Amid tensions, Israelis follow a war routine: Live life, wait for what comes
| TEL AVIV, Israel
Coffee shops in the Ramat Aviv mall in the north of Tel Aviv, an upmarket residential neighborhood, were bustling with the usual activity Wednesday morning.
People lined up to order cappuccinos and sandwiches, while others chatted around tables, clasping their warm mugs.
Israelis are doing what they normally do: working, studying, celebrating family events, and going to beaches and museums.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAmid warnings of a looming battle with Iran and Hezbollah that could trigger the most serious multifront conflict in the Middle East in decades, Israelis are preparing, mentally and physically.
But they are also waiting, bracing for the heavy retaliation promised by Hezbollah and Iran for the killings of top Hezbollah and Hamas officials in Beirut and Tehran last week. It could trigger the most serious multifront conflict in the region in decades.
Meital Elmalem, a resident of Kibbutz Gaash, in the center of the country, was ordering a soy cappuccino at a coffee counter at the mall, accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter.
鈥淲e always come here to shop,鈥� she says, describing the mall as feeling normal. 鈥淎fter Oct. 7, our approach is 鈥榃hat will be, will be.鈥欌��
Her husband鈥檚 brother, Matan Elmalem, a DJ at the Nova music festival, was killed by Hamas that day, she says. 鈥淲hat can be worse than that? We must continue living.鈥�
She points out her necklace with a pendant in the shape of headphones that she and her family wear in memory of her deceased brother-in-law.
鈥淎fter he died, we got a call from a jeweler who said that Matan had ordered this pendant, but never got to wear it,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o we made copies for everyone.鈥�
She says all leaders in charge in Israel on Oct. 7 will need to resign eventually, but for now, 鈥渁ll our energy must be channeled to deal with those who don鈥檛 want us here, including Iran and Hezbollah. We need to attack them ... not sit and wait.鈥�
Resolve and resignation
The mood in Israel 鈥� exactly 10 months since the start of the war Oct. 7, when Hamas crossed the border from Gaza killing and kidnapping Israelis 鈥� is one of resolve and resignation, as Western nations scramble to prevent the war in Gaza from spreading. 聽
The latest deadly build-up followed a rocket attack from Lebanon that killed 12 children in a Druze village in the Golan Heights. In response, Israel assassinated Fouad Shukur, a senior Hezbollah chief in Beirut. Hours later, Hamas鈥� political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran after attending the inauguration of Iran鈥檚 new president.
This threatened escalation has left many Israelis internalizing what John Lennon crooned: 鈥淟ife is what happens to you while you鈥檙e busy making other plans,鈥� as an Army Radio commentator said Wednesday.聽
Kindergarten assistant Yona Dorani was waiting in a supermarket line at the mall Wednesday. Her cart was brimming with goods, including half a watermelon, wet wipes, vegetables, bread, and crackers.
鈥淚 am not shopping because of the war,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his is my regular cart, as my children and grandchildren come to me every week for Shabbat,鈥� she says, referring to the traditional Friday night dinner. She will be cooking the usual feast of chicken schnitzel and stuffed peppers.
Ms. Dorani says she fears an escalation but has not done much to prepare, except to buy extra water and candles.
鈥淭hings are not pleasant,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut we have been walking around with this feeling since Oct. 7.鈥�
Looking for safety
To the north, in Haifa, which has been generally safe from rockets, tensions are high. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly threatened to attack the port city, along with its army bases and industrial facilities.
Mira Awwad, a management consultant at a firm in Tel Aviv and mother to two young children,聽moved back to Israel in December after two years with her family working and studying in New York. She and her husband, Maroun, an ophthalmologist, had planned their move back to Israel way before the Oct. 7 attack.
The family has lived in Haifa, Mr. Awwad鈥檚 birthplace, for the past half-year.
鈥淭he return to Israel from the U.S. has been complicated and challenging,鈥� says Ms. Awwad, who was born in Nazareth.聽鈥淚t is a most terrifying time for me, because Haifa is likely to be a main target,鈥� she says.
As events escalated, she equipped her home with food, water, baby supplies, and other necessities, including an electric generator. On Saturday she decided to move her children to Nazareth, to live with her mother.
鈥淭he uncertainty has been very high, because on the one hand I feel Nazareth may be safer than other areas, but on the other hand it may be less protected. My mother鈥檚 building is old and has no safe room, and if there is a rocket alarm we will have to seek protection under the stairwell,鈥� Ms. Awwad says.
Since Monday, she has also moved in with her mother, from where she will be working remotely, while her husband will continue commuting from Haifa to his work at a hospital in Hadera.
鈥淚 hope everyone will try not to escalate things,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 feel we are waiting for something bad, [but] we don鈥檛 know how bad,鈥� she says.
鈥淏ut I believe that from all this year and from this situation, something good maybe will come out. For all sides, it is not a sustainable situation,鈥� she says. 鈥淪omethings should change, I hope for the better.鈥�
Wartime perspective
Lior Komemy, who is studying social work at Haifa University, says she may be complacent or in denial, because she hasn鈥檛 prepared her apartment, which she shares with a partner, for an escalation.
鈥淚 am very stressed because I don鈥檛 have a safe room and there are no shelters nearby, so I don鈥檛 really know what I should do,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 guess I will believe it is happening only once it happens.鈥�
She is critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not advancing a deal for the hostages鈥� release that could also lead to the end of the war. 鈥淭he end of the war is not even an aim,鈥� she says.
Ms. Komemy says she plans to stay in Haifa to study for her upcoming exams. 鈥淎t least the war helps put things in perspective,鈥� she says with a laugh. 鈥淚 am not that stressed about my exams now.鈥�
Back at the supermarket in the Ramat Aviv mall, Lisa Danino was stocking a large fridge with yogurts.
鈥淧eople have been buying more water, cans, crackers, dry foods, and soy-based drinks and yogurts that don鈥檛 require refrigeration,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e can be heroes all we like, but when there is uncertainty, of course we are scared. But what can we do?鈥� she asks.
鈥淭here is a sort of routine alongside the war,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e are ready. This country is always ready for war.鈥�
