Borsch in Ashkelon

Why are our elderly aunts and grandmothers over and over again, Soloviev believes more than their own relatives under fire

My friend Diana comes from Shadrinsk - this is such a small town in our Kurgan region - she left for Israel in 2018. She is small and fragile, and when she comes to Russia (rarely), even in her 27 years she has to take a passport to buy a bottle of wine.

When we were students, Dee (as everyone called her here) was engaged in activism with might and main. I fought for compliance with labor rights, held some competitions, organized discussion clubs ... Even in those vegetarian times, any civil activity, if not under the coordinated flags, was considered opposition. Followed by squeezing a person from public life. All these calls from the administration, sincere conversations with people in civilian clothes ...

All young and initiative poured from our Kurgan region to neighboring regions. Well, Diana also left - but not in Yekaterinburg or Peter, but to Israel, after her mother.

There, Diana married, worked a lot, delaying money to open her first business - a small pet store in the city of Ashkelon. All these years we have remained in touch, I now know something about this of their Ashkelon.

In this border with the Gas sector, a large number of immigrants from the CIS countries live, young are mostly pairs: proximity to the sector and frequent shelling significantly affect the cost of life.

Here is cheaper.

Diana moved to the new apartment with a view of the Gaza Strip in late September. Soon, after six months, Dee will receive Israeli citizenship.

And on the morning of October 7, I learned from her story that the Hamasovites attacked Ashkelon.

6.34
Social networks Diana. "Good morning!" I click on the video, a sound appears: Airy anxiety.

- Fuck you alarm clock! - trying to cheer up Dee, I wrote to her.

-Yes, something tough, Siren has not been silent for two hours.

I can only say to myself that the video with the rockets that the Iron Dome is shot down, Diana was not published for the first time. The missile attacks that became routine have long been perceived by us with the share of irony and sometimes a rather gloomy humor.

9.04
The Brief telegram channel: “Several dozen missiles were released from the territory of the gas sector in the central and southern regions of Israel, there are direct missile hits in Tel Aviv and Ashkelon.”

9.06
Shot telegram channel: “According to the Israeli media, in Ashkelon a rocket flew to a residential building.”

11.34
Social networks Diana. In the frame - dispersed cars, burning parking at the house. From the broken wall of the building standing in the neighborhood, the flames of flames burst. Short signature: "This is already with us ..."

I call Diana.

- flew right into the yard. Already declared war. The airport is closed. We were all told to close in the house and not go anywhere.

11.45
In the networks - the first frames with the signatures of the Arabic scribble, people running around the desert, a captive girl in bloodied clothes, a burning tank, a captive tanker, rockets ...

11.57
Social networks Diana. In the photo - dressed in black people with machine guns going towards her house. Signature: "I never thought that I would be glad of the army in the city."

12.20
“Soloviev”: “That is, if you believe the Israeli police, 60 people defeated the border guard and captured two decent cities - Deero and Ashkelon ...”

12.36
I am writing to Diana: “Dee, there is some hell. They write that the militants in Ashkelon. "

13.03
"Reception, tell me, are you all right?!"

14.08
"Di!!!!"

16.14
"Write at least something!"

The fact that Ashkelon was taken by Hamas was initially not believed. How is it possible?! Where is the army? Where is Mossad? This is Israel! But everything happens in reality, and the capture of the border city is also a reality. What then with di?

By this time, the network was already crowded with savage shots with fanatics, as if coming from the pages of medieval chronicles.

DI house - at the intersection, an excellent fire point. Those who came to the city understand this perfectly.

The feeling of unknown, fear for a loved one and shock. The last time I experienced this gamut of feelings on February 24, 2022. And now everything returned.

The nightmare is inevitable, you will not run away from it, it will affect everyone, regardless of the place of stay and civil position.

03/17
While propaganda and bloggers practiced gloating in relation to those who left for Israel, I phoned Dianina Aunt, Anastasia Viktorovna.

“We talked with Diana in the morning, according to Watsap (belongs to the Meta company, recognized as an extremist organization), only the shelling began. I tell her: leave. And she: do not worry, everything will be in order. Then, at lunch, she once again tried to get through to her. Doesn't take it. She called and wrote where I can find out. And if you do not find out, then at least give the surname. But everywhere is deaf! "

According to the results of this terrible day, October 7, 23 Russians died in Israel (and at least one person was listed as missing).

October 8. 03.04
In the corner of the smartphone screen, a square of notification from the Diana account on the social network was displayed:

“Everything is in order with me. Managed to escape. Mom in the house has a bomb shelter. We are sitting here. Scary. These freaks are still in the city, there are few cars - they all look out of the windows. ”

“I never thought that the bomb shelter is a cool place to get acquainted with the neighbors on the site. Beautiful people. "

09.10. 13.02
I call Diana. Even before her voice, I hear the rumble and the dull sounds of distant breaks in the tube.

- Hello. What is it? Do you have again?

“No, it's there ...” Dee answered calmly, almost everyday. - We have the third day the windows are shaking, this sector is bombing.

- And you are no longer shelling?

- Yeah, if ... the siren does not turn off, xs where they get so many missiles. Everything is closed in the city, many are leaving.

- Do you think to blame too?

- Where to bring down? They shoot all over Israel. In Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem-they bomb everywhere. And in the north of Hezbollah, so there is nowhere to go. My mother and I are already joking that in Ashkelon the most repulsed - those who from the Urals ... We will survive everything. My mommy was generally the nineties. So they went with their missiles. I cook borsch at home.

- I say seriously. Maybe already to Russia?

- No, thanks. Don't want. Better here. Although ... If this does not end, then, of course, you need to think something. Every six months war! We just opened the store, and now we have a simple one. We have already flew into large grandmas. But we will definitely not go to Russia or somewhere in the CIS. Before receiving Israeli citizenship, I have less than six months. I will receive a passport - and we will decide. In general ... we are all very disappointed here by the position of Russia, which did not even condemn the attack on October 7. The embassy in no way helped those compatriots who decided to leave. Of course, we did not build illusions about the fact that someone needed. But still ... This is not the case when it is glad that your expectations have been confirmed. In addition to those who left mobilization, in Israel there are many who have been living here for a long time. Among the older generation of our fellow countrymen there are many those who support Putin, but they also forgot about them. The embassy, ​​even for the sake of decency, did not offer anyone to evacuate.

Separately, Diana was disappointed with Russian news, covering the situation, in her opinion, from Hamas and turn a blind eye to the death of Russians.

Diana: “The Khamasovites have already killed our so many, but they don’t talk about them on TV. But vice versa: they say what a good hamas, what a terrible Israel ... But they invaded it! And water, and light, and water supply - all the same was built by Israel, and they dug up pipes, made rockets from them and launched us ...

But the aunt called and told me for half an hour what a good Putin ... and that Israel himself was to blame for everything ...

Here she watches TV, and the thought of calling me and tell her all this. And the granny generally stopped calling even just to find out how you are ... "

We said goodbye, Dee hung up. And I still could not get rid of the feeling that I was in the time machine and returned again to February 2022. How many of the same aunts and grandmothers called (or did not call) their relatives in Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkov ...

Nikolai Mokrousov, especially for Novaya Gazeta