We won, right? Or at least so we’re being told. But if we won, why is everyone here feeling so ….
It’s very hard to describe what people are feeling.
To be sure, there’s a deep sense of pride, even awe, at what the Air Force and Mossad accomplished (though there’s now a bit of a public pissing match between the Air Force and Mossad as to who really gets the credit—it can be exhausting to live in a country run by adolescents). Twelve days of relentless pounding of Iran, a country we were deeply fearful of not long ago, and not a single plane lost? Not a single pilot in captivity? Flawless, day after day, night after night, bombing run after bombing run… It’s truly an operation that will be studied around the world, and we—along with the pilots who accomplished it—know that we watched history being made.
In the press, there’s a real sense that we’re still unpacking something history will long recall. Here’s but one of hundreds of examples, this one from Yedi’ot on Friday
The large headline: “The people who made history”
The smaller headline: “They practiced intensively for weeks, and thought through all the possible eventualities and their responses to them (including pilots taken captive), but “when would be the moment of truth, we didn’t know until that night.” ⚫️ The commander of Squadron 107, Lieutenant Colonel “A”, the navigator “N” [DG-the woman standing on the left] and munitions officer “Y” tell how one plans and carries out an operation that pilots have been imagining for decades, and what they felt flying over Iran. ⚫️ “The entire time, you’re thinking about your objectives,” said “N” as she described the feeling of being thousands of kilometers from Israel. “Only when we were on our way back and over non-threatening territory did I say to the pilot, “Wow, what in the world did we just experience?”
Given the tremendous pride and sense of accomplishment, one might expect this country to be euphoric. But it’s not—not even close.
We went out to dinner with dear friends (truly enjoyable except for the fact that it was an outside bar/restaurant, and we noticed about half way through dinner that without exception, the rest of the diners were about half our age, or less). We’d looked forward to our friends’ company, because we both felt so … unsettled. They’re smart and insightful, and I was sure they’d calm us down. But they, too, felt the same thing. No one knows quite what to feel, and the PTSD from all those hours in the shelters, and the horrible losses elsewhere in the country are all still very raw.
Still, though, the bar/restaurant was packed without an empty seat even outside—which also tells you something about this place.
It was similar at the Friday night dinner to which we were invited and at Shabbat lunch. Everyone was relieved—that no pilots were hurt, that we were at least largely successful—and, if we’re to be honest, that our children and grandchildren (who moved in because they don’t have safe rooms or bomb shelters) have finally moved out of our houses!!
One of our hosts old us, laughing, that the morning we all heard there was a cease fire, she announced to her kids and grandkids, “Checkout time is 4:00 pm.” Everyone laughed with her, but more than one person said, “Oh, our checkout time was much earlier than that.” It was fun to laugh, but beneath all the giggles (aided by copious amounts of alcohol), there’s still a deep sense of concern.
Why? Because there’s a ton we don’t know. What’s the real story with Fordow? What was destroyed, and what wasn’t? And why would we believe any of the characters opining?
What happened to those hundreds of kilos of enriched uranium that no one seems to be able to locate? Was it all destroyed? Buried? Do they have it? If they have it, can they make a bomb? If they could, would they at this point just go ahead and use it if they think the regime is going down?
And then, of course, despite the gratitude to Donald Trump for doing the right thing and for sending those B2’s our way (a few challot here and there actually reflected that gratitude—this one went super viral),
… those bizarre tweets about Bibi’s trial turned off everyone, left and right (except for Bibi). “What, have we become a vassal state now that he ostensibly saved our asses at Fordow? He’s going to attack not only the rule of law in his own country, but in ours, too?”
It’s a fair question—though the trial has, indeed, become a circus, and we’ll never, ever see a verdict. But that’s for us to fret about, not for Donald.
But maybe this is not what it seems. Might something be brewing?
Is this another “I’ll decide within the next two weeks,” when in fact he’d already decided? Is there some grand deal being cooked up in which the war in Gaza ends, the hostages come home, Syria and Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords, Israel gets partial sovereignty over parts of the West Bank (that’s the rumor), Arab countries take responsibility for Gaza while Hamas’ leadership is exiled to Africa (also part of the rumor), Bibi gets a pardon (hence Trump’s “less unglued than they appear” tweets) and then Trump gets the Nobel Peace Prize?
Here’s the front page on which Yisrael Hayom “announced” those elements and others (including the poll—see bottom left in blue) that 61% of Israelis want a rapid end to the war in Gaza).
There are lots of rumors along those lines, but each of those bullet points raises many more questions (will Bibi take a pardon if it means leaving politics? Who can really exercise leverage over Hamas at this point? and so forth), which we’ll unpack throughout this week.
For now, to start our week, we’re just going to peek into the world of Israeli social media, trying to share the ongoing deep and pervasive sense of un-ease, and the worry that wars of all sorts are far, far from over.
Israeli social media channels are flowing with videos that are largely humorous, but also serious in their own way, as well.
Here’s one made (ostensibly) by a kindergarten teacher (I don’t know who this person is), who shares how disappointed his young pupils were that the war has ended and commends the parents for having made the war so fun:
Then were was a Facebook post which is supposed to be funny, or at least cute, but which also reflects the fact that the person in the video can’t really figure out why we’re not actually celebrating …
A few words of explanation:
“Miri” is Miri Regev, our Minister of Transportation (among other portfolios), who has been the object of ridicule for flitting around the globe at our expense for months, but who when it came time to help stranded Israelis get home when the skies finally opened, proved even more incompetent than usual
“Absolute victory” is reference to the promise that Netanyahu has been making about Gaza for 630+ days, while no such victory is anywhere in sight and seven soldiers were killed (burned alive in an APC so vulnerable that reservists refuse to get in them) just as the war with Iran was ending
First Israel versus second Israel — the old elite versus non-elite issue that was hugely surfaced during the judicial reform catastrophe
What will it take to really heal this place? We’re going to hear from experts this week.
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