Israels Home Front Remains Calm Amid Missile Threat Overhead

Israel Closes Schools and Cultural Venues Amid Ongoing War with Iran

The war between Israel and Iran continues to have a significant impact on daily life in Israel. As a result, schools across the country have been closed, cultural venues have been shuttered, and large gatherings have been cancelled under police orders.

Demonstrations against the war are still taking place, but they are heavily supervised by authorities. The Israeli-Arab activist group Zazim has staged several protests, but organizers report that participants are often too exhausted to engage in activism due to the daily threat of missile attacks.

According to Raluca Ganea, co-founder and executive director of Zazim, the constant threat is having a profound impact on people’s ability to express dissent. “Kids aren’t going to school, while employers are insisting their parents go to work,” she notes. The group has attempted to organize protests, but participants are often too tired to engage.

Support for the war on Iran remains strong in Israel, according to recent polls. However, as exhaustion grows and resentment builds, societal fractures are becoming increasingly evident. Ganea warns that this could lead to a breakdown in social cohesion.

Those who have spoken out against the war, such as 19-year-old Itamar Greenberg, face criticism and intimidation. Greenberg reports being spat at on the street and having his opposition to the war labeled as “traitor” or “terrorist”.

Journalists and activists describe a pervasive atmosphere of self-policing and censorship in Israel, which has left people less informed about the consequences of the war than citizens in Iran.

The Israeli military censor’s systems, which predate the establishment of Israel in 1948, have been used to curtail media reporting on the war. New wartime restrictions introduced on March 5 mean that many details of the Iranian missile attacks are not being reported by Israeli journalists.

In recent weeks, +972 magazine documented an instance where journalists were allowed to report on debris from a missile attack, highlighting the lack of transparency in reporting on the conflict.

Source: Al Jazeera