The #Rocketselfie: A New Hashtag Emerges As Israelis Take Cover From Hamas Rockets

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You’re sitting on your porch, smoking a hookah with your friends and listening to EDM, relaxing like any average millennial on a Tuesday night after a long day at work. All of a sudden, you hear the siren blaring throughout the streets of Tel Aviv. Even though you’ve been going through this routine since you were a kid, every time it goes off it still causes your heart to race and your mind to instantly flash to the worst possible outcome. You know you have sixty seconds to run downstairs to the bomb shelter in your basement, but there’s obviously a more important task at hand. Run to the shelter—but first let me take a selfie.

A new trend has emerged among Israeli youth called the #rocketselfie. Should we be appalled by the fact that these young people are turning such a serious situation into a vain Internet trend? Should we be concerned by the fact that when rockets are constantly being launched at you, it becomes so normal to you that you take a selfie, just like you would if you were doing other normal daily life activities such as tanning at the beach or drinking at the club? Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East where Arabs, Jews, and Christians are able to live peacefully side-by-side and freedom of religion is a right, not a distant dream. Take a look at a few of the #rocketselfies to see how Israelis live daily lives just like any American, until they have to interrupt their life and live in fear for ten minutes without any warning. Whatever your opinion is on the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, the #rocketselfie is here to stay. So the next time you hear the Siren to go off, don’t forget to pick a good filter!