(Washington Post) Ruth Marcusbr - Israelis, of all political persuasions, feel besieged and misunderstood. Six months after a day on which more Jews were murdered than since the Holocaust, Israel finds itself nearing the status of international pariah. Does it reflect the ugly reality that much of the world has never accepted the existence of Israel as a Jewish state? To visit the sites of the Oct. 7 atrocities, as well as to speak with survivors, feels as gut-wrenching as visiting a concentration camp, but it's as though the Holocaust were only months in the past, and the enemy as yet undefeated. It is to meet with a farmer who displays the broken chair, stashed in a Kfar Aza safe room, that saved his family. On Oct. 7, the farmer's son jammed the chair under the handle of the door of the safe room, designed to protect against rocket attacks, not terrorists in the house. This provides essential context about the degree to which Israelis experienced Oct. 7 as a threat to their existence and continue to believe their country will remain in peril if the enterprise of destroying Hamas' military capabilities is left unfinished. Tens of thousands of Israelis are still displaced from their homes near Gaza and the border with Lebanon, many living in hotel rooms.
2024-04-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive