Sunday Morning Coffee — March 15, 2026 — Too Busy To Be Scared

By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, NV

When the air raid warning sirens started blaring two weekends ago in Jerusalem, Jill Metlin was too busy to be scared.

“I can’t say I was scared, in fact I wasn’t,” Ms. Metlin said. “If nothing else I felt resolve that we had a plan and it was my job to make sure we followed the plan.”

Professionally, Jill is the Israel and Overseas Manager for the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida encompassing four counties around Jacksonville, FL, her home. Personally, she is married to Paul Metlin, whom I met 15 years ago at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball camp and even though his 40 mph curve ball twists me into a pretzel at the plate, he has become a close friend.

In her role with the Federation, Jill planed the latest mission trip, called AsOne CommUNITY which provided the opportunity for her community to visit Israel and Jewish diaspora countries to better understand the peoplehood; to see firsthand the work of the Federation and to travel and learn together. The voyage was an interfaith mission, 25 in total with seven being non-Jews.

Saturday morning February 28 was scheduled to be a leisurely morning for the group in Jerusalem: a late breakfast and then an afternoon of touring. They spent the previous three days in Hadera-Enron, an Israeli region that is a sister city to the Jacksonville Jewish community. Following the Hadera-Enron visit, two stops remained on the eight-day journey— Jerusalem and finally Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel was quiet two weeks ago yesterday. Even though it’s located amidst the hustle and bustle of the Mamilla Mall near city center, it was Shabbat in Israel when businesses and activities take a peaceful rest from the daily swarm of activity. Except this day turned out to be anything but a normal Shabbat.

“About eight o’clock in the morning our phones started buzzing with the news and a warning that Iran was just attacked,” Jill remembered, thankful that their Israeli tour operator, Giant Leaps, had all the participants download an app called Homefront Command when they first arrived in the country. The primary function of the alert service is to warn its users if missiles or other disruptions are heading toward their location.

Minutes after the news of the attack, the first air raid siren was sounded which is a warning that the area may be under attack. When the second one blared a couple of minutes later, there was no ‘maybe’ anymore. Everyone needed to get to their designed ‘safe area,’ which is part of the hotel arrival orientation process in the unlikely event of a disturbance much like the obligatory muster station orientation on a cruise ship.

“When the second siren sounded, we had 90 seconds to put on some clothes and shoes, grab our room key, phone and some water and get to our safe area which was in a stairwell,” Jill said. “Our group was scattered throughout the hotel so not everyone was in the same safe room. I was with six from our group and about 20 other people whom I didn’t know which included families, kids and even a dog. We were in there for about a half hour until we got the all-clear signal on our phones.”

Jill Metlin overlooking the Israeli port city of Haifa.

It was Ms. Metlin’s 10th visit to Israel but the first time she encountered sirens and a scramble for safety and cover.

Following the all-clear, the entire Jacksonville contingent met in the lobby and were briefed by the Giant Leaps personnel. It was deemed safe to continue their previously scheduled activity, which was a Jerusalem walking tour.

Most major Israeli tour companies provide plain clothes security personnel to accompany the foreign tourists. Almost all are ex-military, IDF. It’s an added layer of protection for ‘if and when.’

“At about four o’clock in the afternoon, while we were out, the alarms sounded again,” she said. “Security and the guides took us to a safe room in a local apartment building they were aware of. We were there less than half an hour. Ironically, with us in that safe room was former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin (2014-21) which turned out to be an incredible 20 minutes listening and learning from him.”

Saturday night the group canceled their scheduled activities and opted to stay in the comfortable and presumably safe surroundings of the hotel. As they prepared to sleep, learning from the morning experience, most slept with safe room clothes on and necessities bedside. Instead of sleeping with the proverbial one eye open, they had one ear open which turned out to be fortuitous. Alarms sounded at midnight and again at 4 am scattering the group back into the stairwells.

Sunday the group was in a “holding pattern” as Jill described it. The Tel Aviv airspace was shut down on Saturday so they made the best of things including some ventures outside for walks and a scheduled afternoon lecture by noted Israeli historian Gil Troy.

Sunday evening the conversation turned to leaving Israel. Even though planes were grounded they were advised there was an escape route through Egypt. No alarms were sounded that night. Jill made the decision to stay away from her cell phone with social media rumors and speculation. “I needed to stay focused, do my job and be responsible for the group” she said and added “I depended on our tour guides to give us the latest verified information and advice.”

Monday originally was to be the last day in Jerusalem before ending the trip in Tel Aviv. However, both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv businesses were shut down and all flights canceled, so the conversation focused in earnest about getting back to the United States.

Of the 25 in the Jacksonville group, 15 decided to leave while 10 stayed behind wanting to continue the mission with no guarantee or surety about what was to come.

“We were never told we had to leave but that option was there if that’s what we wanted to do,” Jill said. She was with the 15 who opted to return home while the trip co-coordinator stayed with the remainder.

Giant Leaps put a plan into motion to help the evacuation. First, a bus would take them from Jerusalem to Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city on the Red Sea bordering Jordan and Egypt. The four-hour bus ride wasn’t without incident as a warning siren sounded during the journey and the bus had to get off the road and wait about 15 minutes for the all-clear signal before continuing. Once they arrived in Eilat, the tour guide, van driver and the two security guards left. As Israeli citizens they couldn’t cross the border and went as far as they were authorized.

“We got off the bus and had to carry our luggage across the Egyptian border,” Ms. Metlin said. “We were met by a woman that had our Egyptian visas and she also handed me an envelope. It was sealed, but full of cash. I imagine that was used to guarantee our border crossing but I didn’t want to know. On the envelope was the name of a gentlemen who was to meet us and get us into Egypt and to a hotel that was pre-arranged for us,” Jill said and continued, “It was very chaotic everywhere with people yelling and screaming at each other in Arabic but the gentleman got us through without incident.”

The hotel wasn’t a place where you’d take the family for a week’s vacation, far from it. But for a short night of rest as part of an evacuation, it served its purpose. “We had a 4 am wake-up call and our escort was back at 4:45 am with two vans,” Jill said. “It was pitch dark, the roads weren’t paved, there were five roadblocks on the way and at each roadblock we had to give our passports to the inspectors to enable us to keep going.”

The destination was an airport near Taba, Egypt, a beach resort community in the Sinai Peninsula. If a photo op is on your travel itinerary, then Taba might be your place. From there you can see Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

“The airport in Taba was mobbed, there was no coordination on anything, lines upon lines and nothing in English. For us it was a total cluster,” Jill said. “We got there about 6:30 am, they put us in a room with metal chairs and some water. Finally at 9 am they said it was time to go.

“All we knew was the plane was chartered by the Israeli government and was headed to Athens, Greece, four hours away. When we landed in Athens we all definitely felt relief,” she said.

There actually turned out to be one more sightseeing day after all. Giant Leaps arranged hotel rooms in Athens. The group relished leaving the chaos behind and were actually able to enjoy the day. “We had each other, a sense of community, which was much more comforting than going alone,” she said.

The next morning, Wednesday March 4, was the best 22-hour travel day any of the attendees could want. They flew from Athens to London to Charlotte, NC and ultimately landing in Jacksonville late that evening when you factor in the six-hour time difference.

Interestingly a day later, Israeli officials advised the remaining 10 on the mission that it was best to return to the States. Eight took the same route home. Two opted to stay in Israel.

Once home, Jill had a chance to finally catch her breath and get caught up on some sleep. The relief of getting out of Israel and home safely aside, she said her one professional regret was half of the members of the trip were in Israel for the first time and never really had the opportunity to see the totality of the beauty of the Jewish homeland.

Did the interruption of the mission at all temper Jill Metlin’s resolve and feelings about Israel and future visits? Not a shekel’s chance.

So, ask Jill when she is going back to Israel and there is no hesitancy in her reply.

“As soon as possible.”

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I’m proud that Medjet is sponsoring Sunday Morning Coffee. I spent 20 wonderful years with Medjet in Birmingham, Alabama, and can tell you unequivocally they are the standard-bearer for medical assistance membership programs. A talented staff, who cares about its members, is at the forefront of the company’s success. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, domestic or international, a Medjet membership should be an important part of your travel portfolio before you leave home. Check out the Medjet website at medjet.com or just tap on the Medjet logo and you’ll be able to get a look at Medjet’s services, rules and regulations, pricing, and an overview of the organization. And remember, any opinions expressed in Sunday Morning Coffee content or comments belong to the author and not the sponsor. Safe travels with your Medjet membership! — Roy Berger