Canadian families with ties to Iran and Israel gripped by fear as tensions escalate

Maritimers with ties to the Middle East – watch anxiously as the conflict unfolds.

As tensions between Iran and Israel continue to intensify, some Canadians are living in limbo as they watch missiles fly over the countries their loved ones still call home.

An Iranian-Canadian woman who has asked not to be identified out of fear for her family’s safety says her husband and son were planning to return to Canada on Thursday. Instead, they are stuck in Iran after their flights were cancelled.

“They were supposed to come back two weeks ago but then had to stay longer for family reasons. Now I don’t know what they are doing to do,” she said. “Now we don’t know when we can see each other. We don’t know when we can, we don’t know what’s going on, we don’t even know what’s going to happen in one hour. It’s a very heartbreaking feeling.”

She keeps her phone close and her TV on throughout the day. She has not slept in days and feels restless.

“I cannot eat, I cannot drink, I cannot breathe. The feeling is killing me,” she said.

As her son tries to figure out a way to cross the border of Iran to surrounding countries, she tries to remain hopeful and prays for her family and friend’s safety.

“They have the Canadian passport but there is no option for Iran to support the Canadians that are there. So they are trying to find a way by bus, by foot, whatever is possible,” she said. “The distance, with the lack of communication and internet, everything is affected.”

She said her son has described the situation as difficult and unimaginable.

“He said you cannot imagine how many people are under stress. People aren’t aware when there will be an attack,” she said.

Other relatives living east of Tehran, Iran’s capital, have suffered damages to their own home from missiles hitting a neighbour’s home.

“They have a two-year baby boy and for the last four nights they are on the streets. Their home is completely destroyed and they have no where they can go,” the woman said. “This is war between the government but who is really impacted? It’s the people. We are hoping the international leaders will push them to stop this war.”

For Shimon Walt, an Israeli-Canadian who immigrated to Canada from Israel years ago, said the recent surge in violence has left him struggling to focus on anything else.

“I worry about them. I worry about my 96-year-old mom not being able to go down to the shelter. It’s three flights of stairs so she sits on the staircase. It’s hard,” he said.

Walt speaks to his family daily, and their conversations revolve around being grateful to survive.

“We take it one minute at a time,” said Walt.

Israel is home for Walt. It is where he was educated, where many of his friends live, and the place his father is buried.

Walt had plans to go to Israel and take care of his mother but those plans changed.

“I was supposed to visit my mom, who was not well for a while. If I would’ve gone, I’d be there right now [and] I wouldn’t be able to get out. I don’t know what’s for the best, maybe I should’ve been there,” he said.

Walt’s wife, who has frequently visited Israel along with her husband, said she wants to see peace, especially for her mother-in-law who survived the Holocaust.

“She calls herself a girl from war. I think of that all the time. At 96 you should have some peace,” she said.

The conflict has entered its fourth day, with both countries trading missile attacks despite calls for a halt to the fighting.

Israel launched the first strike, attacking Iran’s oil refineries, killing the intelligence chief of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and hitting population centers in intensive aerial attacks that raised the death told in the country to 224 people, according to Iran.

Israel, which has aimed its missiles at Iran’s advancing nuclear program and military leaderships, said Iran has fired more than 270 missiles since Friday, 22 of which slipped through the country’s sophisticated multi-tiered air defenses, killing 14 people.

Both Walt and the Iranian-Canadian woman say they long not just for the safety of their families but for peace in the region.