Biting The Bullet

 

"All gatherings, including synagogue services and public assemblies, are strictly forbidden at this time."

"Residents are urged to keep at least one phone on in every household to receive real-time alerts."

"It is also recommended to keep a radio tuned to an open emergency frequency." 

Israeli Home Front Command notice

 

"President Trump has deftly used the Israeli attack to, in effect, say to the Iranians: 'I am still ready to negotiate a peaceful end to your nuclear program and you might want to go there fast -- because my friend, Bibi is C-R-A-Z-Y."

"I am waiting for your call." 

Mockup of imagined call from Trump to Ayatollah Khamenei: NYT columnist Thomas Friedman 

Israeli security and rescue forces at the scene of a ballistic missile impact in Rehovot, June 15, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

 

Attack sirens sound throughout Israel these days on a regular basis. Messages reach Israelis  constantly from the Home Front command urging people to be aware and to make themselves knowledgeable about the risks they face now that the Israel Defense Forces have been committed finally by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to square off with the Islamic Republic of Iran with the intention of destroying the Islamist Theocracy and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, along with the country's nuclear sites, military bases, weapons depots and select military leaders.

 

People are being urged to shelter in place with news of a major attack expected. Messages update Israelis over the massive attacks the Israeli Air Force is engaging in over Iran and retaliation is expected with all its devastating potential. Reservists have received call-up notices and present at their bases. Israelis value their safe rooms, installed in their homes, if they're fortunate. Enter, seal the door shut, and look around at their preparations; fresh water, food, emergency batteries. Or head straight over to community-based shelters and bide the time there until it's deemed safe to emerge.

 

Responders are seen next to a damaged building following a strike by an Iranian missile in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv, on June 16, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

 

They call their loved ones wherever they live around Israel, to ensure that there have been no casualties among them. The Israeli precision strikes on Iranian targets are discussed and hopes expressed that this will be a mercifully short conflict, and everyone can be released in good order from the unbearable fear and tensions that have descended. Some among them even extend their concerns to the Iranian civilian population for whom the IRGC and the Ayatollahs have been a dreadful life burden. The shorter the conflict, the fewer the civilian victims -- whether in Israel or Iran.

 

Israelis take shelter in a bomb shelter during a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles, in the city of Bat Yam, on June 15, 2025. (Gili Yaari / Flash90)

 

The waves of Israeli attacks targeted the top echelons of the Iranian military, air force and civilian leadership. The Iranian chain of command has been decimated. The nuclear scientists instrumental in developing the country's nuclear capabilities were targets as well. Key nuclear sites were set on fire, and massive secondary explosions rocked the nearby areas. Air bases were bombed, and planes on the tarmac destroyed. Iran's state news broadcaster was bombed.

 

Swarms of drones were launched at Israel from Iran and inside Iraqi territory. It takes seven hours for these missives to reach Israel. Ballistic missiles can reach Israel within a two-hour period, and they do. Yemen too has sent missile fire into Israel. Israelis expect that most of these weapons of destruction will be intercepted before they can reach their targets, and most are -- an estimated 90 percent of them. The few that do get through hit apartments and other civilian infrastructure, resulting in injuries and thus far, a handful of deaths.

 

Residents shelter in  Jerusalem school during a missile attack, June 16, 2025. (Zev Stub/Times of Israel)