“I was ready for World War III.”
The weekend, which became visible in Israel on Thursday night, began with an alert saying “Iran is likely to attack within 24-48 hours.” And the weekend was almost over and many citizens, although cautious, continued to live their lives with one eye on the news, thinking that everything was in order. More like. not others, not others They called emotional support lines which quadrupled the number of assistance on Saturday,
“I didn’t sleep all night.”Said Tamara Ophir, from Tel Aviv. “I was watching the news and preparing for all possible scenarios. I wondered why the Iranians revealed so much about their plans, and if they did, perhaps it was to mislead us. Then I didn’t know whether to believe anything or not From what the Army spokesperson said, after October 7 they have shown that they are not very trustworthy…”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei effectively warned on three occasions in recent days that Israel would be punished for the April 1 attack in Damascus that killed people. Seven members of the Iranian Quds Force.
At the end of the night Tamara had prepared things for different scenarios: “I made bags and backpacks for my two children and my husband to go to my mother’s house, I packed a few suitcases to spend a few days in the shelter“I set aside water and non-perishable food, packed a few suitcases in case we still needed to flee abroad… I was prepared for World War III.”
At four in the morning, when it seemed there were no more developments and even news programs had stopped repeating themselves, Ofir fell asleep.
her husband, Stav, he went to bed at 10:00 pm., With children. And he says he slept peacefully the whole night. “I came from playing a game in the ping pong league, that’s what I do some Saturday afternoons,” he explains under the glare of his wife, who can’t explain his friendliness. Stave says that’s all he cares about and that he has confidence in the country’s security infrastructure.
“It’s partly confidence and partly ‘if the end of the world is coming, why be worried?'”
alarm in jerusalem
Unlike Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, alarm was raised. What’s more, missiles and drones flew over the Al Aqsa compound, an Islamic symbol that no Muslim was supposed to threaten. So much so that, in the 1991 Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein fired Scud missiles at Israel at those who had no defense, many Israelis sought refuge in Jerusalem with the certainty that the city would remain intact.
On Saturday night, when pictures of missiles over Al-Aqsa appeared on television, another misunderstanding was resolved.
,We have believed many things that are not true“Hamas is not a rival, that what they said they were going to do to us is not true, that the army protects us…”, Esther K. from Jerusalem. Expresses regret. “Last night I ran to the shelter because I really felt like the world was closing in on us. This morning I woke up with the feeling that that was it. Iran has washed its face, Israel is not going to respond, honestly that’s what worries me the most and life goes on. everything is so strange,