Coffee and guns. A new update from Israel by Dr. Binyanin Klempner, a previous guest in episode 276 on The Yakking Show.
Dear Friends,
Going into war is going into yourself. War is a psychedelic. The ultimate psychedelic. Like a psychedelic, war changes the way you see the world around you. I’m home now. Writing. Sipping red wine. Listening to the Doors. Jim Morrison. “The End.” Writing. Far from the men I’m thinking about. Laughs. Smiles. Young soldiers smoking cigarettes. Cigerette tabaco, the incense of war. You know how long someone’s been there by how they smoke their cigarette. If it just dangles from the lips like a hanged man without any hand involvement, so they can smoke while handling a weapon, you know they’ve been there for a while. If there’s a tear behind every smile and a cry behind every laugh, you also know they’ve been there too long.
There are two types of checkpoints. Checkpoints manned by Military Police and checkpoints manned by combat soldiers. A checkpoint manned by combat soldiers is the dividing line between civilization and war. The point of sunset between late afternoon and night. The point of departure, as if to say, “From this point on, if you return, you might not return the same person you were, or, at least, thought you were.”
I pulled up in my Baby Blue Toyota Corolla. The first night of Chanuka. But the soldiers hadn’t yet gotten around to lighting their menorah. An army car had just stopped by with a huge box full of delicious-looking chocolate-covered donuts. The army has good food when it chooses to. The guys looked at me in disbelief. Nobody came by that area who didn’t need to. What was I doing there? Opening the car door I answered their unspoken question, “Coffee. I’m making you guys coffee.” The guys could hardly believe it. Into the darkness, I brought large disposable coffee cups, aromatic freshly ground coffee beans, a plastic coffee drip that fits over the cup, paper drip liners, and a large thermos of hot water. Set up my little coffee bar on a large cement block whose purpose is to prevent check-point car rammings.
Once set up, I headed back to the car. Pulled out two drums. One large African djembe and one Middle-Eastern darbuka. The soldiers had a wonderful time playing as I made them coffee. All the guys took turns playing. Some were better than others but, regardless of talent and rhythm, banging on the drums relieved all the guys of a bit of pent-up battle stress. We had fun. While two guys played on the drums, a sound was heard down the road. The Master Sargenat pointed his riffle shining his flashlight into the darkness towards the sound. Just a sound. Maybe a jackal. Regardless. Sound surrounded by darkness. And the sound of drums. And then the deep resonant bass sound of falling shells. Hezbollah added to the percussions. The soldiers continued drumming, somewhat ignoring, somewhat welcoming, the additional percussion of mortars falling nearby. The journey of sound. Sounds under a starry sky.
A few days later I was standing on my porch speaking with my cousin Eric when the sound of something that sort of sounded like an F-15 filled the sky. I looked up and saw what looked like a red Mike and Ike candy flying through the sky. One and then another. And then a third. It was thrilling. Large missiles being fired in the direction of Damascus. I recalled the wonderful experience of watching the Hal-Bop Comet with Roslyn Pinson. We stood in the stars of the freezing Missoula, Montana night watching the comet find its way under the stars. Now I stood with my children under the stars of the Holy Land watching a missile find its way under the stars. Like an artificial comet. I love the sight of missiles flying under a star-filled sky. The terror. The terror. Of it all.
Friends: We are likely about to enter Lebanon. Your financial support is as urgently needed as ever. Few people are still helping the soldiers like I continue to do and yet the soldiers need assistance, backing, and support more than ever before. Please use your dollars to stand with me, and, more importantly, to stand with the soldiers. Many of you have already donated, and for that, I cannot thank you. And I cannot thank you enough. If you haven’t please do so now even five dollars, even two dollars, helps and shows you care. Also, please share this letter on social media and with anyone you think will appreciate it.
Donations can be made to:
The Unity Farm Foundation; 46 Grand Cove Way; Edgewater, NJ; 07020.
or online at: https://thechesedfund.com/theunityfarmfoundation/support-our-israeli-soldiers
Thank you again and stay safe!
Sincerely,
Binyamin Klempner
The legacy media are falling over themselves trying to portray the anti-terrorism operations by the Israeli military as genocide. South Africa is claiming that Israel is guilty of genocide while conveniently ignoring the widespread murder of white South Africans – a more accurate example of genocide than what is happening in Gaza.
This article courtesy of Frontline News puts the actions of Israel in perspective and shows why Israel is acting with more restraint than US forces did in Iraq. It shows that civilian casualties in the current conflict are way below those of WWII.
You can read about my experiences of a terrorist war in this post.
