The attack by the radical Islamist Hamas apparently caught Israel unprepared – and also changed the life of Tel Aviv-based television presenter Andrea Kiewel in one fell swoop.
Tel Aviv – On Sunday (October 8th) a recording of the flickered from 12 p.m ZDF “TV Garden“ with Andrea Kiewel on the screens in Germany. Meanwhile, the TV presenter found herself in the middle of the war Israel. In the Jewish general Kiewel reported in a live blog about her escape from the incoming rockets into the shelter of her apartment – and how her life in Tel Aviv changed from one moment to the next. Her partner – a former elite soldier – has already swapped his jeans for his uniform and is fighting.
Israel war: TV presenter waits in bunker during air raid in Tel Aviv
The Radical Islamic Hamas started on Saturday a surprise large-scale attack on Israel in which at least 600 people died (As of October 8, 2023, 3:00 p.m.). At 7 a.m. the TV presenter received a message from her mother-in-law. “Are you good?” Kiewel was briefly surprised and, apparently unaware, replied: “Oh yes. We had such a fun evening with friends.” Then it started and the sirens wailed in Tel Aviv. “That sound. He goes through the bone. Deep into the heart. And he opens all the floodgates. I’m crying,” said the 58-year-old, describing the moment as she sits in the small shelter – called Mamad – in her apartment, with the dog next to her.
“The siren stops and it goes ‘boom boom,’” said the presenter about the sound as Israel’s Iron Dome shield shoots down incoming enemy missiles. Initially, she assumed there would be another attack from Gaza. But a short time later, Israel’s head of government speaks Benjamin Netanyahu of “war”, on Sunday the Israeli security cabinet officially declared a state of war. “The war imposed on Israel by a murderous terrorist attack from the Gaza Strip began at 6 a.m. on October 7, 2023,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Andrea Kiewel on the great solidarity in the first hours of the Israel War
The solidarity of the people in the first hours of the war was obviously great. The moderator’s cell phone was hardly idle, news from Germany and Israel – and in the WhatsApp group of the moderator’s house. Sometimes people complain because one of the neighbors has left their garbage in the hallway for days, says Kiewel, adding: “In situations like this Saturday morning, everything is forgotten. We want to be sure that everyone is safe.” When the siren stopped briefly, the presenter decided to take her dog for a walk. While everyone on the street usually stares into their cell phones, on this day, according to the moderator, everyone said hello. We encourage each other.
At the same time, the 58-year-old also criticized the incumbent government in Israel. There have been clashes in the West Bank for months, Kiewel said in the Jewish general. “Arabs against settlers. Settlers against Arabs. Terror. Murder. Dead. Injured. The fire is being lit and fuel is being poured into the fire.” But the Israeli government is not saying a word of power to its violent settlers. “As well as? Their party is in government,” said Kiewel. The 68-year-old believes that they would be shooting themselves in the foot.
There is a great lack of understanding about the terrorist attack. Everyone in the country would ask themselves how Israel, exactly 50 years after the Yom Kippur War, could be so vulnerable again, the moderator reported. The whole of Tel Aviv is monitored by cameras. If you park incorrectly, you will receive a ticket within ten minutes – by email, with a photo. “So how can it be that the Gaza border has been so shamefully neglected? Why can this terrorist attack be so bloody and violent? Why did neither Mossad nor Shin Bet* suspect anything? Why are we so unprepared?” From her perspective, it sounds like a total failure of the Israeli security apparatus.
ZDF TV presenter in the Israel war: “Come close together when everything is falling apart”
Her husband had already swapped his jeans for his uniform and was deployed in the war. “Just yesterday we were singing and dancing. It’s absurd. Macabre. Unrealistic”. Your partner is a rock in the surf. “25 years as an elite soldier have allowed him to experience and survive many bad events.” There will be a few more rockets, he told her. And: The peace is just a breathing space. He was obviously right about that. She waved after his car for a long time, even after it had long since turned the corner. “I wave and wave. And drown in my tears,” said the presenter, describing the farewell.
Meanwhile, people in Tel Aviv are writing letters to soldiers, reservists and volunteers who went to war to defend their country – the only Jewish state in the world. Andrea Kiewel is also among those sending messages to the front. “All my love, I am so proud of you,” reads a piece of paper that the presenter holds up to the picture. The caption says: “When everything around you is falling apart, when Hamas terrorists are murdering, torturing, raping, slaughtering, humiliating, kidnapping children, women and men, then you have to move very close together. […] I’m in the middle of it. And move very close together. I’m a little less alone.”
* Mossad is Israel’s foreign secret service, Shin Bet is Israel’s domestic secret service.