Peace Overlooking Tiberias, Israel on the October 7 Anniversary

Tiberias, Israel is a place I know well and love deeply. Located in the hills of northern Israel overlooking the Sea of Galilee, this is one of the most beautiful and peaceful locations in the country. I am blessed to have lived in the little city of Tiberias several years ago and to have returned there many times since. All of my time added there added up, I have spent close to a couple of years of my life in Tiberias. For this reason, it troubled me when tonight, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of October 7, Hezbollah rockets rained down on the city.

When I moved into my mountaintop apartment in Tiberias at the end of March 2011, the civil war in Syria was just beginning across the border. Israel was completely calm and peaceful, though, unaffected by the war next door. This was a peace the country had enjoyed for several years before I arrived, since the end of the Second Intifada around 2005. That peace continued until October 7, 2023.

The Hezbollah rockets in Tiberias tonight were not the only attack on the eve of the one-year October 7 anniversary. This morning, a terror attack also took place at the Be’er Sheva bus station. Haifa then suffered a severe attack at about the same time as the rockets reached Tiberias. Israel’s missile defense systems, which usually intercept rockets, did not do that tonight in Tiberias and Haifa. They hit, and they badly injured people.

These events are not at all similar to what all I’ve experienced throughout the years in Israel. To be honest, though, for me it doesn’t seem unusual or surprising for Israel to be at war. The country has a long history of war. They also sit in a very precarious position in the Middle East. For Israel, war was inevitable. Or I should say wars. Because we now have two. There is a war with Gaza in the south and a war with Lebanon in the north.

The inevitability of war, or two wars, doesn’t make it any easier for the people who are on the ground living through it all. The death, destruction and intense suffering in Gaza is horrifying. The intensifying situation in Israel is alarming. I have many friends, both Israeli and Palestinian, who have to live and breathe war every day now. And while the war with Gaza in the south had a limited impact on Tiberias, the war with Lebanon to the north is starting to have a big impact on my former home.

Tonight I messaged my friend who lives in Haifa, to see if she was all right. She likewise was concerned about me, although I am not even in the country right now. “I saw Tiberias, and I thought about you immediately. I hope it’s not anybody that you know that got hurt. But I immediately thought about you because it’s your city.”

I appreciate that she feels that way. While Tiberias is really the city of everyone who lives there and is from there, I do very much love this special spot in northern Israel.  I am so blessed to have spent so much of my life in this beautiful place where Jesus spent time as well.

I shot this gorgeous, bucolic scene from atop the mountain where I loved to hike. In the photo you can see the city of Tiberias. Alongside it is the Sea of Galilee. The green hills of Jordan stand across the water. This is a familiar sight to me and one I hope will remain the same. Tiberias, I pray you will be okay. I’ll see you again soon.