Real Israel blog back for “Why I Love Israel” blog carnival this Wednesday!

In the past week, the “I LOVE this country” post has received a lot of attention. As part of broader efforts to show the international community a different side of Israel, Real Israel is being revived for the blog carnival stated in the title to gather and highlight new and old blog posts about what you love about Israel in one post. If you have a blog and would like to participate here are more details. 

What: “Why I LOVE Israel” blog carnival

When: This Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Where: Real Israel blog

Entries should include…

• Your name as you want it to appear in the post
• The name of your blog 
• The blog URL 
• The title of the post
• The post URL

Posts that qualify for entry include…

• Why you love Israel 
• Unique experiences you’ve had in Israel 

Please note that…

• Entries accepted from blogs only. 
• Only English language posts will be accepted. 
• No more than one post per blog. 

You can learn more about what a blog carnival is here and here. 

If you have any questions feel free to include them in the comments below or to send an email to realisrael@gmail.com. 

Rockets Hit Sderot and Ashkelon; Land by Preschool

Two rockets landed in Ashkelon this morning, one directly hitting an 8-story building and another landing in a playground. 28 people were evacuated to a nearby hospital. The IDF has pulled out of Gaza, so clearly the rocket fire has nothing to do with our actions there (nor did it stop anything).

A short time later, 3 Qassams landed in Sderot and just south of Ashkelon. Another rocket landed by a kindergarten in Ashkelon where the kindergarten teachers claim they did not even hear the Tzeva Adom (Color Red) warning.

According to Ynet,

Sunday saw dozens of Qassam, Grad rockets and mortar shell fired at the western Negev: Two rockets landed in Sderot – one hit a house and caused several people to suffer shock; and the other hit a power transformer, which caught on fire, causing a temporary blackout in the area.

A Grad rocket fired at Ashkelon on Sunday hit a house in the city’s center. One girl suffered mild shrapnel injuries. Three children were in the house at the time of the Color Red alert – all three rushed to their secure room, thus avoiding any serious injury.

Several rockets fired Sunday landed at Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira’s (the Baba Sali) gravesite in Netivot.

I love Israel

This post is representative of why I love Israel. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m a dweeb. Whatever.

Reprinted from A Soldier’s Mother.

Even the Bus Drivers Love Them

Yesterday, while driving to a special course in the north, Elie received a phone call from one of the other participants in the Commanders Course telling him (as the soldier responsible for knowing where everyone is) that the soldier had forgotten his backpack on a bus. He was calling to tell Elie that he was going to try to catch another bus to catch up with his backpack.

Elie gave him permission simply by telling him to update him to let him know what was happening. In yet another very Israeli story -after the phone call, the soldier jumped on the next bus and explained to the driver what had happened. Soldiers get free buses and trains to almost anywhere in Israel and so they don’t hesitate or worry about the number of rides they take.