Rural Iowa knows a thing or two about wildfires unfortunately, usually controlled burns that have gotten out of hand with the help of high winds.
Though supporting a different climate than Iowa, Israel too has had its share of recent wildfires.
In fact, a fire that threatened Israel last week has re-ignited again this week, as strong winds and dryness have caused a detrimental combination.
120 teams of firefighters and 12 firefighting aircraft have battled the blaze, said Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services.
Over 5,000 acres of land in Israel, including 3,000 acres of forest, have burned since Wednesday - when the hills outside of Jerusalem were initially kindled.
Several towns had been evacuated and main roads were closed on Wednesday, which was Israel’s Memorial Day (the subject of Israel at War last week). Most public celebrations of Independence Day were cancelled.
All told, at least 12 people were hospitalized due to the fire, and 10 more were treated on sight by medics.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a national emergency and requested international aid to combat the fires.
As a result, firefighter planes from Greece, Cyprus, Croatia and Italy were sent to assist Israel’s own; and Ukraine, Spain, France and some other nations have committed to sending aid. Israel is not alone.
“This is perhaps the largest fire ever in the country,” Jerusalem’s district fire department commander Shmulik Friedman said Wednesday afternoon.
The cause of the fires isn’t clearly known - though there have been 18 people arrested in conjunction.
The Nameless One says, “I'm not sure if it was actual arson, and more specifically, arson by Palestinian terrorists. Some people rapidly judge what happened, and I'll be a bit more patient in this case.
“What is undeniable is the volume of Palestinian social media incitement to go out and burn the Jews/settlers (for Palestinians, the settler is every Jewish person in Israel and not just in the West Bank) and to burn Israel.”
He contemplates, “What does it say about their society? Why do social media accounts explicitly call for violence? Why would they think this call to action would work? I think it is yet another testimony of the depravity of Palestinian society - that people can believe they can push some of them over the edge by simple social media propaganda. I also didn't hear any Palestinian official condemning the incitement (the call to Palestinians to burn the fire wherever they can) - yet, Abu Mazen, the president, offered some help to put the fire out.”
On Monday, Israel declared that it needs to double the resources available to the Israel National Fire and Rescue Authority to enable it to cope with the “era of megafires,” which are being driven by climate change. In fact, temperatures are rising fast throughout the entire world.
Even outside of Israel, much of Jewish diaspora has the wildfires on their minds. A literary magazine, called Judith, has announced a new poetry theme of Fire, and calls for entries from writers which circumvent the topic: “From wildfires in the Jerusalem hills to the fire of passion, we are looking for poems for Lag B’Omer, the holiday that celebrates when fires were lit from hill to hill to announce the end of the Yavne pandemic and the return to learning of Rabbi Akiva’s students, a holiday when kids in Israel stay up all night eating hotdogs and burned potatoes and telling scary stories around many bonfires all over the country.”
History and connection abound when it comes to fire.
And what of the warfront, amidst the blazes? The Nameless One gives us insight into that situation as well, as he makes the point that the war in Gaza will soon intensify.
Additionally, he says, “The Jihadists in Syria (Al-Julani's people with the support of Turkey) started an attack in Druze parts of Damascus and southern Syria. Israel declared its obligation to protect the Druze in Syria.
“In Lebanon - the Government is about to ban Hamas.” However, he warns, “It's not that easy because we have learned during the war that Hamas built an empire in Lebanon.
And that’s not all, as “Yemen keeps shooting missiles at us, they woke us up this morning at 6:20 am. I don't see how it's going to end without the southern Yemenites conquering the Houthis area.”
The Nameless One wisely asserts where the pieces need to move on the map.
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