To visit or not to visit Israel – That is the question!

Knowing that many of our readers are frequent visitors to Israel, the question has come up more often, in the last few weeks, than even in those first few months following the October 7th massacre.

That is because the threat of an impending attack has been hanging over our heads since July, when Iran, through their proxy Hezbollah, began its campaign of saber rattling, following Israel’s targeted killings of Mohammed Deif, head of the military wing of Hamas and Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of Hamas’ Political Bureau.

Each day, Israelis braced themselves for the chilling possibility that this could be the night when we are all forced to race into our safe rooms, as the predicted hundreds of precision rockets are mercilessly launched into multiple cities, with no let up.

Most of us expected that Tisha B’Av would be the likely date, since it symbolizes the destruction of both temples, as well as other Jewish disasters throughout history, but the holiday came and went, albeit accompanied by the launching of two rockets from the Gaza Strip, one towards the center of the country, which was intercepted over the sea, and the other falling into the area of the Gaza Strip.

As time went on, and negotiations for the release of the remaining hostages were underway, pleas were made, by involved parties, to delay any attacks in order to assure the possibility of a deal taking place.

To date, the only attacks that continue to occur on a daily basis, multiple times a day, are those that target the north of the country, much of which has been evacuated since it is too dangerous to remain under such risky circumstances. There are also occasional launches into the southern kibbutz communities, but, for the most part, the country has largely remained untouched by either Hezbollah or Hamas rockets.

Nonetheless, brave tourists continue to come and visit the areas which are relatively safe and quiet, but others, who are more cautious write, asking the question, “Is it safe to come?” This was the text I received just a few days ago from two Australian friends whose planned October trip was prevented once the events of the 7th took place. Disappointed that they couldn’t attend the wedding of our grandson, which had been scheduled towards the end of the month, they rebooked their trip for mid-September.

Now, just days away from their long-awaited departure, the question was posed as to what were the chances that they’d be caught up in a full-scale war. Of course, it’s hard to answer such a possibility, because one of the alluring factors of the Middle East is its unpredictability. Almost anything could happen at any time.

Just a few days ago, for example, a group chat, which provides real-time updates, reported that former war cabinet member, Benny Gantz said that as hostage negotiations look grim, the possibility of Israel taking on Hezbollah could be just days or weeks away. With news like that, what would prevent the terror group from pre-empting their own assault?

The once hopeful outlook of an imminent hostage deal has now been stymied by new Hamas demands, viewed as conditions that would jeopardize our security since they want the release of additional cold-blooded killers and savage terrorists, all of whom would be greatly incentivized to join the raging battle against the Jewish state.

Then there is the controversial decision as to whether or not an existential threat would result from abandoning the Philadelphi Corridor, the strategic narrow strip of land, which is supposed to be a buffer zone between Israel and Egypt but which was used as an underground smuggling territory to provide weapons and materials for the building of tunnels. If you listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu, relinquishing this area seriously threatens the well-being of our country. Others disagree.

Consequently, there has been a stalemate which has kept everything in a pause position. So, what do you tell good friends who are relying upon your best advice as to whether or not it’s safe to come for a visit?

In our case, the only thing I could say was that “if you’re ready to accept the fact that an attack could come at any moment, and you’re okay with that, then come. If not, then don’t.” Of course, it’s not just finding yourself in the midst of a full-scale attack. It could mean having to stay in Israel indefinitely if flights come to a halt, and, in the worst-case scenario, it could mean injury or death, even though both may seem unlikely, but no one can guarantee anything.

For those of us who live here day in and day out, we’ve gotten used to the idea that things could change at a moment’s notice, but it doesn’t stop any of us from running our usual errands, going out to eat, taking a short vacation within the country or engaging in the many activities and events which are part of the human experience.

And that is the open secret to our success. Israelis are not willing to give up on life and settle for half of an existence, cowering over the fear that a threatened full-scale war, the likes of which we have never seen, could, indeed, be a reality. We’ve been through too much, as a people – centuries of exile, mass killing, second-class citizenry and all the rest that comes with Jewish identification.

Now we have our own homeland – a place of which our ancestors could only dream. We have our own army and state-of-the-art defense systems. Along with that, there is the unlimited creativity and ingenuity which is a big part of the unextinguishable drive and aspiration that characterizes the people of Israel who love life and live it with passion, fervor and exhilaration. Most of all, we have the Almighty whose hand remains on the wheel of the land He gave us to inhabit.

So why would we allow depraved and evil men to take away our blessed inheritance and diminish our lives to their own levels of abject malevolence and wickedness, riddled by the hateful affliction which eats them from the inside and robs them of the great joys which God gave us to savor and treasure? They may remain deep inside the misery of their own choice, but Israelis will continue to honor their Creator by valuing all that He’s given us.

The decision to visit Israel or not is a personal one for each individual weighing the possibility, but if you do come, there will always be a porch light waiting for you somewhere in the land of promise!