Israel woke up yesterday morning and breathed a huge, collective sigh of relief

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

The shadow war between Israel and Iran, which has shaped the entire Middle East over the last few decades, was over

The conflict was no longer between Israel and a host of Iranian proxies: it was now a direct, and potentially deadly, confrontation between the region’s two biggest powers.

Just before 2am yesterday morning, residents of Jerusalem were woken up by a series of loud explosions in the sky – the sound of intercepts.

It sounded like it was above our heads, but it may well have been in Jordanian airspace, some 30km to the east.

We rushed to the collective bomb shelter, shared by all the residents of our residential apartment building.

Gallows humour

Betty, a 100-year-old Holocaust survivor from the Netherlands, told me on the way down the stairs: “I’ve got a lot of things to say about this, but I’ll have to speak Dutch.” Gallows humour, during the mad dash to the bomb shelter.

Not surprisingly, Betty, accompanied by her daughter, was the last to enter the bomb shelter. As we closed the door she announced to the other neighbours: “Don’t worry, I survived the war-time bombing in Holland. It was much worse than this.”

We returned to our homes, following civil defence instructions, after the mandatory 10-minute wait, but, fearing the worst, we all thought we would be back and would maybe have to spend the entire night, if not the days ahead, in the shelter.

The reality was something entirely different.

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