For those following along, I’m in Israel! I was immediately greeted by those little details that make you say, “Yup, I’m in Israel,” such as the tarmac not quite being level with the plane - “eh, it’s close enough … they can all manage.”
I noticed that this flight was almost all Israelis coming back from America, the lines for foreign passports were nearly empty, which is much different than most of my times traveling to Israel. The airport was also filled with signs acknowledge the hostages and asking to bring them home. They even had ages of the people listed and have been crossed out and corrected, twice for some.
Along the route to Jerusalem, there were banners over many of the bridges, calling for the return of the hostages and to remember them, and as we drove near the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem on the way to the hotel, there were multiple displays of protest and signs calling for the return of the hostages. Tomorrow we meet with people from the minister of foreign affairs and a representative of the Knesset, so we’ll see what more I can tell you about the state of things here in Israel.
