Exodus: Members of Unit 8200, seen here, are highly prized by foreign recruiters, and significant numbers are decamping from Israel (IDF photo).

TEL AVIV — One evening late last month, I was visiting with an Israeli friend at his Tel Aviv home when his cell phone loudly beeped and displayed a warning that a missile fired by the Houthi rebels in Yemen was heading toward central Israel. As air raid sirens blared outside, I asked if perhaps we should head to the communal bomb shelter nearby. 

“Not yet,” my friend said.

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