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![\"\u05e8\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ryC6S1odbg_0_0_720_1280_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Roni:")
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Roni: ‘We feel invisible, and it\u2019s more pronounced during Purim’<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve already started hearing Purim<\/a> firecrackers in the city,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sends me back to war. For me, that means sleepless nights. With every firecracker I hear, I have to quickly use a cannabis inhaler to lower my stress and anxiety levels. I can\u2019t sleep next to my wife and children because I get sudden attacks. Usually I sit in the living room, curled up, until dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have much of a life right now,\u201d he added. \u201cI go into extreme stress states, I can\u2019t sleep, I\u2019m always on edge. I can\u2019t be in crowded places. I don\u2019t celebrate with my kids, not even on Purim.\u201d<\/p>\n Roni is asking the public to show consideration. \u201cI was a child too. I used firecrackers until I grew up and understood how much damage it caused, especially today when I\u2019m a combat veteran with trauma,\u201d he said. \u201cMy request is simple: stop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBefore you pull a prank, consider that it could send someone to the hospital with a severe anxiety attack. My episodes end up in the emergency room or psychiatric hospitalization. Unfortunately, we feel very invisible, and it\u2019s even more pronounced during Purim.\u201d<\/p>\n Yarin, 34, from Rosh HaAyin, served as a combat soldier in the Givati Brigade from 2009 to 2011 and copes with complex PTSD<\/a> that includes physical and psychological injury. \u201cI was exposed to significant, life-threatening, destabilizing events over a long period,\u201d he said. \u201cOnly in recent years have I come to understand how deeply the traumatic events affected me, how serious the problem is.\u201d<\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Yarin: ‘Traumatic events I experienced during my service have affected me’<\/p>\n Like Roni, he also struggles with the psychological impact caused by the sound of firecrackers. \u201cIt makes me jump, immediately taking me back to events from my military service,\u201d Yarin said. \u201cThe moment you hear the explosion, thousands of thoughts run simultaneously, without the ability to focus or understand if there is real danger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA loud noise can act as a trigger, creating the sensation of being transported back in time”, he explained. \u201cThe most accurate description is an out-of-body experience felt very intensely, sometimes accompanied by physical pain and ringing in the ears.\u201d<\/p>\n Yarin plays on a soccer team called \u201cBattle Diamonds,\u201d made up of people coping with mental health challenges who meet weekly for a bonding match. At a recent game, he said, explosions were heard in the background.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that moment, three players with PTSD experienced a panic attack. The explosion sent them back to Gaza. It continued throughout the game, with sounds of explosions followed by attacks. Fortunately other team members were there to support us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He adds that some of them barely leave their homes, sometimes only for that weekly soccer match. “Now we could lose them. They may decide not to return.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HJqFHyoObe_0_0_720_540_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Yarin:")
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<\/a>![\"\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HJQmZrdiaa_0_0_1280_960_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Firecrackers")
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