Meaning in the Missiles

What struck me once again in the aftermath of the Sunday morning attack was the thought that was uppermost in my mind a few months ago, as Iranian ballistic missiles exploded overhead, with the incongruently cheerful sound of a Geulah popcorn machine.

It was the sense of the deeply surreal nature of a war where the average citizen can track the progress of the missiles being fired at him.

At 9 p.m. that evening, Israelis were told that Iran had launched some 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, and that their orderly arrival was expected over the next few hours. As clinically as if they were discussing the exit polls on election night, talking heads pointed to studio projections of the various projectiles and their ETAs.

“The drones take eight hours, the cruise missiles will arrive after a two-hour flight, and the ballistic missiles, which were launched much later, only need 12 minutes,” went the explanation.