My wife just came into my home-office which doubles as our guest room, and spare pantry. She wanted to take some snacks from the pantry to put in our bomb shelter. Just in case. There are warnings that we might find ourselves taking cover in the bomb shelter for hours at a time, and even after the first wave or waves of air raid sirens, not have any more and be forced to sit waiting, without even a warning to tell us it’s dangerous outside.
At least if I die at the tip of a warhead of an Iranian ballistic missile, there will be pretzels and peanut butter.
We also have energy bars and water. And empty bottles. Just in case.
We have an old nonelectric analog slimline phone which we had to buy at the beginning of the war, in case power is knocked out but the phones still work. At least we’ll be able to call other people with an old analog phone, and an antiquated land line.
We also have a personal solar panel to charge our phones and small appliances. But who knows if our cellular service will work. There are lots of questions as news reports and rumors fly of an imminent Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Every news cycle there’s something new. It’s too fast paced to keep up with every new scoop or rumor, and it’s not healthy to do so.
It’s not just the physical stress and preparations for a war with Iran, but psychological stress and preparations as well. For every Israeli there’s probably a different way in which the stress is presented.
We are supposed to go away for Shabbat this weekend to see friends. Under other circumstances, that would be really nice. But if something happens and we are sent to our bomb shelters, once or over and over, I’m feeling like I need to be at home.
None of our kids live at home. We are supposed to be empty nesters except for the weekend every other week when my active-duty military son comes home. But then again, after the war began 20 months ago, four of our kids moved back in full time, while one son and son in law were called up to reserves.
While my son in law was in the army, my daughter and their three kids were in and out of our house pretty regularly, balancing the desire to keep things “normal” in their own place with needing a break and extra hands to occupy my grandchildren, and give her a break. So much for being empty nesters.
So, who knows what will happen and where my kids would be, or even if it would be considered safe to drive from where they live (in older apartments with no bomb shelter) to our house, but my place is with them. Just in case.
I think about this every time there’s another Houthi missile fired from Yemen, averaging every 1-2 days. It’s become so regular that being sent to the bomb shelter gets old and annoying. I expressed that to a my radio-host friend Jake Smith. Jake mentioned it in our interview today, not able to imagine our reality. Here’s this week’s Houthi missile/reality.
The threat is all over the news, not just in Israel but around the world. Friends have contacted me, asking what they can do. A simple, focused prayer request hit a nerve because our situation is unimaginable, even for those of us living it.
Many have asked how they can help financially. Since I still maintain my integrity amid the stress, I have told them that I honestly can’t say what might happen or when, what all the needs will be or how they will be fulfilled. But as Israel and Israelis are preparing for war, I have told them that the Israel Emergency Campaign will be ready to do what’s necessary, when it is necessary. It has a great track record, and I know that’s reliable and honest, even if we don’t know what the needs will be yet.
Theres a lot I don’t know, but there are a few things that are clear. The Iranian nuclear threat, to Israel and the world, is an existential clear and present danger. If they really didn’t want a nuclear weapon, the negotiations would be easy: just stop enriching uranium to military grade. But the negotiations are a farce, a smoke screen for what the IAEA has revealed: that Iran is breaking every standard and well on its way to having the ability to produce a nuclear weapon.
The best case in their getting a nuke is nuclear blackmail globally, forever. The worst case is that they will use it. Those who think that they would get one and not do so with their messianic extremist Islam are fooling themselves.
I am not a war monger but the country that funds global terrorist proxies as they do, lives by the Islamic principle of taqiyya, lying to infidels (basically everyone but themselves), cannot be trusted on any international agreement, oppresses and violates the human rights of all Iranians, and threatens American facilities throughout the Middle East if they don’t get a deal that goes their way, needs to be stopped.
With time running out. Despite the severe backlash that will happen, first, foremost, and hardest here in Israel, it’s time to take out all Iranian nuclear sites, the IRGC facilities and its leaders, and even the Supreme Leader himself. Sometimes peace comes through treaties. Sometimes it needs to come through a crushing defeat. Now is the time for the later, not to kick the can down the road.
If Israel has to go at it alone, so be it. But the United States should be front and center as well. So should the Sunni Arab gulf states, and all of Europe. The threat is global. I have no idea what will be, but nationally and individually, there’s lots of anxiety and stress. Truthfully, it’s scary.
What’s in your bomb shelter?
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