"To Nasrallah with love from Israel and Daniele"

This photo appeared in all the Australian newspapers on Wednesday. I was perplexed. Was it a set up? Who are these girls? What are they writing? Why?

Thanks you to Lisa from “on the face” , I now know what was going on.
The photo was taken by Sebastian Scheiner an Israeli photojournalist who took the photo for Associated Press (AP).

The little girls shown drawing with felt markers on the tank missiles are residents of Kiryat Shmona, which is right on the border with Lebanon. On the day that photo was taken, the girls had emerged from the underground bomb shelters for the first time in five days. A new army unit had just arrived in the town and was preparing to shell the area across the border. The unit attracted the attention of twelve photojournalists - Israeli and foreign. The girls and their families gathered around to check out the big attraction in the small town - foreigners. They were relieved and probably a little giddy at being outside in the fresh air for the first time in days. They were probably happy to talk to people. And they enjoyed the attention of the photographers.

Apparently one or some of the parents wrote messages in Hebrew and English on the tank shells to Nasrallah. "To Nasrallah with love," they wrote to the man whose name was for them a devilish image on television - the man who mockingly told Israelis, via speeches that were broadcast on Al Manar and Israeli television, that Hezbollah was preparing to launch even more missiles at them.

The photograpers gathered around. Twelve of them. Do you know how many that is? It's a lot. And they were all simultaneously leaning in with their long camera lenses, clicking the shutter over and over. The parents handed the markers to the kids and they drew little Israeli flags on the shells. Photographers look for striking images, and what is more striking than pretty, innocent little girls contrasted with the ugliness of war? The camera shutters clicked away, and I guess those kids must have felt like stars, especially since the diversion came after they'd been alternately bored and terrified as they waited out the shelling in their bomb shelters.

Personally, I understand that pacifism never really took off in the middle east and probably never will, but this is ridiculous. Is this one of those "only in Israel" moments that I am proud of? not really. It's bizarre and sad. I said tehillim today with 300 people. Maybe that will help…. Shabbat shalom