Between the Sitrep and the Screens: A Tisha B’Av Update
Notes on fasting, municipal prep for potential Iranian ICBM fire at Israel, and why sometimes - for a gifted writer featured below - a superhero movie is the only way through the day.
Rabbi and congregants prostrate themselves on the floor of a darkened, candle-lit synagogue in Tzfat, reading Lamentations on the eve of Tisha B’Av (The 9th of the month of Av). Shot on a Galaxy S26 Ultra in 200 MP Auto Mode and edited in Lightroom Mobile.)
I’ve featured American-Israeli author, MSW, and commentator Shira Lankin Sheps—founder of The Layers Project— before, and her personal reflection below is a damn good reason why.
While Jews are in synagogue, and at study sessions, due to fasting exceptionally poorly (and seriously, why the hell do we call it a "fast" when it moves at a absolute crawl?), I’m at home—not unlike Shira—alternating between the annual "griefspiring" films commonly viewed across the Jewish collective during these 25 hours.
And despite a niggling headache, I’m busy checking local updates and reliable off-the-radar civilian sitreps regarding potential Iranian ICBM fire as kinetic events ratchet up in the theater.
While the Home Front Command explicitly emphasizes that there have been no official changes in public safety directives, my presumption is that local municipalities and security departments are running continuous WhatsApp and Zoom coordination calls, just in case.
The core thread running through every Hebrew news report remains identical: the Home Front Command has not raised the official national alert level. Mayors are acting unilaterally to clear infrastructure and manage public anxiety ahead of the weekend.
On a related note: pre-fast, the IDF Rabbinate and several major halachic decisors emphatically instructed observant and traditional frontline and support forces NOT to fast, and to eat and drink as necessary to adequately function.
On the civilian front, while local social media is rife with rumors and unattributed reports, the actual mechanics break down quite simply:
Regional Entities vs. Individual Towns: When a regional council like the Upper Galilee or Mevo'ot HaHermon announces shelter checks, that single declaration instantly covers 20 to 29 individual kibbutzim and moshavim. Aggregate social media summaries often tally these individual communities alongside standalone cities, easily hitting the mid-20s in headline counts.
Standalone Municipalities: The major cities explicitly noted in Hebrew press over the last 24–48 hours for opening or verifying public shelters include Ramat Gan, Eilat, Karmiel, Herzliya, Beersheba, Dimona, and Gan Yavne.
Not to minimize the situation, but much of this comes down to precautionary "readiness" and ensuring miklatim are actually usable. Given past issues with vandalism, several locales are prepping everything—lights, air conditioning, water, plumbing—short of leaving the main access doors unlocked.
*Prime Minister’s Office on behalf of the Mossad for Intelligence and Special Tasks:*
**Foiling an Iranian Ministry of Intelligence plot to infiltrate an operational cell into Israel – international cooperation prevents the ministry’s plans to target senior Israeli officials**
Against the backdrop of the Iranian regime’s ongoing attempts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, new details are being revealed for the first time about a joint effort among international intelligence services that uncovered how officers of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence recruited foreign elements to harm senior Israeli officials inside Israel.
In recent years, *the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, alongside the Revolutionary Guards, has been leading a worldwide terror campaign aimed at harming Israeli and Jewish targets, and has recently intensified its efforts to carry out terrorist attacks even within Israeli territory.*
Through preventive measures, advanced capabilities of the Mossad and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), and close cooperation with intelligence and security services worldwide, dozens of attack plots orchestrated by Iran have been thwarted. These operations have saved many lives and made it possible to take investigative and legal action against those involved in terrorism.
*In this context, over the past two years, numerous Iranian attempts to recruit and operate agents inside Israel on behalf of the enemy have been exposed and foiled. Most recently, an attempt by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence to infiltrate foreign operatives into Israel in order to attack senior Israeli figures was thwarted.*
*The enemy’s method of operation includes recruiting “proxy” criminal infrastructures which, in turn, activate operatives located in Israel or those capable of entering Israel, to collect intelligence on the intended target and later to carry out the attack.*
*The cooperation between the Mossad, the Shin Bet, and intelligence services worldwide,* as well as investigations carried out in several countries, together with analytical capabilities, *led to the dismantling of the criminal proxy infrastructure and the identification of the Ministry of Intelligence officers behind it.*
Thus, *Tharot Ozkur, codenamed “Philip”,* who resided in France, was responsible for recruiting an operational cell composed of foreign nationals for infiltration into Israel.
*"Philip" was recruited by two criminal proxy elements, Babak Mahu-Zadeh Haji Japan (“Babak”) and Mohammad Nadim Yaeit (“Nadim”), who currently reside in Iran under the protection of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. These individuals are known affiliates of drug lord Naji Sharifi Zindashti, a criminal figure who has long been used to promote terror under the direction of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.*
To receive his mission, “Philip” traveled to Iran several times, where he met with his handlers and was paid for advancing the assignments.
*Through international investigations, the connection between Babak and Nadim and their handlers in the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence was uncovered—identified as Asadollah Behzad Oshsari, Wahid Ma’tzumi, Mohammad-Hossein Dhokki, and Hamid Qasemi.*
*Behzad Oshsari served as a key figure* in the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence’s efforts to promote terrorism against Jewish and Israeli targets and was killed during the “Roar of Hary” war.
As for Philip, he paid a heavy price for his involvement in planning terrorist activity directed by Iran, which led to his deportation from France.
*Babak and Nadim continue their efforts to direct terror cells from Iran* and remain under close scrutiny by intelligence services worldwide.
Once again, this terror plot exposes Iran’s familiar method of operation—using the *“proxy by proxy”* system to distance itself from the terrorist activity it directs, in order to avoid consequences and political costs. > >
Which brings me to Shira’s essay below. It captures the exact, absurd tightrope of trying to honor the heavy history of this day while shielding our kids from the immediate, overwhelming weight of the present.
By Shira Lankin Sheps
“I spent 30 minutes trying to find a movie that fit the appropriate Tisha Ba’av mood, aware that my teen, like all kids in Israel, has lived through too much heavy stuff the last few years.
I played him the trailer of a couple, and he said, “This feels too much like Oct 7th to me...”
Made sense. Scenes of violence, Israelis, refugees, escape. Too close to relive that today.
Holocaust movies are a hard no for me. I’ve watched too many in my lifetime. Read too many stories. It’s not fiction to me. It’s my family story. It’s what I write. Baked into my DNA. It’s not a mood setter. Just no for today, thank you.
After searching and searching, I couldn’t come up with something that would be a good fit. I’m a terrible faster, and I’m still going, so I just didn’t have the energy to be clever about it.
So I gave up.
I put on the superhero movie he wanted, and even though there was plenty of violence, and tension, and gore- I just let the movie play.
I woke up anxious and stressed anyway. He woke up anxious and stressed too.
Every twenty minutes in the movie, he’d make me pause and look at his notifications, and tell me something horrible that happened in our corner of the world.
“Whoa Ima, did you know how bad the war is getting in Iran right now? When do you think it’s going to come back here?”
“Omg Ima, there was a terror attack in the Shomron. With a fire. And stabbing...”
“Ima, the Mayor of Ramat Gan opened all the public bomb shelters across the city because Iran might attack us over Shabbat...”
“Should we pause the movie and set up the bomb shelter? Go food shopping? Ima, what do you think? Are we going to be attacked on Shabbat?”
I gave him all the assurances I could.
I let the superhero movie play. And every so often I wiped a tear away so he wouldn’t see.
If you ask me what the movie is about, I honestly have no idea.
He paused it to go to mincha.
And all I want to do is the opposite of the energy of the day.
I want to submerge him in comfort.
Ease. Deep breaths. Certainty. Safety.
He’ll come back, and we’ll finish it.
He’ll complain about how hungry he is, cuz he’s 13.
We will check in about our supplies. Start reorganizing for a pending war.
Maybe he’ll fall asleep.
Given everything, we didn’t need a Tisha Ba’av movie after all.”
[A note from the field: this post may be updated or amended as events develop. My sincere thanks to those who follow, comment, and share these dispatches. Your support keeps the lights on and the cats fed while I’m out navigating the dynamic range of the Galilee. Because the standard Stripe plumbing doesn’t reach us here in Israel, I’ve set up a direct alternative for those who wish to support this work. If you’re inclined to help keep the lens focused, you can contribute via PayPal. Much appreciated. — DB]
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