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More than three months have passed since Hamas attacked Israel and war broke out between them.
What's going on and what do we know?
Life in Israel
Each week, volunteers tend to the Community Gardens that surround Jerusalem's Museum of Natural History.
During a tea break, the Gardens’ director recently shared that since the October 7 pogrom, he has been unable to listen to music. He relieves his sadness by keeping busy. The others present concurred.
When the missiles started that morning at 6.30am, and news broke of the many Israelis massacred, everyone was paralysed with shock. Now we are all coasting along, getting through each day in a somber mood. Regular reports of young Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza pinch at the heart, and some Israelis cry to themselves multiple times a day.
Weapons have become visible in apparel in everyday life.
A century ago a violin case in NY might have concealed a Tommy gun. This one, sported by a member of the Jerusalem Street Orchestra, holds a violin. But the pistol on his belt is a sign of the times.
Signs have appeared around the country, expressing sentiments such as:
- Together we will win;
- Do not fear, you are strong;
- Hostages, we await you with open arms.
The word ‘surreal’ is used here daily. Unlike the beginning of the war, when everyone was glued to the television, many people now try to reduce their exposure to the official news stations to reduce their stress levels.
Social media services, on the other hand, are running hot.
To lighten the mood in my home, I bought some parrots. They are settling in nicely, and their chirping is a wonderful distraction from my mood. To reduce their loneliness when I’m not home, I play them a recording of parrots chirping; I don’t want them getting anxious for no reason.
Israelis Evacuated from their Homes
An estimated 200,000 Israelis were evacuated from their homes near the southern and northern borders (within missile reach of both Hamas and Hezbollah) and relocated to hotels and other temporary accommodations. These dislocated families are under terrible stress. They are in strange surroundings and without their belongings.
Stores have been set up by volunteers to accept donations of clothing and furniture for the evacuees. I visited one such store in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem streets abound with volunteers from around the world, private individuals who have come to help out where they can. They make sandwiches for soldiers, pick fruit on abandoned farms, take up the slack where manpower has been redirected to the front lines, and more. Apart from practical assistance, these visitors go a long way towards showing solidarity and buoying the mood here. Melanie, pictured below, followed events in the Austrian media and knew she had to do something. She jumped on a plane to Israel and found herself helping out at the evacuee store in Jerusalem. "I didn't tell anyone I was coming. My family thinks I'm still in Austria" she said with gleaming eyes.
Life as an Israeli Soldier
Opinions
Radio broadcasts often include discussions with Israeli soldiers. Two soldiers shared how, while serving together in Gaza, they are forced by circumstance to discuss their opinions and come to a consensus about how to understand the current situation. Loyal to the State and to each other, they show an incredible solidarity
Laundry
Depending on where they are serving, some soldiers do not often have opportunities to wash clothes. Answering a need, multiple washing machines were loaded onto some trucks that drive between the various platoons.
Laundry services are also provided by volunteers.
Still other soldiers, in the thick of battle, have no access to such facilities. They toss away their soiled underwear and take new supplies when needed.
Food
Food supply for servicemen and servicewomen also varies according to where they are based. Some bases have food from various restaurants. One soldier told me meals were brought in from Mcdonalds. Soldiers who kept kosher would not touch the food at first until it was shown to have come from kosher-certified branches.
Accommodations are also made for vegans and vegetarians.
Volunteers around the country prepare food for delivery to bases.
(Also see my last blog entry).
Others, understandably, must rely on field rations.
Trauma
Nervous parents crave any news from the front and have to be patient.
It is frightening to acknowledge that so many of these young men from our society have returned after a stint away, during which they have walked through a battlefield, dodged bullets, and been forced to kill other people, face to face - in a battle of us or them. One friend of mine gingerly asked her officer son whether he had been in the position of having to kill someone. He looked up at her. “Mom!” he responded pleadingly before looking down again. A detailed answer was unnecessary. I can only imagine how this experience affects these young men.
Counseling is provided by the army.
Yesterday I attended the funeral of an elderly family member who died in her 90's. Compared with all the announcements of killed soldiers, this person's passing at an advanced age was the most normal thing I had heard in ages. The officiant at the funeral blessed the soul of the departed, beseeching her to petition the almighty for the well-being and safe return of our soldiers.
After the service, I took the opportunity to speak with one of the mourners, a soldier who had come specially from Gaza. He told me the most difficult thing for him was the surreal contrast between the stress of being on a front-line battlefield in the morning and then back home in the afternoon. Today he will be returning to the madness of war.
Giving Hostages Priority
Political tensions are again coming to the fore. With Israel's military campaign to dismantle Hamas under full swing, locals want the release of hostages in Gaza given priority. The Government believes that only when it feels the pinch of military pressure will Hamas agree to release more hostages.
Not everyone is of the same view, and protestors are pushing for Israel to initiate negotiations for a release. The longer the captives are held, the more they are in physical danger from malnutrition and abuse, as well as exposure to harm from the military conflict.
A city square in Tel Aviv has been renamed 'Kidnapped Square' and serves as a focal point for protest activities.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-news/article-775116
Hostage Testimonies
Radio and TV broadcasts are including more and more interviews with hostages who have been released from Hamas captivity. Their stories are harrowing.
One woman (Nili Margalit) a nurse, described how she was taken from her home at gunpoint. While being pushed into a vehicle that would take her towards Gaza, she watched in horror as hundreds of Arab civilians - including women and children holding knives and other crude household weapons - crowded the fields, running towards the Kibbutz alongside trained Hamas fighters. (Frightening video footage of the melee was broadcast). These Gazans looted Jewish houses where the residents had been murdered and took captives when they could. The interviewee described how, on arrival in Gaza, she watched local civilians selling captured Israelis to Hamas.
Hamas video footage was shown of one elderly lady (in her 80s) who suffered terrible lacerations as she was forced onto a motorcycle bound for Gaza. The rider was unstable and the bike kept falling over, with the elderly victim suffering awful injuries as a result.
Others of similar age were tossed onto motorcycles for hauling back to Gaza and beaten with sticks.
https://www.ft.com/content/beaa80e2-aa2c-4b3e-bbc5-259a72f679eb
Some interviewed captives were held for almost two months in tunnels. For punishment, the captives were periodically not allowed to use the ventilation fans. Food, when supplied, involved small portions of rice. One released woman quietly shared that her weight in captivity had dropped by 8 kg.
Still others were held captive with local civilian families. The children of these host families would delight in pinching and tormenting the captives. One such captive made her feelings clear: “They’re all terrorists. Even the civilians.” She detailed how, in the street, when being transported, the locals spat at her and hit her.
Another released hostage described her release, which was televised. The captors forced the hostages to walk past scores of leering, hostile locals towards Red Cross ambulances, where the captors waved goodbye in front of the cameras and insisted the captives do the same.
“It’s one big show,” Asher said. “Before I was released, my girls and I were barefoot for 50 days. We were cold because they were wearing short sleeves in November.” But before they were handed over to Red Cross staff, they were given shoes and Hamas members “put me in a nice dress,” Asher said.
Those who were released in the hostage exchange reported that they were drugged to appear docile and in a good mood when the exchange was shown on the news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixynqr-88gE
Hamas Sex Crimes
Also interviewed among the released hostages was a woman captured with her young daughter. On arrival in the Hamas tunnels, her guards took her aside and groped her for good measure. She and other captive women spent their time trying to work out how not to be raped.
Sadly, numerous other captives were not successful in protecting themselves.
Add to these reports the emerging evidence and testimonies of sex crimes by Palestinians against young Jewish women on October 7, including necrophilia and genital mutilation, and the dark period we have been experiencing becomes impossibly darker. In many ways, these crimes become a terrible indictment against Western protestors around the world who support Palestinian violence against Jews and blame Israel for defending itself by waging a military campaign to neuter Hamas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d84FMJItajM
Ceasefire
International calls are made for Israel to accept a ceasefire.
That seems counterintuitive. After all -
Hamas began hostilities by firing rockets into Israeli towns and kidnapping civilians.
The rockets are still coming and the hostages are still in captivity.
South Africa has instigated proceedings against Israel in the International Criminal Court to order a ceasefire, claiming Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people.
This claim of genocide has been bandied around despite the reality on the ground, and I am incredulous as to how it can be considered to have any credibility.
Life Under Hamas or Israeli Occupation?
When the Israeli occupation of Gaza ended in 2005, the UN maintained it as a charity economy.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/202714426
After Hamas was elected to govern Gaza, instead of applying UN (UNWRA) and other donated funds to the construction of a modern society, Hamas leaders re-directed them to build an entire underground city for the sole purpose of annihilating Israel and the Jews.
This included an estimated 500 km of sophisticated tunnels for military infrastructure.
(NASA would do well to study this enterprise for future Mars missions).
These tunnels link to zones under UN protection and - hospitals, schools, and places of worship.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-un-envoy-blasts-discovery-of-gaza-tunnel-under-unrwa-school/
https://news.sky.com/story/secrets-of-the-tunnels-what-lies-beneath-al-shifa-hospital-13019619
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/GAZA-TUNNELS/gkvldmzorvb/
A generation of civilians was breastfed the notion that Israel is the devil and must be destroyed.
https://forward.com/opinion/564190/hamas-charter-truth/
Much of the funds designated for improving Palestinians' lives have been stolen by Hamas leaders who live high on the hog, out of harm's way.
https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/news/hamas-leaders-worth-11bn-live-luxury-lives-in-qatar/
By its own admission, UNWRA received 1 billion dollars in funding last year alone.
Despite this, Gazans still live in refugee camps.
The real absurdity is that when Hamas abandoned its citizens' welfare, Israel stepped into the breach supplementing Gazan water and electricity supplies and providing Gazan Palestinians with places of work.
Accordingly, ill-informed protestors think that Israel is occupying Gaza!?!
(See my blog post covering pro-Palestine protests)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-lays-fourth-largest-yet-water-pipeline-to-gaza/
Iran and the Global Challenge
The world economy is already being impacted by this conflict.
All roads lead to Iran, whose client entities:-
Syria, Yemenite Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas -
are all trying to destabilize international interests, mostly in favour of a pan-Muslim agenda. Israel is their rallying cry.
Israel would do best to show the world that defeating Hamas (as an Iranian proxy) is in their interests. This is an international war, and it is better for all countries to stop Hamas missiles and bring Israeli hostages home before these proxies bring their fight to other shores.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-calls-urgent-action-attacks-yemens-houthi-rebels-106090660
Nova Display
Finally, I will add that I just visited an exhibit reproducing the scene of the Nova music festival where the massacre began, and will post about it in the next couple of days. It is a must-see. If you can get out there, it is in Tel Aviv, at the Israel Expo, Building 1, and ends January 13.
6 comments:
This is the most erudite, honest assessment and overview of Life in Israel since October 7 that I have read anywhere. Am Yisrael Chai🙏
What a moving, emotive and informative blog. Thank you for sharing your story of life in Israel as it really is after the horrors of October 7 and with the ongoing strain of war, hostages and beloved soldiers at the front. So colourful and real.
There are no coincidences. I literally picked up your book of photography in Jerusalem, then found that you had written in your blog. Thank you for this on the ground update. Frank, and feels real. Am Yisrael chai
Thanks for this on the ground, real account. As I was reading your words I could hear your voice and your emotions and frustration. Brilliantly written. look forward to the next chapter. Am Israel Chai
Very articulate. Important. Detailed sense of where we are. In the very eloquent words lies the pathway to a better or at least bearable future 🙏
Still sharing with media contacts of mine. So well documented - but then you know what a fan I am of your writing.
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