Waiting for War

Image generated with AI by the author using OpenArt

The silence is unsettling.

Two weeks have passed since Iran and its proxies have threatened to carry out a mega-attack on Israel. The planned attack, a retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and Hezbollah’s de facto military leader, Fuad Shukr, comes after Israel has confirmed the assassination of the once elusive head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammad Deif. Iran and its proxies, humiliated beyond recognition, may carry out an attack bigger than Iran’s highly choreographed bombardment last April, when it shot 300 pieces of ammunition at Israel including ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles.

I sit in my apartment in Tel Aviv and wait. Wait for the sirens that will send me running downstairs to the bomb shelter. Wait for the Whatsapp message telling me that I must report back to base for reserve duty. Wait to flip through the news and read about a tragedy that befell the innocent. Maybe even someone I know.For now, all I hear is the humming of my AC. The country, like a rock resting in David’s sling, is set to free-fall at any moment. Yet Israelis continue their day-to-day as if this is the cost of doing business, acquiescing to a situation beyond their control.We wait for war.

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