A delegation of 17 Canadians from British Columbia spent an anxious Saturday night hunkered down in Tel Aviv, watching the skies and waiting for air raid sirens, as Iran made good on its threat to retaliate for the Israeli airstrike that killed two top Iranian military commanders in Syria earlier this month.
The overnight barrage of 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched from Iran were been mostly intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces, with help from U.S. and other allied forces in the region. There have been few reports of injuries in what Israel’s army calls a major escalation of hostilities.
And stuck in the middle of it all is a delegation led by Vancouver’s Jewish Federation that’s been visiting Israel with provincial and municipal politicians, an Indigenous leader and local donors.
They were staying inside while booms and sirens blared in the country. On this breaking-news episode of The CJN Daily, Ezra Shanken, the CEO of Vancouver’s Jewish Federation, joins from his hotel in Tel Aviv to describe what the last 24 hours have been like.
What we talked about:
- Watch Ezra Shanken’s videotaped message from Tel Aviv on the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s X (Twitter) account
- Register for the Jewish Federations of North America special briefing on Israel under Iran attack, on Sunday April 14 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time
- Follow The CJN’s continuing coverage of the Iran attack on Israel, on TheCJN.ca
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.