After the ‘mother of all wars’, I found regret and celebration on the streets of Beersheba

Beersheba: When trouble strikes, Rafael Aronov runs towards it.

During the October 7 attacks of 2023, the Israeli special forces police officer travelled to Ofakim, near the Gaza border, to fight off Hamas militants who had stormed into Israel and murdered civilians. When an Iranian missile struck a hospital in his home town of Beersheba last week, he served as a first responder, helping to evacuate injured patients.

On Tuesday morning, the war between Israel and Iran came into Aronov’s own home when the walls of his apartment building started shaking as he and his wife, Lior, sheltered in their bedroom. An Iranian missile had directly struck an apartment building just a few hundred metres away, killing four of his neighbours and shattering the windows of his apartment.

Martial arts fighter Rafael Aronov and his wife, Lior Aranov, at their Beersheba home.Credit: Kate Geraghty

The hit on Beersheba was one of the most damaging since Israel and Iran began trading fire 12 days earlier and the last to pierce Israel’s air defences before a ceasefire deal took effect.

As he cleans up the broken glass from his apartment building, Aronov expresses mixed emotions about the truce. Part of him wishes that Israel had tried to overthrow Iran’s theocratic regime and redraw the political map in the Middle East, not just weaken Tehran’s military capabilities. “The job is not done,” says the professional mixed martial arts fighter, who is nicknamed “The Cop” because of his police work. “Yet on the other hand, 28 people have died and that’s a high price.” Among the Israelis who died on Tuesday: Eitan Zacks, an 18-year-old off-duty soldier; his mother, Michal; and his girlfriend, Noa, as they sheltered in their safe room.

Like the vast majority of Israelis, Aronov has been an enthusiastic supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to target Iranian nuclear enrichment and weapons manufacturing facilities. Polls show about eight in 10 Jewish Israelis backed the decision to attack Iran, which is loathed for supporting proxy groups targeting Israel including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

“This is the most justified war somebody can have,” Aronov says. “If Iran had a nuclear weapon it would be a threat to the entire world.”

He continues: “The problem with the ceasefire is that in a few years we know this will all happen again. I hope the regime in Iran falls; that would be for the good of both people.”

Global leaders have celebrated the Israel-Iran ceasefire, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying Australia wanted to see “dialogue and diplomacy replace any escalation”.

German Chancellor Fredrich Merz described it as a “very positive development”, while Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the truce was “essential for saving the region from the horrific consequences of further escalation”.

However, on the streets surrounding the missile strike in Beersheba, we found regret as well as celebration.

A man walks past the apartment building that was hit by an Iranian ballistic missile that killed four people early on Tuesday morning in Beersheba, Israel. Credit: Kate Geraghty

“My opinion is the ceasefire has been forced on us by the United States,” Netanel Havakuk, a real estate investor, says as he eats lunch at a falafel and shawarma joint. We are talking just after news broke that US President Donald Trump had castigated Israel for threatening to strike Iran again after he announced the ceasefire.

“This is the mother of all wars and should only end on the terms of unconditional surrender by the regime in Iran,” Havakuk, 37, says.

Would he support Israel trying to assassinate the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? “Of course,” he replies. “The US and Israel need to work together to replace the regime – just as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he says, arguing Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, should be installed as leader.

Many others would argue that those attempts at regime change proved costly and disastrous: the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan as soon as the US withdrew its forces, and the removal of Saddam Hussein triggered a deadly insurgency in Iraq that spawned Islamic State. But Havakuk is not alone.

Beersheba resident Victor Kasabi (left), a veteran of the Yom Kippur War, says he wants to see regime change in Iran. Credit: Kate Geraghty

“We have the upper hand, we are stronger,” says Victor Kasabi, an 82-year-old who fought for Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. “They should topple the regime, they should go to the end. The Iranian regime wants to take over the world; they want to spread their version of radical Islam and violence across the Middle East.”

After holding a tense phone call with Trump on Tuesday, in which the US president made clear he wanted Israeli attacks on Iran to end, Netanyahu addressed the Israeli people to celebrate what he described as a “historic victory”.

“We sent Iran’s nuclear program down the drain,” Netanyahu said, arguing Israel’s military operation would be “recorded in the annals of Israel’s wars, and will be studied by armies all over the world”.

“If someone in Iran tries to restore that program, we will act with the same determination, the same power, to cut off any such attempt,” he said.

As a result of the ceasefire, the Israeli government has lifted all wartime restrictions, allowing schools and workplaces to reopen and large gatherings to be held again.

Yossi Okanina and his wife, Shontal Okanina, at their home in Beersheba. Credit: Kate Geraghty

As well as Israelis who wanted the war to continue, we meet those who were happy for it to end. “This is a just war, a preventative war,” says grandfather Yossi Okanina, whose home in Beersheeba was damaged in Tuesday’s missile strike. Okanina is a patriot who fought in Gaza and Lebanon, and whose balcony is festooned with Israeli flags.

After killing top Iranian military officials and convincing Trump to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israel, he thinks, has achieved everything it realistically can for the time being. “Now is the time to end, time for a ceasefire,” he says.

As he waits on the street to be allowed back into his home to survey the damage from the missile strike, Beersheba resident Meir Nahamani is still in shock from that morning’s attack. “I never thought this could happen right next to my home,” he says.

He argues that Israeli strikes on Iran were encouraging retaliation and increasing the danger for Israeli civilians. Facing the task of rebuilding a bombed-out home, he says it is time for the fighting to end and life in Israel to return to something resembling normal. He has learnt firsthand the damage Iranian missiles can cause. “This is a different animal to what we are used to with Hamas,” he says. “This is a more serious enemy.”

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