Just Another Day in Israel: Collecting Our Gas Masks

Yesterday was not much different from any other day: Some calls on behalf of clients, a new blog entry, several walks with the dog, reading several chapters from a novel (true, I ordinarily don't read much fiction), an argument with my daughter over when she would arrive home with the family car, and -- I almost forgot -- picking up our family's gas masks at the local community center.

No question about it: 2012 promises to be a challenging year in this corner of the world. We've been placed on notice that a new operation to put an end to the ongoing firing of rockets into southern Israel from Gaza is imminent (see: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=253916).

Although Israeli defense minister Barak has just declared that Israel will not be attacking Iran any time soon (see: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barak-israel-very-far-off-from-decision-on-iran-attack-1.407953), the Austere Challenge joint anti-missile exercise with the US scheduled for April has just been cancelled for "technical and logistical" reasons. "Technical and logistical" reasons? Give me a break. Actually, in all likelihood there is no single reason for the cancellation, but in this particular instance, let's leave it at that.

Finally, there is the mounting chaos in Syria, which has an arsenal of Scuds and short-range ballistic missiles, and also possesses enormous stockpiles of chemical weapons, including advanced nerve agents. In a Jerusalem Post article written by David Rosenberg (http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=254369), Major-General Amir Eshel, head of the Israeli army's planning division, is quoted as saying about these chemical weapons stockpiles:

"'We are talking about huge stockpiles,' he said. 'That's a major concern because I don't know who is going to own those the day after. Up till now, what has been transferred to Hezbollah? What will be transferred to Hezbollah? What will be divided between those factions inside Syria?'"

Yes, just another day in Israel like any other.

And as long as we're talking on a personal level, you might be amused (particularly those readers from Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Algeria who have already visited this blog today) by the following photograph taken on the border some 30 years and some 30 pounds ago and just sent to me by a very dear friend from the US: