David B. Green

On Sunday morning, Israelis – those who hadn’t already spent part of the night in bomb shelters or safe rooms, unable to sleep – woke up to the good news that nearly all of the approximately 300 missiles and drones fired from Iran hours earlier had been destroyed before crossing into Israeli airspace. One Israeli was injured in the attack, but no one was killed. As has been the case since the 7 October disaster that marked the start of the war in Gaza, Israel’s military and technological prowess had performed successfully and efficiently.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to the Hamas terror attack has been slow and incompetent. Many of the efforts to house, clothe, feed and transport those in need have been carried out by ordinary Israelis, rather than the government. Leading many of these initiatives are the same loosely organised groups that until 7 October were heading up the protest movement fighting Netanyahu’s plan to ‘reform’ the state’s judicial system. The hundreds of thousands of Israelis who turned out every Saturday night from January were demonstrating against what they believed was a mortal threat to their country's democracy. Now, they are rallying against a new threat to Israel. To the soldiers among them, it’s only natural now to give priority to defending the country from a physical danger.