By: Jonathan Feldstein April 5, 2024
Last week, I went to Beirut, at least according to Google Maps and Waze. I was driving in northern Israel and no matter what app I used, or how I entered data differently, my starting point brought me to the Beirut airport. A short seven-hour drive from where I was going.
Things are tense in Israel at the moment. It’s the last Friday of Ramadan (when there’s usually heightened tension, threats, and violence from our Arab neighbors celebrating the Islamic holy month), and especially this week as Iran threatens to retaliate for the targeting of its IRGC terror leader in Damascus.
Yesterday I was out with my brother and sister-in-law visiting from the US and received dozens of messages from people asking what they can do, how they can pray, and what the situation is. I wasn’t aware of the reports they were seeing that triggered their concern until later. Frankly, I knew most of all that was going on and have accepted it. But their messages of genuine concern made me a little bit more concerned. For me, living here amid a war, with the threat of a further escalation from day one (we are now six months into the war) has become the norm. But it’s really far from normal.
Here’s what’s going on: The army has canceled the leave for combat soldiers, more reservists are being called up again, public bomb shelters are open (we have one in our home as do many Israelis), the air force is on high alert, and GPS is being jammed as far south as Tel Aviv because Hezbollah has many (tens or hundreds of) thousands of precision GPS guided missiles that can hit most everywhere here. By jamming the GPS, the expectation is that those pointed at particular targets will miss their mark. But if only ten percent of the volume of rockets and missiles that Hezbollah has get through – estimated at between 150,000-350,000 total – there will be a great deal of death and destruction on our side alone.
Everyone I know with whom I have spoken about it believes that not only is a war with Hezbollah imminent (though different people debate when and under what circumstances), there’s nobody among these people who doesn’t believe that it is necessary, even knowing that thousands or more Israelis may be killed. It will be carnage here, and much worse in Lebanon. But we cannot continue living – or allowing Hezbollah to live like this – threatening us all with hundreds of thousands of rockets and precision missiles, and currently some 100,000 Israelis from northern border areas having been evacuated from their homes and communities, refugees in their own country.
The sense of an imminent war existed before events this week. Israeli intelligence especially in Lebanon, Syria and Iran, as demonstrated with the targeting of this Iranian IRGC terror leader, is excellent. I hope when the war with Hezbollah begins, it will begin and end on our terms. But it’s scary either way.
It’s easy to project what many of the terrorists’ targets are. I imagine some of their missiles getting through, hitting sensitive military sites, government buildings, airports, power plants, as well as tall apartment buildings. I wonder if any of them might accidentally go astray and hit either the Al Aksa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock, Islamic sites on the Temple Mount. It would be ironic if they took out their own holy sites and shrines, and knowing that of course the world would somehow blame Israel.
In addition to impacting families who will be displaced, suffer loss, and whose loved ones will be called up to fight again, many Israelis like us are stocking up on non-perishable food and bottled water, and making accommodations for the possibility that a terrorist attack could leave us without power for days. As inconvenient as it will be, the thought of walking up seven flights in our building that will not have a working elevator is the least of my concerns right now.
It’s a good thing I have a good sense of direction, otherwise when my GPS said I was in Beirut, I might still be lost in northern Israel. Yesterday, amid rocket fire from Gaza (still) and Lebanon (dozens a day), one of the big news items here was the GPS jamming creating huge traffic problems. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned. Prayers are needed and appreciated.
As Sunday, April 7 marks six months since the beginning of the war, the Genesis 123 Foundation will be hosting a webinar, “Israel at War Six Months Later.” We will recap military, intelligence, social, political, diplomatic and economic issues of the past six months, and be ready to discuss any new developments. Please register here and join us for what will most assuredly be a timely and important discussion with a panel of experts from different sectors of Israeli society.
The war in Israel is likely to get much worse before it gets better. Not only is Israel risking active combat on two fronts – in Gaza and Lebanon – but threats exist from Iran and Yemen as well. However, Israel is also in the unique situation, unlike any other country and any other war, where it also has enemies who are fighting politically and diplomatically, issuing direct threats and demands to Israel, blaming Israel and not Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran for the war and threat of escalation.
Whatever will be, Israel will need its friends standing by our side. Please do feel free to be in touch to see what you can do, wherever you are. But wherever you are, please pray for Israel to remain strong, unified, and victorious.