The Masada Faktor

by Naomi Litvin

  It was July 6. The Israeli Air Force had struck in Gaza and killed seven Hamas militants. Gaza responded by sending many rockets. On July 7, the IDF called up 1,500 reservists to be positioned around southern Israel in case of rapidly increasing hostilities. I felt like I was in a daze.

  I was leaving Tel Aviv but the good news was that the house I was moving to in Hadera was only three blocks from the Hadera Central Bus Station so I could continue coming into Tel Aviv for Ulpan. It was a pleasant forty minutes by bus and I thought I could do my Hebrew homework during that time. It wouldn’t be so bad.

  Hadera was an out of the way spot and from now on, I would be careful about posting my location and movements online. I thought I’d be safer in Hadera, in case a war broke out, and I liked my new roommate.

  It would be more affordable and Hadera had a small town feel that I thought I could adapt to. Besides, I had to get away from Millie Stone. This was only temporary. I would never give up on living in Tel Aviv.

  PART THREE

  HADERA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Also on July 7 the Security Cabinet of Israel decided to start a counter-terrorist operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “The gloves are off.” The action was named Operation Protective Edge. The IDF attacked Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza in great numbers from the start. Hamas was using the homes of their operatives and putting their families in harm’s way as human shields.

  I was now living in Hadera and I was not shocked about the announcement of war with Gaza. I, along with all the people of Israel, were applauding our government for moving forward to stop the rockets. I was putting my things in order and talking with my new housemate that first evening.

  On July 8 we saw on TV that five Hamas naval commando frogmen had infiltrated the northern beaches of Gaza. They swam from Gaza to Zikim Beach where they planted explosives on a bulldozer and threw a grenade at a tank.

  They proceeded to attack a small kibbutz, population 385, in the Negev desert in southern Israel. They were pulverized by the IDF before they could kill anyone, much to the delight of all of us watching TV. The IDF continued to call up more reservists, and announced that 40,000 more would be summoned.

  Targeted strikes into Gaza by the IDF hit fifty sites and people were beginning to get injured there. The strikes included northern and central Gaza, Gaza City, agricultural areas, homes, businesses, and militant training sites. Then Hamas declared that all Israelis were legitimate targets, and the Iron Dome defense system shot down two rockets over Tel Aviv.

  Sirens were heard in Binyamina and then a rocket was fired at Haifa. Jerusalem was next with several missiles but luckily they landed outside the city. A rocket hit in Hadera. We were twenty-eight miles from Tel Aviv and this was the longest range rocket that had ever been launched into Israel by Hamas. The M302 rocket had been made in Syria. At Lior’s house we didn’t hear any sirens go off. We only heard many Israeli jets flying back and forth.

  Before the end of the day on July 8 the Israeli Air Force and Navy had hit 435 targets in Gaza and killed twenty-three Palestinians and injured many more. Hamas had fired 225 rockets into Israel and forty were intercepted by Iron Dome. There was property damage totaling ten million shekel in Gaza.

  The following few days had Hamas demanding insane things. They were also getting nervous and contacted Egypt’s President El-Sissi to broker a ceasefire. It was July 9 and it was already getting difficult to keep up with the news. The IDF was doing a great job hitting their targets, but the rockets were not stopping.

  Hamas’ training sites were targeted and also the places where the rocket launchers were. But Hamas had imbedded them in the dense cities and civilians were getting hurt. Hamas tried to hit the nuclear reactors in Dimona but was unsuccessful.

  Hamas immediately started telling the world that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. But they were the ones that wouldn’t stop launching missiles at Israel.

  Nearby in Zichron Yaakov a rocket had been shot down by Iron Dome. This was seventy-five miles from Gaza and a mere twelve and a half miles from us in Hadera. Immediately after that, two rockets landed in the Mount Carmel area of Haifa.

  I called everyone that I knew in Haifa to see how they were doing. Around the same time, Caesarea was hit in an open field by two more rockets that were aimed at Haifa.

  On July 10 Gaza fired rockets at Tel Aviv, Dimona, Mirtzpe Ramon, Eshkol, Ashkelon, Netivot, Yeruham, among others including Jerusalem.

  On July 11 we were woken up at 3:30 AM by my first personal code red siren and we also realized that there was no safe room in the house. The nearest bomb shelter was at least a block away at the orthodox synagogue. You can run but you can’t hide. It was really getting ugly and I was getting scared. We couldn’t get there in fifteen seconds before a rocket landed.

  We didn’t know what to do but the sirens stopped after a few moments. We turned the news on and luckily Lior was fluent in Hebrew and translated what was happening. The Hamas rockets were non-stop at that point. This one had landed on Hadera’s beach, which was a few miles west of the house and was the second missile to hit Hadera. We were pretty freaked out. But then it was quiet for the rest of the night.

  We learned that Tel Aviv was getting tons of code red sirens and thousands of people were running for shelter. Hamas had announced their intention of bombing Tel Aviv and were following through on the threat. I was feeling good about one thing, which was my decision to leave Tel Aviv when I did.

  Be’er Sheva took a direct hit on a building. Iron Dome was quite busy. We learned that the IDF soldiers that were in charge of Iron Dome on a minute to minute basis were quite young men and women. They were doing a wonderful job. Some rockets even came in from Lebanon and Israeli troops had to fire back. By this time the war was into its third day and Israel had struck 1,090 sites in Gaza. Hamas has sent 525 missiles toward us.

  For the next week I did not go to Tel Aviv or travel anywhere but inside the town of Hadera. One day I was walking downtown eating an ice cream cone when the sirens started blaring. It’s an awkward feeling when that happens. People look at each other and for a few seconds as time slows, we seem to ask each other with our eyes, What should we do?

  I was passing a small falafel restaurant and I ran in and the Arab cook motioned me to come back into the kitchen. There were about four of us standing by the grill and fryer just waiting for the sirens to stop. I finished my ice cream and we made some small talk. We all agreed that Hamas was crazy. For those few minutes I thought, These strangers are my family. If we die together at least we won’t die alone.

  When the sirens ended, I continued on to the post office where I took a number for service and sat down in a chair. Everyone was chattering in Hebrew. I knew what they were saying even though I didn’t understand. After I did my business I hurried back home.

  Lior had a job and wasn’t home. I turned the TV on. She sometimes didn’t get home until late and I told her to call me when she got to the bus stop and I would walk and meet her half way. It’s peculiar to go through a war with someone. It bonds you. Lior loved to cook and bake, especially when she was nervous. So we talked and we ate.

  On the sixth day of the war it was obvious that the airstrikes were not enough to stop the rockets. More IDF strikes were needed, but without hurting many more innocents. The IDF were dropping leaflets in Gaza telling the people to evacuate.

  Gazans with dual citizenship were offered a chance to get out and go to other countries, but many didn’t make it out. With all of this going on, I had to admit The Masada Faktor was on the back burner for me.

  I had spoken with Dalia and she was angry that Arthur had refused to take shelter during the code red sirens. They didn’t have a safe room either, but in their building the inside stairwells were designated as the safe areas. Arthur had insisted on staying by the TV.

  I suppose after Vietnam and twenty years of service in the IDF Arthur knew what he was doing. Still, Dalia was upse
t. It was possible that Arthur suffered from post-traumatic stress from all the wars. They had a son in the IDF and two daughters living near dangerous East Jerusalem areas.

  Hamas was telling their people not to listen to Israel’s warnings and a lot of deaths in Gaza were on their hands. They kept firing into Israel, sending large amounts of Fajr-5, M-75, and M-160 to all areas of Israel. They even accidentally hit their own power plant, knocking out electricity to 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza. They were doing some incredibly stupid things. It was like they wanted the IDF to punish them.

  And Gaza was being punished for what they were doing, but still they would not stop. They seemed to be sacrificing their own men, women, and children civilians and we could not understand it.

  In Israel we had shelters and safe rooms and the Iron Dome to protect us. Psychological damage yes, but mostly physically we were okay, so far. Hamas spent all of their money building weapons and hiding them within homes, schools, and hospitals. Their people were expendable, and each death was blamed on us.

  A drone was taken down by the IDF near Ashdod by a Patriot missile. Hamas claimed they had more. They had to be coming from Iran. It was July 14 and it had been a week of war. It was announced that a ceasefire was being negotiated by Egypt and would go into effect at 9:00 the next morning on July 15.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The ceasefire was an opportunity for me to go to Tel Aviv. I had missed a week of Hebrew classes but I wasn’t sure whether Ulpan was in session during the war. I decided to take the train from the West Hadera Railway Station. I got on a local bus first to get over there. I brought my towel and bathing suit and planned to go to Gordon Pool.

  I had some fear traveling but hadn’t heard of any attacks on buses or trains so far, and I was missing Tel Aviv very much. There was a chance I might run into Millie but I had to take it to get some normalcy back.

  The train was crowded, as it looked like many people had the same idea as I did. People looked happy and normal, and I took a seat on the west side to look at the Sea.

  Israel had accepted the ceasefire proposed by Egypt, but Hamas announced quickly that they were not consulted and fired forty rockets into Israel in the first five hours. I didn’t know that when I had taken off for Tel Aviv but heard it from others on the train. Also, Hamas had fired rockets into Eilat from Egypt for the first time.

  I was already on my way and was not going to turn back. I got to Tel Aviv and the situation on the street was normal. I was avoiding my old neighborhood where Millie’s flat was.

  Instead of going to Ulpan, I wanted to go swimming at Gordon Pool right away and if something happened, I could follow instructions to get shelter from there. There were armed guards at the pool and signs posted in both Hebrew and English saying where to go in case of rocket attacks.

  My backpack was searched and I went into the pool area and bought an Israeli iced coffee, a frozen slushy drink, at the snack bar. That really cooled me down. I chose a lounge chair and was ready to relax, soak up the sun, and do some swimming.

  There were plenty of people at the pool that day, although not as many as usual. The mood was somber and people were quiet. It was a casual day except for the sky. Many Israeli Air Force jets and helicopters flew back and forth. I looked over to the Sea and the beach was busy as usual.

  I was getting a bit sunburned and went into the ladies locker room to shower about 2:30. Then I had a feeling to head back. I wanted to take the #852 bus back to Hadera from Alozorov Station so that I could arrive close to the house.

  The driver had a radio and something was being reported but I couldn’t understand. I asked an Anglo passenger what was going on and he said that the ceasefire was over because Hamas did not honor it. Netanyahu declared that we would resume our strikes.

  The next day, July 16 Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad asked for a ten year truce with Israel. Their demands were ludicrous.

  A horrible incident on a Gazan beach where four Gazan children were killed accidentally by the IDF caused a further escalation and more negative reaction from the world. Later it was realized that the boys were playing in a Hamas terrorist compound; they were seen from aerial surveillance as terrorists.

  The following day, July 17 a five hour humanitarian ceasefire was proposed by the United Nations. Five and a half hours before it was to start, thirteen armed Hamas terrorists were spotted coming out of an underground tunnel outside of the Sufa kibbutz in the Hevel Shalom area of the north western Negev. This was also a border crossing between Israel and Gaza.

  It was dawn and the Hamas incursion was 250 meters or .6 of a mile inside of Israel. The planned attack was prevented. This was one of more tunnels that had been located but what was special about this one was the extent of the possible damage planned. What was exposed was barely the tip of the iceberg. Hamas had intended to kill and kidnap residents of the kibbutz.

  There was another Gazan drone shot down by a Patriot missile, and the Israel government decided that a ground invasion into Gaza would begin. The day after, another 18,000 reservists were called up. Everyone knew someone that had been called back to duty, including me.

  Within a few days the IDF announced that it had uncovered ten more tunnels with twenty-two exit points, and there were dozens more. They were underground terror tunnels, complex and advanced, designed to cross the border from Gaza into Israel to do maximum damage.

  It was intended that entire Israeli communities would be infiltrated, mass murders would be committed, and hostages would be taken.

  Hamas loved their tunnels. In fact, their most successful escapade was when they slipped into Israel through a tunnel and kidnapped Gilad Shalit on June 25, 2006. Shalit was held for five and a half years and then traded for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, and set free on October 18, 2011.

  Throughout that period they sent their terrorists in training out through their Egyptian tunnels for cutting-edge Jihad instruction to Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Malaysia.

  Their tunnels proved to be useful. The Shin Bet reported that Hamas had been building tunnels since 2000. They emulated Hezbollah, who learned this skill from Iran, masters of tunnelling deep underground to hide their nuclear plants.

  On July 19 nine Hamas terrorists entered Israel through, yet another tunnel. They were wearing IDF uniforms, carrying weapons, handcuffs, syringes, and tranquilizers. Two IDF soldiers were killed by Hamas, one Hamas terrorist was killed by IDF, and the rest escaped back into the tunnel. Later, those in the tunnel were all killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

  Right after the last tunnel discovery there was to be a ceasefire. Something was bugging me about these underground tunnels. I had a lot of time on my hands in Hadera and tacked up all my Masada evidence on one of my bedroom walls, same as I had done in Tel Aviv.

  I began anew going over my photos of the five locations at Masada. My return trip was a bust, considering I didn’t get to go back and look for more clues. Saul had not contacted me and Absalom was also quiet. We were losing more of our soldiers every day. There were more tunnel incursions and I was pretty shaken at that point.

  The network of tunnels was all the Israeli public seemed focused on. Now, people were coming forward and saying that they had heard digging for a long time under their houses. Children had told their parents that they heard noises under their bedrooms.

  The network of tunnels was complex, dangerous, and difficult to destroy as they had offshoots going in different areas. We were forced to realize that we had to fight Hamas on their level. They couldn’t compete with the state of the art Iron Dome, so they reverted to the subterranean methods similarly used in ancient history all over the world.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  I was sitting outside with my morning coffee and my laptop when it hit me like a thunderbolt. I had been up quite late the night before after hearing on the news that Hamas had entire underground cities. I was pouring over my Masada information to see what the five locations had in common. I felt groggy, almost like
I was still asleep. I was thinking that the answer to the Masada clues were possibly right on the surface.

  Each of the Masada locations contained an underground repository! At the Byzantine Church the floor contained a hidden room either used for storage or for burial.

  The Old Synagogue had two hollowed out pits for the holy Torah and there was also a cavity in the floor that housed relics.

  At the Columbarium Towers, behind the dovecotes were steps that lead down to a lower area that would have been underground and used for a warehouse.

  The Northern Palace contained a storeroom with three subterranean craters that were discovered in the plastered floors.

  And The Large bathhouse’s hypocaust, the heating and ventilation system was all underground.

  The Masada locations that Absalom had sent me to all contained cellars, storerooms, clandestine areas, like the Hamas tunnels. Different but similar.