November 3, 2013 Well, we’ve kinda settled into the routine her on the barracks at Nevatim Airforce base. It is less luxurious than aboard the Korean Forest, as although we have internet access, we get mostly the Israeli TV Network, and no satellite TV. I guess military people don’t typically have time for TV. The first Israeli TV show that caught my eye is “The Next Star”, which is basically the Israeli version of American Idol, except everything is in Hebrew, including the singing. However, you can tell that the format of the show is basically the same. On Channel 2, you can get the Israeli News in English, but as one might expect, it is news from the perspective of the Israelis. I kinda miss CBC and BBC. In my case, I can’t really watch any shows for any length of time, because I don’t understand Hebrew, so my TV time has mostly been spent uselessly channel surfing. It appears that the big sport in Israel is soccer. I miss the CFL, and although I’m not a huge hockey fan, I do miss Don Cherry. I talked to both Kabir and Bashir, who have rejoined us in the barracks from their questioning, and they indicate that they were not tortured, but they were interrogated specifically about why the Korean Forest was circling the Med off the coast of Israel. Both were individually interrogated. Kabir told me that the story he provided to our captors is that we had a crew member go overboard, and we were circling to see if the crew member could be found. He provided Ron’s name as the missing crew member, since no one other than the American Navy will know that Ron was evacuated off the ship at Suez. On the other hand, because a clandestine mission was involved, there is no record of him being on the ship as a passenger either. However, Kabir tells me he stuck to his story, but he suspects they will probably interrogate him further. I checked with Bashir, and he informs me that they asked him the same question, and he provided the same answer, but they additionally pressed him about our Yemini crude, why we had been in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. He provided the truth about Saudi Arabia, that we went to buy a washing machine for the ship, and to allow Gerard to have some KFC. He didn’t tell them about the cable tapping in Yemen, because right now cable tapping is a sensitive subject with all governments friendly to the US, especially with today’s revelations in the Guardian about how widespread the practice of cable tapping is, especially by Britain and the US. He told them that we are ultimately bound to drop off our Yemeni crude at Gibraltar, which might create waves, as a lot of different flagged vessels pass through the strait of Gibraltar. Both Kabir and Bashir indicate that they did not receive a lot of feedback about their interrogation. I do know that with the recent bombing of Syria by the Israelis, and the fact that the port city of Ashdod has been subject to lots of Rocket attacks from Terrorists in Gaza, our captors probably believe we are somehow linked to either Hamas or the Syrians. I still have not been interrogated, and I am uncertain if it will happen. Apart from trying to absorb Israeli culture on TV, I basically hike around the base, where we are allowed to be. I really have not run into any English speaking personnel that I can have a conversation with. Louis is doing pretty well, and does not seem too worried at the moment. I think it probably has to do with his previous incarnation as a Foreign Legionnaire. I don’t think the Israelis can be nearly as hard on him as his Foreign Legion escapades were, and there is no hint that the Israelis will make him march or die. He is also less concerned now that we are on land and not on an essentially unarmed ship in the middle of six or seven hostile Navies. He mentioned something about tunneling under the chain link fence and escaping, but the rest of us basically told him that he is free to do so if he wants, but we like the air conditioning, and Hebrew is not a language he is familiar with, despite his training. Gerard is starting to get a little worried about Amanda, and how her pregnancy with the twins is progressing. Although he can’t phone her in Newfoundland, he has been able to have a Facebook chat on the computer here, which the Israelis are probably monitoring, so eventually, they will probably figure out that our stop in Saudi Arabia was partly brought on by Gerard’s desire to partake in some KFC, and not anything related to anti-Zionism. Gerard has lost a bit of weight thus far, probably because he hasn’t had any KFC for awhile. Alphonse seems a bit lost without his ability to cook. They bring meals to us here. My observations of Alphonse in captivity make me believe that although he is a CIA cook, he is mostly out of the spy game, and would really rather cook than do anything else. I miss his bacon and eggs. We certainly don’t get any bacon here. As far as I know, the Korean Forest is still in the port at Ashdod, but who knows if the crude is still aboard. I’m guessing that by now, Israeli authorities have found the two Scan Eagle drones aboard the ship, but I’m not sure what conclusions they may draw from that particular find. So, although we can’t see them up close, the planes come and go. I can see and hear the F15’s and F16’s either taking off or landing, usually from the West. I woke up, partially as a result of the sun coming up, combined with the roar of a low flying jet over our barracks about a half hour ago. I decided I might as well take my first shower of the day. It’s going to hit about 26 here today, and the relative humidity is 59 percent, so without air conditioning, I would be sticking to everything. By the end of the day, with the amount of walking I plan to do to keep myself occupied, I will need another shower, and I’ll probably have to have them launder my clothes, and see if they have some spare fatigues. I’m hoping that eventually, they will let us go, after they find out that we’re not in cahoots with any of their enemies, and maybe since I’m here anyway, they will give me a set of Israeli Air Force Fatigues, as my green and gold jersey has taken a beating on this trip, and I didn’t bring a lot of spare clothing, and what I did bring for spare clothing is on the Korean Forest. I saw on the Internet that Edmonton has a snowfall warning right now, and I thought to myself, I’m acclimatizing to the heat, and for the last several years, I’ve been less impressed with Alberta winters than at any other period in my life. I don’t know that I would trade being a Canadian for being a citizen of any other country, after all this. We certainly have our unique scandals, but living in Alberta, I’ve never had to worry about rockets raining down on me. After being in Yemen, and seeing the poverty there, even this form of imprisonment on an Israeli air base seems luxurious.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 04:36:27 +0000
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