Six grandkids called up for IDF duty
"It’s a very, very unsettling time,” Michael Bliss tells The AJN, after six of his grandchildren were called up for duty in Israel on Saturday.
FOR a Netanya great-grandfather who made aliyah with his family 17 years ago from Britain, the past three days have required a traditional British stiff upper lip, after six of his grandchildren were called up on active duty with the IDF when Saturday’s Hamas terrorist onslaught began.
Michael Bliss is the brother Philip Bliss, immediate past president of Progressive Judaism Victoria, and past president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Union for Progressive Judaism.
Michael was quietly resolute when The AJN asked him on by phone on Sunday night (Australian time) if he has even slept since finding out so many family members have gone into harms way.
In addition, Michael – who has 42 great-grandchildren – has had to endure the regulation silence from IDF troops on front lines.
With no word from his grandkids on active duty, and only worry, it’s been a harrowing time. But he has remained resolute.
“I really consider it to be a privilege that they serve in the IDF,” said Michael, who did his British national service as a young man.
His grandsons “are in marine combat units, so they know what they’re doing,” he said quietly.
“They’ve been doing regular reserve duty. And when it comes down to it, you know, we’ve got a people’s army. And we have to we have to go with it. Of course, it’s extremely worrying [but] we’re also proud that they’re doing their bit to safeguard the country.”
Michael Bliss said Netanya has so far been quiet – and members of his family have not yet taken refuge in the bomb shelters at their apartment block.
Asked about how Israelis around him are responding to the shock incursions by Hamas, Bliss was emphatic: “I must say I’m very disappointed in in the intelligence lapse which allowed Hamas to come in without [Israel] realising. I just don’t understand how this happened at all.
“But of course, we’ve had our share of terrorist outrages in the past. And we’re all very supportive of the IDF.
“This has brought about a resurgence of togetherness, which we’ve lacked in the last six months or nine months.
“So, we hope that this new togetherness will take us forward because we are going to have to go through very difficult periods, particularly where families in the south have been butchered and transferred to Gaza. It’s a very, very unsettling time.”
comments