Episode 13: My Experience Escaping War in Israel

What does it feel like to suddenly leave Israel because war has broken out?

During my recent trip to Israel, escalating conflict forced me to unexpectedly evacuate the region. In this episode, I share what that experience was actually like, from traveling through the Sinai and passing checkpoints every few miles to navigating the strange reality of moving through a place where tension has become normal.

This episode is not a political breakdown. It is a personal reflection on what it felt like to be there, what I saw along the way, and how the experience changed the way I think about the land where so much of the Bible took place.

Transcript

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Welcome to Rooted with Emily Talento, where we explore who Jesus is through context, culture, and covenant. Except that's not what we're doing today. Today is not business as usual. We are not going to be talking about God's faithfulness and him fulfilling his promises across history, although that is important, and we are going to talk about that next week. But today we're going to be talking about my experience in going to Israel, the war starting, getting stuck in Israel, and then getting the heck out of Israel through the Sinai Peninsula, which I could honestly tell you was not on my bingo card for 2026, let me tell you. But anyway, this is what happened. Some background information that I think will be helpful in setting the stage. I was in Israel for a work trip with Eagle Swings. We had 120 women there for just a standard normal Israel sightseeing trip. They saw a lot more than we were anticipating. So that's, you know, is what it is. But we got there Thursday night, Thursday evening. We had one normal sightseeing day. We saw Mount Carmel, we saw Caesarea, we drove to the Galilee, which is where we eventually got stuck. But by Friday night, actually, before I go into Friday night, let me just say, in getting on the plane, I will be honest, I was very aware that this was a possibility. You know, just watching the entire US military make their way over to the region was a little bit of an alarm bells for me to be like, oh, this is not, this is not normal. This is this is something else. And so it was a little bit challenging to get on the plane for me personally because I was like, something's gonna happen, but we don't know what and we don't know how. And maybe it will wait till we get back, but also maybe it won't. And so I think already off the bat, that kind of just set up a weird mindset for the trip for me at least. Where we get there, Friday night comes around, and I guess things were escalating throughout the day consistently on Friday. But by Friday night, I was like, this is not, this is not gonna, this is gonna go sooner than I think we I had originally anticipated. And so I talked to my roommate that night. We both were very much under the impression that it would be better if we went to Jerusalem. So if, you know, whatever happened, war broke out, whatever, it would be better if we were there. And so I was praying about that that night. Saturday morning, we're at breakfast, and we get the news that the United States and Israel went into Iran. Now, in that moment, truly one of the weirdest moments of my life, truly, because on one side, this is what I've been waiting for. As an international relations major in college with a focus on the Middle East, who like I studied Iran, I'm thrilled. This is something that I've been waiting for and way longer than me waiting. The people of Iran have been waiting for close to 50 years. And so there was a sense of happiness, like, oh my gosh, like finally. And also, like just watching the last few weeks, we're watching these people be slaughtered by the government as they're just trying to fight for freedom, right? That's that's what's been happening, and they've been doing so alone. They have had no outside support. And so I know me personally, I'm watching everything play over the last few weeks, and I'm like, where's the US? Why aren't we intervening? Why aren't we helping these poor people? And so that moment where we did help, there was a sense of like, okay, like finally, here we are. At the same time as the excitement, there was also a sense of, oh, but I'm here. Iran isn't going to retaliate on the United States. This is a two-battle field war with Iran as the main, and Israel is going to be the secondary like battleground. And I was like, I don't particularly want to be here for this, actually. And so then it became a very different conversation very quick, because pretty much instantaneously, as soon as war was declared, Israel closed their airspace and so did Jordan, which means for a group our size, 120, there became only one way out, which is through Egypt. And that was pretty much known immediately. Because of the size of our group, we didn't act immediately. We hunkered down, we waited things out for two days, which honestly, if you would have told me that those two days were a month, I would have believed you. They were the two longest days of my entire life. I like the fact that they were only 48 hours does not compute for me, actually. It just feels like so much happened. The other thing that I think is really interesting to note. Oh my gosh, my brain is like actually going in like 16 different directions right now. Okay, the other thing that's really important to note is very soon after war was declared, we weren't sure what the response was gonna be, right? Like the United States and Israel struck. And then what? Do we have a window where we can get out? Like, what is happening? How is Iran gonna retaliate? Is it gonna be proxies that retaliate? Like, who the heck knows, right? Proxies meaning other groups that Iran funds, like Hezbollah and the North, which was very close to where we were, um, or like the Houthis down in Yemen. And so, like, what's happening? I don't know. And so it was very interesting that pretty soon after we uh got our first siren, which I think really set the tone for the two days, because it immediately wasn't this unknown, fearful thing of like we're waiting for our first siren. Like, what is that gonna look like? What is that gonna mean? Where do we go? It was like, okay, pretty much right off the bat, we knew where the safe rooms were, we knew what they sounded like, we knew what was gonna happen. And I think because of that, because there was a sense of known-ness, again, we're a group of 120 women, um, it minimized panic, it minimized fear because everything just felt very matter-of-fact and very, like this is what just happens, right? Like this is, these are the systems in place for how life works in Israel. And so it took the drama out of it of sorts. And the fact that we didn't have to wait for it, I think was probably the best thing that could have happened, right? And so, over the course of those two days, we definitely saw action, we heard action, like there was stuff happening. We were in and out of the safe rooms, but it definitely was less than other parts of the country. Like Tel Aviv was getting way more action, Haifa was getting way more action, Jerusalem was getting way more. And so we definitely were in a good spot where we were. However, what's crazy is me and my roommate Emily were very, her name's Emily too. Funny. Um, we're very under the impression that if we went to Jerusalem, we would be in a better environment. Because to traditionally, even though Jerusalem does get targeted, it's gonna get targeted less because of all of the holy sites that are there for Islam, too, right? And so we thought it would be better to be in Jerusalem when you know everything was escalating. However, that wasn't the case. We were there during two quiet days. We're really we really didn't, we everything was pretty calm in the Galilee until, which is so god, man. Like I just I really do see his faithfulness in this because as soon as we left, within a few hours, Hezbollah really joined the Chad, which is the terrorist organization in southern Lebanon, which is very close to the Galilee. And when once they joined, it became a very different situation right where we were. And again, we had 120 women. Like this could have gotten chaotic very quickly, and so I'm very thankful that we missed that. That was not something that we had to have to be in and out of shelters with. It was calm, relatively calm, and then we got to leave, and then everything kind of escalated. So God is so good for, I mean, he's good for all of it, but that was one thing in particular that's very tangible. That's like, whoa, like a few hours' difference could make a huge difference. So we find out on Sunday night that we are packing up and we are heading to Egypt. So Monday morning, we leave bright and early, we go across Israel, east and then south, and then we're gonna head to the Dead Sea for lunch. And this is another example of how timing is so wild and how God is so faithful. The entire time we were driving, there wasn't a single siren. There was nothing. Within minutes of getting to the hotel where we were eating lunch in the Dead Sea, we got our first siren of the day. Now, I don't know what would have happened if we were driving when we got the siren. I don't know if we would have pulled over or what, but I'm so thankful that we don't have to know, we don't have to find out. We were in a location where we had a safe room. We didn't end up having to use it, and that's how sirens work in this world, right? The first one is a warning of sorts telling you, hey, there could be something coming. Just be in proximity of the safe room, the shelter. And then the second one is usually depending on your location in the country, you have where we were, we had 30 seconds to get to the safe room. And so I was very thankful that we were able to be in proximity when we heard the siren. I don't know what anxiety that would have caused, even across our entire group, you know, if the shelter was not an option. But I will say, and because we it's just so foreign, like I did allude to it before where this is just matter-of-fact. There was no fear. There wasn't a moment that I was scared or afraid or anxiety. It just is, if that makes sense. As long as you're following the protocols, it really is okay. I don't know if I would be feeling the same way if I was in another part of the country. I don't, I don't know. I wasn't in another part of the country. I can only speak from the experience that I had. But where we were and the situation given, it was probably the best that it could have been given the circumstances. Also, a really important thing to note, I probably should have explained this sooner, but the only reason that Israel hasn't experienced more destruction from the attacks is because of the Iron Dome. Now, what is the Iron Dome? Basically, when countries like Iran shoot missiles or rockets or drones into Israel, the Iron Dome is able to intercept the threats before it even makes it to Israel. It has a 90 to 97% success rate. That's actually insane. Like, like completely unbelievable. So that's what the Iron Dome is, and that's why Israel is faring so well, considering all things. Like, it's not to say that Iran's aim is bad or like, no, like it really just is the military technology crazy. So we have lunch at the Dead Sea, and while we were there, Israel and then eventually Egypt, we ended up seeing all of the major bodies of water in the Bible, right? So we had the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan, the Dead Sea, the Red Sea, and the Nile. Like, how cool. At least I thought that was so cool. And to see all of them within like 48 hours is even crazier. Definitely a highlight. So we get back on the bus after lunch at the Dead Sea and we continue heading south to the border crossing to Egypt. Now we are not the first bus, or actually, we were three buses total. We were not the first ones to do this route, probably over the course, because we were the third day, right? This is Monday by this point. We have Saturday, Sunday, Monday. There were probably at least 50 buses that did this trip before us. So in my head, I was kind of hoping that there would be a little bit of a system by the time we got to the border, you know, especially because a lot of these people that are going through are in large groups. And so we get to the border crossing. It was very weird to walk across the border. We had to get out of the bus. Also, just like setting the stage for you, we're a group of 120 women. And this is no shade to anyone. But nothing is being done quickly, nothing is being done efficiently. So we get to the border crossing, we take all of the stuff off the bus because these buses cannot continue on with us to Egypt. We start going through the passport control, right? And it wasn't even that it was super long, but there was no sense of how many steps there were. And so it kind of just felt like it went on for a very long time. And also crossing a border by foot was a very weird experience. I'm not gonna lie. Like there was like something very like, I was like, this is not normal. And it's I mean, it's not normal. And so, yeah, we we finally get through all of the stages of the border control process, and we're all waiting in this giant room. Now, the room looked like almost like a train station. It reminds me of Penn Station, actually, like where you're waiting for your trains. I don't know, um, for like the tracks to be called, right? Or it looks like an airport or maybe a bus station. I don't know. So it's this giant room. And I will say, I was expecting the entire experience to be chaos. But again, I was hoping because we aren't the first group to do this. I was like, maybe they have a system. Like, please let there be a system. And honestly, everything was going very smoothly, and everything did go smoothly, even the end. But they took all of our passports, like one last check, right? Because they didn't look at our passports enough. One last check. They take all of our passports, 120 passports, and they give all of them back to the leadership of the trip. But before we left, then everyone had to get their passports back. And so it was honestly chaos for the few minutes of trying to get everybody back their individual passports of like, okay, we're gonna call someone's name out, but everyone's talking. You can't hear, and so there were systems that we made of like running, like it was just it was one of those things that I was like, oh my gosh, this would never like we are not in Israel anymore. Like, obviously, Egypt and Israel are very close, but culturally they're very different. And so that was one of the first moments. I've been to Egypt before, obviously, I've been to Israel before too, but I think for a lot of women, that was the first time that there was a sense of, okay, we're no longer in Israel. Like, this is a different culture, like this is different world, different situation. And so, yes, thankfully it was not too chaotic. We got through, and again, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we were not one of the first buses. So we get through, get onto our new buses, and spent the night in Taba, which is, you know, the Egyptian city that is where the crossing is. I know I said that the two days over the weekend felt like the two longest days. Like, if you would have told me that Saturday and Sunday were a month long, I would believe you. But also Monday too, and Tuesday, like they all just felt like the fact that that was four days, like it's not computing to my brain. Like it just really felt like each day was an eternity. And so the next day we wake up, again, and not necessarily bad. There wasn't a sense of even fear. I will say I was a little bit more uneasy on Tuesday than I had been at any other point on the trip, which I'll explain in a second. But I think it was just so much happened in such a short span of time that it felt like surely this is not the same day. Like, surely I did not just get here four days ago. Like, no way. So Tuesday, we leave our hotel and we're doing something that is strongly advised not to do. People don't drive across the Sinai Peninsula. It's I mean, maybe this is the southern part. There is a couple sites that people see. But for the most part, it's really, really, really not advised, like not recommended at all. We had a police escort, we had an armed guard with our caravan. But it was one of those things that I was like, oh my gosh, like this is probably more for me at least, this is more concerning than the rocket fire. And I don't know if that's because I mean there's a sense of security because of the Iron Dome, which I explained, but I don't know. It felt in my brain, and maybe I'm wrong for this, maybe it's a false sense of security, but Israel feels safe to me. Whereas Egypt doesn't feel safe to me. And I've been to Egypt, like I went to Egypt alone. So like I I don't know. It just felt like anything's possible in Egypt. Whereas Israel was like, no, no, it's it's fine. Maybe I'm naive. So we're driving across the Sinai Peninsula, which again, crazy. Because of the sensitivities in the area, there were military checkpoints every three to ten miles, which, you know, just there to make sure everything is kosher, making sure everything's up to code, that there's no one following us, even with the police escort, you know, just making sure everything is safe. What's really crazy is today, as I'm filming this, it's Sunday, I've been hearing of reports of women who were on the route that we were on, Tabah through the Sinai Peninsula, saying, reporting that they were mistreated. I don't know exactly by who. I don't know if it's by police or like people at past, I don't I don't know exactly. However, it's just a reminder that nothing is guaranteed. And that's a tension that I was really wrestling with the entire time, right? Like this idea that, yeah, things are working out, and we can be thankful for that, and we should be thankful for that. But in each step, that good outcome, that favorable outcome, was not the one that was necessarily a given. It could have gone a different way. And so wrestling with that tension to be like, okay, thank you, God. But also, like, are we making choices that are minimizing risk, you know? Because risk is there. It's it's it's a war, it's real, right? So that was uh that was a really weird thing that I read this morning to be like, whoa, and we were a trip of all women, you know. Crazy, crazy. So we get through the Sinai. Oh, actually, before we finish getting through the Sinai, this is actually probably one of my biggest takeaways of the entire trip. Probably, probably my biggest takeaway of the whole trip. The Sinai Peninsula is obviously very significant biblically. It's where the Israelites wandered for 40 years. For 40 years. They literally were just walking in circles in this land. This was honestly very cool for me. Getting to be physically in the place where some of the most significant biblical events took place. And getting to see the terrain for myself. The terrain hasn't changed that much in 3,500 years. It looks pretty much the same. It's a vast desert. There's mountains, there's rocks, there's not a lot of water. And getting to see that for myself, I could almost imagine the Israelites walking through while I was driving, I was like, whoa, like right here, like so profound, so crazy. And it's the same way I feel about Israel in general. It takes scripture from black and white to color. And also just the significance even beyond the Israelites. Like, this was a highway, even then, in biblical times. This is the route that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus took when they were fleeing her. This is the route that when Joseph was sold into slavery, he took when he was being taken to Egypt. Like, so many situations. Abraham and Sarah, like, there's so many accounts of this route being taken, and getting to take it, obviously not in the most ideal of circumstances, was very profound for me. And also, not something that I would get to do typically. Like, this isn't, again, this isn't a route that the average person is going to take on the average day, just cause. And so, even in the midst of unfavorable circumstances, I felt like that was God's gift to me to be like, how cool. And you know what? I appreciated it. It was probably the highlight of my trip. From there, we got to Cairo. Now, a lot of the women left pretty quick. So we went down from three buses to one bus. And so, just based on times that people could fly out, uh, a lot of people had an extra day in Cairo. And so instead of just sitting around at the hotel, quite a few people, one busload of people, decided to go check out the pyramids. Because, you know, we're there anyway. You might as well. And I'd been to the pyramids before. I went back in 2023, and they're freaking cool, dude. Like they're like, as much as you want to say, oh yeah, they're over, they're not. They're like amazing. They're so big. They're so old. I made an Instagram video about this yet that I haven't posted yet. But I'll just say it here too, because I can't get over it. The pyramids were around at the time of Abraham. Think about how old that is. Abraham is early, right? This is so early in the Bible history, right? When Abraham walked the earth, the pyramids were as old to him, ready for this, as Shakespeare is to us now. About 500 years old. That is so crazy. So crazy. And so that alone, I mean, so cool. However, there was something very I don't know. There was something very icky that I was feeling being at the pyramids. Almost like it was disconnected from the reality that we just lived. And this is no shade to anyone who enjoyed their time. I think there's personal convictions in everything. And my personal conviction was really struggling with the heaviness of what we just experienced, to then being able to transition so quickly to being a consumer tourist. We just fled war. People are still in the direct line of fire. People's lives are being taken from them. People's loved ones are still fighting. Like it just felt like very detached from reality. Like almost like we were operating in some kind of simulation. Like it was just very I mean, the whole experience felt like a simulation, but now it's even more so, where there's this massive discrepancy between what we just saw in experience, like we were in a shelter literally like less than 24 hours before. And then now being like, oh, like, let's just pose in front of. I don't know. I don't know. And again, not a judgment at all. It was just it was just a weird, weird, weird, weird experience. But yeah, this whole experience as a whole, and not that I ever feel like I minimized war, but war is not something to be minimized. And I think as Americans, it's such a foreign concept to us, thankfully. But yeah, it's it was a very weird, it almost felt like whiplash where it's like, we're doing this, and then we're doing like, oh my gosh, it was very strange. And so I'm thankful for the experience. I think that there is a sense of like, you know, what are we gonna do? Just sit in the hotel room? Like our flights weren't until the next day. So like there's that balance of, okay, like this time is a gift from God, but also, you know, I don't know. I I was just struggling with that personally. The entire trip felt very charged, right? Like, I don't know if it's because of my background, like having studied this region in depth, but the significance of this moment was something that was continually at the forefront of my brain. This idea that, I mean, in general, how often do we recognize the fact that we're living through history being made? And for me, this was not even just like over there, but like we're presently here while history is being made. It just it like, I don't know. It was so deeply profound for me. And the other side of that, which is you have Israel, you have Iran, you have Egypt. Egypt isn't not really involved in this war at all at this point, but just being in Egypt, like you have these peoples that have been around for thousands and thousands of years, and you have these peoples that have been interacting for thousands and thousands of years. Now, crazy timing of the whole thing. While we were there on Monday, while we were driving down Israel to get to the border, Taba, Monday was Purim, which, if you don't know, Purim is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and commemorates Esther's bravery in going to the king to advocate for her people, which ultimately saves them from annihilation. Now, I made an Instagram video about this, but I just the timing is just so interesting. And I'm not saying like it means anything, whatever. I'm just saying it's a moment in time that I just think we have to acknowledge, if nothing else, right? And so where did Esther take place? It took place in modern-day Iran, and so you have these peoples, the people of Israel, the people of Iran. Obviously, then it wasn't Iran, it was Persia, right? Thousands of years later, we're continuing to see how these stories play. And that's what's so crazy about being in that region. Because what what do we have here? I mean, America's great, love it. I'm so happy to be back. Oh my gosh, I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am. But our history is non-existent. Like, one of the craziest things, this is another tangent. While I was in Egypt last time, I did one of the hot air balloons, and there were just piles of pottery. And my tour guide was telling me how, yeah, a lot of that pottery is probably like hundreds, maybe thousands years old. But because there's just so much of it, there it's like really not that significant. Like, could you imagine if you found something that was like even a few hundred years old here? Like, wow, suddenly it's like the oldest thing that we have. You know, it's just it's really crazy conceptually perspective-wise, really showing how old these civilizations are. That being said, you can't be places like this, the lands of the Bible, and not walk away being changed. It switches your perspective. It it has to. I mean, Israel especially, right? It takes your reading of scripture from black and white to color, 2D to 3D. You can see it in a way that feels real. So all of that to say, the war is gonna end probably sooner than later, and I'm not saying you have to go right now, by no means, whenever you're comfortable. However, I do want to encourage you to not take it off the table. I know it's scary and it's foreign, and these are all ideas that we as Americans are super not used to. But the benefits of going, actually, let me say it like this. I dare you to find me a Christian who's been to Israel, who tells you it's not worth it, or who tells you, you know, it's like take it or leave it, hit or miss, you won't find one. I I really am so confident about that. So even if it's not now, which is okay, it doesn't have to be now, I encourage you to pray about when the right time for you to go is. Because if we're talking about scripture, I wish I had my Bible. I'm like used to having my Bible. Uh, because if we're talking about reading the Bible, which is what this entire podcast is about, right? Nothing at all even comes close to helping understand the Bible, conceptualizing the Bible, even um applying the Bible to our own lives, like going to the land that it was written in. So, where does that leave me? There's a lot to process. It's very weird to have to speak publicly on something that you're still working through. I hope it makes sense. I hope it's coherent. I guess I'll find out when I listen to this back. And I'll have to remember to have grace for myself because my body's still very much recovering from, you know, the entire experience. My sleep debt from my aura ring told me my sleep debt was over 22 hours. That's insane. That's actually crazy. So I hope this all, you know, flows. But I want to close on a verse, the verse that was so at the forefront of every single step of this trip. For me, at least. It's Romans 8.28. It says, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. There are no outcomes that are guaranteed. I'm thankful for the outcomes, and I'm thankful that in every step I could see his hand. I want to thank you for joining me for this different type of episode. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it makes sense. I hope you consider coming back and joining me another time. We're going to be talking about God's faithfulness for another week or so, and then we're going to jump into a little bit more practical how to read the Bible, what does it look like, what's the context surrounding all of the fun stuff like that. So definitely consider joining me for that. If you liked this episode, if you could like, comment, subscribe, anything you would do for any of the other podcasts that you enjoy, you could also follow me on Instagram at Emily Talento and at rooted with Emily Talento. I would really appreciate it. I hope you have a great rest of your week, and I'll see you next time.