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'Discombobulated: To be in a state of confusion or disorder'
That one word pretty much sums up what many in Israel have been going through these last few years. Most of us here are psychologically overwhelmed. The stresses of everyday life are hard enough: work demands, relationships, kids and mortgages. But add to that the need to dodge missiles, and the whole house of cards starts to wobble. Schools are closed, parents with kids at home can’t work properly, commerce slows down, and travel becomes hazardous.
Two weeks ago, it flared up again. Air raid sirens sound at the oddest hours. You try to live as normally as possible, but there is a pervasive fear of being caught away from a shelter during an attack. One never quite gets used to the shock you feel each time the Home Guard app on your phone screeches aggressively. The constant alerts keep people more on edge here than the missiles themselves. Maybe that’s the point.
(Source: Social media)
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVx7-SrjBxZ/?igsh=cHNnNThic3VrazIx
(Source: Social media)
Our last conflict
with Iran, nine months ago, in which the Islamic regime bombarded Israeli population centres with
ballistic missiles, was good preparation for what we are going
through now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Day_War,
I wrote at the time about
what it was like here.
See:
https://alanmeerkin.blogspot.com/2025/06/run-for-your-life.html
Interrupted sleep, adrenaline rushes and anxiety all lead to a sense of confusion and disorder.
Source: Social media
Missiles and Brain Mush
When Lion's Roar (Israel’s name for the current campaign) began two weeks ago, I was visiting a friend in Tel Aviv. During the first few days, we were woken by sirens, with sleepy stints hiding in the Mamad before going back to bed until the next siren. (If you are not aware, a Mamad is a private bomb shelter built in every apartment constructed after the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraq bombarded Israel with missiles). I suffered a distinct sense of jetlag and lost all sense of time. When I woke at 2pm, I was sure it was just after dawn. Many people suffered – then and now - headaches, exhaustion, irritability, apathy. The state declared a state of emergency. With nothing else to do, and confused about what they should be doing, most people spent their time trolling social media for news and listening to podcasts. I'm no exception. It’s like searching through garbage cans for something that might be edible. Apart from being addictive, too much phone and screen time just exacerbates feelings of isolation and fatigue, (especially when it exposes the viewer to the growing hostilities against Jewish life globally.)
Source: Social media
The Importance of Interaction
It is alarmingly reminiscent of the COVID lock-downs. Especially for those with a Mamad who are fearful of going outside, depriving themselves of the social interaction available in communal shelters.
In the following few days, we had to calculate when and for how long it was safe to take the dog for his walk. Apart from a few other dog walkers and the periodic smoker, the streets were empty.
One day we visited friends who live in a tower only minutes away. When the siren came, we hurriedly made our way down to a shelter two floors below the building. About 60 people joined us.
Couples cuddled.
Parents played games with their kids.
Others drank tea and stared at their phones.
Mamads are also preferable for people with slow mobility, such as the elderly and
infirm, who can’t rush downstairs at the drop of a hat. As a social
initiative, one of Israel’s banks, in coordination with a known chain of
hotels, is offering one week hotel stays for those aged over 80 years
of age, providing easy access to protected spaces.
https://www.jpost.com/consumerism/article-888960
Communal shelters have different advantages. They provide a sense of unity and social cohesion. The sense of loneliness dissipates, and friendships are even made.
A young woman on social media was upbeat, explaining that sirens work in her favour; they force her to take a break from her computer a few times a day, go to the shelter and mingle with other humans.
Source: Social media
A creative thinker
developed an app for dating under fire. A QR code is stuck up on shelter walls. Singles are then invited to scan the code and find
other singles in the same shelter.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/artc-bomb-shelter-dating-israeli-app-turns-safe-rooms-into-matchmaking-hubs
Shelters of Old
Back home in Jerusalem, Iranian missile attacks are far fewer than in Tel Aviv. Nonetheless, we do get missiles. The shelter in my 60’s era building was designed to withstand bombs dropped by airplanes, not the projectiles we are cowering from today. Still, with no choice, that’s where you run to.
I was stopped by someone in the supermarket the other evening. "Where do I know you from?", he asked. I had no idea. Eventually we realised we had met in a shelter. But not in the last two weeks. "Oh yes, it was from the other war." But which war? The 12 day war with Iran in 2025? The Hezbollah and Houthi attacks of 2024? The Hamas campaign of 2023? It’s surreal when your life comprises a series of wars, each being a chapter in a larger book about the war for Israel’s survival.
Residents often abuse their shelter as a storeroom. Almost 2 months ago, as media reports grew of US forces gathering in the Middle East, I asked all residents in my building to remove their belongings from the shelter. Remaining items would be disposed of. Nothing was moved. After a month, I emptied the shelter and hid everyone’s stuff. All hell broke loose, but at least the shelter was empty. Days later we were attacked. Now, as we sit together in that small, antiquated, inadequate space, listening to the whooshing of iron dome interceptors, which sound like airplanes speeding down our street, and as the room shakes with the explosion of Iranian missiles being intercepted, some in the building thank me.
This situation is fairly common. The front garden of a nearby building looks like a garbage dump. I inquired if someone was moving. "Nah. People keep stuff in the shelter, and we had to clear it out. Half of it’s junk anyway. We'll have to sort it out when the war is over."
As I'm writing these lines a siren sounds, and I leave my computer to race for the shelter. A neighbour complains about the constant running up and down the stairs, and I remind her that it makes up for the lack of exercise we are all suffering.
Not all sirens and alerts are equal, either. Ballistic missiles – which fly beyond the earth’s atmosphere, take about 12 minutes to reach Israel. When a launch is detected, we get an early warning on our phones, giving 10 minutes to prepare for an air raid siren. Sometimes, on receiving the early warning, I imagine that I am that missile, speeding through space towards Israel, watching countries passing below me in a blur, as exhausted Israeli citizens decide whether to stay a few moments longer in bed, to go to the toilet, or to put on their shoes and wander down to a shelter before I get to them.
When there’s time, I prefer to make my way down the street to one of the large communal shelters underground. These are much safer than the dinky little concrete room in my building.
Dressing up for an Evening Out
During Purim, the authorities requested people not to congregate for Megilla readings. Nonetheless, readings took place in shelters everywhere. The atmosphere was very celebratory, especially as the story recalls the triumph of a genocidal Persian leader against the Jewish people. Add to that the fact that Saddam Hussein's reign of missile terror against Israel in 1991 was vanquished on the Purim festival, and there was much hope that, in this regard, history would repeat itself.
https://www.jpost.com/judaism/jewish-holidays/article-793110
Even in the absence of sirens, we can hear explosions from some distance away. These come without warning. So, too, clutter bombs, which friends have described seeing in the sky, like beautiful fireworks, threatening neighbourhoods beyond our zone of danger.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV6pqdZiAfl/?igsh=cHk0aXRibjh4Mmdi
Source: Social media
Life Underground
Now that Hezbollah has entered the fray and is attacking Israel from Lebanon, northern Israeli towns have the additional threat of missiles that arrive within 5 seconds of a siren - if their siren sounds at all. Many have moved underground.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-889614
Countries recently attacked by Iran have restricted their airspace. Ben Gurion Air Control has relocated underground and is employing extraordinary means to facilitate emergency flights, including 'rescue flights' to bring home Israelis stranded abroad. (Israel seems to be the only country for which a rescue flight refers to efforts to bring citizens into a war zone). I was scheduled to fly this week, and uncertainty about the flight and its safety caused me significant anxiety. Ultimately, the airline cancelled my flights.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/28/airspace-closure-middle-east-flights-us-strikes.html
https://www.rferl.org/a/underground-hospital-israel-war/33706639.html
Resilience
With all this going on, you can imagine why we are all discombobulated.
Below is a text message sent by one of the large insurance companies, offering free mental health support in these trying times.
Despite the implications of prolific anti-semitic/anti-zionist propaganda, Israelis know that living like this is not normal.
Perhaps we should reframe our perspective and appreciate just how resilient we are in the face of this madness.
Two weeks on, we are settling in for what may be a longer-than-expected haul. Life is not normal in our neck of the woods, as we would like it to be, but it is a fact that must be accepted to survive.
Despite all these trials and tribulations, we are in fact blessed. We live in a sophisticated, democratic and free society, with phenomenal defence systems and a surprisingly robust economy. We lead the world in so many fields and continue to fight for universal human values that we so strongly believe in. Unlike the civilians of Gaza, Lebanon and others who attack us, we have comfortable beds to sleep in, hot water to wash in, and plenty of food in our refrigerators. The news is full of attacks perpetrated against Jewish individuals and institutions around the world, often with little practical support from the local politicians. By contrast, here we have a society and state that are (on the whole) interested in protecting our welfare.
It’s a great time to live in Israel.
