Chesler Facebook Chronicles

JULY 11

Jet-lagged in Spain

I am still in Barcelona where the outdoor cafes are very lovely and the weather is soft and perfect. I visited the former Jewish quarter and what is left of the synagogue. I said Kaddish there. And, before jet lagged had its way with me, I dined at the best tapas restaurant in town, a kosher place: Maccabi Tapas. Most interesting are all the photos of opera singers that they signed. The divine Montserrat Caballe, Joan Sutherland, and Placido Domingo have autographed their photos for whichever opera lover owns the restaurant or used to.

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JULY 12

Moonlight over the Mediterranean

The ship has sailed, we have left the northern coast of Spain. I am watching FOX News based in Gaza reporting casualties. Oh, where were they for the last decade as rocket after rocket fell on civilians in southern Israel? I understand that Hamas has also (acidentally?) bombed Ramallah, Bethlemen and Hevron, all Hamas strongholds. Will Abbas ask the UN to condemn Hamas for this? Hamas was trying to hit Jews-only in the West Bank. Where is the necessary perspective given the barbarians vs barbarians vs civilians in Syria, Iraq and elsewere?

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JULY 14

Day Two on the Sea

We dined in the ship's very best restaurant and it took 2 1/2 leisurely hours. While sitting at the pool, I kept reviewing and analyses of all the breaking news from the Middle East and forwarding it where it will do the most good. BTW: How dare Sec of State Kerry and President Obama offer themselves up as negotiators? How dare they attempt, yet again, to stop Israel from defending itself effectively?

Ah, the weather is perfect, the people on board come from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, South Korea, Holland, Switzerland, the United States--and doubtless many more countries whose citizens I have not yet met. People drink a good deal. I nurse my bubbly waters and sip espressos and am just fine with it.

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JULY 15

An Innocent Abroad

The weather is just about perfect but rather hot in the afternoon under a broiling summer sun. I keep up with the articles sent my way and pass them along. Yesterday, (Bastille Day(, we took a small "tender" from the ship to St Tropez, named after a Christian who refused to embrace Roman paganism. Today--Corsica, Napoleon's birth place. The sea is filled with yachts, cruise ships, all manner of sailing vessels--even one with a red mast.

Daniel Pipes makes an excellent argument against trying terrorist enemies as if they were American citizens with full legal rights. Someone who planned Benghazi should be tried by a military court. WAPO actually has decent-enough coverage of the war against Jewish Israel.

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JULY 16

I Am Sailing On A Floating Hotel

There are eleven decks and possibly three staff people for each one of the guests. However, yesterday, in Corsica, I walked too far--a miracle in itself-- in the hot broiling sun in and came down with an infection and am now on heavy antibiotics. Can you imagine it? In five minutes the ship's doctor came to see me, rendered a diagnosis, prescribed the necessary medication. Why not live on a cruise ship permanently is what I'm thinking. Talk about concierge medicine.

Yesterday was also quite dramatic.We thought the ship was leaving hours later. And so we sat at cafes under umbrellas and took in the life: The water, the open air farmer's market, the tourist trolleys, the statues of Napoleon, and spoke the best French we could muster. And then--we just made it back with fifteen minutes to spare. The crew was frantic. But the boat departed later anyway.

Today--missed all the guided tour buses to Rome; there are no taxis in the port, the walking distance is immense...No lunch at one of my favorite Roman restaurants, no lunch in Tarquina, a Tuscan village/city which would have been much closer than a trip to Rome.

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JULY 17

Sorrento, Pompei, Herculaneum

I am on the boat for the day but I am looking at mountains and houses and boats sailing the calm summer sea. On board, we have Americans, Brits, Aussies, Belgians, Canadians, Italians, Caribbean Netherlanders, New Zealanders, French, Swiss, Colombians, Germans, South Africans, Turks and Caicos Islanders, Danes, Liechtensteiners, Mexicans, Germans, Dutch, Norwegians, Irish, and one person from Hong Kong!

I spend hours each day surfing the news. My friends have quite given up on me. But Israel is under siege and a World War is underway and I pass along the best stories and analyses where they will be spread further.

There is a small turning point afoot. Some left wing Israeli media and American mainstream media are rethinking the Big Lie propaganda which they greedily gobble up--but this time, it is not working that well for Hamas. Israel is defending its citizens, Hamas is forcing its people, including children, to remain in place even after Israel has delivered its fifteen minute warning. Twice Israel has accepted a cease fire and twice Hamas has rejected it. Egypt has had enough and has begun to condemn Hamas. Although Gazan civilians have been killed this is not and never has been Israel's goal. It is, rather, Hamas's goal: to expose their people and gain propaganda points in the world. This is as ugly as it gets.

And Israel's children are spending their summer vacations locked down in bomb shelters. It is less traumatic to be trapped in close quarters than to have one minute after a red alert siren to find and enter a bomb shelter.

And now I will try to relax, visit the spa, contemplate the sea on a day that is both gray and sunny, very hot and yet cool within.

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JULY 17

Dear, dear friends and colleagues:

I wish this could be done from the air but clearly that is not the case. It is amazing that the Arab League, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan say that they want to get rid of Hamas although one must wonder if anyone is helping Israel or if "the Jew" is meant to do all the heavy lifting.

Where does Obama stand on any of this or rather how badly has he failed on all of this?

My heart is with all my friends and colleagues in Israel whose children and grandchildren (and in some cases great-grandchildren) are in the IDF. Israel has been under siege from the late 19th century (or from 586 BCE or 70AD). Always, we have survived. Always the price has been too high.

This ground assault signal the beginning of new alliances in the Middle East and hopefully--ideally--Israel's hand will not be stayed.

My heart and soul is with the parents whom I know personally whose precious children are fighting to defend Israeli civilians.

I have been working as best I can while on the high seas to pitch stories and analyses and connect articles with the media.

May God watch over Israel.

Hazak v'ematz!

Phyllis

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JULY 18

Hamas Terrorist Tunnels--and the Beauty of Sicily

I was up at 6am today in the Mediterranean to monitor Israel's strategic and principled incursion into Gaza to destroy Hamas's terrorist tunnels, the terrorists, as well as their stash of weapons. Although the mainstream media is still telling the most outrageous lies about the IDF, I feel that we are also beginning to experience what might be a game changer. Saudi and Egyptian spokesman have said they are "disgusted" with Hamas. Other Islamists have not come to Hamas's aid. Israel has played this very carefully by accepting the cease fire which Hamas rejected and by sending in humanitarian aid to the Gazans who are trapped by the Hamas leadership which has threatened to "punish" them afterwards if they do not act as human shields and martyrs for the sake of propaganda.

More leaders and even some media are beginning to fill in more of the narrative than every before. Hamas lies constantly and puts out casualty figures that actually belong to Hamas terrorists who are not civilians. The IDF takes weeks to share a careful and accurate count. See Elder of Zion's website on this point.

I am anchored off the coast of Sicily and took a tour earlier today. The beautify is breathtaking. There are women in hijab here, immigrants who have landed in Lampedusa and whom the Italian government really cannot afford to absorb. It is the situation that Oriana Fallaci first describe so long ago.. As usual, I ask where the functioning synagogue might be. Just as often (as in Spain and France) we are told that the synagogue is only a museum and that the Jews either fled or were murdered.

Long live the IDF! A thousand blessings on their young and precious heads. Israel is fighting THE war against terrorism that America will also have to fight.