Direct from Haifa Pt. 3: Eugene talks to Roger

Transcript: Direct from Haifa Part 3: Eugene Talks to Roger
Recording Date: July 25, 2006 - 11:54 p.m. PST
Transcribed by Diane Wadum @ Pajamas Media

Podcast with Roger Simon of Pajamas Media and Eugene of Live from an Israeli Bunker

Announcer: This is a Pajamas Media/Politics Central presentation.

Roger Simon (RS): This is Roger Simon again with Politics Central. I’m with Eugene in the bunker in Haifa. How are you doing today Eugene?

Eugene: Well, not so good Roger. We had it light for a few days and now it’s worse again.

RS: Yes, we read in the Jerusalem Post this morning that there were 16 missiles hitting Haifa today. Does that track with your personal experience?

Eugene: I didn’t count them all, but that ‘s what I hear, that’s correct.

RS: How are the people there bearing up to this now?

Eugene: We had a couple of false sirens, and about the fifth time it was not a false alarm.

The new rule right now is to wait 15 minutes after each time that you hear a siren, because now what Hezbollah is doing — they fire the rockets, you hear the siren, you go down, you go back up — they know you go back up — then they just fire rapidly again to try to hit you on your way up basically. So we wait 15 minutes, and sure enough another siren hits.

And to pass the time, the announcer puts on a song, “I Want to be Loved by You” by Marilyn Monroe from 1959’s Some Like it Hot. You probably know that movie, right?

RS: Yes, of course.

Eugene: Well, try to imagine these people in the bunker — kids - “I Want to be Loved by You” playing on the radio and rockets flying over to Haifa, right? And the song is good, and everybody starts to nod a bit to the song, and it puts a smile on their faces while rockets are basically flying in their direction, right?

I try to cheer my father up, so I sort of dance around with him a little bit and the mood is really good, which is really strange, but really surreal, and I think ‘wonderful’! So, that’s what I wanted to tell.

RS: That’s heartening to hear. It has the kind of feeling of what you read about during the battle of Britain. Does that ring a bell to you?

Eugene: Yes, that does ring a bell to me.

RS: I understand you’re going to be leaving Israel shortly.

Eugene: Yeah, it was planned so I can’t avoid it. And I don’t know, it’s a weird feeling. I’m not sure I really want to leave right now, you know what I mean?

RS: Yes, I do, but could you explain it?

Eugene: Well, it’s a little bit like you’re deserting. I mean I know I’m not because this was planned, but still, its sort of … you want to stay and give your support and just not leave. And some people do leave, and I can’t blame them. But if I wasn’t going on this trip, on the planned trip, I wouldn’t have left even if things would have gotten worse.

RS: So you feel a little bit like your letting your people down, or is just …

Eugene: Yeah, something like that, but it’s just a feeling probably, and it will pass I hope.

RS: And will you be doing any blogging while your away - about the situation?

Eugene: I’ll try to do my best. I just don’t know how often I’ll have a connection when I’m away.

RS: Do you have any more to say to the people who have been listening to your podcast and reading your blog?

Eugene: I found I have lots, and lots, and lots to say actually. I can probably write about this for months.

I hope I don’t have to, but I found…is people don’t like us. And I probably knew this already, but this time I just sort of experienced it first hand from the comments…and people just have predisposed notions, and conclusions, and no matter how much logic you might throw at them, they pretty much don’t want to listen. I’ve come across a few people like that now, and I just want to change that, so there’s a lot more to write about.

RS: Where do you think that hatred comes from?

Eugene: I don’t want to be a bitter, self-loathing Jew, but basically I think it’s a little bit of anti-Semitism that’s built in to fall out of people. I don’t know why, it’s just the way it is.

RS: Well, on that sad and unhappy note, we wish you a terrific, deserved vacation even though we can well understand why you have these mixed feelings. We’ll be talking to you again soon, Eugene, both in the United States and Canada, and also back in Haifa when you return. Thank you very much.

Eugene: Thank you Roger.

RS: This has been Roger Simon for Pajamas Media/Politics Central.