Israelis unite across political divides in support of ‘justified’ war against Iran
Israelis have grown used to the urgent routines of preparing for war.
On Saturday morning, the neighbourhoods of Tel Aviv were busy with people - some rushing to bomb shelters as air raid sirens wailed and others hurriedly loading children, pets and suitcases into cars to flee the city.
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.
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But she says the latest war is “very justified”, describing Iranian leaders as “the enemies of the world” and comparing the threat they pose to Israelis to the Holocaust.
“I represent the moderate left, so of course, people around me talk about coexistence, talk about two states. People around me talk about doing everything so that we can live here in peace, but this is not relevant to Iran,” she said.
“Iran should not be any kind of factor in our national system. We do not share a border with them. It stems purely from vengeful, religious, extremist hatred.”
Hareuveny believes Israeli pilots led the assault alongside their US allies because they were valued for their experience and military prowess.
“The Americans wanted us to begin because we have both the technique and the knowledge. Those who destroyed, if they indeed eliminated [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei and all their leaders, were Israeli pilots.
“I do not think that killing is a source of pride, but there is an evil here that has brought an evil and wicked narrative into the world.
“Unfortunately, this war will be credited to a terrible and vengeful government, a government of hatred, a government without values.”
Hareuveny admits fearing that the war may escalate, with consequences for Israelis far beyond those of last year's 12-day war with Iran.
But she says that many Israelis have grown accustomed to living in fear.
“It may be built into living in Israel. Since fourth grade, I have experienced war, and you are always inside it. This is a national narrative.”
'A war of commandment'
For Osnat and Haiem, a couple in central Israel who spoke to MEE using pseudonyms, their country does not have a choice when it comes to Iran, just as they believe it has had no choice but to confront other regional threats.
“Everyone in Israel agrees that this war should happen,” Osnat told MEE.
“The 7 October attack showed us that we are under threat and Iran wants to end Zionism. We have to eliminate the threat,” Haiem added.
“We support the attack on Hamas, Lebanon and, of course, there is complete agreement over this war.”
Israel’s media and political leaders have also fallen in step with the national mood.
“This is a decisive moment,” prominent commentator Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in popular Israeli news site Ynet on Saturday. “Because we are at a time of historic opportunity.”
According to Yemini, the conflict is, “according to Jewish tradition - a war of commandment”.
He said it is “not only a supreme right to attack the regime, it is a supreme moral and national duty”.
Similar sentiments have been echoed by various Israeli leaders and politicians - notably those opposed to Netanyahu and his government.
Yair Golan, a former military officer and head of the left-wing Democrats party, wrote on X that the Israeli military “are being given full backing”.
“Civilian resilience and personal discipline are the most important backing we can give to our pilots and fighters.”
Similarly, centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid said: “In moments like these we stand together - and we win together.
“There is no coalition and no opposition, only one people and one IDF, with all of us behind them.”
Ayman Odeh, an MP representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, noted “there is no opposition in Israel, only fifty shades of militarism”.
Widespread support
On Saturday, the mood in Israel was summed up by Haaretz in an Instagram post as “coffee and arak in the parking lot” in a video showing people calmly drinking from disposable cups at tables outside a beachside cafe in Tel Aviv, declaring “the new war routine is here”.
Veteran political commentator Meron Rapoport told MEE that there was no doubt that the war enjoyed very widespread support.
He points to a recent poll that showed half of the Israeli public supported strikes on Iran even if the negotiations held with the United States in recent days ended with success.
'Iran is conceived as still an existential threat that we have to prevent'
- Meron Rapoport, political commentator
Israeli media and many Israelis had rationalised the war as a “pre-emptive attack”, he said.
“Iran is conceived as still an existential threat that we have to prevent,” Rapoport said, adding that many Israelis believe they would be saving the Iranian people from a repressive government by attacking Iran’s leadership.
“I would say at the same time there is quite a lot of fear,” Rapoport said.
“Israel feels, on the one hand, that they are the strongest nation in the Middle East or in the world, but at the same time, the weakest one. I think they do feel that there is some trauma from the last war with Iran.”
Israeli media reports have suggested the potential cost of a new war is being concealed from the public.
Ynet reported last week that army chief Eyal Zamir had privately warned of potentially devastating consequences, while officially remaining silent on the dangers.
Israelis are also still recovering from June’s 12-day war. According to Haaretz, hundreds of Israeli citizens have still not returned to their homes and some are suffering from PTSD.
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