not as interesting* as a terrorist attack, but ...

Who knew?

So we have mobsters in our little burg. There was all kinds of excitement on Saturday night when a "shock grenade" (which apparently causes shock -- in this case to 3 people -- but no other damage) was thrown at a home in the western section of Raanana known as "Lev HaPark". Although Nesher St. is not a neighborhood I frequent, by chance it is exactly where I'm going today. (See report on that later.)

According to this report (in Hebrew), the grenade was meant as a threat to a soldier of the Ohana crime family, Haim Jann (my transliteration), and not an assassination attempt. A scare tactic, to send a message, as a Raanana resident commented on the Raanana Yahoo list. The same person noted that "both Nesher Street and HaMachtarot Street [which is my neighborhood] have well-known [or suspected] 'crime families' living there. Those living in the area know who they are and where they live. This is not the first grenade throwing and is probably linked to the recent headlines (last week and today) about certain people having been killed recently - even when they come to the 'shiva' [the 7-day mourning period when the bereaved receive visitors at home]."

Apparently a whole block full of rattled Israelis stood around on the sidewalk in their pj's telling the press that the blast had shaken their windows and scared the crap out of them.

* ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times..."