My mother called from the US in a panic as she heard on the news (BBC) that our city, Haifa, was bombed-we happily assured her this was not so. A few days later when the situation was still looking dire, my husband was at work and a co worker came over to him and said "Thank You" . " For what?" my husband asked " For more Phantoms". America was standing by Israel in her hour of need.

I'm an American who was living in Israel the day the war broke out...I'll never forget it: On our holiest day,while most people were at home resting and the country was so quiet because of the holyday, at 2pm we heard sirens ring. We didn't know why. We had a radio in our apartment and the next door neighbor, who was religious and wouldn't turn on the tv, came over to us and we heard on the radio we were attacked. The men in our building went down to the basement to clean out the bomb shelter (which had been used for storage). We got a phone call from Israeli friends who told us not to be afraid, that it would be ok. Then they went off to join their regiment. The next days were harrowing: the constant sound of Phantoms flying north to battle, the helicopters returning the wounded soldiers to the local hospital (many burned as their tanks were bombed), the sirens rang several times throughout the day: I packed up my 2 mo. old and raced down to the shelter until the all clear (the sirens rang because a Syrian plane was heading our way). At night the blinds were drawn and the lights were mostly out. There was limited food in the shops.