Israelis head from synagogues to bomb shelters

The uncertainty in Israel finally ended at 8:30am on Saturday, as alarms announcing the joint Israel-US attack on Iran pierced the air in Jerusalem.

Observant Jews, forbidden from using technology during Shabbat, hesitantly left synagogues for bomb shelters, unsure of what the sirens meant. Secular people on the streets quickly shouted the news to their neighbours: the Home Front Command, the Israeli military’s civilian protection unit, was warning citizens that a pre-emptive attack was under way, and to remain in shelters until further notice.

Almost immediately in the shelters, connections were drawn between the attack and this week’s Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the biblical story of how Jews living in the ancient kingdom of Persia were saved from a planned massacre.

Rationalizing the strike to her toddler son, one mother explained: “Iran is where the Persians live – you remember them from the story of Ahasuerus, the king in the story of Purim. The Persians, they want many bad things to happen in the world, so we are preventing them from doing bad things here.”

In the weeks between Trump signalling his intent to strike Iran and today, the prevailing mood in Jewish-Israeli society has alternated between the belief that the continuation of the Israeli state is only secured by “dealing with” the existential threat of Iranian nuclear weapons, and a resigned weariness, fed-up with being at the mercy of a world leaders intent on dragging out the last two and a half years of war and violence.

But when the second alarms came, signalling retaliatory fire, the seed of fear planted from the last Iranian attack was undeniable. Telegram messages poured in, alerting people to missiles falling in other cities. One woman’s attempt to leave before the all-clear siren was quickly suppressed by a neighbour: “This is the Iranians, not the Yemeni.” Meaning – stay inside, history has shown these missiles will have a much bigger impact.

Photograph by Oded Balilty/AP