With the region on the brink of war, Israel must realise there is no going ‘back to normal’ | Dahlia Scheindlin

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is desperately needed - then comes the task of rebuilding a devastated Middle East

• Dahlia Scheindlin is a Tel Aviv-based political analyst and author

Hazlash is a funny-sounding Hebrew slang acronym. It means roughly as you were", or in a non-military idiom, back to normal". Within a few hours of Israel striking thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon in the pre-dawn hours on Sunday, Israel's wave of morning panic subsided and hazlash set in.

Back to normal wasn't a given. As people woke up, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was issuing a set of civilian restrictions in preparation for escalation, and the defence minister declared a 48-hour state of emergency. Beaches and certain public recreational activities were closed all the way from the town of Rishon LeZion, just south of Tel Aviv, to Israel's northern border. Ominously, Ben Gurion airport shut down. But by 7am, the airport was open again. That's a big sign of hazlash. In fact nothing is normal, and nothing is at all funny.

Dahlia Scheindlin is a Tel Aviv-based political analyst and author of The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel

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