In Haifa, locals meet the prospect of imminent war with calm resolve
Unperturbed by Iran and Hezbollah’s threat to strike, locals in the northern port city say they’re ready for a showdown they intend to ride out
Cnaan Lidor is The Times of Israel's Jewish World reporter
HAIFA — If hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalate, this northern port city is likely to get hammered with dozens, if not hundreds, of rockets a day, possibly for weeks on end.
Authorities were preparing for an imminent escalation, including by removing hazardous materials from the industrial zone, yet locals appeared undaunted on Sunday, displaying attitudes that ranged from indifference to fatalism.
“I’m sort of done worrying. Whatever will happen will happen. I’m here, and I’m open for business,” said Eyal Levkovich, 42, who owns the Goldmund Books bookstore in Haifa’s Hadar neighborhood. After business hours, the store doubles as a popular alternative music venue.
The current state of alert follows last week’s assassination of Hezbollah’s top military leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut, for which Israel has assumed responsibility, and of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, for which it has not. Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to avenge the assassinations soon, issuing threats that Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav publicly said were credible.
“Unfortunately, I believe him,” Yahav on Friday told Channel 12 about Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah. “Each time he threatened to hit somewhere in my city, it was hit. So I hear him and prepare the places he threatens to make them as ready as possible.”
Yahav added that the municipality had canceled several public events to avoid large gatherings. The Israel Defense Forces Homefront Command said in a public service video following the assassinations that it has issued no new directives for the Haifa region.
Recent safety precautions, directed by the Homefront Command, included moving some hazardous chemicals out of industrial complexes north of the city center and the port, including the Haifa airport and around the BAZAN oil refinery and even the Strauss ice cream factory near Acre. The ice cream factory was shuttered temporarily in connection with its ammonia tanks, the Israeli media reported.
Levkovich realized immediately that the assassinations may affect his business and life, he said. But he is “glad they happened. The people who got assassinated deserved to die, and although it may have some short-term negative consequences, they are outweighed by the long-term benefits,” he said.
Goldmund Books, which is one of a handful of nightlife establishments that cater to the city’s intellectual scene, is pausing its nocturnal events in August, but not in connection with Hezbollah or Iran, Levkovich said. “I decided to take August off before the current escalation just because I wanted a break,” he explained.
Goldmund’s July lineup included a standup performance, an LGBTQ pride event, and several dance parties.
“The more the national mood sinks – and it’s pretty crappy right now – the more interest people have in unplugging and attending a cultural event over beer for a couple of hours of respite,” he noted.
‘The Almighty is watching over us’
Shai Hofri, the owner of a detergents and household utensils store at Haifa’s Talpiot Market, does not doubt the likelihood of a massive rocket attack in Haifa. Hofri, 49, is among the many thousands of Haifa residents who experienced the 2006 Second Lebanon War, when Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets into the city, including the one that killed eight people at a central portside train station.
“Look, I’m a man of faith. So that kind of caps my anxiety levels. I believe the Almighty is watching over us,” said Hofri, who inherited the business from his father. “But even if I weren’t: We’ve been worrying for months now. We stocked up on supplies months ago already. At a certain point, worrying gets old. We’ve simply reached that point.”
Hofri, who sells toilet papers and other hoarder favorites at discounted prices, has noticed no increase in sales in recent days, he said.
“It’s because everyone’s already stocked up from months ago, when the exchanges of fire with Hezbollah only began,” he explained. Hofri is not feeling complacent, he added. “I will go to the sheltered area and keep the precautions when they come down. What I won’t do, however, is stress out over it,” he said.
Like other longtime residents, Hofri remembers the 2006 war vividly, when the workforce was largely kept at home for over a week in Haifa. Current scenarios co-authored by the Israel Defense Forces envisage a much higher firing rate and more accurate hits than in 2006, should an all-out war break out again with Hezbollah.
Haifa, a sprawling metropolis that is home to about 280,000 residents, has about 110 shelters that are maintained by the city and are in good condition, according to the municipality. Additionally, hundreds of so-called private shelters, which are located inside residential buildings, for the most part, are scattered throughout the city, offering varying degrees of cleanliness and usability.
Hundreds of residents in Haifa are among the thousands of Israelis who have built shelters or sheltered areas in their homes after October 7, when a murderous Hamas onslaught on Israel triggered a war against the terrorist group in Gaza and exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, as well as hostilities with Iran. Early on in the ongoing conflict, Israelis stocked up on canned food, toilet paper, and other emergency-related goods. But the run on supplies appears to have stopped.
At Osher Ad, a discount supermarket chain that offers extra reductions on multiple items, traffic was slow on Sunday afternoon. A Haredi man, Shmuel Rozenberg, explained that his laden shopping cart had nothing to do with regional tensions. “I just come here on Sundays to beat the Friday pre-Shabbat rush,” he said.
Haim Mergashvili, 47, runs a dried fruit and nut shop on the market. If a run on food products with a long shelf life were afoot, he would know it, he told The Times of Israel. Like his clientele, Mergashvili is making no special preparations when it comes to supplies, he said.
“My only readiness work is not listening, reading, or discussing the news,” he told The Times of Israel. “I am calm and there’s nothing Nasrallah can do about it.”
