{"id":316203,"date":"2026-03-01T11:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/316203\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T11:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:26:09","slug":"operation-roaring-lion-hit-israel-as-tourist-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/316203\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Roaring Lion hit Israel as tourist visits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacob Phillips\u2019 first trip to Israel from his home in Germany was in 2023, to visit Holocaust survivors<\/a> in Tel Aviv as part of a university program. It was cut short by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, which forced him to leave the country.<\/p>\n

He returned with his girlfriend this month to see the sights he missed. \u201cBecause the last trip, it was a harsh cut,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we came back, to visit the people I met here in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Phillips and his girlfriend, Michelle, were among the very few people walking the streets in Jerusalem as another war unfolded with Iran. The war, which began when Israel and the United States together attacked Iran early Saturday, had already sent them multiple times to shelters and scrambled their departure plans for next Thursday. Ben Gurion Airport<\/a> is closed until at least March 7.<\/p>\n

Phillips said he was in touch with the German consulate and felt safe in Jerusalem<\/a> despite the incoming missiles, citing Israel\u2019s Iron Dome<\/a> air defense system. He said he remained happy to be in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to come here to learn about the Jewish experience, especially as a German, and I feel like I have gotten to see so much of it,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n

\"PedestriansPedestrians run for cover on Jaffa Street in central Jerusalem following incoming missile sirens amid the war between Israel and Iran, February 28, 2026. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

While missile impacts rocked Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel, an eerie calm pervaded the streets of Jerusalem on Saturday, extreme even for Shabbat, as residents hunkered down at home between the sirens that indicated that war with Iran had begun anew. The sirens scattered the prayer services that dot the holy city and disrupted plans for shared meals.<\/p>\n

Old City of Jerusalem closed to everyone but residents<\/p>\n

The gates of the Old City were closed by Israeli police to everyone but residents. A crowd of Hasidic Jews argued with officers, petitioning for entry to pray at the Western Wall but ultimately giving up and turning back.<\/p>\n

One resident who ventured out between air raid alerts said the assault had provided \u201cpauses just long enough to walk up the stairs before heading back [to the shelter] again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who braved journeys away from their homes offered a general consensus that the war would be significantly worse this time around, only nine months after a 12-day war that led to the deaths of 32 Israelis. In that conflict, Iran launched more than 500 ballistic missiles at Israel and targets throughout the Middle East in retaliation for strikes that Israel initiated and the United States joined.<\/p>\n

This time is indeed different. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are gunning for regime change and said they believed Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed in an opening salvo. Sensing an existential threat, the Islamic Republic of Iran has already escalated its response, using its firepower against not only Israel but US targets throughout the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Richard Weiner and Rolly Feld had been in Nahariya, in Israel\u2019s north, until Saturday morning. When the sirens began, they drove back to Jerusalem in the hope they would be safer in the city and farther from significant military targets for the Iranian regime, including the port of Haifa, which was struck by an Iranian barrage at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

Feld recounted that while driving down Route 4 toward Jerusalem, it felt as if they were being chased by missiles. Periodically, another batch of air raid alerts would sound, forcing them to shelter in tunnels along the highway.<\/p>\n

Feld said he would have preferred to continue driving, contrary to the advice of Israeli authorities who recommend pulling over and lying flat to avoid exposure to shrapnel from missile impacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife wanted all the time to stick to the guidelines, to stop the car and stay away, and I keep driving fast then stopped in the tunnels. It\u2019s a compromise,\u201d Feld said.<\/p>\n

Weiner, who grew up in Israel but has lived as an adult in South Africa, was critical of Netanyahu\u2019s decision to launch the strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he\u2019s doing is horrible for the Iranian people and it\u2019s horrible for the people over here. The government is pushing for this; the people are not.\u201d Weiner identified himself as \u201csomething of a pacifist,\u201d adding, \u201cWe have to look for other ways of dealing with the Iranian government, as irrational as they are. We should be supporting the people who are protesting and not trying to topple the government by killing the leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiner and Feld bantered back and forth on a sidewalk in the leafy neighborhood of Rehavia, discussing the possibility of further escalation and whether it was Israel\u2019s place to intervene on behalf of the Iranian people \u2014 if that was indeed part of the calculus.<\/p>\n

Weiner concluded, \u201cI have a love-hate relationship with this country. I come back and this happens again. This is clearly not the answer. Many people will be killed, and it\u2019s horrible that tens of thousands have been killed due to their dissent, but how does this help?\u201d<\/p>\n

The question of whether the war would succeed in the US-Israeli ambition of achieving regime change in Iran was a preoccupation of many of those who were out and about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chance of actual change is so low,\u201d said Ishay, 44, a Jerusalem resident. \u201cLike in Israel, there is such a strong contingent of those with radical beliefs in Iran. Even if the regime is toppled, who will replace Khamenei?\u201d<\/p>\n

Information was hard to come by throughout the day, though over time it became clear that missile impacts had been confirmed in multiple locations, including Bnei Brak, where Magen David Adom treated people who were wounded. By overnight, it was clear that one woman had been killed and another man had been seriously wounded in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

The war comes as Israel prepares to celebrate Purim, a Jewish holiday commemorating the overthrow of an oppressive Persian regime, offering a powerful parallel for the current moment.<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to the holiday, two Israelis stood talking down the street, seemingly unconcerned by the sirens, both in costume \u2014 one wearing a sombrero, the other dressed as a clown.<\/p>\n

Yael, who lives in Rehavia, was walking her dog, Lucky, in Meir Sherman Garden Park in central Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just come to expect this. I am raising my children here in Israel, but sometimes I wonder if there is a future here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Phillips, the fact that both of his visits to Israel have been derailed by two different conflicts did not dampen his support for Israel\u2019s decision to launch the attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to change the regime there because of the nuclear weapons; it\u2019s important to have this under control,\u201d he said. \u201cFor Israel, it will be a hard time, I think, but nothing is free. You have to pay with something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacob Phillips\u2019 first trip to Israel from his home in Germany was in 2023, to visit Holocaust survivors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,15005,3794,43,1073,157282,157283,116,40,38,41,39,2012],"class_list":["post-316203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-israel-iran-war","tag-jerusalem","tag-news","tag-old-city-jerusalem","tag-operation-epic-fury","tag-operation-roaring-lion","tag-tel-aviv","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}