I’m not going to lie. This morning started out quite unnerving, and I wondered how it might change my plans and our lives.
I woke early and happened to have the local news on early enough that I was expecting reruns from Saturday night. Instead, the news was reporting live on a major IDF operation against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, and initially dozens and then hundreds of rockets and drones that Hezbollah fired across northern Israel in response. It was surreal watching this being reported, seeing the panoramic views from cameras in the Galilee as the Iron Dome anti-missile system successfully intercepted scores of rockets, and then hearing about the broad impact this was having with the IDF issuing instructions for residents of the northern half of Israel to stay close to bomb shelter, and limiting public gatherings of any kind. While all this was happening, the Red Alert app on my phone was blowing up (pun intended) as the wave of rockets and drones being fired at Israel grew.
As soon as the depth and breadth of the attack underway was reported, live reports from Ben Gurion airport began detailing a growing number of delays and cancellations.
Usually, this would have been important, but it is academic. However, I was heading to the airport for a flight to Dubai to connect to the US after my initial reservation via Frankfurt was canceled less than a week earlier.
Acting on intelligence that Hezbollah was about to launch a major attack using long-range missiles to strike Tel Aviv and other points in central Israel, the IDF initiated a preemptive attack. Before the airport reopened for all flights, reports were broadcast of some 100 Israeli warplanes hitting numerous Hezbollah targets where the missiles were either being stored or were being loaded for an imminent attack.
Closing the airport, diverting flights, issuing precautionary warnings from the Home Front Command, and more were all done in the eventuality that despite the IDF's success in targeting numerous Hezbollah missiles and launchers, Hezbollah would unleash many more of the estimated 150,000 rockets and long-range missiles that it’s known to possess. Also unsure was whether Iran might step in, acting on its threat to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas terror leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
I was conflicted: looking to be sure that I would be able to get out on time to make my connection in Dubai for an essential trip to the US versus wondering if this was a sign that I should cancel, not leaving my family at a time that the escalation that we’ve been anticipating could finally be in our midst, and the overall feeling that I (and countless other Israelis) have, that even when it’s potentially the most dangerous, the place to be is at home.
It made all the more eerie, as this was all flying; my newly inducted soldier son woke up, donned his uniform, and prepared to return to his base. While he’s been in the IDF less than a week, hasn’t even held a gun yet, and has months of training to go before he sees any combat, the whole idea was unnerving, thinking that the escalation and potential all-out attack from Hezbollah (and Iran) could be happening.
I was mindful of my other son being overseas, waking up to a message that he may soon be called up and deployed to northern Israel should a ground operation be used to complement the successful air strikes. The uneasiness was amplified as my daughter drove me to the airport, telling me that her boyfriend had already been given that notice that he may be called up as well.
Uncertain whether my flight would even take off, I became anxious about leaving Israel despite arriving smoothly, checking in my bag, going through security, and getting to the gate with time for a coffee and to write this.
There’s no question that as people in the West wake up, they will respond with a reflexive accusation of Israeli aggression. By the time I land in Dubai, I’d be surprised if a chorus of ignorant leaders, pundits, and terrorist supporters around the globe won’t have begun with their chanting of destroying Israel, blaming the “occupation,” and other such antisemitic genocidal mantras.
The truth is, Israel’s preemptive attack on Hezbollah targets was not only the right and necessary move, preventing carnage across central Israel, which is not only Israel’s right but also its responsibility. It also may have precluded a widespread “regional conflict,” about which Western leaders have been public as their main goal in containing the attacks to and within Israeli borders. Had Tel Aviv been hit, and it may yet be. There were dozens, hundreds, or more Israeli casualties; the IDF would have responded much differently, in fact, bringing the possibility of regional escalation to the fore.
Watching the news, some commentators noted that it was about time that Israel behaved forcefully, praising the precision and boldness of the attack, the intelligence behind it, and noting that it was also long overdue. Some 100,000 Israelis remain domestic refugees, having had to evacuate their communities along the Lebanese border, for whom there has been no resolution of this unacceptable situation.
My flight is about to board, and I do so with mixed feelings. Israel is not just home; it’s the place I belong, especially when things are difficult. I don’t know what will happen over the next two weeks, and getting home may be challenging should things escalate further. But it’s an important trip, specifically, as I work to promote the Solution for Peace in Gaza, addressing the extremist radical Islam that is the source of all the problems in the Middle East, led by and from the Iranian Islamic regime, throughout its tentacles in Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and others.
If the escalation does happen, other than praying that my family is safe and secure, along with all Israelis, I pray that the IDF is equally successful at preventing massive harm to the homefront and sending a clear message to the terrorists that they will not win.