Today we began our morning lectures with a session delivered by one of the head journalists from the Jerusalem Post. He talked to us about the ins and outs of Israel's stability and the entire Middle Eastern region. It was fascinating and scary all at the same time. He showed us maps of the Middle East and spoke about the threats to Israel. He explained to us that Israel's biggest threat was from Iran and they would be in trouble if Syria were to fall because at the moment Syria is the only real 'buffer zone' between Iran transporting weapons into Lebanon, which is hostile to Israel and right on its border. As recently as the past few days rockets have been fired into Israel from the Sinai on the other side of the country by ISIS, who have a strong influence in the north of Egypt and are spreading through the Sinai. The Israeli Defence Force have a strong presence on the border between the Sinai and Gaza because ISIS and Hezbollah were beginning to tunnel weapons under the borders. He explained to us that when Israel initially moved away from Gaza and allowed the Palestinians control they were overrun by Hezbollah and he said that Israel learnt a lesson when this happened. That is why they are happy to allow the Palestinians to control the West Bank but will never remove their military presence because if Hezbollah, ISIS or any of the other terror factions were to again take control it would be a disaster for Israel. He also said that hostilities were also high in the Golan Heights and there has been rocket fire that has made Israeli landfall as well over the last few days. This made us a little nervous as we are heading north on Sunday and travelling along the Golan Heights area. However, we spent a day in Tel Aviv last weekend which is only 92kms away from the Gaza Strip and we were fine. Of course we were only hearing one viewpoint but it was still great to have a better understanding of the situation in the country. Netanyahu is not a well liked leader because he is not too concerned about his people, evidenced by the constant protests on the corner right outside my hotel, but he continues to be voted in because he is the only leader who has been able to secure the Israel borders. His focus according to the journalist is security alone. He gave us lots of facts and figures and numbers of deaths, injuries and terror attacks have reduced significantly over his multiple tenures.
Members of our group who hadn't gone through the West Bank did so this afternoon and came back with lots of tales of hearing and seeing gunshot and fighting. There was a drive by shooting in the West Bank the other day in which a Rabbi died and this has caused tension.
It is Shabbat today so we finished school at 11.15am and when we returned to the hotel a few of us went for a walk along the Old City Wall. On our way back there weren't a lot of locals about because of the Sabbath but because it is the time when the Jewish people visit the holy sites there are a lot of police at all the checkpoints.
This Jewish man was busking in the Mamilla Mall. He was very good! Seeing an Orthodox Jew with side curls working on the Sabbath is highly unusual so perhaps he was just cashing in on the novelty factor for tourists. His guitar case was full of money.
Here are some spices just for the sake of it. I like taking photos of spices.
Before dinner tonight a few of us went to the Synagogue to welcome in the Shabbat and then the whole group met for Shabbat dinner at the hotel along with all the other Jewish families who came to the hotel. The Synagogue was very busy tonight and there was a gospel choir singing throughout the service so it was really lovely.
Heading to Synagogue in my new jacket.
We have a half day tour of Masada tomorrow morning and then a guided tour in the afternoon of the Jewish and Christian Quarters. Off to bed now!
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