Between Sirens and Shelters: Life in Israel's Line of Fire
Forty-five seconds to a minute is an eternity in a four-hundred meter race. It is the blink of an eye when trying to wake your children and rush them into the nearest shelter between hearing the siren and the boom of the Iron Dome interceptions overhead - if you are lucky - or the impacts nearby if you’re not. Even in peaceful times in Israel, you almost subconsciously note where the nearest shelter is located. It’s been a year since any day where I didn’t need to plan my route around shelters, and the schools could operate normally, or at all, felt like a gift.
I started writing this in one of many public shelters while my family and I listen to Iranian ballistic missiles and Israeli air defense systems dueling in the skies above us. Intercepts over central Israel to our south sound like popcorn. Closer by, they sound more like an AC-130 firing its 105mm cannon. Directly overhead, they sound and look like what they are: ballistic missiles hit in mid-air raining down molten metal and shrapnel rather than tons of untargeted high explosives on populated areas. Miraculously, once again, air defense won. We come upstairs, walk the dog, put the kids to sleep in our safe room, and prepare for the next day.
If any of the hundreds of missiles launched near our home in the past week alone hit us, we would be another statistic. Many would be quick to respond to news of my family’s death from a missile or drone launched by Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, the self-styled Islamic Resistance in Iraq, or any other Iranian proxy by asking about children in Gaza. This reflexive what-aboutism is morally bankrupt – a sign of a broken soul more interested in scoring points than actually caring about Palestinians or any real humans.
Hold Israel to account. Hold it to the standard we hope the U.S. aspires to under the laws of armed conflict. And hold Hamas and the entire Iranian proxy network to that standard. Integrity demands a “yes, and” response to this war. The fact that Hamas and Hezbollah weaponize moral injury by using their people and protected sites as terrain features for cover and concealment does not absolve Israel of legal responsibility. But it is the context in which this war is fought. Insurgents and terrorists do not get a free pass.
In this horror show, there are no deserving victims. Right and wrong are not always black and white, but they never depend on the identity of the perpetrator or the victim.
I will try to keep reaching out to those affected. As a volunteer Magen David Adom medic, I will continue to serve the community and help those I can. As we enter the Jewish New Year season we pray that this next year is better than the last.
