Jonathan Sacerdoti

This morning’s sirens shattered the early calm across much of Israel. Quiet anticipation had already been building, as signs pointed to a long anticipated American entry into the conflict, but no one yet knows when, or if, it will truly come. It had been a relatively quiet night; after a brief stint in the bomb shelter around midnight, I had managed to sleep uninterrupted until around 7 a.m. when the Home Front Command app sent the 'pre-alert' warning. A sign of how quickly you adapt, I first warmed up the Gaggia and made myself an espresso, before entering the shelter in our building as the sirens began to wail through the streets. ‘You've become Israel,’ chuckled one of my bunker mates, also in his pyjamas. Israel is not waiting passively for American intervention.

Yesterday morning, as families in central Israel emerged from bomb shelters after yet another sleepless night, the air was once again rent by sirens and the thunder of incoming missiles. Fires ignited across multiple cities. In Petah Tikva, a building lay smouldering from a direct hit. In Haifa, Iranian missiles struck near the port, severely damaging a power facility and forcing Bazan, Israel’s major oil refining and petrochemicals company, to suspend activity at all its plants. With grim efficiency, medics and emergency teams scrambled to locate survivors. It was the largest barrage of the war so far – around 100 ballistic missiles launched in a single salvo. And yet, amid the wreckage, Israel stood upright.

Woken by sirens outside my window in Israel at 3 a.m. I made my way to the bomb shelter in the basement, reaching for my phone on the way. An unusual and urgent message appeared on the screen which had been sent to the entire nation: Home Front Command had updated its guidelines with immediate effect. Israelis are instructed to know where their nearest protected space is, to avoid unnecessary movement, and to prepare for possible extended periods in shelters. Public institutions are not to open. The meaning was clear: the long-anticipated Israeli operation against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes had begun.

While much of the Western debate remains trapped in tired slogans and false moral narratives, events on the ground in the Middle East have taken a decisive turn. In the past 24 hours, U.S. embassies have begun evacuating non-essential staff. Military dependents are being authorised to leave key bases. Multiple reports say U.S. officials have been told Israel is fully ready to launch an operation against Iran if required, and Washington expects possible Iranian retaliation on American sites in Iraq. The U.S. anticipates that Iranian retaliation against U.S.

The United Kingdom’s decision this week to impose personal sanctions on two Israeli cabinet ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, is a grave error – not only strategically, but morally. In concert with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway, Britain claims this move defends human rights and opposes settler violence. In truth, it represents a striking double standard, a capitulation to domestic partisan pressures, and even a step towards decreased relevance on the international stage. The UK is posturing for domestic political gain The contrast between Britain’s treatment of Israeli ministers and its posture towards the enablers of terrorism is glaring.

The emergence of Yasser Abu Shabab and his 'Popular Forces' militia in eastern Rafah has become an unexpected fault line in the shifting landscape of Gaza. In recent days, a flurry of claims, counterclaims, and raw facts has begun to seep through the fog of war. Cracks are appearing in Hamas's once unchallenged grip, and new and uncertain dynamics are taking shape. Where these currents will lead is unclear. Abu Shabab himself has stepped into the spotlight with remarkable audacity. He has granted interviews, issued voice recordings, and cloaked his movement in the language of civic virtue. In a recent audio recording, he insisted: 'We have not and will not work with the occupation. Our goal is to protect Palestinian human rights from Hamas's terrorism.

Israeli forces operating inside Gaza have retrieved the body of Thai agricultural worker Nattapong Pinta, bringing to a close one of the many grim and unresolved chapters from the October 7th atrocities. In a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the IDF, based on intelligence gleaned from captured militants, the body was recovered in Rafah. Pinta had been abducted alive from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led assault, only to be murdered in captivity by a lesser-known but no less brutal Palestinian terror group: Kataeb al-Mujahideen. Among the cascade of horrors unleashed that day, one of the most harrowing sights remains etched in my memory Among the cascade of horrors unleashed that day, one of the most harrowing sights remains etched in my memory.