Operation Protective Shield had just ended when I moved in Israel in 2014. A war had just blown over the people of the region leaving behind simmering embers. In the first week of my stay I read news about a terror attack in Jerusalem. That was followed by clashes in East Jerusalem, some more car-ramming incidents and even stabbing attacks, including one in Tel Aviv.

I was still getting to know Tel Aviv and Israel and these attacks while completely random, did unhinge me. Thankfully, I was surrounded by extremely level-headed Israelis who refused to play the victim and be rattled by these incidents. Despite having fresh memories of the Israel-Gaza war, every friend in Tel Aviv kept me reassured about the safety in Tel Aviv. One said: there are more chances you will die in a road accident in the city than of a terror attack. His straight-forward attitude and logic is what I needed and the nation needed. Yet, school trips to Jerusalem were cancelled, people started purchasing pepper sprays and joined self-defense classes.

In the following months, I read about Jewish terror and some other incidents in the West Bank. And then it erupted into a ‘wave of terror’. Attacks in Tel Aviv are more frequent now, making them so much more shocking and hard to digest. Tel Aviv, which is like a country of its own inside Israel, has not been spared; the wave of terror has washed over Tel Aviv as well. When I read the news of attacks in Tel Aviv, my first thought is: Oh, I was there just last week. When I watched the video of the gunman who sprayed bullets at a crowd in downtown Tel Aviv, I could feel the unrest at my doorstep.

When I now visit Jerusalem I notice that the presence of police and army has increased in the last one year. So when visitors to Tel Aviv are unsure about traveling to Jerusalem I understand their concerns. Initially, I used to encourage visitors to still make that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Jerusalem because the threat while scary was not bringing life to a standstill in the region. I don’t do that anymore.

Last year I visited Turkey when the threat of terror was non-negligible, you could say I was taking a chance or that I was plain daft. A recent spate of attacks just rocked Turkey, and today Belgium witnessed three explosions. The threats have become so real that I find it hard to look at these attacks as a mere statistic anymore.