British Jews unable to get home from Israel as Iranian rockets rain down on cities have revealed the fear and chaos they’ve experienced, with many sheltering in safe rooms and scrambling for updates on flights home.
Yoel Levy, known as the “Jewish Fitness Coach”, told Jewish News: “It’s impossible not to think about how much Israelis have been through over the past few years. Being in a shelter now feels like just part of the reality here. It’s scary, but also strangely comforting.
Yoel Levy, pictured in a bomb shelter
“You are surrounded by people who are going through the same thing. The next morning, you see the tired eyes behind the sunglasses, people exhausted but still moving forward.”
Levy added: “The strength of the people here inspires me. It makes me even prouder to stand with them.”
Sam Joseph, MDA UK volunteer. June 2025
Deborah Clayden from Elstree, Hertfordshire had flown into Israel for a family wedding in Herzliya.
Writing on her Facebook page, she said: “We went to bed discussing what a wonderful wedding it had been and how blessed we felt to have been a part of it. Then, at 03:15am, we were awoken by the piercing beeping of the bomb warning app on our phones. We knew this meant we had 90 seconds to reach our safe area.
“After around 30 minutes we were told we could return to our rooms. I managed to fall back to sleep only to be woken at 4am for a second visit to the shelter.
“It’s so hard to believe there’s a war going on, except for the absence of children playing, surfers riding the waves and locals and tourists sunbathing. It feels a bit like Covid; schools and places of work are closed, large gatherings prohibited and there’s virtually no one on the streets. No planes flying overhead and few cars driving past.”
Keeping a close eye on the news. Pic: Deborah Clayden
Clayden, who was due to fly home on Sunday evening, added: “By now I should be hugging my kids and preparing for school tomorrow. Instead, I am considering my options and have spent most of today discussing a possible route out of Israel via Sharm el-Sheikh. My brother has organised transport for me but it’s not without risk. I’m undecided right now, hearing conflicting advice from many different people and my mind is racing. We have no idea when the airport in Tel Aviv will reopen.”
She writes that her “love for and…pride in this tiny yet incredible country grows every hour. Israel is doing the work of the entire western world and indeed the Iranian people, in removing those who seek to destroy us all with nuclear weapons. Israel is David and Iran is Goliath. We will conquer. I just wish the rest of the world could see what our homeland is doing for us all.”
Israelis sheltering in traffic tunnels. Pic: Deborah Clayden June 2025
She notes the Israeli people’s refusal to profiteer from the situation, with her hotel having reduced prices for those guests needing to extend their stay and for Israelis who don’t have good bomb shelters at home. She’s witnessed “many examples of the Israeli way of living life to the full. I have seen footage of people singing in motorway tunnels when sirens have caused them to stop their journeys. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here, how many more broken nights we will endure, how much more damage will be inflicted, but I do know that I am grateful to be safe in this moment.”
Iranian missiles over Israel. Pic: Sam Joseph, June 2025
Sam Joseph, a 31-year old London-based volunteer medic with Magen David Adom, messaged Jewish News from Amman airport in Jordan on Monday afternoon.
He had been out in Israel for a week, giving his time as he has done every year for the past thirteen years, to the organisation. “This occasion was volunteering as usual – nothing to do with the current situation. I came down to Jerusalem for Shabbat and then it all kicked off.
“Airspace is closed,” he adds and “as soon as Friday morning came about people were looking for alternative ways out.”
Amman airport. Pic: Sam Joseph June 2025
Sam spent hours on the road from Jerusalem to Amman before attempting the Allenby crossing which was “too busy”. He then travelled another 90km north to Jordan River crossing, describing “the transit out to Jordan, more stamps, more money, and then a taxi two and half hours back down the other way to Amman.”
It’s now another five hours to wait before, hopefully, his plane departs with Royal Jordanian – the only airline flying out of Amman.
The cost of his ticket was “at a premium – four times the normal price, but I’ve got a second round job interview on Wednesday. It’s just me, my MDA uniform, a rucksack and some Israeli snacks which were looked at very closely at the border. And it’s a dry airport. I can’t even get a Goldstar Beer!”
Pic: Sam Joseph, June 2025
He adds that Israeli friends have told him: “It’s happened before. You can tell your grandchildren about it.”
Just as Sam is on the phone with Jewish News, he tells us that new sirens have started in Israel, so the likelihood of the plane taking off “are slim to none. The overwhelming thought is that if you haven’t lived through something like this, you want to be out. But if it weren’t for the job interview, I would have stayed.”
Waiting to get a flight out of Jordan. Pic: Sam Joseph
Stephen Cantor, 69 from Hale, Manchester, came to Netanya to visit family and stresses that before he says anything, he’s been strongly urged to describe his Israeli daughter in law as ‘”lovely”.
That done, he says his visit was scheduled for 12 days; he was then due to fly with El Al to Crete today for a few days before returning home.
Cantor tells Jewish News: “El Al is accepting bookings from 1 July, but nothing before then. I’ve booked us on a flight to Paphos and then an EasyJet flight back to Manchester, but of course it will all depend if the airports are open.”
He says it’s “strange because during the day it’s quiet. Netanya is very quiet. There are not many people or cars out. Restaurants are closed. The beach is quiet. The pool in the apartment block is mainly closed. We’re lucky because we’re here with family and friends here. We’re trying to make the best of it and look for positives.”
But, he adds, “when it comes to night-time it’s difficult because the sirens come. We wait in the safe room and then you read the news and that’s not good either. It’s a strange, surreal situation. You want the best outcome possible for Israel. People here accept that they did what they had do. It makes you realise how wonderful Israel is for what they’re doing – because they’re doing it for the rest of the world.”
Ivor Levene, 74, from Borehamwood, together with his wife Sue, 73 came to Israel to visit their son Ilan who made aliyah in 2009, and his Israeli wife and two young grandchildren.
Based near Yamim, southern Netanya, they had planned to stay for four weeks, but with their flights home cancelled, re-booked to come back this Friday via Cyprus.
Ivor Levene, taking shelter in supermarket safe room. June 2025
Levene tells Jewish News: “We’re now anticipating that flight will be cancelled too. An Israeli family have moved in with us because although they have a shelter, they don’t have a safe room and we do. It’s better for them and for us. This is the new normal, but it changes every day.”
He adds: “We were here on 7 October but that was different and totally unexpected. But this time our kids have been through it a few times before. For us, it’s a unique experience. It’s difficult to describe. sitting on our balcony and viewing the beach, which is nearly empty. There are cars around, most of the shops closed, but its very surreal. We have no idea how long we’ll be here. We’re monitoring the situation. We could go by land to Amman and perhaps get a flight from there; or to Egypt and via Sharm el-Sheikh. But these are not guaranteed options and you don’t know what’s going to happen on the way.”
Also among those who have found themselves unexpectedly stuck is Judy from Jerusalem, a UK citizen who made aliyah last year, who has described how Shabbat plans had been rearranged in the wake of Thursday night’s strikes.
She told Jewish News: “We were preparing a Shabbat meal for a number of guests, but after the news broke it was clear that people would be more likely to stay in their own homes.
“I had a significant amount of food which I had already prepared, and was wondering what to do with it, when a message came round that the travel plans for a unit of soldiers nearby had now abruptly changed, and they had no food for Shabbat. So we managed to deliver the extra food – lots of chicken and meat – to that unit.
“It was good to be able to ensure that food was put to good use, but really, that’s a tiny thing compared to the stories of hospitality that I’ve been hearing about over the last 72 hours. This isn’t just a country – it’s a community.”
