Israel--A Year after October 7

 

(This is a footnote to my November 2024 newsletter)

 My summary of a complex situation in Israel

 

My phone screen flashes every Israeli news channel in Hebrew and US news in English. My soul is there, in Israel, when sirens go off all day in multiple villages and cities and when the trauma of a country in war deepens.

The majority of Israelis were for fighting Hamas and for chasing them throughout Gaza until they are eliminated. It was never a retaliation, but a defense against a repeat of October 7, which Hamas promised was only "a dress rehearsal." So many have given their lives on both sides as this war is still to be won, while tortured hostages remain imprisoned. Now the mood in Israel has shifted, and many Israelis make the hostages' release a priority over eliminating Hamas. They are not against the war that daily costs the lives of the best of Israeli men and has destroyed the country's flourishing economy, because there is no choice when attacked from all sides. The all-mighty Iran has no territorial disputes with Israel, nor does it care for the Palestinians. It merely wants Israel wiped out.

           While the world's eyes were focused solely on the Gaza war--ignoring human misery in other 30 hot spots around the globe--since October 7, 2023, the Galilee (northern Israel) has been under Hezbollah bombardment. Over 100,000 Israelis had to abandon their homes and farms while the government attempted to avoid formally calling it a war--until it could ignore it no more.

Some of you have asked me for a reliable sources about the situation. Here are some suggestions: Middle East Forum, MEMRI, CAMERA, Palestinian Media Watch, Israenet.org, UN Watch, and AIPAC, CIJA, Jewish Virtual Library, and HonestReporting.

           In the meantime, the highly unpopular PM Netanyahu is holding on to his fragile government by capitulating to the tyranny of the ultra-Orthodox who do not serve in the military. Tens of thousands lifelong yeshiva students with large families (ten children or more is the norm) live off government largess. The gap between those who give everything and those who only take has never been so wide. Therefore, when you hear about huge demonstrations against Netanyahu, those are fueled by anger over this social injustice--and by the gut-piercing angst over the hostages.

The country is fighting an existential war for survival, while being torn from within. Yet, the more Israelis face these challenges, the more they need us to support them, to let them know that they are not alone.