Explosions

Here in Haifa we often hear loud sonic booms from jets. Sometimes, when I can't hear a jet in the minutes before or after the boom, I wonder if the boom was some other sort of explosion. The options I consider include a suicide bomb or a terrorist bomb, a rocket from Lebanon like the ones we experienced daily during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, a gas leak or an accident in one of the factories in the Haifa Bay. I wait to hear if there are ambulance sirens, and if not, I usually decide it was a sonic boom after all.

An incident today has made me add another option to this list. In Tel Aviv today, a notorious crime boss was blown up in his car. Four passers-by were injured. The police predict a series of revenge attacks among the crime families. Who knows how many uninvolved people may be hurt in this private war.

These criminal families have often attacked each other's members, injuring or killing innocent bystanders in the process. It is so difficult to get them convicted, and they remain free to conduct their violent competition in public.

So here's another fear to add to our not insignificant list...