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Gaza war

Life as a Jew outside an Israel at war: Column

Karol Markowicz

Learn the three kidnapped teenagers have been found dead. Feel rage.

Get sick to your stomach when you find out a Palestinian boy has been kidnapped and killed.

Wish you didn't know what was about to happen.

Rockets shot at Israel.

Israel retaliates

Hope it ends here. Know it won't.

Please no ground war, please no ground war, please no ground war.

Rocket hits Haifa. That's it. It's happening.

A friend who is always anti-Israel floats a conspiracy theory about the dead Israeli teens. Decide to mute him instead of unfollow on Twitter. Wonder if you're not standing up for Israel enough.

Childhood friend posts anti-religion screed and says both sides equally culpable for conflict. Break no-arguing-politics-especially-Israel-on-Facebook rule to point out if Palestinians stopped trying to destroy Israel all hostilities would end. He doesn't care, just wants to talk about atheism being so peaceful. Point out that half your family was slaughtered by atheist Soviets. Those are not "real" atheists. Of course not.

Hear Israel accepted a cease-fire. Relief.

Hear Hamas didn't. Despair.

Feel rage again. Why do you care more about Palestinian dead than their leadership does?

Hear texts were sent to Israelis laughing that Palestinians used the ceasefire to launch rockets. "We made you hide in shelters like mice. . ."

Don't tell Israeli-born husband what acquaintances and friends are saying on FB or Twitter.

Hear husband's cousins in Tel Aviv are trying to keep what's happening from their 2 young girls. Imagine your own 4-year old hearing rocket fire. Imagine your 1-year old who cries at thunder. Heart hurts.

British friend posts a cartoon on FB purporting to be history of the region. Extremely one-sided and includes fallacy that Jews weren't already living in Israel before its founding. Try to argue with her but know she'll go back to not caring one bit about the area as soon as it's out of the news so why bother. Don't mention how deeply insulted you are about her casual belief that Israel shouldn't exist.

Remember living in Britain and how it was the bizarro-world of Israeli news.

Celebrate 36 years since your family came to America. Know you're among the luckiest Jews in history.

Discovery of over 30 terror tunnels. Know this is nowhere near over.

Pray for peace. Actually pray.

Rocket lands near the airport in Tel Aviv. FAA blocks flights to Israel. Mother-in-law among those affected now has to decide whether to postpone or cancel trip.

Feel relief that your mother-in-law has canceled her yearly Israel trip but know how upset she is about it. She won't get to see her twin sister this year.

Michael Bloomberg is a badass? Who knew!

Things are bad. Make mistake of reading comments on news stories. They don't hate Jews, just Zionists but anyway all Jews are pigs.

Feel tired of seeing media people tweeting that Israel is losing the media war.

Jews attacked in France, Germany, Boston. Maccabi Haifa players attacked in Austria. World shrugs shoulders.

See a non-Jewish friend link to the Gawker post that Israel should be in Germany. Tense up. Click to read more and see he's actually disputing Gawker's idiocy and noting Jews have always lived in what is now Israel. Feel an enormous rush of gratitude for his support. Exhale.

Wake up hoping for ceasefire.

Wake up hoping for ceasefire.

Wake up hoping for ceasefire.

Karol Markowicz blogs at alarmingnews.com. Twitter: @karol

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the opinion front page or follow us on twitter @USATopinion or Facebook.

Palestinians inspect a destroyed house in the heavily bombed Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah, close to the Israeli border, on Aug. 1. A Gaza cease-fire that began Friday quickly unraveled as Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce.
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