The siren has sounded again. The first warning that another alarm will sound in a few minutes. We need to be prepared, get dressed or cover our pajamas at nighttime. Our shelter is in the building’s basement. It’s a good public shelter, with room for about 120 people. A large water tank in one corner and several doors closing off the restrooms. Lots of chairs around, close to the walls. White plastic chairs bought at the hardware store on the corner, wooden chairs brought from the dining room table, folding beach chairs, office chairs taken from some storage room. A variety of chairs as diverse as the people sitting in them. Parents with children in their arms, children playing, a young male playing guitar, a group of elderly Germans in a circle talking in German. A couple in their nineties reading in French. A young man, who looks like he just stepped out of a yeshiva, in a corner. A young soldier with his service weapon who’s come for a couple of days’ leave to visit his parents. Men wearing kippahs, men without. Women with their heads covered and women with their hair uncovered. Secular and religious. A glimpse into Israel. Most people have their phones in their hands, waiting for the signal so we can leave the shelter.

Next to me sits a mother with four children. The oldest son is about 12 years old, and there are three girls, ages 6, 3, and 1. The mother is playing with the youngest. I ask her if the children are hers. She answers proudly that they are. The husband and father of the children is on duty as reservist. I don’t ask any more questions. Perhaps she doesn’t know where. Perhaps she hasn’t spoken to him in days or weeks. But she is proud.

Some support the government, others don’t, but everyone agrees that Israel is in danger. Here, the legality of the war doesn’t matter. That’s a matter for non-Jews or for many Jews in the diaspora. Legality of the wars are discussed when you are not taking your children out of the bed during the night to reach the shelter, when your kids can go to school every morning. It is legal for Israel to defend itself against Lebanon when Hezbollah has fired 200 missiles at the north and center of the country in just one night. Why should entire families have to sleep in a shelter for days on end to protect themselves? At what point do we begin to judge the facts to decide whether an act of self-defense is legal or not?

For the international law, response to a provocation is legal based on “proportionality” and other considerations, However, for most Israelis, when our country is targeted by thousands of rockets, our fundamental right to exist, give us as strong as needed to prevent our destruction. The world is demanding Israel a level of restraint that no other nation would be expected to maintain under similar fire.

It’s very difficult to be Jewish and Israeli and live in the USA. International justice doesn’t apply when the victims are Israelis or Jews. I’m told there are Jews in the US who are against this war. Although I consider it unacceptable, I understand it. This war is being sold as US support for Israel. American Jews see the danger of rising antisemitism/anti-Zionism as a more real and imminent threat than Iranian missiles. Many don’t know that Iran is almost larger than Europe. Israel is different under the eyes of the international community. Also, Israelis are different because when their country is under threat, they what to rush home. Since the beginning of the war, Israel is sending flights over the world to bring back its citizens. Yohay Sponder, Israeli comedian said: “We are the only people on the world that rescue ourselves to a war zone”.

Mostly during crisis time, I perceive the disconnection between the Jewish people here, under fire, and the Jews in the diaspora. We don’t have the luxury of an intellectualized debate. For some of the Jews in the diaspora, this war, or this new episode of the war, is perceived as an increased vulnerability; they are afraid of being questioned about their moral and ethical positions.

Our reality is existential. When 200 missiles are in the air, and we are attacked by two countries, the conversation isn’t about legal theory or international optics: it’s about the person next to you, the mother with four kids, and the collective survival of the people in my shelter, in my city, in my country.

Four floors up, in my apartment, I have my passports; but here in this shelter, sitting among these diverse people on mismatched chairs, I realize that this is my identity.

Michal Gasco, MD Jerusalem, Israel. March 2026

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)