Wow! The pressure of never feeling safe and having to be on your guard all the time must be terrible.
We had a black South African cleaner for a long time and when we asked her why she chose Israel over other places she could work she said: "personal safety".
The ability of a 14 year old girl to walk or use public transport safely in Tel Aviv at 2am in the morning, as my daughter did, is something priceless.
Maybe this is partly why it is so expensive.
And Yes, this ironically still true despite Israel being at war for over 500 days.
I think the recent trip highlighted what we live with and just accept the situation and you do not realise how bad things are. You are on guard and vigilant like everyone should be no matter where you live. At night time in certain areas we do not stop at traffic lights and basically move slowly through a red light if no cars are around. Common sense goes a long way here and for the most part it is still safe, but you have to always be aware.