Tonight, 20 Minutes from Tel-Aviv

Terror attacks have become a part of our routine, ever since the latest wave started, about 8 months ago.

But the thing about terror attacks is that even in this unrealistic reality of ours, they still take us by surprise. Time and again, they leave us in disarray and complete shock, as they pull us out of the normal life we try so hard to have. 

Last week there was a stabbing attack on the street where I work, minutes after I left, while my friends were still at the office. Tonight, it happened again, not too far from there.

We were sitting at home, watching the unREAL's season premier, eating dinner. Moments before that, my fiance and I practiced some dance moves for our wedding. Then, in one second that we sadly know too well, the world turned upside down. A “push notification” from a leading national news channel informed us that there was a shooting terror attack in one of the most popular places in Tel-Aviv, where we often go to enjoy hanging out.

From being a normal couple, watching TV and enjoying a good dinner after a long working day, we turned into two Israelis following a terror attack. Phones were drawn, rapid texting had begun, phone calls were made. Is everyone okay?

In moments like that, we are no longer individuals, but parts of the Israeli collective. Everyone updates everyone, and when someone gets a confirmation that someone else is okay, they forward the message to everyone else. In moments like that, no one can concentrate on anything but making sure everyone's okay. 

Tonight, I had one friend at the scene, and one who was nearby. Both said they're physically okay.  It's 11:30pm here now, and we're still making calls and texting, in the attempt to ease the burden caused by the slightest chance anyone we know got hurt.            

One by one, locals, and non-locals who enjoy spending their nights in Tel-Aviv confirmed their well-being, to our relief that everyone is okay.

After the sigh of relief comes the next step: The realization that not everyone is okay–3 killed, more injured, 4 of them severely. While they're not our friends or family, they are someone's. Their only crime was to be born as Israelis, and be at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Then, the realization that it could have been us starts to sink in. We go there a lot, heck, I wanted to go there tonight after work. And what about next time? It can happen at any time, at any place, to anyone. No one is safe, ever.

For 8 straight months we've been trying to collect the fragments of our lives, and every time we manage to do so, to hold our heads high and promise to not cave in to terror, we're being scared back to our homes. 

Tomorrow, we'll wake up and go to work. People will be hesitant, but still go out after work, even to the very same place where two terrorists murdered innocent people. It's hard, and we know our “normal life” bubble will soon shatter again, but it's a must. On the day we'll stop pulling ourselves together, united, we will let terror win.

And terror cannot win.