On July 7, 1976, a mere three days after the Israel Defense Forces amazed the world by rescuing the Entebbe hostages, Tel Aviv inaugurated the Maariv Bridge. Initially, it was called the “Bridge of Eagles” in a symbolic tribute to Israel’s daring aerial military feat.

The simple and somewhat ugly bridge was designed as a stopgap measure to ease traffic congestion at a major intersection in the fast-growing Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Like everything "temporary" in Israel, it turned into a permanent fixture and survived 39 years. That is, until its highly publicized demolition on the morning of Aug. 21, when Transportation Minister Israel Katz pressed the button at exactly 6:22, officially launching the construction of the city’s light-rail system, scheduled to last six years at the very least.

Historians studying these times in the future will find that on the morning the bridge was blown up, tensions on Israel’s northern and southern borders were especially high in the wake of a barrage of rockets from Syria toward the Golan Heights and the northern Galilee the day before, the first since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, ensuing Israeli retaliation.

In towns in the south, Iron Dome anti-missile batteries were deployed amid fears of an escalation in the event of the death of Mohammed Allan, the hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner whose health is deteriorating.