On Sunday morning at around 4:30 a.m., I woke up from a restless sleep. My body clock was asking, where is tonight’s missile attack alert?
Unable to fall back asleep, I checked my phone, going to WhatsApp first. There was a message from my friend Randi in the US, just saying “unbelievable, unbelievable!”
Quickly, the source of her exclamation became apparent. After days of speculation, the United States had targeted the three main Iranian nuclear sites, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, either severely damaging or destroying them.
After decades of having a gun pointed at the heads of all Israelis with the trigger getting closer and closer to being fired, the gun was melted in one svelte swoop.
Waking up to a different world
But what comes next? For me, knowing that an Iranian response was in the offing, it was trying to get some sleep despite the once-in-a-lifetime events that were unfolding around me.
Hugging my wife, hearing only our shallow breathing, we realized that nothing would be the same – the world had shifted on its axis.
Just after the alarm clock sounded the dulcet strains of Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland” (try it if you want to wake up happy), the inevitable missile alert clatter from the Home Front Command brought us to attention.
In the well-attended community bomb shelter, a chipper Kobi set up some extra chairs and kept saying, “Now the real war is beginning.” Then there was a group singing for four-year-old Shailee, looking proud and embarrassed at the same time, as she clutched her security blanket.
Nobody knows how this will play out, whether this is the end of Iran as we know it, or the beginning of a wider conflict possibly involving Russia or China.
We do know that what’s happened the last eight days has been necessary for Israel’s continued survival. Think what you want about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, but their actions have made the world a safer place in the long run.
In the short run, though, things could get rocky.
We’ll all need to find our security blankets, and hold on tight.