“So you think it will be Tel Aviv and not Jerusalem. Seems like they’d want to strike at the heart of the nation, not just at its wallet.”

“Oh no, they won’t touch Jerusalem. The Holy City is not their target; it’s their goal. For them, Jerusalem belongs to Islam.”

“But how can they say that? Jerusalem belonged to the Jews way before Islam existed.”

A small, fluffy dog on a long retractable leash trotted up to Nir and sniffed his shoes. He reached down to scratch the animal’s head, but as soon as he touched it, the owner whistled. The dog hurried back as the owner glared at Nir.

“Have a nice day,” Nir called as he sat up on the bench. Then turning back to Nicole, he said, “They have two main reasons for saying Jerusalem is theirs. First, it’s holy to them because it contains the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the location from which they say Muhammad ascended into heaven. Second, when Jerusalem was conquered, it was declared waqf, which is a sacred and permanent dedication of something to Allah.”

“I’ve heard that word before, but I’ve never known what it meant. So in their minds you Jews have taken for yourselves something that belongs to God.”

“There you go. But again, that’s just for Jerusalem. They point to countless other reasons and excuses and historical events for why they think all Jews in Israel need to be wiped off the face of the earth.”

Nir nodded to a family walking along the beach. Even though the afternoon was cool, the two toddlers were barefoot and kept running to the edge of the surf and back with each wave. “I can’t watch that without thinking What if? Tehran is getting close with their ballistic missile technology. Once they develop their warhead, they’ll have the ability to drop a missile right in Tel Aviv. Even if the place where those little kids are playing somehow remains outside the blast radius, it will still be rendered unusable for, like, a hundred years or something.”

“That’s hard to imagine.”

“But that’s just traditional nuclear weapons. How long until the mullahs put a suitcase nuke or a dirty bomb in the hands of their terrorist militias? Hamas, Hezbollah…both would love to walk one of those into Haifa or Netanya. The Houthis will turn Riyadh into rubble. All Iran’s goals can be achieved, and they wouldn’t have to fire a single missile.”

They watched in silence as the family made its way down the beach.

After looking at his watch, Nir stood and said, “We better head back to the car.”

Nicole joined him, and they started back in the direction of Jaffa.