Israeli Reporter Recounts Crippling Anxiety Attack During Gaza Border Rocket Barrage
Translated & summarized from Israel Hayom by baba
Israeli Channel 12 News correspondent Almog Boker described a severe anxiety attack he experienced in 2018 while with his daughter during rocket fire from Gaza. He was unable to move his legs for 12 seconds as alarms sounded and rockets were intercepted. The incident triggered a relapse of post-traumatic stress symptoms 24 hours later, prompting Boker to seek mental health treatment.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Channel 12 correspondent Almog Boker suffered a paralyzing anxiety attack during a 2018 rocket attack from Gaza.
- Boker was with his daughter and unable to move his legs for 12 seconds as alarms sounded.
- Rocket interceptors exploding overhead eventually allowed him to break free from the immobilizing fear.
- He collapsed in a shelter with shortness of breath and disorientation.
- A subsequent trigger 24 hours later caused a relapse, leading him to seek mental health treatment.
Almog Boker, a correspondent for Israel's Channel 12 News, bravely shared a harrowing personal experience on the program "Who Wants to Start?" He described a paralyzing anxiety attack he suffered in his car with his children during a 2018 escalation of violence in the Gaza border region. Boker had received a warning of expected rocket fire for 4 p.m. that day and was driving home to help his wife, Eilat, collect their children. As he began to reverse his car to leave, alarms sounded in the area. While his wife immediately ran to a shelter with two of their children, Boker remained in the car with their daughter Omer and found himself unable to move.
"I heard the alarm and couldn't move my legs," Boker recounted, describing the terrifying, immobilizing moments. He explained that his daughter called him "Abba" (Dad), but he remained frozen for an exceptionally long 12 seconds. It was only when rocket interceptors began exploding overhead that he could break free from his complete paralysis. "My legs were concrete," he said, describing his heavy exit from the car with Omer. He reached the shelter about a minute later, with the sounds of explosions already audible outside.
Upon reaching the shelter, Boker collapsed on the floor, experiencing severe shortness of breath and disorientation. His wife's loud shout eventually roused him, and he immediately drove to work. The incident, however, continued to affect him. Twenty-four hours later, upon entering his bedroom at home, he heard his daughter call him "Abba" again. This simple word triggered a full relapse of the anxiety attack, as if it had continued from the earlier moment. Boker candidly revealed the intensity of the post-traumatic stress that erupted.
Following the recurrence of the panic attack and realizing the distress was not subsiding on its own, Boker made the decision to seek professional help. He shared with the program's panel that he immediately began therapy to cope with the situation, describing the experience as "the deepest fear of any parent."