Not an empty seat from NYC to Dubai, and a nearly empty airplane from Dubai to Israel. I am the only person in my row – 6 seats across. I have had a substantive conversation with an Israeli man that began in Dubai and lasted until we were on the train platform together in Tel Aviv. He had just returned from spending a month abroad – only to return to re-join the army reserves.  Not a young man – having already spent 20 years in the reserves and retiring 4 years ago. But after October 7th, he joined voluntarily. He clarified that even though he had a choice, it didn’t feel voluntary to him. He felt he had to. Arriving in Tel Aviv, the first images that I see are those of the Israeli hostages plastered on the walls of the jet bridge and down the airport terminal to customs. The Israeli man, a man who has spent decades fighting remarked to me that he has never seen the airport so empty. He asks the airport staff “Is there a holiday or something?” They reply, “No, there’s a war.”

I arrived into Dubai and checked Google news for Tel Aviv where I will be landing in just a few hours. Splashed across the front news headlines: “Rocket interception seen in sky above Tel Aviv”, “Five wounded in Tel Aviv area rocket strikes”, “Tel Aviv under Hezbollah attack?”, “Power outage in Tel Aviv areas after attack damages high-voltage lines” Not used to seeing these kinds of headlines for a city in which I’m living, I call my cousin where I will be staying the first night. His voice: calm, assured. And perhaps with a subtle and warm smile knowing that I was coming from a different reality in the US. Where Americans may feel alarm knowing that their city was under rocket attack, this was a way of life in this part of the world. He says that he was in the middle of story time before bed with his child, so they had to stop to go to the safe room when he heard sirens for a few minutes, and then they returned to the bedroom a few minutes later to finish storybook. That’s life. My instinctual reaction was to be concerned, but I feel the degrees an American may feel concern is on quite different scale from those living in the middle east, who experience real and potential threats on a regular basis. Storytime and life continues amongst sirens and safe rooms. I text him and we coordinate when I’ll be landing. He replies, “Welcome to the middle east!” Costa Cafe in Dubai airport. layover