When War Comes Right to Your Door: A First-Hand Account

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Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course

We’ve all seen horrifying images of coordinated attacks that took place in Israel in the early hours yesterday morning. Struggling, crying women being thrown into vehicles and hauled away. Bodies laying on the ground. Missile strikes that look like fireworks before the chaos and smoke erupt from them. Paragliders armed with automatic weapons opening fire as they land.

And in the aftermath, the world began to take sides. The Democratic Socialists of America held a rally in NYC where they “let the swastikas do the talking” and cheered the attack. Some people deny the event even happened, and others think the story is pure propaganda.

Everywhere, everyone has an opinion and that isn’t what this article is about.

This article isn’t meant to get to the deeper geopolitics of an area that has been at war for centuries nor to unravel what is propaganda and what is fact. That’s way above my pay grade. This is about putting a real face on the attack of someone who could be you or me.

I’ve written many times that in the moment, when the attack is occurring, when the hostage-takers or shooters are close enough you can smell their sweat, that survival is about one thing: surviving. It’s not about conspiracies or who is to blame. It’s about keeping yourself and your loved ones alive in that moment and thinking about the details later.

So, let’s step into a firsthand account of that day. Let’s think, as preppers, about how we would respond if an attacking army showed up on our doorstep.

What happened, as told by a dad who was there

Yogev Gamari is a 43-year-old husband and father of three who works as a hairdresser. He lives in a small village called Yesha with his family, including his mother-in-law. He shared his story with the UK Telegraph. Below are some of the excerpts taken from this story, in his own words.

When the family heard the bomb sirens, it was nothing new. They rushed to their safe room, a bomb shelter in their home, and locked themselves in. According to his narrative, this is a common occurrence, and he knows it takes 15 seconds to get everyone safely tucked away. But this particular morning, something was very different.

Within 20 minutes we heard terrorists were in the village. We have a village WhatsApp and people saw them in armoured vehicles shooting at anything that moved. The shooting came closer and closer. There was screaming, there was crying.

The terrorists were moving from one house to another trying to kill us. They knocked on our doors and pretended to be Israeli soldiers. We locked our house. We stayed in our safe room. It has a steel door and very thick bullet-proof walls – it is only this that has kept us safe from death.

He reports that he could hear the deaths all around them as the family huddled in the safe room.

A few of my friends were together – I don’t even know where they were. I was on the phone to one of them and then I could hear shooting and the cry of “help”. And then nothing.

One of my friends was with them. He had a gun and he managed to escape and join other men who were trying to defend our village. He wrote on WhatsApp that they were dead but now I don’t know what has happened to him. There is a lot of confusion…

…There was a party at a kibbutz and many of the younger people from the village were there – it is about a six-minute drive away. There would have been several hundred there and it was one of the first places attacked by the terrorists. I knew a lot of people who were there and I don’t know what has happened to any of them….

…The nearest village to us was taken over by the terrorists. We have just been told that the Israel Defense Forces has won it back. I don’t like to think about what has happened there. Apparently, some of the terrorists are hiding in the area. Until they are caught, we don’t know when we can leave our hiding place.

At the time he shared this report, he and his family had been in their safe room for more than twelve hours. He said that his children, two-year-old twins and a four-year-old boy, were crying and that he didn’t know what to say to them.

How can I explain it? All we can do is wait. And worry. And cry.

Lessons for preppers

I have a pretty vivid imagination and I can’t even begin to fathom the fear and helplessness of Yogev’s situation. In a scenario like that, one armed family can’t do a whole lot to fight back, not with little ones in the line of fire, not against hundreds of heavily armed, brutal men who are out for blood.

This story shows the dire importance of a safe room, something we’ve talked about often on this website. (Here’s how to create your own safe room.) In such a situation, hiding to keep your family safe seems to be the only option. The long, interminable waiting is something that I hadn’t considered. It’s a small thing, but having something to do, and for your children to do, would help some with the horrible stress of such an event.

And finally, being prepared to take a last stand would never be more important than in a scenario such as the one that Yogev describes. Not only would you want to be well-fortified, but you’d also want to have a sheltered area within the shelter for non-combatant family members and as many rounds as you could stash away.

Taking shelter is only a strategy until you’re found. Then, you’d have to make a choice to either fight back or be captured and hope that your enemies have mercy.

What are your thoughts?

Have you ever considered such a Red Dawn scenario happening in your town? Armed men showing up at your door? Your friends and neighbors being slaughtered all around you by an enemy?

Everyone has very strong feelings about this event, either on behalf of Palestine or on behalf of Israel. Some of us feel deeply sorry for the people on both sides – the everyday people who are just trying to live their lives but are at the mercy of ancient conflicts. The one thing that I know for sure is that it will be civilians  – from both sides of the conflict – who never asked to be involved in this who pay the ultimate price.

But instead of the politics of it, let’s focus on what we can learn.

What would you do in such a situation? How could you keep your family safe? What are your thoughts on Yogev’s narrative?

Let’s discuss it in the comments section.

About Daisy

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites.  1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2)  The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.

Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.