In the wake of Operation Rising Lion, the Israeli military campaign that has targeted Iran’s nuclear program and its terrorist henchmen throughout the regime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that the action would continue “for as many days as it takes to remove this threat. We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program, which could produce a nuclear weapon. We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history.”
Israeli society remains vibrant, defiant, and unified. It is a tribute to the country’s resilience—proving that Am Yisrael Chai is more than just a sanctimonious moniker but also its rallying cry.
“From the very first night, there was a palpable sense that this time things would be different,” Hannah Eyal, a Portuguese-born Israeli psychologist who made aliyah in 2013, tells the Queens Jewish Link. “The urgency in updating the public with new civil protection guidelines created a complex mix of fear and trust. It is not something to take for granted, and we feel it deeply. I live in the Sharon area (near Haifa), so we’ve endured constant alarms, day and night,” says Eyal.
“Waking up to sirens, with cortisol and adrenaline rushing through our bodies, it becomes almost impossible to fall back asleep. By the next day, we try to return to some kind of routine—until the next alert disrupts everything once again. Still, we all know we are living through history,” adds Eyal.
Dr. Joolz Brown, an Israeli translator and resident of Pardes Hana Karkur—just south of Haifa—similarly acknowledges the magnitude of this past week. This comes even as Israelis have endured over 620 days of war on several fronts from Iran’s proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Fifty-three hostages are still held captive by terrorists in Gaza.
“It’s different because of the scope. We had a few months of Hamas and Hezbollah at the same time, but Iran’s stockpile is next level,” Brown explains to the Queens Jewish Link. “There’s the fear of quantity. I can tell you that I’m 20 minutes south of Haifa, and our [last] Shabbos in the mamad—the reinforced bomb shelter (mandatory feature in all new residential buildings)—we heard enough intercepts that it sounded like a drum solo.”
According to Brown, the mood in the bomb shelters has not been as chaotic as one might expect.
“I don’t feel any chaos,” insists Brown. “People are being hysterically funny because we are so worn out from all the other warfronts that we’re incapable of not laughing. But, at the same time, the streets are empty. For those with a mamad, it’s in the house, so it’s quick to get inside it. But in a lot of places with older buildings, they have to run to the miklat or even go outside to a public one. We usually have a ten-minute warning, but not always.”
Ido Daniel, a project manager who lives in Kfar Saba with his wife and two kids, also tells the Queens Jewish Link that one of the missiles launched by Iran “fell in the Ramat Gan area of two of my best friends.”
The Ramat Gan Municipality confirmed over the weekend that an Iranian missile directly struck there on June 13. It was one of many hits over a few days in the area. Eti Cohen Engel was among three Israelis killed during the attacks on June 13, and an additional seven were killed in the early hours of June 15.
Over 330 people were wounded by this onslaught, according to official statements from numerous Israeli hospitals, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
“The uncle of one of my friends lives in one of the buildings that was hit,” says Daniel. “He [was able] to get out from the buildings even as the damage was huge. He climbed out of the window to get to the parking lot. The missiles trashed the [stairway] and parts of the apartments in the building. He did not have any other option other than trying to escape through the window.”
Israelis remain steely-eyed and focused on the daunting challenges awaiting them in this existential war.
“We are reshaping history and the face of the Middle East and changing the world,” declared Prime Minister Netanyahu to Israel’s Channel 14. “We are eliminating the evil that threatens our existence and many parts of the world.”
