To many Americans, it may feel like it’s business as usual here in the U.S. But in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, the days feel longer and more tense as the possibility of retaliation grows.
What is it like for those trying to go about their lives in Israel?
“Considering the circumstances, we’re kind of used to it, which is a sad statement, but it’s very true,” Hava Shafner said.
Shafner is a 24-year-old college student who lives in Herzliya, which is a suburb of Tel Aviv. She grew up in St. Louis and lived in D.C. before moving to Israel.
“I have friends whose husbands, their children’s father, has been gone for 600 days already, since the war broke out in October 2023,” Shafner said. “It’s just over and over and over.”
Shafner’s parents still live in the District, and she said while they tend to not get upset and worry about her too badly, this week has been tough for them.
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“I actually did FaceTime them from the bus stop like two days ago,” Shafner said.
She added her parents yelled when they realized where she was.
“They were like, ‘What are you doing at the bus stop?’” Shafner said. “I was like, ‘I had to go somewhere, but if there’s a siren, I’ll just find a building to go into.’”
During her conversation with WTOP, Shafner said she feels bad for other countries being bombed during this war.
“Countries like the UAE and Bahrain, they don’t have the infrastructure,” Shafner said. “They don’t have alert systems, they probably don’t have shelters in every other building.”
Bomb shelters are something Shafner knows quite well; she has one in her bedroom.
Last Saturday, she found out the war had begun right as she was about to leave for synagogue, “I heard a warning siren.”
If it’s a 10-minute warning, they know the rockets are coming from Iran, but if it’s a minute and a half, they are from Lebanon.
As soon as Shafner heard the warning, she yelled out the window to her friends to come upstairs, where they spent the rest of the day going in and out of the bomb shelter.
“Every 10 minutes we’d be like, ‘OK, let’s sit to eat,’ and then all of a sudden, we’d have a siren,” Shafner said. “’Should we play this game?’ … We should set it up inside the bomb shelter.”
That may sound terrifying to many, but Shafner said she is lucky.
“I really can’t complain. Not everyone has a shelter safe room in their apartment or in their building,” she said. “I’m really privileged that I have that.”
