Childhood memories under rockets

Hello readers,

I know that you want to hear directly what its like living under the fire of rockets, how it is like to grow up with fear of death every single day for 14 years. I decided to share with you some of my memories growing up this way, since the first rocket at 2001 (I was almost 10 years old).

So here it goes:
The first time

I remember it was evening and I was at my friend's backyard we were playing.

We didn't hear that rocket falling but my friend's father called us to get inside the house quickly.

It was on the news, our small city Sderot, back in the days it was so small that hardly anyone heard about it. The reporters were talking about rocket hitting Sderot launched from Gaza.

And I? Coudln't understand, couldn't process it. Why would anyone will try to fire rocket at us?

What should I do now? How will I get home now? Its evening, its dark outside, and honestly I am afraid from another rockets being fired maybe hitting me.

After about 15 minutes just standing there looking at the TV screen but not really watching or listening, I tell my friend I have to go but I am afraid. He decides to walk with me (our houses aren't that far). We go outside we start walking and in the middle of the way we start to hear shootings. Its the first time I heard that sound, piercing through the night. We froze for a second didnt know what to do. We decided to split and we both run to our homes. Man I ran faster than Forest Gump. The next day at school, needless to say everyone talked about this. Everyone were confused. Many were still shaken by this. That night marked the change of our city and the change of our lives.

Guess what, your home exploded, or not

I remember that morning, I was about to enter school when I heard explosions. 

At this point, its nothing new hearing rockets explode in Sderot. Well, what can I do? I go to class.

Than all our teachers start sending all of us to the school shelters. The teachers talk to themselves mostly, we know its because rockets hit Sderot this morning. I remember they brought a TV and VCR and they put Lion King on for us to distract us. But kids will be kids and the rumors game started,

Eventually I get a rumor that the rocket hit my house and there are possible injuries. Guess what? You don't have a smartphone, the teachers don't tell you anything, you ask around and some kids confirm this rumors while others say something different.

In the meanwhile many parents come to take their kids home.  Others call the teachers to check up if their children okay. Time goes by, no contact from my parents, with all those thoughts running through my head of a rocket hitting my home. Its one of the worst times in my childhood I recall.

I somehow got a cellphone from another kid and called home. Well guess what? my parents were okay

they thought the school will know how to deal with us so they were not worried too much about me.

Apparently, that day the rocket hit a house only few meters from my school. Literally there is a fence between the school and the the house back yard.

The first one killed by rocket was a 4 year old child, right after him a 49 year old

I remember that day, it was summer vacation for me between 8th to 9th grade.

I remember hearing the explosions. It fell close to the kindergarden that is also near my elementry school. I remember everyone freaking out that day a 4 year old, Afik Zehavi-Ohayon died, His mother was injured severly, also a 49 year old man Mordechai Yosepov died by the same hit. May they both rest in peace. It was very harsh day, Its hard to describe the atmosphere. Me and my family were getting phonecalls all day long from friends and family all over.

2 weeks ago, a friend of mine that literally lives near where it happened told me the details of that day (he witnessed everything). Seriously, if there's a hell this is how it feels and this is how it looks.

Drag people to shelter under fire

So now its not a specific case but many different cases, in Junior high and in High school.

I never really gave it to much thought until lately when I was asked in interviews about growing up in Sderot under rockets fire.

So it took few years before we got the Code Red alarm (originally it was named "Red Dawn").

It was supposed to help us know its time to get cover or run for shelter if possible.

I

The problem was, that after years growing up and living with this stress, and now the added stress from hearing the alarm (which is an anchor that activates the same symptoms people have after rockets hitting or seeing people get injured or even die).

Some people had so hard time dealing with this that people actually fainted in place. 

So I remember times when us (teenagers 12 to 18) and teachers sometimes had to drag people to shelters because they fainted outside. And remember we had 15 seconds or less to do so.

Its sounds really crazy for me thinking about this now. But this is our reality, this is how we had to grow up. We had no choice.

Remember, This is our reality for 14 years. Many children, teenagers and even young adult don't know a different reality than this. This is what they are growing to. Because of Hamas and other terrorists organizations in Gaza. It has to stop now.

Dov Trachtman - The Man in Fort

conflict #hashtags meanings and celebrities

Hello readers,

So I have decided to write so soon after the last post because its time for people to understand some 

of the meaning of the hashtags going around in facebook and twitter and why some celebrities were actually dumb to use them.

#FreePalestine - The meaning of this hashtag quite simply means: Israel should not exist, exterminated the Jewish state. You see, the bast majority in the muslim and particularly in the arab world calls the land of Israel "palestine", and basicly saying "free palestine" means there is a state that should not exist there, thus its call for the extermination of the Jewish homeland and only country (in our rightful home).

Rihanna tweeted this but soon enough deleted it. Why? probably because she has no understanding of whats going on in this conflict and escalation, and when she figured out what she said she regreted and tried to minimize damages. Rihanna visited Israel few times in the past few years holding concerts.

Zayin Malik (one direction) also tweeted this hashtag. Zayin a muslim from pakistani heritage. Many pakistanis have anti-Israel views, and they know what the hashtag really means. It is possible, that he shares those views, and he decides to keep his tweet on. Hindu-Indians and Muslim-Pakistanis have their own debates about this conflict while most Indians pro-Israel and Pakistanis are anti-Israel. (Yeah pakistanis are more about anti-Israel, anti-west ideology, not pro palestinian do not make this mistake).

#PrayForGaza - A call to pray for Gaza. Praying about what? this "hashtag" basicly means that only people in Gaza are hurt and suffer, and it implies its someone outside fault, someone like Israel.

Yeah, so like we proved again and again, Hamas kill its own, and when he doesn't he puts them in the line of fire. They are human shields that Hamas are responsible for their death. Also Hamas don't want to cease its fire. But wait, if you pray for Gaza, why dont you pray for Sderot and Israel, what about the children that died in Israel because of Hamas? what about the children that lived under the threat of rockets for 14 years? What about the 3 teenagers kidnapped and murdered last month by Hamas?

Its pretty stupid and hypocrite to pray for only one side if you want peace and humanity for all.

Selena Gomez was ignorant and un affected by the loss,  suffering and tragedy on the Israeli side. She prayed for Gaza and when she learned she is ignorant like her friends. Its not about just being trendy (because its seems most celebrities tweet what seems trendy without further exploration and studying not because their opinions are actually solid and based on something)

She then corrected this for praying for all humanity and peace. 

#GazaUnderAttack - So this hashtag basicly says Gaza is under Attack from the outside. Its based on the #IsraelUnderFire hashtag really. So is Gaza is the target of the attacks? No. Hamas is the target of Israeli attacks. Who choose to put his facilities, rocket launchers, weapons storage, and hide and fight from a city and populated areas? Hamas did! They chose the battleground. Who put civilians in the line of fire? Hamas. Who destroyed schools, hospitals and neighborhood by their own fire in the last few days? Hamas. Yeah Gaza is under Hamas attack.

So those are the main anti-israel hashtags - used ignorantly by naive and ignorant people, or maliciously by pro-terrorists. Their major goals are:

1. Associate and link between Hamas the terrorist organization and the palestinian people. The palestinians don't want Hamas themselves anymore. Hamas don't protect the palestinians, they dont fight for them, they fight to kill Jews and destroy Israel, and according to Mossab Yousef a former high-ranking Hamas officer and the son of one of its founding members the end goal of Hamas is to destroy western civilization and create a new Islamic caliphate.
2. De-legitemize Israel, its existence and its right to defend itself. They try to portray Israel as the offensive side, ignoring facts like Hamas refusal for peace with Israel or acknowledging Israels existence,  Hamas escalated this situation, Hamas killing palestinians and using other as human shields, Hamas trying to commit a genocide to the Jewish people. They ignore the fact that Israel is trying to disarm Hamas, Israel wants to end this conflict, Israel do all it can to save lives in both sides, Israel protecting its citizens.

So now you know more about the anti-Israel and pro-terror hashtags. Don't fall to this trap.

#IsraelUnderFire #StopHamas #SaveTheChildrenofGazaFromHamas #StopTerror

Dov Trachtman - The Man in Fort

Hamas publicly kill palestinians

Hello readers,

So, Hamas aren't even trying to hide the fact that they kill palestinians themselves.

Also 25 palestinians executed by hamas two days ago

Also another thing not reported yet by global media, Hamas also killed 2 palestinians and injured dozens while buying food.

Yeah, So on official levels, Hamas kill palestinians, also un-officialy they actually fired rockets at their own schools, hospitals and neighborhoods in the last few days.

And more over than that, they sacrfice palestinians civlians, including women and children as human shields to protect their own facilities and officers:

Hamas is trying to commit double genocide. They want to kill all the Jews, and in the same time killing palestinians.

So seriously, if you want peace, if you want to stop the bloodshed, STOP HAMAS! STOP TERROR!

Dov Trachtman - The Man in Fort

Israelis killed by Hamas rocket and also palestinians were killed by Hamas rockets

Hello readers,

So much things happened today and in the last few hours here.

5 soldiers were killed today. 4 of them by a rocket hit in Israel, many were injured. May they rest in peace.

Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel through terror tunnels today, their attack was thwarted.

Hamas tried to fire rockets at Israel today and hit Al-shifa hospital and Al-shati refugee camp.

It is proved that on July 24th Hamas is the one who shot 16 palestinians at the UNRWA school in beit hanooun neighborhood.

Hamas is a dangerous, evil, terrorist and criminal organization that needs to be stopped. No country will allow to its citizens to live under threat of rockets or murderous terrorists. Since 2001 Israel is under the fire of rockets from Gaza by Hamas and their friends. Israel tries to save lives, while Hamas tries to destroy. Israel Accepted 4 ceasefires since the beginning of the operation and followed through. Hamas kept shooting rockets at Israel. Even prior to Protective Edge Israel asked from Hamas to stop.

Israel warned the residents of Gaza to evacuate. Israel treats sick and injured in both a field hospital they opened in Gaza and in Israeli hospitals. Hamas encourage civilians to act as human shields, and using the hospitals in Gaza as launching pads. They even shoot their own hospitals. If you want to stop this bloodshed YOU GOT TO STOP HAMAS.

And the hypocrisy of the world just killing me. Here is the kicker that no one tells you:

All that nonesense by different states blaming Israel for disproportional response?

Do you know how many military officers from the same states are actually right now sitting near IDF officers, to learn the same techniques and strategies used now, for their effectivness, accuracy, morals, and more? They want to copy this same techniques and strategy for their own confilicts. And when this operation will end, they will keep sending their soldiers to Israel to train and learn from our troops. 

Now on personal news:
Today I joined another Sderot Media Center activity, I will probably post about it tommorrow.

Today I was also interviewed for one of NBC's channels, if they will upload it I link it don't you worry :)

Dov Trachtman - The Man in Fort

Sexy Selfies: Standing with IDF campaign of modern day pin-up girls

Hello readers,

I am going to talk about the fast growing trend of sexy selfies supporting the IDF soldiers.

The facebook page "Standing with IDF" started that buzz and I got in touch with the man behind it and asked him to tell about his campaign.

Gavriel Beyo is a 27 years old owns a small advertising company and an investments company.

He is experienced in marketing online and offline, in Israel and abroad, and also expertise in branding.

Gavriel told me about the campaign: I started it. I reached few of my amazing friends for the first photos and thats how it started. I got the idea after I received a photo of someone I dated in the past. I then remembered the old "pin-up girls" photos soldiers used to look at before they were sent to battle.

The page and the campaign have goals to help in Hasbara and also raise the morale of the soldiers. This were the main goals. I wanted to show that Israel is not just about rockets and terror and I wanted to romanticize the IDF. It worked, we got alot of support from abroad even by non-Jewish, all over the world. We wanted the soldiers in the front lines to know we support them and also to give them a little distraction from the battlefield. It also worked, we got tens of thousands of likes, and thousands of "thank you" messages.  We also decided to use the campaign for more objective like fundraising and getting help for different needs of the soldiers. We got over 30,000 likes in 3 days and we have been covered in global media, so yeah, we reached our goals. I hope that we have more goals and reach even larger audiences soon.
The reason so many women keep taking explicit pictures of themselves for this campaign is patriotism, supporting the soldiers and also taking part in the effort of IDF.
I think the page and the campaign became so popular in such short time because we market both the most moral army in the world with the most beautiful women in the world.
As for reporters claiming that people feel less intersted in sex and have less sex activity because of the escalation, I can understand. Personally, I felt down, and my campaign is a way I try to help in some way. Did it work? from the responses its seems that yes. Personally, I am in relationships so I don't deal with the photos. I have volunteers to manage to content. The Main editor is the amazing Yafit Duer. They are amazing and invested alot of time from their own free time for this project. They also have conversations with soldiers, and Yafit also decided to show her face.  

I then asked Gavriel if the campaign have influence on people opinions and he answered:

Wow!!! Yes! For example a pakistani who had a cover photo "Stand with Gaza" with hands covered in blood he changed it to a cover photo of "I Stand with Israel", and countless more around the world.

I later asked him why in the last few hours the page is down and Gavriel said: We keept it a secret for now, prepare for a surprise :)

Gavriel, I want to thank you so much for sharing and wish you good luck with the campaign! 

Dov Trachtman - The Man in Fort

Noad "Neo" Lahat returns victorious from the UFC cage to the front lines against Hamas

Hello readers,
Before our post few updates:
1. Hamas broke ceasefire yesterday.
2. Israel exapnded ceasefire in 4 hours (with willing to expand for another 24 hours) - than Hamas shoot more rockets at Israel.
3. Hamas requested today a 24 ceasefire for a muslim holiday. Israel agreed to their request. Hamas broke that ceasefire as well shooting more rockets.
4. Israeli Border Guard near Jerusalem thwarted a terror attack security personnel at checkpoint stop suspect with large explosive device, several gas cylinders in vehicle.
5. 42 IDF soldiers were killed in action. May they rest in peace.

Now for the post:

Noad "Neo" Lahat won a UFC battle last night (against Steven Siler).

Noad told after his victory about the last 2 months in training, worrying for his family and friends back home (Israel). He tells about his sister serving as paramedic and his brother as special forces. Hes younger brother being drafted in a year. How his grandmother have about 15 seconds to get to a shelter because of rockets.

Noad suffered from insults on his social media accounts by pro-hamas and anti-israel crowd.

Noad is a proud Israeli, a professional athelete and fighter, and a reservist paratrooper in the IDF.
Noad we all wish you the best, return safely to your family from the war against Hamas, and keep representing Israel in the MMA sport.

r

Dov Trachtman - The Man in Fort

Get to see Sderot Media Center's work

Hello readers, 

So I am a little bit late but I will share with you some of the work done by Sderot Media Center

to share the reality of living under the threat of rockets for over a decade.

But first few updates:

1. Israel accepted a ceasefire today between 8 AM to 8 PM.

2. Foreign worker was murdered by Hamas rockets couple days ago. May he rest in peace.

3. 36 IDF soldiers killed in action. The MIA soldier was now officially decalred dead by the IDF. May they rest in peace.
4. 150 Hamas' terrorists surrendered themselves to IDF couple of days ago.

Now, get a glimpse to some of Sderot Media Center work.

NOTE: PHOTOS WERE TAKEN BY ME. USE ONLY WITH CREDIT TO ME AND LINK TO THE BLOG.
Couple of days ago I joined my friends from SMC Kosta Monastirsky and Yaniv Friedman

while reporters from the USA came to Sderot to see in their own eyes whats going on.

Kosta lead the tour.

We began at the Sderot PD, in their "rockets museum" collection of hundreds of rockets that fell in Sderot over the years.

Kosta briefed about the rockets, what are they made, their development over the years, radius of imapct, and how different terror groups mark them to get themselves "street cred"/making name for themselves and building their reputation among the other groups.

Later we continued to a home hit by a rocket 2 days prior to the reporters visit. The Iron Dome didn't intercept that time. There were children in the house. Except from a lady and a very young baby everyone got to the shelter. It was a miracle that the lady nor the baby were not hurt that time.

The reporters were shocked by the damage to the house, inside and outside, discussed with the resident (a widow mother) and her challange and trouble with this situation going for years, and now that her home was ruined by a rocket.

Later on we continued to the famous hill from where all the reporters like to report, and show the gaza border. The Hill was empty, the reporters were down while the cameras kept rolling.

rThose reporters standing down the hill wore vests for protection.

We get up to the hill to show them how close gaza is (in straight line its about half a mile)

We talk about the closeness, the rockets range, and also, the terror tunnels used in the previous days to infiltrate to Israeli towns by Hamas' and the threat it pose to Israeli civilians. 

While we were talking Code Red Alarm was going on. Near by we had no shelter only seconds to get cover. We ran down a little bit, layed down on the ground, cover our heads and waited to what comes next. Apparently this time the rockets were intecepted successfully. 

The reporters got a real taste of life under rocketss threat.

ISo tell me, what would you do if rockets were fired over a decade at your city? What would you do if terrorists enter your town through tunnels to massacare and slaughter everyone? Its time to stop terror, STOP HAMAS!

Stay tuned for more posts, news, details, experiences and photos.
Dov Trachtman - The Man in Fort