and us, its people, as constantly painted as avaricious, aggressive, empire-building Jews, when all we want is peace.