Rocket in Kibbutz Nir-Am
Photo: Avi Roccah
Is anybody listening?
Thirteen-year-old southern girl urges all ministers to visit her rocket-battered kibbutz
It’s hard for me to explain what my family has been going through. The stress, the phone calls to my father every five minutes, and the tensions that make us fight with each other.
Recently, four Qassam rockets landed in my kibbutz, including one in the swimming pool. The radio announced that there were no casualties, but when I walked on the path leading to the pool I did see a casualty: A bird. A dove.
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For children facing unsettling existence under rocket threat, imagination is the ultimate refuge
A dove of all things, meant to symbolize peace and tranquility, suffered shrapnel wounds to its head. This sight caused me to feel anger and hatred, and for a moment to truly understand the reality we live in. I know that some will say it was “only a dove,” but for me the symbolism was clear. Hamas knows we exist but it does everything in its power to hurt us.
I feel a mixture of frustration and confusion, fear and weakness, pain and anger. But more than anything, I feel that nobody listens.
I go through a constant emotional storm that does not let go. I have had so much practice that I feel like an Olympic champion in running-away-from-Qassam sprints. My response to the Color Red alert is illogical. I cannot even describe it for you in words. You cannot explain this feeling to someone who has not experienced it.
For the time being, God has protected me and my family, but I don’t know for how long He would be able to safeguard us all.
It is important for me to take this opportunity to invite all the ministers in the Israeli government to visit and stay over at our kibbutz. For one night, I want them to feel what I feel every day, the whole day.
Yet despite all, I still haven’t lost hope – the hope that one day things will be good around here.
Eden Lieberman is a 13-year-old girl from Kibbutz Nir-Am
