As the threat of an Iranian attack on Israel hangs over the Middle East, Israelis remain determined to go about their ordinary lives.
Potential missile and drone attacks from Iran and its proxies have prompted Israelis to stock up on food, water, batteries and more. The run on stores was reminiscent of the days leading up to Iran’s barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones in April.
“I know that if Khamenei says he’s going to do something, he usually follows through,” Yael Sasson, a 56-year-old homemaker from Ashkelon told The Press Service of Israel. “The question is just what form the attack will take, and in my opinion, the news channels have overreacted a bit to this whole situation.”
Nick Gottlieb, a 26-year-old US immigrant who works at a tech VC firm in Tel Aviv told TPS-IL that life continues in Tel Aviv. “If there’s a war, someone forgot to tell Tel Aviv. It’s business as normal — the beaches, shuk, and bars are still full.” Gottlieb is fully confident in Israel’s defensive abilities. “To put it into just two words, Bring it.”
In the southern town of Gan Yavne, Noa Halifa, a youth movement educator said the ongoing state of alert is more grinding than specific threats from Iran. “By and large we’re stuck in a state of anxiety since October 7th, and everything that’s happened since then just perpetuates that and pours gas on the fire. The fear isn’t because of the Iranian threat exactly, it’s something perpetual,” the 24-year-old told TPS-IL.
Halifa said she sensed the anxiety from the children she has worked with during the summer. “We usually do the camp in the woods, but this year, for the first time, we did it at a youth center, so that the kids would have access to bomb shelters,” Halifa explained. “The kids were stressed, they had panic attacks, and they were less independent overall.”
But she added, “Life still goes on, but we’re all needing to adapt ourselves to the current, difficult situation.”
Source:
‘Bring It’: Israelis Shrug Off Iranian Threats, by Noah Michaeli/TPS, August 5, 2024