Israel Stories: The dripping tap

Drip, drip drip. Mental note, get the plumber in as fast as possible before I go completely mad. Drip, drip, drip. Actually this tap has some rhythm. Drip, drip drip. How can my wife sleep through this noise. Drip, drip, drip. This is real oriental torture. Drip, drip, drip. Mental note, due to lack of sleep everybody in the house should keep at least 2 kilometers away from me, call it a security buffer zone. Drip, drip, drip. Mind you I have not spent months on end in a public bomb shelter, can you imagine? Drip, drip, drip. Suddenly the drip doesn’t seem so bad. Drip, drip, drip. At least we're central and safe.

The next morning I leapt out of bed, ran outside and breathed in the pure Modi'in air. What a wonderful morning I thought; the birds singing in the trees, children playing in the streets, the scent of flowers and pine calming and relaxing my senses. OK, so it wasn’t quite like that. The next morning I dragged myself out of bed, crawled into the bathroom, swore at the leaking tap, grumbled at the wife and was quite inexcusably rude to the neighbor who phoned to borrow some milk.

I nearly fell down the stairs, turned on the TV to watch the latest news; Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, budget, schools, teachers. I boiled the kettle and manhandled the phone book trying to focus on the plumber's number. Even dialing his number was a challenge. "Is that Yossi? Get here as soon as you can. Got a leaking tap, driving me insane. No I'm not up in Gaza it's the TV. And you, bye."

The kids crept silently into the salon, the news disappeared and the cartoons took over. I decided to ignore it. Fell up the stairs to my office, sat at the computer and read all the news feeds.

As I read the feeds and saw the videos of our incredible country being torn apart and then a rush of anger overtook all my senses. I don't think it was sleep deprivation and I am sure it was just raw emotion that caused me to cry a little.

So many questions unanswered about the Palestinians, Iran, Hamas, Hizbullah, the international community and the blatant anti-Israel anti-Semitic reporting. Nothing new there. But, I asked myself, why are we not immune to all of this. For thousands of years we have suffered under just about every government in every country. You'd think we would have evolved such thick skin and be so tough as to able to ignore it all

But no. Every time the BBC refers to Hizbullah or Hamas as militants, my blood boils. Every time they call Israel's response disproportionate I end up shouting at the TV, and every time they ignore Iran's call for Israel to be wiped off the Earth, I stand there incredulous, waiting for someone to condemn them.

And just like a dripping tap, you never, ever, get used to it.