Apparently somebody came onto a bus with a special package and dropped it off, and then ran away. The bomb exploded and injured about 21 people (the numbers in the reports keep changing, so we don't know yet for sure how many or how serious). This happened on Shaul Hamelech street in central Tel Aviv. I’ve made a few maps so you can understand what the geography of all of this looks like, since it’s probably hard for people who’ve never been here to know what “Tel Aviv” means, regarding what it means for a bus to blow up in Tel Aviv, how close Tel Aviv is to Gaza, etc.
Map 1 shows my usual stomping ground. The red line on the right is the street where the bus blew up today. I pointed out where I live and where Moriel and Claire (very close friends of mine) live, so people have a sense of perspective. I also pointed out a few of our favorite bars.
Map 2 is a bit more zoomed out. In the maps that follow, a blue box shows where the borders of the last map were, so you can get a better sense of your bearings. I've outlined what most people consider central Tel Aviv in red, and I've kept on the highlighting of the street where the bus blew up. I also marked Tel Aviv University, where I am now and where I work.
Map 3 is a bit more zoomed out and you can see the relative locations of Holon, Tel Aviv, and Rishon LeTsiyon. Holon and Rishon are sites of recent damage from rocket attacks.
In Map 4, you can see Rehovot, where Moriel works (at the Weizmann Institute), and Ashdod. Ashdod has been under continual bombardment since this thing started, and for the last few years it's sustained rocket attacks on a regular basis.
Map 5 brings Gaza, Ashkelon, and Beer Sheva into the picture. Ashkelon and Beer Sheva have been under continual fire. Also, Jerusalem shows up on the right. A couple of Hamas missiles have landed near there during this conflict, including one yesterday right before Ban Ki Moon of the UN arrived.
And here's the same map of Israel right next to an equally scaled map of the New York Met area. I put a red line so you can see the distance missiles are flying between Gaza and Tel Aviv, compared with an equivalent distance in New York. It's as if Manhattan were being fired at from East Brunswick. I mean, I know that there's a rivalry between New York and New Jersey, but come on now...
The bus bombing was shocking and a whole new type of buzz went over my friends when we heard about it. It seems this was a lone actor... Hamas did not claim responsibility. We shall hope that this was an isolated incident. Even more than the rocket attacks, many of my Israeli friends seemed to take this as a matter of course, while Americans I've spoken to, including myself, were more shocked. I guess that it takes living through a few bombings to get used to it...
By the way, an Israeli news site to watch for very up to date news is Ynet:
Thanks for your thoughts everybody.
This is one of the better map perspective lessons I've seen.
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