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Despite being born in Tel Aviv, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually grew up in the United States. After he finished high school, he was all set to enroll in college and follow an “ordinary” life path of many Americans. 

Instead, he moved back to Israel when he was 18 in order to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Netanyahu later said his decision was motivated by his belief that the life being led by most college-aged American youth was “superficial.”

Aleeza Ben Shalom, from Netflix’s hit reality TV show “Jewish Matchmaking,” expressed a similar sentiment when I interviewed her last summer.

Aleeza Ben Shalom meeting with a matchmaking client. Photo courtesy of Netflix

She told ISRAEL21c that Israelis “grow up faster” than Americans. “At 18, they go into the army, they are seeing life and death, they are fighting for their country. In America, we go to college and get a car. We’re not challenged to the core of who we are in the same way.”

The men who fought on the beaches of Gaza 

The life of an average young Israeli is indeed fundamentally different from the lives of peers anywhere else in the Western world. 

This was evident even before October 7. But the deadly Hamas attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza have taken this sentiment and shot it up with metaphorical steroids. 

The attacks reminded Israelis that existential threats are still lurking around the corner, just as they did during the 1973 Yom Kippur war or the 1948 War of Independence.

The attacks saw Israeli teenagers dispatched to the frontlines to fight against an existential threat to their country, their families, their loved ones and everything they hold dear. 

To some it may sound cliche when older people in the US or Europe recall “the men who fought on the beaches of Normandy,” when criticizing the current generation for its oversensitivity and excessive attentiveness to inconsequential issues. 

But they aren’t wrong. Maybe an unpleasant experience with a server at a café can be “traumatic.” However, watching your friends get blown to bits by a rocket-propelled grenade is much more so. 

The new normal 

The same goes for Israeli “adults” as well.

With the war now clocking in at nearly 12 months, this seemingly unusual reality has become part of day-to-day life.  

Recently, rocket alert sirens went off in the central Israeli city of Rishon LeZion for the first time in many weeks. 

Iron Dome anti missile system intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon, above the Naftali Mountains, northern Israel, August 23, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90

As I rushed online to see what happened, I stumbled on dozens of comments from local residents expressing “relief” that those were “only” rockets from Gaza, and not from Lebanon or Iran.

This is the reality Israelis live in. 

As long as we’re not being bombarded by ballistic missiles from Iran or Yemen, we consider it to be a quiet day. 

That’s not to mention the near-daily terror attacks that claim lives of civilians on a regular basis. 

Last month, a man carrying a giant bomb exploded in Tel Aviv after, according to the police, the device detonated prematurely. 

All while rich kids from countries on the other side of the world donate money to Hamas terrorists who stage livestreaming sessions on TikTok and Instagram. 

Why?

All of this, however, is only new to newer generations. The situation was similar during the intifadas in the 1990s and early 2000s, during the first and second Lebanon wars, and countless other conflicts.

So, the logical question would be “Why?” 

Why do Israelis tolerate living in such conditions? Because God knows – we hope — that living this way is not easy. 

In fact, Hassan Nasrallah, who served as the secretary-general of Hezbollah from 1992 until his assassination two days ago, once admitted the main goal of the “axis of resistance” is to make life in Israel so intolerable that Israelis “use their second passports” and just leave. 

Even though only 10 percent of Israelis hold dual citizenship.

Nasrallah’s message to Israelis:

“If you want to be secure and safe, you have a US passport, go back to the US. You have a British passport, go back to the UK.

Here you don’t have a future. From the river to the sea, the land of Palestine is for the Palestinian people only.” pic.twitter.com/XMwz2QXzDu

— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) January 12, 2024

The answer is similar to Netanyahu’s reasoning to return to Israel when he was 18. It all goes back to the fundamental idea of the purpose of life. The idea of believing in something that is bigger than yourself. 

Israel would never have been established without people who believed in these principles. It would not have been defended against adversaries, remained intact and grown into one of the most impressive nations in the world without people like that. 

Recent years of relative security and calm might have muted this concept. The attack on October 7 was a gut-wrenchingly painful reminder that living with principles can come with a heavy price.

But that’s what keeps us going (at least for now). 

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