March 1, 2026
Alongside familiar feelings of fear and uncertainty, the newly escalated conflict with Iran has forged a renewed mood of national unity, in which the usual political and social divisions of Israel’s fractured society appeared to have been subsumed by a collective sense that a conflict long willed by so many had finally arrived.
Speaking from inside a shelter as the sounds of missiles and explosions shook the city, Orly Hareuveny, a physiotherapist, told Middle East Eye that Israelis had become so accustomed to war that it was now a distinct characteristic of Israeli life - “the same as the weather is for people in England”.
Hareuveny considers herself a leftist and a supporter of co-existence with Palestinians, political views that have been marginalised in the Israel of Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition and its three-year genocidal war in Gaza.
If the civilians feel the actual brunt of war, they might.
During the 12-day war with Iran, "israelis" were still showing up to work calls on wi-fi. They don't feel a single bit of what "war" actually feels like. They will collapse once their lives are actually affected. The second they fear, genuinely fear, for their lives or for their family, they will leave.
"israel" is a settler colony, we cannot apply the same calculus to "israel" that we do for other nations. They have places to go, they can leave to other countries, a majority of them hold multiple passports. They are not defending their "homeland" and will leave once it stops being beneficial to them.
I pray Iran targets civilian infrastructure in "israel", they same way they, and amerikkka have been targeting civilian infrastructure for decades.